SOLIDARITY STATEMENTS WITH PALESTINE
STATEMENT - Political, Decolonial, Radical Feminist Lesbians of Color, Paris
Translated from French
We political, decolonial, radical feminist lesbians of color support the Palestinian people in their history until their liberation.
Resistant Palestine
Now is not the time for the perpetual search for symmetry. The time has come for recognition of the will of a people who have broken the chains of their prison in Gaza, a veritable concentration camp.
Since October 7, 2023, the world has certainly better understood the situation of the Palestinian people. This people who have resisted since the declared Zionist movement - with the support of the Western imperial powers - imposed itself as a colonial project in Palestine with a view to replacing the indigenous population through ethnic cleansing.
The Western imperialist support gradually materialized following the Paris Conference in 1919 at the end of the First World War, when Palestine was placed under English domination in the form of a Mandate. This led, 30 years later, in 1948, to the unilateral creation of a state called “israel,” date of the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe). Since then, the confiscations of land and houses, mass expulsions, massacres, increasing implantations of settlements, control of resources, construction of walls, arbitrary detentions, intimidation, and more, are an integral part of Palestinian daily life.
International law was powerless, unable to prevent this colonization even though it constantly referred to the treaties, standards and protocols aimed at protecting the rights of indigenous peoples and prohibiting the colonization of territories by force or war. Today it continues in vain to refer to the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination and legitimate self-defense. And what about the 1973 Convention for the Elimination of and Punishment for the Crime of Apartheid which defines apartheid as “an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination of one racial group over another racial group or groups and with the intention of maintaining this regime”? This is what “israel” imposes on the Palestinians through the mechanisms of restriction, control, discrimination, and the creation of enclaves.
The total siege of the Gaza Strip depriving more than 2 million inhabitants of water, food, electricity, energy, medicine, while bombing them disproportionately and continuously, alone constitutes a crime against humanity.
However, the legal arsenal under the aegis of the United Nations fails in the face of realpolitik because of the unwavering support of the USA, France, Germany, Italy, England, Australia and Canada, and of most of their media which is complacent with the colonizing state. And this, along with the normalization of relations between certain Arab countries and the oppressor, all of which is experienced as the betrayal of the Palestinian people.
However, only one reality prevails: that of an entire people who resist their erasure and who fight for their right to live. The Palestinians resist by expressing their desire for self-determination, leading revolt after revolt, uprising after uprising, at the cost of brutal repression, at the cost of permanent sacrifices, because the Palestinian people do not want to disappear and they remain determined to decolonize Palestine.
From October 7, 2023, history will remember this resistance in the service of the legitimate self-defense of a people roaring with dignity, justice, freedom. So, let's make sure we contribute to this history. Let’s be there! Let's live up to it!
Let’s remember the daily acts of resistance of the Palestinian people for almost a century of Western domination. Let’s remind the world that Palestinians, albeit repressed, assassinated, murdered, imprisoned, starved, discriminated against, deprived, tortured, oppressed, forcibly exiled, denied the right of return, bombed, will never give up until their last breaths.
Let’s remember Aimé Césaire’s words:
“Where am I going with this? To this idea: that no one colonizes innocently, that no one colonizes with impunity, either; that a nation which colonizes, that a civilization which justifies colonization - therefore force - is already a sick civilization, a morally damaged civilization, which, irresistibly, from consequence to consequence, from denial to denial, calls its Hitler, I mean its punishment. “
We political, decolonial, radical feminist lesbians of color demand an end to the system of domination and oppression that the Palestinian people have endured since 1948 and we demand that activists from our respective communities take a position against the colonization of Palestine.
Let’s shout the aspirations and inspirations of the Palestinian people loud and clear, all over the world.
Let’s demand that governments stop their blind support for a criminal state that uses its military, ideological, economic and propaganda power to erase the Palestinian people.
Let’s dream that the struggle for the liberation of Palestine leads us together to victory.
Let’s respect indigenous knowledge and perspectives to reaffirm the voice of this people in the narration of their own history and their own reality.
Let’s strengthen solidarity between different liberation movements through the interconnection of struggles against patriarchy, colonialism, sexism, racism, neo-liberalism, imperialism, LGBTQIA phobias and all forms of systemic oppression.
Let’s support Palestinian women in their struggle because they are leaders and spokespersons in the movement to defend their people at all levels of society.
Let’s encourage our Palestinian feminist and LGBTQIA comrades who are fighting from within for the liberation of Palestine.
Because Palestine will live Palestine will win from the river to the sea
From political, decolonial, radical feminist lesbians of color. Paris October 26, 2023.
MANIFESTO DE SOLIDARIEDADE AO POVO PALESTINO (ENGLISH BELOW)
https://institutoodara.org.br/manifesto-de-solidariedade-ao-povo-palestino/
Coordenação Nacional das Feministas Negras Radicais Independentes
Unidas pela força ancestral de luta e resistência histórica das mulheres negras contra a violência, o colonialismo, o racismo, o capitalismo, o heteropatriarcado, a lesbofobia, a transfobia e outras formas de opressão, viemos a público manifestar o nosso apoio ao povo palestino e romper com o silêncio que impera em grande parte do mundo, incluindo a esquerda brasileira, com relação ao genocídio contra o povo palestino na faixa de Gaza. Nós não queremos ser cúmplices ou testemunhas silenciosas do massacre contra o povo palestino. Diferente do enquadramento feito pelos países imperialistas e mídia ocidental, recusamos a versão do conflito como uma guerra de Israel contra o Hamas, já que as principais vítimas continuam sendo o povo palestino, que vivem perseguidos e sitiados em seu próprio território, coibidos à viverem sob o julgo do colonialismo israelense.
Nós, mulheres negras, lésbicas e trans, queremos convocar a todes para uma reflexão sobre o nosso silêncio. Sabemos o quanto os grandes conglomerados midiáticos, comprometidos com a continuidade da limpeza étnica e racial em curso, são unânimes na análise parcial da situação, produzindo lentes favoráveis à Israel e desumanizando continuamente os palestinos, com o objetivo de justificar o genocídio e incitar cada vez mais o ódio racial e religioso.
Reconhecemos que temos muitas frentes de lutas cotidianas amplas e urgentes, e que às vezes nos faltam forças para expressar a solidariedade internacional. Mas a morte de mais de 8 mil civis bombardeados covardemente pelas forças israelenses e o cenário desesperador de completa destruição do povo palestino emerge como uma demanda indeclinável para todos os agentes políticos revolucionários ao redor do mundo. “Gaza se transformou em um cemitério para milhares de crianças. É um inferno na Terra para todos os outros”, disse James Elder, porta-voz do Unicef.
O silenciamento diante do massacre da palestina é o mesmo silenciamento com o qual temos convivido diante do genocídio da juventude negra e contra os povos indígenas em sua própria terra. A violência brutal que atinge o povo palestino é o resultado da ganância desenfreada que legitima a mortalidade em nome de um grupo privilegiado que compartilha de interesses que se sobrepõem aos demais sob qualquer preço. Quanto a isso, não podemos continuar caladas, sob o risco de deslegitimação do nosso próprio discurso de defesa inegociável da autonomia e emancipação dos povos e comunidades racializadas e de outras minoritárias.
Nós que acreditamos na luta contra a desumanização do outro, do que é diferente, daqueles que são não-ocidentais, não-brancos, não-cristãos, não-héteros, precisamos mobilizar recursos, memórias e estratégias de outras lutas, assim como fizemos na luta contra Apartheid na África do Sul. Naquele contexto, tanto a luta dos sul-africanos por liberdade quanto à pressão internacional foram determinantes para a liberdade política dos sul-africanos negros.
Diferente do contexto atual, naquele momento não existiam as mídias sociais e a velocidade com que a informação/desinformação dos supremacistas brancos chegavam era mais lenta. Agora eles se impõem através das armas, do dinheiro, da propriedade dos meios de comunicação, da ideologia, da violência, do medo e da construção de narrativas que desumanizam os palestinos, manipulando a história e as estatísticas, inclusive, sobre o número de mortos. Nós conhecemos bem as consequências políticas das Fake News!
Nós que construímos nossa plataforma de luta política a partir das conexões transnacionais, é fundamental ampliarmos as estratégias de enfrentamento, compreendendo o sentido mais profundo da libertação coletiva, sem a qual as liberdades individuais não se sustentam.
Cedo ou tarde, as guerras que silenciamos batem à nossa porta sob a forma da mão forte do capital, da ganância das grandes potências, que nos expulsam dos nossos territórios e exigem de nós subserviência. O Brasil é um dos principais consumidores da tecnologia e do treinamento militar israelenses, e nós sabemos que cedo ou tarde esses tanques e armas podem ser os instrumentos de letalidade também utilizados contra o nosso povo. Esta é a história do povo palestino, mas também é nossa e dos nossos povos originários. Esta tem sido a história de destruição do nosso povo ancestral.
Nós que somos formados por uma perspectiva política que tem denunciado o racismo, o colonialismo, a exploração capitalista, a LGBTQI+fóbia sabemos que as desigualdades que caracterizam os envolvidos na guerra nos convocam a criar um novo vocabulário para descrever as atrocidades cometidas por Israel contra a população civil da palestina - sem água, sem luz, sem internet, sem casa, sem comida e sob bombardeios diários, inclusive contra ambulâncias e hospitais. Assim como acreditamos que é preciso reinventar a ONU, frente ao seu total descrédito, inoperância e impotência frente ao imperialismo estadunidense e ao genocídio em curso. Precisamos de novos nomes e novas organizações que representem as demandas de toda uma população, não somente daqueles a quem lhes interessam “beneficiar” por motivos alheios às necessidades do próprio povo.
Nós precisamos fazer valer a nossa reflexão, sensibilidade crítica, indignação moral e intolerância frente às injustiças que construímos através de anos de formação e ação política. Por tudo isso, não podemos nos calar, queremos nos unir e engrossar as trincheiras de luta daqueles e daquelas que acreditam na luta pela liberdade da Palestina e que exigem o fim dos bombardeios imediatamente. Nunca nos calamos frente ao horror, e a atual situação geopolítica do mundo deverá encontrar em nós mulheres negras o enfrentamento e a postura radical que sempre caracterizou nossa atuação no mundo.
A luta contra a opressão, o colonialismo e o racismo devem continuar aqui e em todos os lugares em que se faça necessária.
Palestina Livre!
MANIFESTO OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE
National Coordination of Independent Radical Black Feminists (Brazil)
Translated from Portuguese
United by the ancestral strength of struggle and of the historical resistance of Black women against violence, colonialism, racism, capitalism, heteropatriarchy, lesbophobia, transphobia and other forms of oppression, we publicly express our support for the Palestinian people and break with the silence that prevails in much of the world, including the Brazilian left, regarding the genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza strip. We do not want to be accomplices or silent witnesses to the massacre against the Palestinian people. Unlike the imperialist countries and Western media’s framing of the present situation, we reject the version of the conflict as an Israeli war against Hamas, since the main victims continue to be the Palestinian people, who live persecuted and besieged in their own territory, forced to live under the yoke of Israeli colonialism.
We Black women, lesbians and transwomen want to call on everyone to reflect on our silence. We know that the large media conglomerates, committed as they are to continuing the ongoing ethnic and racial cleansing, are unanimous in their partial analysis of the situation, producing lenses favorable to Israel and continually dehumanizing the Palestinians with the aim of justifying genocide and inciting ever more racial and religious hatred.
We recognize that we have many fronts of broad and urgent daily struggles, and that sometimes we lack the forces to express international solidarity. But the death of more than 8 thousand civilians cowardly bombed by Israeli forces and the desperate scenario of complete destruction of the Palestinian people emerges as an undeniable demand for all revolutionary people around the world. “Gaza has turned into a cemetery for thousands of children. It’s hell on Earth for everyone else,” said James Elder, a UNICEF spokesperson.
The silence in the face of the massacre of Palestinians is the same silence that we have lived with in the face of the genocide of Black youth and against indigenous peoples in their own land. The brutal violence that affects the Palestinian people is the result of unbridled greed that legitimizes murder in the name of a privileged group that shares interests that override those of others at any cost. In this regard, we cannot remain silent, at the risk of delegitimizing our own discourse of non-negotiable defense of the autonomy and emancipation of racialized and other minority peoples and communities.
We who believe in the fight against the dehumanization of others, of those who are different, of those who are non-Western, non-white, non-Christian, non-straight, need to mobilize resources, memories and strategies from other struggles, just as we did in the fight against Apartheid in South Africa. In that context, both the South African struggle for freedom and international pressure were decisive for the political freedom of Black South Africans.
Unlike the current context, at that time social media did not exist and the speed at which information/disinformation from white supremacists arrived was slower. Now they impose themselves through weapons, money, media ownership, ideology, violence, fear and the construction of narratives that dehumanize Palestinians, manipulating history and statistics, including the number of deaths. We are well aware of the political consequences of Fake News!
For us, who build our platform of political struggle based on transnational connections, it is essential that we expand our confrontational strategies, understanding the deeper meaning of collective liberation without which individual freedoms cannot be sustained.
Sooner or later, the wars that we have silenced knock on our door in the form of the strong hand of capital, the greed of the great powers, that expel us from our territories and demand subservience from us. Brazil is one of the main consumers of Israeli technology and military training, and we know that sooner or later these tanks and weapons could also be instruments of lethality used against our people. This is the story of the Palestinian people, but it is also ours and that of indigenous people in Brazil. This has been the story of the destruction of our ancestors.
We who are formed by a political perspective that has denounced racism, colonialism, capitalist exploitation, LGBTQI+phobia know that the inequalities that characterize those involved in the war call on us to create a new vocabulary to describe the atrocities committed by Israel against the Palestinian civilian population - without water, without electricity, without internet, without housing, without food and under daily bombings, including against ambulances and hospitals. Just as we believe that it is necessary to reinvent the United Nations, given its total discredit, ineffectiveness and impotence in the face of U.S. imperialism and the ongoing genocide. We need new names and new organizations that represent the demands of the entire population, and not only the demands of individuals who are interested in "benefiting" for reasons unrelated to the people’s needs.
We need to assert our thought, analyses, critical sensitivity, moral indignation and intolerance of all injustice, that we have built through years of political formation and action. For all of this, we cannot remain silent. We want to unite and to expand the fighting trenches of those who believe in the struggle for the freedom of Palestine and who demand an end to the bombings immediately. We never remain silent in the face of horror, and the current geopolitical situation in the world must find in us Black women the spirit of confrontation and the radical stance that has always characterized our actions in the world.
The fight against oppression, colonialism and racism must continue here and wherever necessary.
Free Palestine!
MORE STATEMENTS
A Liberatory Demand from Queers in Palestine:
https://queersinpalestine.noblogs.org
Statement by Feminist Scholars:
US Black Feminists on Palestine:
BDS Movement
https://bdsmovement.net/Ending-Gaza-Genocide-Feminist-Issue-Call-From-Palestinian-Women
Palestinian Feminist Collective
https://palestinianfeministcollective.org/shut-down-colonial-feminism-2023/
The Nation
Reprosist