We Who Believe in Freedom: Reflections of Palestine Freedom Rallies
Israel's violent ethnic cleansing in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem and the subsequent war on Gaza shook people worldwide. In response to the events in the Middle East, a coalition of forty social justice organizations in the Triangle area of North Carolina quickly coalesced to organize massive rallies for justice for Palestine. These rallies drew a connection to anti-Black racism in North Carolina - reeling from the murder of Andrew Brown in Greenville and outraged at Raleigh city's proposal for a $5 million increase in the police budget. Many people are acutely aware that Black and brown communities are treated as an occupied people by law enforcement officials often trained by Israel. Thousands of people, predominantly Palestinian, Muslim, and youth, participated in these rallies and marches for justice for Palestinians and justice at home.
Throughout the nation and around the world, people organized similar rallies and marches for Palestine. These people's actions forced the Biden Administration to work on a cease-fire deal and stop Israel's disproportionate military assault on Gaza. These spontaneous people's actions and resulting cease-fire are a cause for celebration. Yet, these developments do not represent a long-term victory. Nothing has changed on the ground in terms of Israel's colonial policies. The US military aid to Israel and other human rights abusers around the world has not stopped. Many US police officials still receive training from Israeli defense forces in tactics of occupation. The USA spends disproportionately on wars and occupations while bankrupting services like healthcare, education, jobs, and other people's fundamental rights. People are clear about the need for a long-term movement against wars and occupations abroad and linking this movement to the struggle for Black Liberation and other liberation movements.
The Black Radical Tradition always made connections between the Freedom of the Black people and local-to-global liberation movements. Once Haiti was established as a free state by Black freedom fighters after overthrowing slavery, they offered support to Simone Bolivar to defeat colonialism and slavery in Latin America. Bolivar did both through Black freedom fighters' support! Black solidarity for Palestinians is interwoven with the history of Black solidarity for Irish Freedom, ending apartheid in South Africa, and other freedom movements. The Black Panther Party in the USA inspired Dalit Panthers in India and Australian Aborigines' Black Panther Party. Muhammad Ali refused to serve in Vietnam War and called racism in the USA the real enemy. Martin Luther King, Jr. challenged the triple evils of "racism, economic exploitation, and militarism." He connected the war in Vietnam to the assault of poverty and racism on Black and working people at home.
This tradition of connecting local to global struggles is an essential aspect of the Black Radical Tradition, which inspires many forces in North Carolina and beyond. North Carolina-based Black Workers for Justice connect Black Freedom, Palestine Freedom, and other freedom movements. North Carolina Public Workers Union, UE Local 150, a rank-and-file Black worker led union passed BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) resolution and eventually got it passed from the national UE union in Pittsburgh, PA. Muslims for Social Justice was co-founded by Black Radical and Muslim immigrant organizers in North Carolina in 2013, and follows the Black Freedom Manifesto as a guiding document.
The recent rallies for justice for Palestinians are the beginning. The eventual goal is to continue on the path established by Black Freedom forces, and build a stronger movement against racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, classism, transphobia, and all forms of oppression! We need to continue organizing until we accomplish this goal. In the words of Black Freedom Fighter, Fannie Lou Hamer, "Nobody’s free until everybody's free!"