[News] Pali-Rican Solidarities: The Dizzying Parallels of Colonial Occupation

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counterpunch.org
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/07/04/pali-rican-solidarities-the-dizzying-parallels-of-colonial-occupation/>
Pali-Rican Solidarities: The Dizzying Parallels of Colonial Occupation
Melinda González
July 4, 2024
------------------------------

Image by Vin Jack.

Whoever among you sees evil,
let him change it with his hand.If he cannot do so, then with his tongue.
If he cannot do so, then with his heart […].

-Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)

As I sit to write this piece, bombs rain down in Rafah and all of Gaza.
Settler encroachments into the occupied West Bank intensify. Nina* sends me
a message on Instagram, a picture of Palestinian journalist, Bisan Owda and
a group of men, holding up a Puerto Rican flag. Nina is in tears. I, too,
feel them welling up in my throat. Two hundred sixty eight days. Nine
months. Seven and a half decades. One hundred twenty six years. My people
have been fighting colonial occupation. Nina* and I, who many nights stayed
up talking about the parallels between the Puerto Rican struggle and the
Native American struggle, discuss once again the parallels between
Palestine and Puerto Rico.

The parallels between Puerto Ricans and Palestinians are many – both
occupied territories, both subject to experimentation with bombs and
medicine, both experiencing disaster capitalism, both experiencing forced
displacement, both dying – one slowly through austerity measures and the
other rapidly through the onslaught of bombs by occupation forces. After
Hurricane María ravaged our homeland, my Puerto Rican research participants
each declared resoundingly – “*El desastre real es el colonialismo*.” So,
too, for Palestinians – the real disaster is colonialism.

Since the onslaught of escalated violence against Palestinians by the
Israeli occupation in October 2023, officials one after the other, have
declared that “there are no innocent civilians” in Gaza and all of occupied
Palestine. The characterization of Palestinian youth by occupation Prime
Minister Netanyahu as “children of darkness” highlights a widespread
misrepresentation of all Palestinians as terrorists and ignores the ongoing
history of the occupation of Palestine and the legacy of the Nakba in 1948
and numerous instances of occupied forces’ aggression against the
Palestinian people. The characterization of Palestinians as terrorists is
corroborated by the U.S. government, the occupation’s greatest ally in the
ongoing colonization, displacement, and genocide of Palestinians. As early
as October 8, 1997, the U.S. Secretary of State designated multiple groups
advocating for Palestinian liberation as Foreign Terrorist Organizations
<https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/>(FTOs), including
the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and HAMAS.

Palestinians are not the first people seeking liberation from military
occupation that have been labeled by the U.S. government as terrorists – a
label intended to dehumanize and justify genocide. Since at least the
1950s, through the covert FBI program COINTELPRO, the U.S. government has
undermined the Puerto Rican liberation
<https://vault.fbi.gov/cointel-pro/puerto-rican-groups/cointel-pro-puerto-rican-groups-part-1-of-11/view>
movement by classifying its activists and advocates as terrorists, thereby
criminalizing their struggle and justifying continued state repression. As
early as October 24, 1935, the U.S. backed police force opened fire on a
group of students at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, resulting
in the deaths of four young Puerto Rican nationalists. In the infamous 1937
Ponce Massacre, the U.S. government killed 19 Puerto Ricans and injured
more than 200. In 1948, the same year as the Nakba, students protesting the
Ley de la Mordaza (Gag Law), which suppressed Puerto Rican independence
movements, faced violent crackdowns by police, resulting in numerous
injuries and arrests. In the 1960s and 1970s, Puerto Ricans along with
other students across the world protested against the Vietnam War and were
met with military and police repression and violence. From the 1990s and
into the present, students protesting austerity measures, tuition hikes,
and university closures have been met with violent confrontations with
police, who have used tear gas and batons to disperse students, arresting
numerous student activists.

Repression of Puerto Ricans does not only occur on the archipelago, but
extends to the diaspora. For example, in the 1990s, a teacher at a Puerto
Rican alternative high school in Chicago, IL was revealed to be an FBI
infiltrator who later testified against nationalist activists, labeling
them as terrorists (Ramos-Zayas 2004: 31, quoting Oclander 1995). Taken
together, all these repressive tactics are part of a broader historical
process where Puerto Ricans have been racialized and constructed as
“enemies of the State,” as “anti-American,” and, most dangerously, as
“terrorists” (Ramos-Zayas 2004: 35). Media representations play a powerful
role in this, categorizing some Puerto Ricans as “deserving” American
citizens, those proving their worth through upward mobility, and others as
“undeserving” ones, deemed criminals (Ramos-Zayas 2004: 35, citing herself
1997; 2003). Similarly, the everyday programs of Puerto Rican nationalist
activists within the diaspora are branded as un-American terrorist
activities, legitimizing their criminalization and producing unequal
citizen-subjects (Ramos-Zayas 2004: 40-41). The possibility of a free and
independent Puerto Rican nation continues to be undermined through FBI and
CIA programs (Bosque-Perez 2006; Caban 2005), which use violence and
surveillance to undermine local organizations on the archipelago that are
aimed at self-determination, including the bombing of multiple independence
party headquarters (Caban 2005), the murdering of independence leaders and
their children, including the assassination of Filiberto Ojeda-Rios on
September 23, 2005 (a date which honors Puerto Rico’s independence struggle
against the Spanish Crown), and the incarceration of Puerto Rican
independence leaders and activists well into the present
<https://theintercept.com/2018/05/31/university-of-puerto-rico-protests/>
(Bosque-Perez 2006; Caban 2005; Lopez-River and Headley 1989).

Educational facilities have been a primary site of attack by both the U.S.
government in Puerto Rico and by occupation forces in Palestine.
Palestinian schools and universities often face accusations of fostering
terrorism, and students and teachers are subject to surveillance and
arrests under the pretext of security concerns. For example, Israeli
occupation forces have bombed numerous UN schools throughout Gaza claiming
that HAMAS is hiding in the schools, killing dozens
<https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/dozens-killed-in-israeli-strike-on-un-school-building-in-gaza>
of teachers, students, and families sheltering there. These actions serve
to delegitimize Palestinian resistance and to portray the struggle for
self-determination as inherently violent and terroristic. As with Puerto
Rico, this labeling extends beyond the educational sphere, permeating media
representations and public discourse, and thus justifying ongoing military
occupation and repression.

>From the viewpoint of the present moment, then, we can see a prevailing
blueprint for the dehumanization of occupied peoples by their occupiers,
one that serves to justify their ongoing disenfranchisement, displacement,
and death. Taking stock historically, it is striking how rooted, enduring,
and analogous the parallels are: occupied by the U.S. and Israel,
respectively, Puerto Rico and Palestine have been subject to
settler-colonial rule for 126 and 76 years. Both occupations have been
marked by political and economic control with military presence and mass
displacement of indigenous populations. Both occupied territories have
limited self-governance and lack full sovereignty. While organizations like
the PLO and Hamas have come into power through elections in Palestine,
neither organization has had the ability to decide Palestine’s political
future without Israeli intervention. Similarly, while Puerto Rico has
limited self-governance and elections, the local government is often
beholden to the whims of whatever the U.S. Congress decides, and the
archipelago is subject to U.S. federal law without full representation,
meaning that while Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, they do not have the
right to vote for the U.S. president if they are residing in Puerto Rico.
Like Puerto Ricans living in the U.S., Palestinians residing within the
borders of Israel qualify for citizenship but have limited civil and
political representation in government, right down to something as concrete
as infrastructure, for example, unequal access to Israeli roads, while
those living in Occupied Palestine are subject to mass policing and
detention. Furthermore, Israeli control of the Palestinian economy through
restrictions on trade, movement, and access to resources has resulted in
economic dependence on international aid. Similarly, the Puerto Rican
economy has been shaped and hampered by U.S. interests, leading to mass
austerity measures, economic dependence intended to stifle the attainment
of political sovereignty, and mass debt due to incentivized programs for
non-Puerto Rican investors. Symbolically, the Palestinian and Puerto Rican
flags were both outlawed in their respective territories and flying them
has become a symbol of resistance. Both Palestine and Puerto Rico, then,
have had ongoing movements for independence, which were and continue to be
met with violent resistance from their occupiers.

*The license to take license: occupation and experimentation*

The histories of U.S. military testing on Puerto Ricans and Israeli
military testing on Palestinians reveal further parallels, in this case the
disturbing use of colonized and occupied populations for experimental
purposes. In Puerto Rico, the U.S. military used the island of Vieques
extensively for naval training exercises, including the detonation of bombs
and the release of toxic substances, leading to severe environmental
contamination and significant health problems among the local population.
This testing, which spanned several decades, resulted in high rates of
cancer and other serious illnesses among Vieques residents, highlighting
the exploitation of a marginalized population that lacked political power
to challenge such actions effectively. The legacy of these actions
underscores both the basic underlying attitudes of colonialism and the many
ethical violations inherent in using a territory and its people as a
testing ground for military purposes (Zavestoski and Agüero 2004).

Similarly, allegations have emerged regarding the use of Palestinians as
subjects for military and medical testing by Israeli forces. Reports
suggest that during periods of heightened conflict, such as the Intifadas
and various military operations in Gaza, new military technologies and
crowd control methods have been tested on Palestinian civilians, including
advanced surveillance technologies and crowd control weapons. Additionally,
there have been accusations of Israeli pharmaceutical companies conducting
drug trials on Palestinian patients without proper informed consent. These
actions are facilitated by the ongoing occupation, which has left
Palestinians with limited sovereignty and political power, making them
particularly vulnerable to exploitation. The same could be said for Puerto
Rico: in addition to knowing, but indirect biological harm, with slow
consequences, the U.S. government carried out knowing, direct, permanent
biological harm, in the form of sterilizing one-third of Puerto Rican
women, from 1930 to 1970, without their informed consent. Both cases
exemplify the ethical and human rights concerns associated with using
occupied and colonized populations for experimental purposes, reflecting
broader patterns of military and political dominance over marginalized
groups (Amnesty International 2020; Physicians for Human Rights-Israel
2015). And both cases point to genocidal effort: either through
circumventing biological reproduction from the start or through all-out
war. Both are bent on the control and, when expedient, the extermination of
dehumanized civilians.

*Catastrophes exploited and exploited yet again: disaster capitalism,
displacement, and beyond*

The violations attendant on colonialism and active occupations do not stop
at social and biological labeling and control. They extend to encompass–to
harm–the health of the economies of the occupied lands in question, as
well. For instance, both Puerto Rico and Palestine have experienced a
crushing form of disaster capitalism, or the exploitation of crises for
economic gain, leading to significant displacement and disenfranchisement
of local populations. In Puerto Rico, the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and
the financial oversight imposed by policies like the Puerto Rico Oversight,
Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), have facilitated both
privatization and austerity measures, a double-sided baton that brutally
exacerbates inequality and help drives out-migration. Acts 20 and 22
incentivized and attracted external investors, further displacing local
communities. In Palestine, the ongoing blockade of Gaza, violent repression
of protests like the overwhelmingly peaceful 2018 Great March of Return,
and settlement expansion have similarly led to economic deprivation and
forced displacement. Both regions experience international interventions
prioritizing profit over local needs, yet the contexts differ: Puerto Rico
faces economic policies under U.S. colonial rule, while Palestine contends
with illegal military occupation and systematic violence by Israeli
occupation forces. Despite these differences, both cases illustrate how
external actors exploit crises to impose neoliberal reforms, deepening
existing inequalities, doubling down on existing displacements, as in the
Great March, and catalyzing new displacements with free market abandon, all
the while undermining local resources, life force, biological integrity,
and collective resilience.

In Puerto Rico, PROMESA in combination with the influx of wealthy
non-residents buying property after Hurricane Maria have led to significant
displacement, including via traditional gentrification but by no means
being limited to that. Since 2016, for instance, over 500,000 Puerto Ricans
have left the archipelago due to economic hardship, the closure of over 300
schools, austerity measures that have raised tuition and the local cost of
living, and a lack of medical infrastructure to deal with health crises
(Census Bureau 2020; Rosario-Ramos et al. 2020). Puerto Rican youth
struggle to find employment, obtain affordable and timely education, and
are faced with an uncertain future in their homeland, many feeling forced
to leave as a means of survival.

Since 2016, over 11,000 Palestinians have been displaced in the most blunt
object of ways, due to settlers demolishing Palestinian homes and
appropriating their lands. And since October 2023, the genocidal actions by
the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) against Palestinians in Gaza have
resulted in roughly 1.7 million Palestinians being displaced across Gaza
(UNRWA; Human Rights Watch; OCHA; Al Jazeera). Every university in
Palestine has been destroyed by the Israeli occupation since late 2023 and
Palestinian youth lack access to education, healthcare, housing, and food,
while having bombs rain down on them on a daily basis.

The systematic targeting of youth as a form of dispossession and control
are the law of occupation and an apparent tool of genocide and forced
displacement. In Puerto Rico, historical actions, such as the U.S.
government’s placement of Puerto Rican youth in Indian boarding schools,
aimed to suppress cultural identity and impose Americanization – another
form of stifling not just self-determination efforts but the space to
imagine such efforts in the first place. Today, ongoing austerity measures
regularly threaten university education, forcing students into extended
academic paths due to class shortages and financial constraints. Further,
the closure of hundreds of schools threaten their futures and the futures
of motivated students to come.

In Palestine, the situation is even more dire. Schools are routinely
targeted and destroyed by Israeli forces under the pretext of security
concerns, severely limiting educational opportunities for Palestinian
children. It is well reported that the Israeli occupation forces
specifically target Palestinian youth – Netanyahu’s “children of darkness”–
shooting them, maiming their limbs, and detaining them in prisons. Annually
about 500-700 Palestinian youth are detained
<https://www.dci-palestine.org/children_in_israeli_detention> by the
Israeli occupation, freedom out of sight. The deliberate targeting of
Palestinian youth
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/02/gaza-palestinian-children-killed-idf-israel-war>
underscores a systematic effort to undermine the future generations’
ability to resist occupation and assert their national identity.

In 2023, we were still uncovering the bones of massacred Native American
youth in the U.S. For how many more centuries, will we be uncovering the
mass graves of Palestinian youth?

In examining the shared experiences of Puerto Rico and Palestine under
colonial occupation, we see clear and unnerving parallels in their
struggles against dehumanization, displacement, and exploitation. From
historical mislabeling as terrorists to ongoing military occupations
enabling experimentation and disaster capitalism, Puerto Ricans and
Palestinians face extensive injustices by colonial design. Whether in
Palestine, Puerto Rico, Congo, Sudan, Hawai’i, Haiti or elsewhere, colonial
extractivism and violence persist effectively unchecked. The labeling of
indigenous peoples as once savages and now terrorists while their lands are
seized and their lives are taken captures, in a single stroke, the
brutality of colonial occupation. As Palestinians raise the Puerto Rican
flag in Gaza, and Puerto Ricans march on the archipelago
<https://www.npr.org/2024/01/19/1225722287/why-puerto-rico-has-such-deep-support-for-the-palestinian-cause>and
across the diaspora adorned in keffiyehs and Palestinian flags, they
communicate to the world that the true disaster is colonial occupation. In
alignment with the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)’s words, they see
evil and don’t look away. Parallel histories of injustice are matched with
parallel shows of mutual support born of knowledge sharing and shared
experiences. Here, I can both point to the empirical record and speak from
personal experience when I say that the Pali-Rican solidarity is strong and
ongoing. It and interrelated abolitionist struggles around the planet are
being expressed through pen, tongue, and heart. If the Prophet (PBUH)
suggests an obligation to change evil, then heeding parallel histories of
colonial outrage is one important starting point.

*Dr. Melinda González*
<https://gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/003Hp00002j1NruIAE/melinda-gonz%C3%A1lez?asPublic=true>
is a Puerto Rican scholar and poet, who was born and raised in Newark, New
Jersey, with ancestral home in the lush mountains of Moca, Puerto Rico. She
is a socio-cultural anthropologist who focuses on environmental
anthropology/disaster studies. She is currently an Assistant Professor at
the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
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