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<h2><font face="times new roman" size=4><b>Defining Terms in the Age of
Imperialism: Challenging Alleged “Strategic Solidarity”<br>
A statement to U.S based social justice movements from Palestinian
liberation and Palestine solidarity
activists</i></b></font></h2><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.araborganizing.org/solidarity" eudora="autourl">
http://www.araborganizing.org/solidarity</a><br><br>
<br>
</font><h4><b>Background</b></h4><font size=3>MADRE, an international
women's human rights organization based in the United States, recently
released commentary about what solidarity should look like for U.S.
progressives committed to the Palestinian struggle
</font><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0711-02.htm">
<font size=2>http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0711-02.htm</a></font>
<font size=3>. “Palestine in the Age of Hamas: The Challenge of
Progressive Solidarity,” is not a proactive call for solidarity. On
the contrary, this call for progressives to engage in ‘strategic
solidarity’ was issued in defense of the position taken by the
organization’s Communications Director, Yifat Susskind, a white Israeli
woman, at a plenary on imperialism held at the United States Social Forum
less than two weeks prior. At the plenary, Susskind explicitly
equated the armed resistance of some people in occupied Palestine with
the forces of imperialism led by George Bush. Susskind and MADRE’s
subsequent statement further call for particular opposition to Hamas
based on the Islamaphobic assumption that all movements that incorporate
Islam into their politics are reactionary and repressive. <br><br>
There was critical response to the position Susskind presented at the
Social Forum, especially because proposed Palestinian speakers had been
denied an opportunity to speak at that same plenary. As a result,
the Social Forum’s National Planning Committee publicly apologized for
having an Israeli on the panel speaking about Palestinian resistance
movements, rather than a Palestinian, as originally proposed. The
apology recognized the importance of social justice movements creating
spaces for those most impacted by imperialism to articulate and critique
their own struggles rather than defer to the often privileged voices of
those located within the power made possible by racism and imperialism.
The apology was then followed by a Palestinian American woman reading a
statement prepared by Palestinian, other Arab, and solidarity activists
to specifically respond to Susskind’s damaging comments. <br><br>
We agree with Susskind that it is vitally important to have a clear sense
of what solidarity means and to discuss the matter publicly. Given
that Susskind’s position has been restated and defended by MADRE in a
wider forum, we are also taking the opportunity to respond more
broadly. <br><br>
<br>
</font><h4><b>‘Strategic Solidarity’ Recreates Oppressive Power
Dynamics</b></h4><font size=3>Rather than use her time on stage at the
Social Forum to demand an end to US imperialism in Palestine and the
Middle East, Susskind chose to focus on criticizing political Islam and
Palestinian resistance leadership. At a moment when a central project of
US imperialism is the dominance of the Middle East/West Asia and, by
extension, the generalized repression and suppression of Islam, Arab
people and Arab states, this myopic concentration on ill-defined and
inaccurately generalized political Islam recreates and fuels anti-Arab
racism and anti-Muslim repression. <br><br>
Ironically, in MADRE’s follow-up defense statement calling for a
“strategic solidarity that accounts for the complexity of the crisis,”
they continue Susskind’s simplistic characterization of Hamas as
“reactionary,” thereby failing to heed their own organizational call to
pay attention to complexity. Unfortunately, this is an
all-too-common occurrence in progressive circles in the U.S., as Lebanese
activist Bilal Elamine notes:<br><br>
<i>Many people on the left in the US make the mistake that any time they
see a movement that has Islam as part of the way it expresses its
politics, they immediately put it into one category that some go as far
as calling Islamic fascism and others call reactionary....There has to be
a deeper understanding and we have to lift the prejudice that just
because there’s religious expression in the politics it does not
immediately mean that it’s a reactionary movement or a movement that we
have to be wary of...We have to {snip} see the real contentwhat the
movement represents, what its goals are, what its tactics areand judge
it on that basis.<br><br>
</i>In an article published in The L.A Times on the same day as MADRE’s
statement (7.10.2007), the deputy of the political bureau of Hamas, Mousa
Abu Marzook indeed speaks to the specificity of Hamas’ politics, stating
that “…our movement is continually linked by President Bush and Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to ideologies that they know full well we do
not follow, such as the agenda of Al Qaeda and its adherents. But we are
not part of a broader war. Our resistance struggle is no one's proxy,
although we welcome the support of people everywhere for justice in
Palestine.” <br><br>
By calling for a “position” on political Islam, Susskind and MADRE fall
into the Bush/Olmert trap described above of collapsing all Islamic
movements into one entity, obscuring the specific root cause of the
anti-oppression struggles of the Palestinians. The root cause of
Palestinian resistance – that Hamas is clear in articulating, much to the
chagrin of the US and Israeli governments – is the creation of a Jewish
State through the colonization of Palestinian land and dispossession of
Palestinian people, with the imperial backing by the British and then the
US governments. This colonization did not begin in 1967 as
the MADRE statement misleadingly suggests; it is rooted in the decades
leading up to the 1948 founding of the State of Israel.<br><br>
<br>
</font><h4><b>True Liberatory Solidarity: “Stand Behind Me, Don’t
Divide Me, and Don’t Decide for Me”</b></h4><font size=3>Throughout the
last several decades of this colonialism, there have always been various
forms of indigenous Palestinian anti-colonial resistance, and repeated
calls for international attention to and solidarity with this
resistance. Immediately following Susskind’s presentation at the
Social Forum, a long-time Palestinian activist from the West Bank of
Palestine, explained that he was deeply upset by Susskind’s plenary
remarks and felt inclined to share his understanding of solidarity.
His impassioned description included three fundamental principles: stand
behind me, don’t divide me, and don’t decide for me.<br><br>
These are not principles of a simplistic, “reflexive solidarity” that
fails to take into account the complexity of a situation. These are
principles that help to keep our steps toward solidarity sure-footed
throughout the inherent complexity and contradiction of being based in
the U.S. while supporting a decades-long resistance struggle that is
targeted and divided with the direct support of the U.S.
government. Standing behind and in solidarity with a movement is
about listening to and supporting the needs of the movement, in the
various and complex ways those needs are articulated, while taking care
not to use the privileges of our location to speak on behalf of those
movements. <br><br>
U.S.-based solidarity with the Palestinian people means resisting U.S.
imperialism in the region and U.S. support of the apartheid state of
Israel – one of the primary sources of the oppression of all
Palestinians, including women. We are not promoting the “afterwards”
strategy described by MADRE to end imperialism first, and end sexism,
homophobia and every other oppression later. We recognize that
struggles to end imperialism are intimately connected to the struggles to
end all oppressions. However, while there is a need for
progressives across the globe to create shared visions of liberation and
justice, those located at and most impacted by the intersection of
imperialism, racism, and patriarchy ought to be forging and leading the
articulation of those inter-connections and the movement and leadership
critiques they inspire. <br><br>
Solidarity with Palestinian women means insisting on movement spaces in
which they can articulate their own experiences and organizing efforts in
response to the intersections of occupation, colonization and gender
oppression. Speaking on behalf of Palestinians, rather than in solidarity
with Palestinians, maintains the West as the definers and arbiters of
what is valuable, acceptable, civilized, and
just. Palestine solidarity work is about
listening to progressives in Palestine and in the Diaspora and hearing
what they need from us in order to hold their ground and advance their
struggles as best as they can, on their own terms. <br><br>
As U.S. based anti-imperialist activists, we need to seek ways to listen,
learn and support, rather than engage in dividing, deciding or speaking
on others’ behalf. <br><br>
<br><br>
</font><h4><b>Please forward to your networks, post on your website, or
continue the discussion by creating your own messages defining solidarity
needs for your own communities’ liberation struggles.<br><br>
</b></h4><h3><b>CO-SIGNING ORGANIZATIONS:<br><br>
<br>
</b></h3><h4><font face="times new roman" size=2><b>To sign on to this
statement as an individual or organization, email:</font>
<a href="mailto:justice@araborganizing.org">justice@araborganizing.org</a>
</b></h4><font size=3>40/60 Campaign for Freedom and Return<br><br>
Arab American Union Members Council <br><br>
Arab Resource & Organizing Center<br><br>
Break the Siege<br><br>
Break the Silence Mural Project<br><br>
Freedom Archives<br><br>
International Jewish Solidarity Network<br><br>
Left Turn<br><br>
Palestine Education Project<br><br>
Youth Solidarity Network<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
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