By Sara Fadlalla, Cleveland Sudan Network
Many have heard the words, “First they came for the Communists, but I was not a communist so I did not speak out; then they came for the Socialists, but I was not a socialist so I did not speak out; then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out; then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me,” which was a poem written by a German Lutheran clergyman condemning the complicity and silence he saw within the clergy and intellectual class shortly following the Holocaust. And as we live through another undeniable stain on our humanity with the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza, we are often faced with this reality that this is happening on our watch, whether we condemn it or not.
The relationship between the Black Power movement and international solidarity with the people of Palestine has a long and close relationship within our US history. Malcolm X became one of the leading figures in identifying the similarities in struggle and moral obligation to support the indigenous Arabs of Palestine. In the early stages of settler colonialism under Zionism, what he described as “a new form of colonialism,” Malcolm X vehemently denounced the erasure of an indigenous people. He was able to visit Gaza and multiple refugee camps in his international travels in 1964, and from then onward, the call for action was clear, the fight in Palestine and the one here in our backyard were the same: a fight for basic human rights.
Another notable moment of solidarity that enriched the call for unity in this fight was the 1967 Sudan Summit that culminated in the capital city Khartoum. Key points during the discussions post the 1967 Arab-”Israeli” war were the “three no’s” which were as follows: 1. No peace 2. No negotiations 3. No recognition of “Israel,” defining the pinnacle of support for our Palestinian brethren. We see similar sentiments today in our work within CPAC and coalitions alike. No Zionism allowed in our streets, in our workplaces, in our politics; abolish ICE terrorizing us under fascist regimes.
This coalition building then (and now) led to a lasting impact that continued to reverberate throughout the Black Power movement in the 60s and 70s. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) also took a polarizing step in favor of international solidarity with Palestine by publishing an article in 1967 (Titled: Third World Round Up: The Palestine Problem: Test Your Knowledge) which without preamble clearly stated the connection the Arab-Palestinian has with the Black American in 1967. The connections between Zionism and apartheid South Africa also exacerbated the insight into the reality: the struggles were almost identical. Furthermore, the leader of the Black Panther Party, Huey P. Newton once wrote, “Israel was created by Western imperialism and is maintained by Western firepower,” and we see that to this day.
Without the support of our tax dollars, “Israel” would be resoundingly unable to continue its slaughter and decimation of Palestinian life and land. While billions of our tax dollars are sent yearly, we domestically have seen a dramatic rise in homelessness, food deserts, rising costs of childcare, and plummeting social services. All struggles that disproportionately affect our Black and brown neighbors right here at home. So while the struggle feels different, foreign, separate, consider the author of this piece–a Black Sudanese Muslim woman–faced with the same reality that her homeland of Sudan is crumbling in part due to weapons sales and taxes for “defense” being shuttled to places like the UAE, Egypt, “Israel,” who have only resource gain in mind, flagrantly destroying the homeland of her people.
So, when you find yourself in the grocery store shocked at the rising costs of living, channel that outrage into the productive changes we need to fight for: arms embargo on places like “Israel” who perpetrate ethnic cleansing; boycott companies that profit off of Black and brown labor and extortion; and remember that we take care of each other, check on your neighbors and organize together for the world we deserve.