Solidarity between black and Palestinian organizers is intertwined with historical roots. However, experts and activists believe that the events that occurred in recent years led to the crystallization of the intersections and similarities of the demonstrators...

American solidarity and popular support towards the Palestinian cause is increasing, about a month after the violent Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, which many human rights organizations described as “genocide” against the Palestinians.

Anne Eliza Canning Skinner describes her participation in the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020 as the first time she “experienced the meaning of solidarity.” Three years later, the 28-year-old young woman took to the streets of New York to demonstrate in support of the Palestinians.

The death toll from the continuous Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip since then has reached more than ten thousand people, most of them civilians, children and women, according to the latest toll of the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Canning Skinner is one of thousands of demonstrators across the United States who took to the streets demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to US funding for the Israeli army. Demonstrators in the United States are increasingly linking the Palestinian liberation movement to the black liberation movement.

In Brooklyn recently, Canning Skinner, a black woman, came out with demonstrators who raised signs reading “Black lives for Palestine” and “White silence is violence,” and the young woman asserts, “Everything is interconnected.”

There are historical roots of solidarity between black and Palestinian organizers. However, experts and activists believe that the events that occurred in recent years led to the crystallization of the similarities and intersections of the demonstrators.

“In terms of doing this kind of ideological work to convince people that Palestine is an issue they should engage with, I think Black Lives Matter was very important,” asserts Derek Ide, a historian at the University of Michigan.

He added, "There are more people in the streets, and this is certainly a result of the type of organizing that black activists have been doing alongside Palestinian groups and organizations."

Sam Klug, an African American studies historian who focuses on decolonization, explains that with the emergence of the Black Power and anti-war movements in the mid-twentieth century, “it became more common in African American activist circles to understand Palestinians as an oppressed people.”

He says that the 1967 war was an important turning point, noting that the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee - which was a major organizing force during the American civil rights movement - issued a bulletin that “took a strong pro-Palestinian position.”

He added, "She described a kind of shared state of oppression and occupation between African Americans and Palestinians and a kind of global colonial society."

Decades later, the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked mass protests against racism and state violence, and the Black Lives Matter movement began to attract American attention.

In the summer of 2014, Israel launched a military campaign against Gaza for seven weeks, and historian Aydi confirms that “seeing these two things happening at the same time (..) reinforced that these are two unified struggles” for many activists.

He noted, "We saw a kind of wave of action and dialogue between the demonstrators in Ferguson as well as the Palestinians in Gaza (...) the exchange of tactics, strategies, and stories of oppression and resistance to oppression."

In 2020, the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police sparked more massive protests and strengthened efforts to combat racism in the United States.

Klug believes that “it is difficult to imagine” the current protests in the United States without the “Black Lives Matter” movement, and he said, “It is certainly not the only factor (..) but I think it is important.”

A number of demonstrators have recently pointed to the existence of links between Israeli law enforcement and American police, pointing in particular to programs that see American officers trained alongside their Israeli counterparts. Even before the current war, Israel has been waging military operations, some of which have included the use of lethal force against civilians. .

Klug noted “a clear shared visual language that people can see when Israeli security services brutalize Palestinian civilians, and which Americans have become familiar with from scenes of white police officers committing acts of violence against African-American civilians.”

These factors may help provide a partial explanation for why American opinion has grown and improved on the Palestinian issue, especially among young people in recent years, in a country whose government affirms unwavering support for Israel.

Klug asserts that the protests over the killing of George Florid and the work of Black Lives Matter that preceded them led to a shift in the conversation about the Palestinian issue for many black activists - and also more broadly "among young Americans of all races."

Klug spoke about the increasing activity on the left among anti-Zionist Jewish movements such as the “Jewish Voice for Peace” and the “If Not Now” movement, both of which have played a strong organizational role in recent weeks.

Joe Behanzen, who recently took part in a demonstration in Manhattan, confirmed that, inspired by “Black Lives Matter,” it is about what he described as “global solidarity.”

Source: arab48