Race and Politics
From Invisible to Emoji: The Palestinian Flag and #BLM as Quick Activism
Is this so-called allyship here to stay, or will it return to the shadows like other trendy causes?
Growing up, I never saw the Palestinian flag outside my home or anyone proclaiming “Black lives matter!” Today, every so-called progressive and liberal puts it in their Twitter Bio.
In 2014, Ferguson was engulfed in the righteous rage of the people who felt slighted and betrayed by the system they knew was never meant to protect them. The murder of Michael Brown Jr. at the hands of police was yet another blow for the Black community of the United States who had for too long endured the boot of the police planted firmly on their necks. Protests ensued. The full scale of the militarization of the police became evident. Across several states, the Atlantic Ocean, and the continent of Africa, in Gaza, Palestine, a similar war was happening.
My family in Gaza survived one of the deadliest assaults on Palestine and its people since the Nakba* itself in the 2014 assault, where thousands of Palestinians were mercilessly killed and tens of thousands were injured in a “war” against a U.S backed occupying power. People began to notice the timing of such events and began linking the military tactics, abuse of force, and weapons used against Palestinians in Gaza and protestors in Ferguson. It was too similar to be a coincidence.
The U.S army was responsible for arming both the police departments in Missouri and the Israeli army. Palestinians began tweeting out advice with the hashtag #FromPalestineToFerguson. A new consciousness was forming that included a more encompassing anti-imperialist thought that positioned the fight against oppression as global, not relegated to just one border. The militarization of police, the tear gas, the violence, etc. was not just happening in the U.S.
Palestinians have some advice for the people of Ferguson, Missouri | The World from PRX — www.pri.org
They know perhaps better than anyone how to handle what is looking very much like a military occupation.
In March of 2021, when yet another indiscriminate assault on Gaza occurred. I stayed up for nights on end awaiting news from my cousins and aunties to make sure everyone was okay. We lost an entire building on my mother’s side, destroyed in an Israeli airstrike, although thankfully no one was killed. It was the largest manufacturer of steel in Gaza, and in a second, it was gone. My uncle built that business from the ground up over five decades ago, and employed hundreds of people in the community. He was well known for his charitable nature, and all his surviving son and heir to the business had to say when it happened was: “We will rebuild. We always rebuild.”
It’s in 2021 that people began moving away from the “both sides” narrative they’d been presented with ever since the creation of the state of Israel.
In what was a continuation of the “awakening” to the general state of shit the world was in the summer of 2020, people began to see what was happening in Palestine for what it was: An imbalanced assault on a population under siege. A population that is made up of 50% children. The conditions in the West Bank, and Gaza especially, had been deteriorating fast, and the latest barrage brought more attention to the war crimes being committed every day by the settler-state of Israel.
To be honest I’m not sure what shifted exactly this time around for the general public. It’s like Black Lives Matter all over again. We been knew how bad things were for Black men and women but it took a live recording of a murder of an innocent Black man during a pandemic where people were perpetually locked down for non-Black people to finally pay attention. Maybe this is akin to that. Whatever it is, it’s been odd, to say the least, to navigate this newly trendy pro-Palestinian club of people who couldn’t even have told you what the flag’s colours were a year ago.
I recently participated in Woke or Whateva, a podcast by two talented women who tackle a range of issues related to Blackness. They graciously invited me on to speak on Afro-Palestinians and the Palestinian cause. At one point, I mentioned the little things I’ve noticed throughout my life that erased us as a people. One of them was perpetually searching for the Palestinian flag in gymnasiums or sports events where every single country in the world got to show their flag off.
Now, I see at least 20 different Twitter and Facebook accounts a day with the flag proudly displayed in their Bio and their actual handle and profile pictures. Wow! It’s a little overwhelming seeing my people’s flag plastered everywhere when we are so used to being invisible.
What the hell happened?
Going from being perceived as a shameful secret to a beacon of pride and rich heritage is not an easy transition. That’s not to say I was ashamed of my identity. Hell naw. I know where I come from and am damn proud of it. But I have deliberately kept quiet about my Palestinian ethnicity in the past because of how inherently political it is. People love to chime in with a look of pity, or an air of wanting to challenge you, or a confused look because “Black Palestinians are real?”, or a prejudiced thought on what Palestinians ought to do to achieve “peace” with their oppressor. Now, almost overnight, everyone wants to hear from a Palestinian.
People are waking up to the fact that we exist. And that we are human.
This isn’t a bad thing, inherently. We need more eyes and ears on what’s really happening. The problem is, much like many of the loudest “supporters” of Black Lives Matter early on, when the sentiment toward the movement shifted from suspect to on-brand, these so-called pro-Palestinian activists can quickly decide they’re not so with it anymore, that it’s too much effort to keep going, that it’s too controversial to demand freedom from the river to the sea, and this and that. To put it plainly, I don’t trust any of these mofos, and if you are a Black person and/or Palestinian, neither should you. We’ve been burned before. And not just by your average armchair activist, but by powerful lobbies trying to criminalize our non-violent forms of resistance.
Still, if you’re one of those people who didn’t know what a Palestine was a couple of years ago and are suddenly super duper pro-Palestinian rights and are one of the people with a Palestine flag emoji on your profile, check out resources from actual Palestinians, preferably those who are actually on the ground to receive true updates and campaigns worth donating to. The same principle goes for people who publicly support the BLM movement. If you support one, you must support the other.
Read up on the BDS movement and participate in it without compromise.
BDS and BLM: Positionality, Intersectionality and Nonviolent Activism — www.e-ir.info
Stay updated on the oppressor’s continued war crimes and ethnic cleansing and share it with others. Take action. Be loud.
Do not normalize apartheid.
Context for today’s words:
*The Palestinian Nakba: What Happened in 1948 and Why It Still Matters | Middle East Institute — www.mei.edu
Every year on May 15th, millions of Palestinians around the world commemorate the Nakba, or the catastrophe that befell them in 1948.
END U.S. COMPLICITY IN ISRAEL’S ABUSES OF PALESTINIANS — M4BL — m4bl.org
The Movement for Black Lives condemns the deadly, racist attacks against the Palestinian people by the Israeli state.
مريم البرغوثي (@MariamBarghouti) | Twitter — twitter.com
The latest Tweets from مريم البرغوثي (@MariamBarghouti). writer and researcher. There will be typos. Focus on the substance| Palestine.
Mohammed El-Kurd (@m7mdkurd) | Twitter — twitter.com
The latest Tweets from Mohammed El-Kurd (@m7mdkurd). Writer from Jerusalem, occupied Palestine | Sheikh Jarrah.
Omar Ghraieb🇵🇸 (@Omar_Gaza) | Twitter — twitter.com
The latest Tweets from Omar Ghraieb🇵🇸 (@Omar_Gaza). Palestinian & Proud. Views expressed here are my own, it doesn’t represent my country or any organization I work with | Palestine.
