Loading ...
Palestinians Express "Solidarity with the People of Ferguson" in Mike Brown Statement
Palestinian groups and individuals inside and outside of historic Palestine have signed the following statement in solidarity with their brethren in Ferguson, Missouri.
Unsurprisingly, many of the police deployed to crush unarmed protesters demanding justice for the brutal murder of eighteen-year-old black American Mike Brown are Israel-trained. Despotic tactics Palestinians largely associate with Israel’s colonial military, such as teargassing protesters and harassing journalists, have all been implemented in Ferguson.
Although Ferguson and Palestine are two different contexts, both places and their people are fighting against white supremacist regimes of oppression which continue to view them as “disposable others” and act accordingly.
The individuals who signed the statement below may not all know or agree with each other. However, the undersigned all believe that it is the moral responsibility of every Palestinian to support and foster relations with the struggles of the oppressed all over the world.
It is also worth noting that the Palestinian struggle for freedom is not a copy of the struggle of our black brothers and sisters both in the past and present. Neither is the black struggle a homogeneous one. Finally, the struggle of our black brethren is not a simple tool to “popularize” ours.
But the Civil Rights, anti-apartheid and anti-colonial movements in the United States, South Africa and foreign colonies across the African continent in the past offer us various models from which we should learn. In the present, Palestinians (though this does not apply to sell-outs such as Mahmoud Abbas and his minions) stand up against the despotism which the US, the settler-colony known as Israel, and various European and Arab governments embody.
Full statement
We the undersigned Palestinian individuals and groups express our solidarity with the family of Michael Brown, a young unarmed black man gunned down by police on August 9th in Ferguson, Missouri. We wish to express our support and solidarity with the people of Ferguson who have taken their struggle to the street, facing a militarized police occupation.
From all factions and sectors of our dislocated society, we send you our commitment to stand with you in your hour of pain and time of struggle against the oppression that continues to target our black brothers and sisters in nearly every aspect of their lives.
We understand your moral outrage. We empathize with your hurt and anger. We understand the impulse to rebel against the infrastructure of a racist capitalist system that systematically pushes you to the margins of humanity.
And we stand with you.
We recognize the disregard and disrespect for black bodies and black life endemic to the supremacist system that rules the land with wanton brutality. Your struggles through the ages have been an inspiration to us as we fight our own battles for basic human dignities. We continue to find inspiration and strength from your struggles through the ages and your revolutionary leaders, like Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Kwame Ture, Angela Davis, Fred Hampton, Bobby Seale and others.
We honor the life of Michael Brown, cut short less than a week before he was due to begin university. And we honor the far too many more killed in similar circumstances, motivated by racism and contempt for black life: Ezell Ford, John Crawford, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Tarika Wilson, Malcolm Ferguson, Renisha McBride, Amadou Diallo, Yvette Smith, Oscar Grant, Sean Bell, Kathryn Johnston, Rekia Boyd and too many others to count.
With a Black Power fist in the air, we salute the people of Ferguson and join in your demands for justice.
Signatories
Susan Abulhawa, novelist and activist
Linah Alsaafin, graduate student, SOAS
Budour Hassan
Rinad Abdulla, Professor, Birzeit University
Ramzy Baroud, Managing Editor, Middle East Eye
Diana Buttu, Lawyer, Palestine
Rana Baker, graduate student, SOAS
Abbas Hamideh, activist and organizer
Abir Kopty
Ahlam Muhtaseb, Professor, CSU
Alaa Milbes, Ramallah, Palestine
Alaa Marwan, Ramallah, Palestine
Nour Joudah, Washington DC
Ali Zbeidat, Sakhnin, Palestine
Areej Alragabi , Jerusalem, Palestine
Areej Saeb, student, Jerusalem
Asma Jaber
Beesan Ramadan, Nablus
Dina Zbidat, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Dr Jess Ghannam, UCSF
Huwaida Arraf, Attorney, New York
Nejma Awad, Tetra Tech DPK
Monadel Herzallah, USPCN, San Francisco Bay Area
Ghassan Hussein
Dinna Omar
Randa C. Issa
Amal Khoury, MD MPH, Washington, DC
Amani Barakat Moorpark, California
Fadi Quran
Fajr Harb
Falastine Dwikat, PCACBI
Hala Gabriel
Khaled Jarrar
Osama Ahmad, AMP Bay Area director
Hala Turjman
Halla Shoaibi, Birzeit University
Harun Arsalai
Zaid Shuaibi
Hurriyah Ziada
Dima Eleiwa, Shujaiyah, Gaza, Palestine
Jamil Salem, Birzeit University
Karam Saleem, International Solidarity Movement, Palestine
Khaled Barakat
Khuzama Hanoon, Palestine
Laila Awartani, Ramallah, Palestine
Lana Habash, Let’s Go There Collective
Lana Khoury, Washington DC
Yousef Aljamal, University of Malaysia
Safwan Hamdi
Leena Barakat
Lema Nazeeh, lawyer
Yara Kayyali Abbas, Palestine
Mariam Barghouti, Birzeit University
Mohammad Ayyad, graduate student, SOAS
Nader Elkhuzundar
Nancy Mansour, Existence is Resistance, New York/Palestine
Mohammed Alkhader, Birzeit University
Nazik Hassan, attorney, Riverside, California
Nora Taha
Rena Zuabi
Roleen Tafakji-Haidami
Samera Sood
Sana Ibrahim
Sherene Seikaly, UCSB
Taher Herzallah
Tamara Reem, Washington DC
Ahmad Nimer, Palestine
Riya Al’sanah, journalist, London
Alaa Milbes, Ramallah
Belal Dabour, Gaza doctor
Huda Asfour, PhD, Durham NC
Iyad Afalqa, Irvine, CA
Ruba Leech, Portland, OR
Rashad Al-Dabbagh, Network of Arab American Professionals
Maysoon Suleiman-Khatib, Civil Rights Specialist
Diana Alzeer, Ramallah, Palestine
Mona Kadah, Boston MA
Lucy Garbett, Jerusalem, Palestine
Hadeel Assali, Columbia University, NYC
Magid Shihade, Oakland, CA
Tamara Tamimi, Palestine
Hammam Farah, psychotherapist and editor
Dina Elmuti, Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture
Laila Hamdan, Portland OR
Bushra Shamma, VA, USA
Rev. Fahed Abuakel, Presbyterian minister , Atlanta, GA
Rehab Nazzal, artist, Canada
Ezees Silwady, Palestine
Dua’ Nakhala, freelance researcher, Belgium
Amal Oweis, Palestine
Shaheen Nassar, UCR
Amin Dallal, youth counselor
Dr. Tariq Shadid, surgeon
Zaha Hassan, Esq
Randa Issa, PhD
Murad Saleh, GED
Lila Sharif, Ph.D
Sa’ed Atshan, Ph.D
Rasha Khoury, MD Jerusalem
Hadeel Assali, Columbia University, NYC
Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi, Associate Professor of Race and Resistance Studies, San Francisco University
Tanya Keilani
Shahd Abusalama
Organizations
American Muslims for Palestine
Free Amer Jubran Campaign
International Solidarity Movement, Palestine
Let’s Go There Collective
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of New Mexico
The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat
Bay Area Intifada, Bay Area
PAWA, Palestinian American Women Association
NSJP, National Students for Justice in Palestine
Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights
Mashjar Juthour, Palestine
Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee
Al-Awda NY, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Stop the Wall
The US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Rana Baker
Electronic Intifada