Flippin’ with Palestine (a Pan-African Perspective)
Protests around the world have shown Palestine Solidarity (https://palestinecampaign.org/) and Israeli solidarity (https://www.aipac.org/). Specifically in the two locations I am situated in (USA + UK). Students and faculty in England from Cambridge, Oxford, and Durham University deployed Gaza solidarity camps, and in the USA several University student campaigns have had college encampments and sit-ins. The consequence of this activism resulted in hundreds of suspensions, arrests, and police brutality (something I will most definitely unravel in another chronicle).
I by no means have all the knowledge about the Israel-Palestine conflict. However, in this chronicle, I attempt to illustrate an African perspective overview pledging why the Flippin’ n Vibin’ brand stands in solidarity with Palestine (this does not mean I’m antisemitic). The strategies deployed by modern Zionists towards Palestinians strike too close to home where my African ancestors experienced enslavement and genocide that continue explicitly and implicitly til this day. As chronicle vibers attempt to transform traditional narratives, the following draws on Pan-African literature to recentre and rehumanise perceptions around this conflict (Azikiwe, 2024; Mosely, 2023; Pert-em-hru, 2017; Williams, 1991).
Decentring to Recentring (colonialism and imperialism)
‘To accuse us of being violent is like accusing a man who is being lynched…simply because he struggles vigorously against his lyncher the victim is accused of violence but the lyncher is never accused of violence.’ – Malcolm X
As an athlete, scholar-activist, and Afro-centrist with Pan-African principles (humanism, collectivism and egalitarianism), I started to research work around African solidarity with Palestine. Not to my surprise, Africans have been in support of Palestinians since the origins of the Zionist movement. When I say origins, I do not mean the 1947 Israeli-Palestinian War where various mainstream media attempts to start with, glossing over colonialists and imperialists being primary instigators/lynchers. This is why I share the Malcolm X quote above as it embraces flippin’ the script to the political mainstream.
From its foundation in 1897, the first Zionist Congress was led by Theodore Herzel, an atheist misrepresenting himself as a Jew. This is significant as Zionism’s origins stem from biblical texts with the idea that God promised Jewish believers a homeland (that homeland now named Israel since 1948). Therefore, since Theodore did not believe in God his objective to pursue a ‘Jewish homeland’ was indeed a self-twisted interest. Additionally, during this timeframe 500,000 Arabs (who made up 90% of the population with surrounding areas being 99% Palestinian) were situated in Palestine compared to 50,000 Jewish believers. Due to colonialism and imperialism being underpinned by genocidal violence these figures have reversed.
According to Pert-em-hru (2017) modern Zionism is indeed an oppressive political ideology, agent of imperialism, settler colonialism, and a crime against humanity.
Modern Zionism’s political ideology is world domination under a facade Jewish state for believers and non-believers to have a homeland in Palestine. To be specific, Zionism is not a religion but hides behind or associates with Judaism. Judaism is considered a gift stemming from African origins, with intentions to enhance humans (Pert-em-hru, 2017), while Zionism is its opposite with direct intentions to steal a land that does not belong to Jewish believers. In sum, Zionism is political, and Judaism is religious. According to Williams (1991):
‘the main advocates of Zionism, the Jewish bourgeoisie and their followers of European origin, are not, in any significant way, biologically related to those Jews who left Palestine many centuries ago’ (p. 349).
Even Jewish believers challenge Zionism’s political ideology and contrary to popular belief Jewish members are a host of diverse race/ethnic groups. Unfortunately, Zionist performativity of nationalism results in real Jewish believers being targets of retaliation even if on a smaller scale, respectfully. This performativity is further damaging when Zionists can rely on their imperial guardians the USA and Britain to sustain their dominance of Palestine through military and financial aid. It is argued British imperialism is indeed the primary instigator in this Israeli-Palestinian conflict because they stole Palestinian land and gave Zionists ‘legal claim’ as a settler colony through support of The Balfour Declaration. Over time, Jewish believers transitioned towards Palestine believing it was their homeland and those Jewish statistics I mentioned above drastically increased (around 500,000 Jews in 1940), and the final day of the British mandate (May 15th, 1948) allowed Jewish believers to claim their ‘homeland’. This of course leads to conflict and wars that you can allow the mainstream media to educate you on as they attempt to gloss over British imperialism and settler colonialism.
Secondly, settler colonialism is when savagery and genocide are unleashed on Indigenous people to control and inhabit their territory (Pert-em-hru, 2017). The resiliency of the colonised (indigenous) attempt to resist the genocidal violence and ethnic cleansing perpetrated by insecure colonisers (unless you accept Kanye’s ideology of the submissive oppressed like ‘slavery being a choice’). Countries such as the USA and Australia are settler colonies. For context, who do you think of when I ask you ‘What does a typical American or Australian look like?’ Yeah…folks who are racialised as White, but the majority of these two ethnic groups are “distant siblings” to Europeans and have settled in those locations through their ancestors’ genocidal acts towards the Indigenous peoples (typically people with darker complexions) residing there before them. Unnlesss…they “discovered” new land in the “New World” now called the USA (Christopher Columbus may ring a bell if you were miseducated by a colonised curriculum like me).
The above points are why modern Zionism is a crime against humanity. The United Nations (2024) suggests crime against humanity means acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack’ (https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/crimes-against-humanity.shtml) A few crimes include:
Murder
Extermination
Enslavement
Deportation or forcible transfer of population.
The last one demonstrates the illegality of actions towards Palestinians in the past century and reinforces ethnic cleansing, i.e., ‘rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area’ (United Nations, 2024). Therefore, the racism and genocidal behaviour done towards Palestinians is why Black Africans have championed their liberation for over a century.
Pan Alliances
The majority of Black Africans in the motherland and diaspora have been in solidarity with Palestine and explicitly anti-Zionist due to historical links illustrating shared acts of violence both groups have been subjected to. According to Williams (1991), ancestors and Pan-Africanists Malcolm X and Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael) scrutinised Zionism and its correlations to African enslavement, ethnic cleansing and genocide. Malcolm X ‘viewed Zionism with utter disgust, albeit through an Islamic prism’ and Kwame Toure ‘is without question the most avowed, consistent, and knowledgeable anti-Zionist in the history of Pan-Africanist struggle’ (Williams, 1991 p. 366). Thus, Africans and Arabs have a ‘powerful common enemy’ (Azikiwe, 2024; Pert-em-heru, 2017).
Additionally, both resilient groups’ lived experiences are not exclusive to subjugation, there are likewise shared levels of resistance for solidarity and liberation. The Pan-Arab or traditional Arab colours are strikingly similar to the Pan-African flag to highlight unity, liberation and land wealth (Mosely, 2023). Around the 14th century, a verse by poet Safi al-Din al-Hilli stated: ‘White are our acts, black our battles, green our fields, and red our swords.’ Pan-African colours created by Marcus Garvey in 1920 were inspired by the flag of Ethiopia: red represents the blood that unites Black Africans, black acknowledges skin colour and community strength, and green symbolises the Motherland’s natural wealth.
Sheesh!! This is just a snippet of information pertaining to an African perspective where Palestinian solidarity and being anti-Zionist manifests. At the end of the day, modern Zionism is settler colonialism practicing crimes against humanity. Therefore, activists should consider these links to learn from our past, to challenge the present, and have a restorative future i.e., Flippin’ the Modern Zionist script.
‘The Jews [Zionists], with the help of Christians in America and Europe, drove our Muslim brothers (i.e. the Arabs) out of their homeland, where they had been settled for centuries, and took over the land for themselves. This every Muslim resents. In America, the Jews [Zionists] sap the very lifeblood of the so-called Negroes to maintain the State of Israel, its armies and its continued aggression against our brothers in the East. This every Black man resents’ (Malcolm X, 1961 p. 166: cited in Williams, 1991).
References
Azikiwie, A. (2024). Pan-Africanism and Palestine Solidarity, Then and Now (Part 10 [Online] https://www.blackagendareport.com/pan-africanism-and-palestine-solidarity-then-and-now-part-i
Mosely, S. (2023). PAN-AFRICANISM, PALESTINE, AND THE COLORS THAT BIND STRUGGLE. [Online] https://www.hamptonthink.org/read/pan-africanism-palestine-and-the-colors-that-bind-struggle
United Nations (2024). Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect. [Online] https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/crimes-against-humanity.shtml
Williams, M. W. (1991). Pan-Africanism and Zionism: The Delusion of Comparability. Journal of Black Studies, 21(3), 348-371. https://doi.org/10.1177/002193479102100309
