BLM and Free Palestine: The Symbiotic Relationship of Social Justice Movements

By Raya Rukab, Rise Against Hate Research Intern

There is a clear symbiotic relationship between the Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Free Palestine movements. These two campaigns are both fighting for social justice and for their people to be free from violence and their oppressors. The main participants in the BLM movement are Black communities and their allies across the United States. The Free Palestine movement, however, has a large international presence of displaced Palestinians and their allies. The merging and shared goals of BLM and Free Palestine is a perfect example of the interconnectedness of many social justice movements and organizations and how they can be even more effective if they work together.

As the adage goes, there is power in numbers. Especially when the people who are protesting inequality are minorities within their communities, uniting minorities against a common oppressor is highly effective. BLM is fighting for the freedom, liberation, and justice of Black people. Specifically, BLM works on police brutality and other forms of violence committed against Black people.¹ The Free Palestine movement aims to fight the genocide and other forms of violence committed against the Palestinians.² Even though the causes are seemingly different, they are both fighting against racial and ethnic violence, so their current union is fitting.

There is also a historical union between Black people and people of the Arab world. Most notably, in the 1950s, civil rights activist Malcolm X was a public member of the Nation of Islam. While the Nation of Islam is not synonymous with the Free Palestine movement when Malcolm X gave talks about the Nation of Islam he did mention the Arab-Israeli conflict. Malcolm X was quoted saying that people of color in the U.S. “would be completely in sympathy with the Arab cause”³. Meaning, that because Black people in the U.S. understood racial violence, they would sympathize with international racial and ethnic violence. Before his assassination in 1965, Malcolm X traveled to Gaza and visited Palestinian refugee camps in support of the cause for Palestinian liberation.

It wasn’t just Malcolm X who advocated for Palestine; it was many Black activists. When Israel took over Gaza and the West Bank during the June 1967 War, “Black activists who were already protesting the Vietnam War began to see Israel’s conquest of Palestinian lands as ‘an imperial parallel to the racialized violence African-Americans experienced at home,’”⁴. Additionally, Black politicians have advocated for the Palestinians concerning United States foreign policy and encouraged others to join them. BLM and its supporters have changed the way Americans view Palestinians and worked to educate others about the situation; “BLM organizers are now working to reinforce legislative actions taken by Black politicians in support of the plight of the Palestinians. Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Ayanna Pressley and Jamaal Bowman have all gained strength in their pro-Palestinian stands thanks in part to support from BLM. ‘Lawmakers including Bush and Rashida Tlaib, the sole Palestinian-American in Congress, have taken advantage of the shifting climate to bring their perspective on Palestine to the forefront of intraparty debates,’ stated Politico,”⁵. These collaborations are crucial to the forward movement for both of these causes, especially on the policy front. Currently, the BLM movement is calling for racial justice within the criminal justice system. The not-guilty verdict of the infamous Rittenhouse trial shook the Black community with grief and anger towards the unavenged killing of Black people by a self-proclaimed white supremacist. The Free Palestine movement has been occupied by the recent violence perpetrated against the Palestinians early this past summer by the Israeli government.

Both BLM and Free Palestine have a strong foundation for anti-violence and anti-oppression work. Together, they can more effectively advocate for improved policy. Anti White-Supremacy and Anti-Zionism campaigns have similar aims at fighting systems of oppression and violence, and therefore, they should take advantage of their similarities to fight the common enemy of injustice.

References

1. Black Lives Matter, “Home,” Black Lives Matter, November 24, 2021, https://blacklivesmatter.com/black-xmas/.
2. Free Palestine Movement, “Home,” Free Palestine Movement, 2021, https://freepalestinemovement.org/.
3. Hansi Lo Wang, “The Complicated History behind BLM’s Solidarity with the Pro-Palestinian Movement,” NPR (NPR, June 12, 2021), https://www.npr.org/2021/06/07/1003872848/the-complicated-history-behind-blms-solidarity-with-the-pro-palestinian-movement.
4. Shani Saxon, “Black Americans Have Long History of Solidarity With Palestinians,” Colorlines, June 2, 2021, https://www.colorlines.com/articles/black-americans-have-long-history-solidarity-palestinians.
5. Saxon, “Black Americans Have Long History of Solidarity With Palestinians”