The United Nations open resources inform us that in 1977, the General Assembly called for the annual observance of 29 November as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, as on that day, in 1947, the Assembly adopted the resolution on the partition of Palestine, germinating the abhorrent situation that the Palestinians have to endure until today.
The key focus of solidarity is adopting and advocating moral stands. These stands should lead to ethical positions catalyzing political shifts in support of any oppressed people, and/or people who seek freedom from persecution anywhere across the globe. For November 29, and in contemporary times, the focus of this solidarity is Palestine but it should not be limited to it. Solidarity does mean that we not only speak for someone, but most importantly create spaces establish forums and platforms facilitating for the oppressed opportunities for representing their own struggles and rightful demands.
We must realize that this solidarity is not just a conscientious position, but also a stand of affinity for many across the globe including us in Bangladesh. Let’s look at some of the expressions of solidarity that have come forward recently and in the past. After the Israelis bombardment of Gaza began in October, more than 300 Ukrainian scholars, activists and artists express their solidarity with Palestinians in an open letter. For the Palestinians, empathising with the Ukrainian people comes easily due to the regrettable resemblance of the two struggles. Both are conflicts that violate international law, consists of crimes against humanity and results in an uncompromising and illegal occupation. Despite the remarkable parallels, the reactions could not have been starker in contrast. As Russia’s violence intensified, the outpouring of support for Ukrainians across the globe was as decisive as it was jaw-dropping. For once, there was categoric and unanimous condemnation and diplomatic, financial, military and medical assistance on hand immediately. For Palestinians, this is alien. When it comes to Israel’s violent colonial domination and the international community’s response, it is lip service at best and brazenly disregarded at worst.
In the streets of US, there are many who are marching for Palestine, have also marched for Black Lives Matter three years ago. Thousands of demonstrators across the US turned out for protests, with appeals including a ceasefire of deadly violence in Gaza and an end to US funding of the Israeli military. And increasingly demonstrators in the US are drawing clear connections between the Palestinian and Black liberation movements. Protestors hoisted signs with messages including “Black Lives 4 Palestine” and “White Silence Is Violence.” Dating back to the 19th century, some Black Nationalist thinkers found inspiration in the Zionist cause for a Jewish state, seeing an analog of their own vision for a Black homeland. With the mid-20th century emergence of the Black Power and anti-war movements, “it became much more common in African American activist circles to understand the Palestinians as an oppressed people,” explained Sam Klug, an African American studies historian focused on decolonization.
The Rohingya crisis is an issue rooted in long-standing ethnic and religious discrimination that has become a festering problem. But these tensions are dwarfed by current geopolitical dynamics. The Rohingya have been persecuted in Myanmar for the past 70 years, and nearly 1 million people have fled to Bangladesh. There are parallels with the Israel-Palestine crisis, where Palestinian Arabs have faced land-grabbing by Israeli settlers for many years. As a result, Palestinians have lost their territory and faced bloodshed.
The scourge of occupying forces, indiscriminate attacks, racist rants and discrimination, family members held hostage, and more, all of these can leave scars on the victim and those around him for generations to come. We are not, unfortunately, oblivious to that. Our Liberation struggle in 1971 resolved our oppression, but there are still many, especially the Palestinians that are not so fortunate. Most Bangladeshis who have witnessed the struggle of ’71 will tell you that the Palestinian cause for self-determination is one with which they strongly identify.
Today, on the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we like many others across the globe continue to stand firmly in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their fight for freedom as they mark the fiftieth year of living under military occupation. We all must show solidarity through at least keeping the issue alive in the public discourse underlining the key issues that are inherently crucial for the emancipation of the Palestinian people. The first and foremost for now is the issue of Genocide and War Crimes that is being carried against the Palestinians in Gaza. To ensure solidarity with the Palestinians, we must continue to nationalize our local and individual solidarity for advocating an international response within the international law for accountability against such egregious war crimes. We must stand in solidarity with Palestine for its right to recognition as an independent state. We must continue to show solidarity and demand that all nations recognize Palestine as a state, and not hold its recognition hostage to the undue demands of an occupying force, in this case the Israelis. Palestine must be free!
The writer is Political and International Affairs analyst.
