How To Keep Going

The struggle for liberation is more than struggle

I’ve been doing this work in service of liberation for a long time now. Not as long as many and still longer than most. There have been many times in my life where I felt like my work wasn’t enough, like it could never possibly be enough. There were times where it all felt hopeless. Where I could see the train barreling down upon us and there was no way to stop it. But I’ll be first to admit that it’s been a long time since I felt as devastatingly impotent as I do right now, as thousands of Palestinians are murdered - funded by my government and taxpayer dollars. I have broken down in frustrated, horrified tears countless times these last few weeks. I’ve raged at the world and the world has seemed to simply blink slowly back at me, seemingly bored at my pleas for mercy.

But I’m still here doing what I can, with my little allotment of skills and influence. And I will be doing what I can tomorrow, and the next day, until I have no days left. I am a Black woman in America. I know what oppression looks like. I know what colonialism looks like. The pain of genocide is written into my DNA. And I know how the violence that Black people have struggled against for hundreds of years has been aided and abetted by “good” people who shake their heads sadly and say, “someone should stop that from happening to them,” while knowing that they personally would never be at danger from similar violence. I know deep in my bones that I am “them,” and will always be THEM. Be it Palestinian, Native, Uighur, Kurdish, Tigrayan - I will always recognize my kin in both oppression and liberation. My family is global. My family is the story of generations of survival and beauty and creativity. My family is worth fighting for. I am so blessed. I am so proud.

And still, this is so hard at times. Still, I have to remind myself of why I do this and lean into the skills and lessons I’ve learned over the years. This is one of those times. I’m sharing some of these lessons with you, just in case you may need some of them to keep going as well.

1. Know Your Definitions of Success. Whether it’s the movement for Black lives or for Palestinian liberation, it can be very hard to quantify success or even progress in work that we know will likely outlive us. So it is important to have clear and attainable definitions of success at multiple levels. Here are some examples. You have the ultimate systemic goals: the ending of the occupation of Palestine and the liberation of the Palestinian people. The intermediate systemic goals: like the ending of your government’s financial and political support of the occupation of Palestine. The immediate systemic goals: ceasefire. And then you have personal, every day successes: Have you been able to show Palestinians in your community that you care? Have you been able to support Palestinian-owned businesses? Have you been able to get local politicians to voice support for Palestinian people? Have you been able to donate to Palestinian aid groups?

2. Learn How To Gauge Effectiveness of Your Actions: Right now it can really seem like nothing we are doing is making a difference, but it is important to remember that this feeling of impotence is by design and is a weapon of those who oppose us. Just yesterday, we saw the biggest march for Palestinian liberation in the history of the US. Tens of thousands of people came to Washington DC from all over the country to march for Palestine and to demand a ceasefire. And yet, as I scanned New York Times, NPR, Washington Post and the like, there was hardly a mention of the protests. It’s not because the protests don’t matter, it’s because they do matter so much, that there is immense pressure on our news organizations to not report on them. We are at the stage of our massive uprising against the oppression of Palestinians that is truly terrifying for those who have a vested interest in maintain the status quo of global colonial power. We are at the stage where we are rapidly changing people’s opinions, not just on what is happening to Palestinians, but about the legitimacy of colonial and oppressive powers around the world. So right now the effectiveness of our work will be seen in how virulently we’re being opposed, how quickly we are demonized. Right now we have the president talking about student protestors like they are terrorists. Right now there are European governments trying to make it illegal to wear a keffiyeh. Don’t tell me they aren’t scared. Their goal right now is to shock us out of our activism. They aim to scare us, to make the cost too high. But we know what the cost of not acting is: we see it every day. So far it’s been over ten thousand lives.

3. Recognize Gaslighting and Protect Yourself from It: If you are not Jewish or Palestinian you’ve likely been told that the “situation” in Israel and the Palestinian territories (as many will call it) is too complicated for you to understand and that Israel as a state has made some mistakes but you have to make room for nuance about those mistakes - but also Hamas is very simple and nothing more than a murderous terrorist group made up of monsters instead of human beings and you couldn’t possibly understand that either so just accept it. You have likely been told that everything you know about colonialism, oppression, and genocide is insufficient in this instance. That there is a secret ingredient to this genocide that makes it not a genocide and this colonialism only looks like colonialism on the surface, you are just not smart enough or educated enough to understand. And you possibly couldn’t be educated enough to understand. And if you did do your research you obviously didn’t read the right books or articles. And if you read them all, you are without the needed expertise of having been born Jewish or Palestinian. And no, this isn’t just, “hey, lived experience is an important fact to consider in your understanding here” - it’s: “without it you couldn’t possibly understand, so you don’t have the right to care if you’re not going to automatically agree with us.” You may be told that usually it’s important to speak out against genocide, but this time the real genocide is the calling a genocide a genocide. This is gaslighting. It’s a deliberate tactic to confuse people, to make them feel like they can’t say anything at all, lest they cause harm. It’s meant to make it seem like doing nothing in the face of ethnic cleansing is the most enlightened thing to do. Resist this. You know that it is not true. Recognize these tactics as the abuse that they are.

4. Do Not Be Apologetic In Your Activism: We know what racism looks like. We know what antisemitism looks like. We know what bigotry looks like. Keep that shit out of your work, because it is the enemy of your work. The actions of Israel don’t represent Jewish people, hell - they don’t even represent Israelis. Just as the murderous actions of the US don’t represent me (even though my tax dollars compel me to fight what is carried out in my name and with my money, because if I do not, then I am complicit). So don’t ever conflate the two. Don’t make extrapolations about the Jewish faith or community based on what you are seeing happening in Gaza. Be alert for white supremacists who will absolutely try to infiltrate movements and marches for their own horrible goals. Identify, isolate, and kick those folks out. Ok, we got that, cool? Do that. And as long as you are doing that, STOP APOLOGIZING FOR SPEAKING UP FOR PALESTINE. Did you know that you can talk about the mass murder of Palestinians without first asserting, yet again, that you think antisemitism is bad? You can, and you should. Why? Because these are two separate issues. And conflating the two makes it seem like the global issue of the rise of antisemitism (mainly perpetrated by white supremacists) is caused by the Palestinians who are being slaughtered by the tens of thousands right now. Further, in speaking up about what Israel is doing we are not only taking on multiple global powers, we are also taking on the social and cultural myths (say, about the lesser value of Palestinian life or the right of people to steal land and hold those whose land you stole in an open-air prison in the name of “safety”) that uphold such power, and people will be uncomfortable when we tackle myths that they have bought into. Every time I talk about systemic oppression, it threatens the comfort and privilege of those who have bought shares in that oppression. And it threatens the image that those people have of themselves as “good” people. And that threat is treated as violence. But it isn’t violence. And I will not apologize for how the truth makes you feel.

5. Don’t Engage In Bad Faith Arguments: You don’t have to engage with everybody who wants to talk with you. You don’t have to anywhere - and especially on the internet. In times when we need action most of all, there will be people who will show up in droves to try to tell you that what we really need is debate. These are not your friends. These are not people you know. These are usually complete strangers who are doing word searches on the internet to find people who are speaking out so that they can “just understand better” or because they “just have a few questions.” But they don’t want to understand and they don’t actually want their questions answered. They want to take up your time. They want you bogged down in debate. They want you to believe that you have to win them over in order for your fight for liberation to be valid. They don’t care about you. They don’t care about learning. They want to take you out of this fight. Don’t let them. Block them. The internet is a vast place and they can find other corners to hang out. Nobody is owed access to you.

6. Get Into Community: The other day I was just feeling overwhelmed by the terror of what is happening in Gaza. It was all that I could think about. It was all that I could talk about. I was crying and my heart was racing and my ears wouldn’t stop ringing. I was unable to sleep and barely able to function. It wasn’t healthy and it wasn’t helping anyone for me to carry on that way. So my partner and I went to a protest. We showed up and were surrounded by hundreds of people who got it. We were able to remember that this is, at it’s roots about love and community. And that there is a community that is dedicated to justice and liberation, and that even now, there is beauty in that. It was an important reminder that I need connection now more than ever. So please, make sure that you are connecting with people who understand when you can. A protest, a small group hangout, a zoom call, a group text - whatever you can to remember that you are not alone in this fight and that you are in this fight for and with people.

7. Find Your Personal Power: Our movements will always be from the ground up. They have to be. Our opponents will always have the money, the weapons, the large pulpits. We will always have people and we will always have truth. And this will be the only way we win. Your people power - no matter how small it may seem, is the power that our politicians wish they could have. So identify your personal power, and utilize it. Your family, your friend group, your school board, your workplace, your church, your social media followers, your community, your vote, your voice - it is all so powerful. And we know it is powerful because of how hard oppressors are working to control it right now. Own your power and flex it with righteous love.

8. Remember That When You Speak Out You Give Others Permission To Do The Same: I have a personal rule. Whenever I have the urge to say something and a voice in my head says that it’s too risky, too scary, or too embarassing - and yet I know that it’s true and right, I have to say it as loudly and publicly as possible. Sometimes that means that I’m talking about feeling really bad about my body even though I try really hard to fight fatphobia. Sometimes it means sharing about getting my arms stuck in pants because I wanted to prove to my partner that pants could become a jacket. Other times it means speaking up about the oppression of Palestinians even though it means that I will be immediately accused of antisemitism for doing so. I have to speak out and I do because I have learned that the moment I do I hear from people who were thinking the exact same thing (ok maybe not about the pants as jacket thing, but just about everything else) and were afraid to say so until I did. And until I said it, it was riskier for them to. But then I said it and it became a little less risky, because they weren’t the only ones anymore. And then they said it and it became even less risky as others joined them. The reason why there is so much violent silencing around Palestine right now is because the moment enough of us speak out that we can’t be called a “fringe minority” the repercussions against us for doing so are revealed as the fascist tactics that they are. There is limited use to firing people for speaking out before it begins to backfire on those who do the firing. So the more we all speak out, and the more loudly we do so, the safer we will all be. Please, free yourself and others by standing up for what you know is right.

9. Remember That People In Struggle Are More Than Just Struggle: Palestinians are more than just oppressed people. I’ve been blessed enough to grow up with Palestinian family, and I can speak first-hand of the absolute beauty and creativity, joy and humor of Palestinian people. People who are so strong and loving and complex and deeply human. As am I, a Black woman, as are all of us who are the living testaments of survival and even thriving through violent oppression. Recognize, support, and celebrate Palestinian life. We have to - I really must stress this - we have to remember what we are fighting for not just just what we are fighting against. Our moral compass, our path forward is not found in the terror we are fighting against, it is found in Palestinian joy.

10. Remember That Our Liberation Is Connected: Every day that we fight this fight we are winning, no matter what. No matter how devastating the news. Every day that we fight we are freeing ourselves and each other. And that will often seem like not enough - not in the face of such devastating violence. But remember that our oppressors are united and connected. That they need us to remain ignorant and to feel weak. That a threat to one source of their power is a threat to them all. If Palestinians are not free, then I am not free. But also the other side of this is true: our liberation is connected. When I fight the oppression of Palestinians I am also fighting my oppression. When I become more aware of how systems of oppression work I am liberating my own mind. Every person that we can awaken to the truth about our systems is liberated and in turn liberates us. These systems will fall if we keep doing this work, and every person who joins us helps crumble the foundations of oppression. As long as someone in Palestine can write Black Lives Matter on a wall, my life will matter. As long as we live to say Free Palestine, Palestine can never die.

Pssst….Want to read more on Palestine? Check out this great resource: The Palestine Academy