Organizers from across the country converged at the second annual People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit from August 29 to 31. More than 4,500 people attended the cultural, political, and educational space convened by The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), ANSWER Coalition, Palestinian Feminist Collective (PFC), and other organizations. Set in a majority Black city on the final days of Black August, which commemorates the struggle of African American political prisoners, one question came to mind: how does the movement for Palestine relate to that of the Black nation in the United States?

Eugene Puryear, a leader of the ANSWER Coalition gave one answer during the “The Struggle Continues: The Fight for Palestine in North America” plenary. He described an “unbreakable solidarity between the Black liberation movement and the Palestinian liberation movement that has lasted from the southern fields, the people organizing from the right to vote, to the streets of Ferguson where the Palestinian people were doing everything they could to continue the fight against the racist machine here in the United States.”

With Gaza’s characterization as the “largest open air prison in the world”, and Israel’s custody of an estimated 10,000 political prisoners, the Palestinian people are very familiar with carceral repression. In his opening remarks, Imam Omar Suleiman advised listeners to support Palestinians behind bars; speaking about Leqaa Kordia – currently held in Texas – he stressed tactics like paying bail, writing letters, and protesting. Every speaker underscored the resolution of the oppressed in their proclamations that “Gaza is the Compass”.

“Music captures all of this,” said Voulette Mansour, a member of PYM. “It captures the feelings of our liberation from the mourning to the steadfastness, it captures the breath of our liberation struggle, its essence and its spirit.”

PYM’s Palestinian Youth Ensemble made its national debut during the conference’s second “Cultural Night”. The group, consisting of 33 musicians from across North America, staged traditional and contemporary “revolutionary songs”. Performers on ouds, guitars, and other string instruments as well as keys complemented around a dozen vocalists. The content and the form of songs like “The Head is High” (“الراس عالي”) is prevalent to the themes of Black August.

Our heads held high, we pay no mind

Even if we’re worn out, even if we go hungry

A free man dreams of soaring heights

Our dreams will never be buried

The song – about the determination of prisoners facing exhaustion and hunger – is reminiscent of many African American Blues songs. Specifically, the repetition of the refrain quoted above brings to mind songs like “Chain Gang Blues” (1925), and “Jail House Blues” (1923), by legendary singers Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith respectively. The singers’ proud self-assertion in the face of crisis links these three songs, and is echoed in the lives of innumerable Palestinian and Black people.

This is exceedingly clear in the words of Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil, as one of the keynote speakers, he described his politically motivated arrest earlier this year.

“When I got detained I had few options,” he said. “One, to remain silent and just wish that the system may vindicate me. Another option is to focus on my case – to focus on my family and appeal to the people’s emotions. And another is to focus and to connect my case to the larger case of oppression against Palestinians. I chose the latter!”

The same must be said for Black political prisoners like Mumia Abu-Jamal – the former Black Panther, journalist, and mentor to the student movement – whose prerecorded address was sent from The State Correctional Institution at Mahanoy. Similarly, Eugene Puryear dedicated his statement to Jamil Abdullah al-Amin, former leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), who declared the organization’s support for Palestinian resistance in 1967.

He also pointed to workers of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) and their divestment from Israel. In affirming the principles of mass struggle, Puryear distinguished the protagonists of the blues, the workers and the oppressed, as the makers of history. He said, “they used to sing in the civil rights movement…”

The only thing we did was right

Was the day we started to fight

Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on hold on

Hold on hold on hold on hold on

Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on hold on

While this is only a glance into the cultural programming of the conference (which also featured the Wishah Popular Dance Troupe & Baladi Dance Group), a final example from the Palestinian Youth Choir will solidify the sense of solidarity between Black and Palestinian movements.

I call out to you, I clasp onto your hands

and I kiss the earth beneath your soles

and I say, I’m prepared to die for your sake

This line, repeated throughout the song Ounadikoum, moved the multiracial audience to their feet – not only for a standing ovation, but to demand an encore. Those familiar with the Chinese-American Marxist and saxophonist Fred Ho were reminded of his legendary Afro-Asian Music Ensemble, which based internationalism in culture and struggle. Like that group, the Palestinian Youth Ensemble symbolizes the everlasting comradery between international organizers and those from Palestine.

Perhaps, no moment symbolizes such camaraderie as when members of the audience passed the Palestinian flag to a dark-skinned singer who waved it with pride. Black students have led protests around the country waving that flag, just as Palestinians have connected their fight to that against the war on Black people in North America. This conference was one of many instances of such solidarity. Not only is our oppression linked, but so is the struggle to shake off our chains, and to sing a new song.

The post Black and Palestinian solidarity at the Peoples Conference in Detroit appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

From Peoples Dispatch via this RSS feed