This One for Palestine: A letter from Africa

ALIEU BAH

What can one say about Palestine that hasn’t been said before? Whether it is praise or condemnation, the pages are black with ink and books rife at every turn. Pundits, philosophers, creative writers, and all the various titles that come with the writing world have an opinion — righteous or otherwise. One might even say there is a “Palestine fatigue” these days as one thesis upon another is proffered. So what to say? A prayer, a battle cry, a contemplative offering? Maybe, just maybe, the logic of repetition until it sticks can also be applied. We shout, scream, write, and rage until there is no other way but to bring down the hegemony of the Zionist narrative.

This, though, is homage to the courageous people of Palestine. May this never sound like a lecture, a presentation, or a directive as to what should be done by the Palestinians and their friends. How could we possibly advise amidst the brutal genocidal process instituted by Israel? To see the courage, the pattern of resistance, and the many vales of unapologetic movement to a conscious win, we can only infer that there’s clarity in Palestine. There is a principle in Palestine. There’s glory in Palestine.

I mention the nation’s name many times not in the vein of repetition but as a reminder and as a catalyst for the days of triumph. It’s never enough to mention PALESTINE. Since the struggle against Zionism isn’t only of the material, but it is also a struggle of memory. Every mention of that upright nation is an attack on the edifice of politicide and memoricide.

Here is then a message from one of the many children of Africa who identify with the struggle of Palestine against settler colonialism:

Your win is one of many things assured by the dictates of history. Please don’t despair; the lessons we have learnt from this motherland of ours have been very instructive in this regard. We have, of course, learnt through time that you will never fall into despair or a state of retreat. You’ll fight with all that you have and hold in heart, mind, and soul.

Your martyrs reflect such memorable radiance for us that it warrants a quote from one of our revolutionary ancestors, Dedan Kimaathi of Kenya: “It’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.” I think you can feel this statement deeply because you chose to live it when most of us today in the neocolonial state just chant it. May we then learn from you how to bring that quote to life again, even as we clamor to finish the unfinished African Liberation Struggle in all its promise. 

Is Palestine a question or an answer? Perhaps both. It remains a question insofar as the conscious choice for the freedom of a nation is still open to debate in the high walls of big institutions and organizations offering terms such as the “international community.” It remains that ancient question that Marxists have been debating since oh-so-ancient times: the “national question:” a question only open wounds yet healed — a reminder of the troubled birth of the nation state under a ruthless betrayal of the workers by the European bourgeoisie. 

The masses of the Global South still grapple with Euro-American construction of a people’s ontology without regards for their humanity and continuity on their own terms. How the making of a nation can never be divorced from the historico-materiality of its inhabitants. This nation building must at all times reflect the wishes, aspirations, and collective desires of its makers and owners in a class conscious fashion, so long as capitalism exists. The last word must come from the people who produce and create. 

We can go on and on but this is not yet another thesis. Only an ode to a beautiful land and her people placed under genocide and siege.

Palestine is also an answer. It has categorically answered the question offered continuously by history: what are people to do when their dignity and freedom is seized and stifled? The answer in the 21st century is in Palestine. To fight back. To refuse submission. To honor the covenant that all humans are born free. There then is your answer as you watch forlornly the oppression that abounds your nation, your land, your people.

A reminder and promise: we will do what can be done from here in Africa to never let you be the romantic fantasy of the so-called progressive left, given to only theoretical wanking. This trend has taken ahold especially in that Western hemisphere whence all our woes emanate. Endless debates are being held in their study circles and social media spaces to police how Palestine should announce its presence in the world. The sanctimonious self-righteousness that plagues them — we are no strangers to it. We still have our share of their “leftist guidance.” How can I forget how they exoticize us and our daily struggles against the beast? Fuck them. But since the fall of Babylon and her lapdogs is promised, may they all crumble alongside it without pity or mercy.

Here then is solidarity that doesn’t sound or look like charity. Solidarity foregrounded in the concrete reality and supplied by the knowing of our many similarities. We, who have been fighting since slavery days, know what it means to be in your position. Today in our many movements, we invoke your spirit even as we invoke a bygone generation of our many fighters and revolutionaries. We sing songs for you and affirm both as a war cry and as prayer that “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea!”

Alieu Bah is Editor-in-Chief of The New Pan African.