A genuine solidarity with Palestinians will require us not to compromise their agency.
The rise of global protest movements calling for the end of the genocide of Palestinians is an example of solidarity years in the making. Now it is led by the youth, particularly students who have built encampments, given graduation speeches mentioning Palestine that have led to their degrees being withheld, and have been arrested for attending protests. This is not just an American phenomenon — we are seeing a global rise in solidarity with the Palestinians which had been for so long a hushed-up topic in world politics.
Though it took a genocide to finally acknowledge the injustice of Israel’s occupation and apartheid regime in Palestine, it is now our duty to lead the movement in unity with the Palestinian people to fruition and to carry it forward in the future. The concept of activism as a process, whose goals are never fully achieved yet make a significant enough impact to steer humanity a step closer to liberation and justice, has been developed by many theorists and activists.
One of the leading voices is Paulo Freire, the Brazilian educator, who, in his works, including Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Pedagogy of Solidarity, and Pedagogy of Hope, has linked history, seen as a process, to human liberation through hope and struggle. It seems to me that Freire’s pedagogy could be of critical help in educating ourselves and our fellow youth about how to be in solidarity with an oppressed group without taking away that group’s agency or voice.
Activism is inherited, as it is a part of the knowledge chain to which we belong, just as it is recreated through present-day activist activities. We learn from reading Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Angela Davis, just as we experience this knowledge for ourselves by becoming involved in activism. The inheritance of knowledge and our role in creating and passing it forward are vital to sustaining activist movements and moving closer to the liberation we dream of.
Though Freire was an educator, his pedagogy draws heavily from a philosophy of history that posits history as a process with no fatalistic end. This means that humans, as historical beings, are not just who they are, but are always becoming. Thus, our future is a possibility; it is not predetermined, and it can be one of many possibilities. If so, it is the actions of humans that will drive us towards those possibilities. The possibility of positive action can be our collective dream — a dream of liberation.
By describing history as a process that is always becoming and never stagnant, Freire refuses to give in to the idea that liberation is not possible or that it is too idealistic. Instead of lofty idealism or cynical fatalism, Freire argues for impatient patience in one’s involvement in liberation movements. He argues not for complete impatience, as democratic, non-violent movements take time to develop and become mainstream, but also not patience alone, as patience can lead to slow development. Instead, one must be impatient as they continue to rally for their cause and be patient as the change through activism takes time.
Education can deeply support activism. One way is the development of critical thinking that allows one to fully understand what one is in favour of, whom one supports, and what one’s own dream is. In turn, one also identifies what they are against, whom they are opposing, and which dream they are opposing.
By understanding one’s relationship to the world through these questions, one can develop the ability to critically engage with it. This helps in the creation of knowledge, which is also never absolute and definite, but is a permanent process of re-creating and re-knowing. This means that change is a part of education and history, and hence, our present can be changed with hope, impatient patience, critical engagement with the world, and solidarity with the oppressed.
Activism is inherited as a part of the knowledge chain to which we belong, just as it is recreated through present-day activist activities. We learn from reading Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Angela Davis, just as we experience this knowledge for ourselves by becoming involved in activism. The inheritance of knowledge and our role in creating and passing it forward are vital to sustaining activist movements and moving closer to the liberation we dream of.
Consequently, the scholar-activists of the present and future who will educate the coming generations should prioritize unveiling power structures in society. The powerful seek to keep power invisible, because as long as it remains invisible, it cannot be questioned or reformed. When the scholar-activist makes power visible, they allow for the critique of power, but also chart a new course for the future that addresses the present’s power hierarchies and makes them more democratic (Freire et al. 2014).
Angela Davis, the renowned political activist, thinks so too, as she remarked that “academia is not a separate space in the moral struggle for a just society (Natanel and Pappé 2024).” The activists of today, many of them youth and college students, are a part of a long tradition of activism that they have inherited and are actively re-creating. However, just the determined involvement of youth does not guarantee the success of a movement.
Solidarity is when one shares the struggle of trying to escape various forms of oppression with the oppressed group. There has been a considerable rise in solidarity with the Palestinians. However, the possibility exists that solidarity may turn away from the oppressed group to highlight the apparent goodness of the people in solidarity with that group (Freire et al. 2014).
In the case of the freedom struggle for Palestine, it is imperative that “we don’t understand the Palestinian struggle for liberation as a humanitarian one alone, as one that deserves our charity, our pity, and our compassion. But one which foregrounds the fact that this is a people struggling against apartheid, against settler colonialism, and recognises Palestinians as empowered, purposive peoples with desires and goals of their own, and as being completely invested and engaged in the project of their own liberation in that context” (Natanel and Pappé 2024).
Solidarity also involves considering one’s own country’s role in disrupting the ceasefire or supporting Israel’s actions and occupation. With this critical reflection, along with a genuine effort to be in solidarity with Palestinians in a manner that does not compromise their agency, one can develop a protest movement that is humanising and future-oriented.
Image Credit: Maksim Sokolov (maxergon.com), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Works cited:
Freire, Paulo, et al. Pedagogy of Solidarity. United Kingdom, Left Coast Press, 2014.
Natanel, Katherine, and Ilan Pappé. Palestine in a World on Fire. Haymarket Books, 2024.
