breaking the carceral
sites of
contestation
imagination
meditation
transformsation
history favours nature
gaza will be free.
First things first, Gaza will be free. We know this,
as the answer lies in history and the science of nature.
In a previous statement of solidarity with Palestine and the people of Gaza in particular in this critical moment, we saw that ecosystems factored centrally in this genocide. Environmental justice in this moment demands an end to the siege of Gaza and the illegal occupation of Palestine in general.
In a previous statement of solidarity with Palestine and the people of Gaza in particular in this critical moment, we saw that ecosystems factored centrally in this genocide. Environmental justice in this moment demands an end to the siege of Gaza and the illegal occupation of Palestine in general.
All of us working in the environmental justice movement and those working in anti-colonial movements around the world hold a certain knowledge in common: colonialism is so insidious that it not only violates people and their ways of living, but it violates all living beings, the land, the water, and the air. Imperialists bomb not only villages but they bomb to bits all of the creatures, all of the plant life, all of the fertile soil, all of the ancient and precious stones and minerals.
What is even more disgusting and revealing is that imperialists, warmongers, colonizers, and the genocidal freaks who attack Gaza, who attack workers in the Congo, who attack workers in South Africa, and Zambia, and West Papua, these forces not only attack the people and the natural resources as a collateral damage in the making of war, but they attack the natural resources as an act of war, as a way to attack the people[1][2], knowing very well that the indigenous people of the world (and the displaced people living in diaspora) still live in necessary interdependence and harmony with nature, without which we cannot survive. [3] [4]
What is even more disgusting and revealing is that imperialists, warmongers, colonizers, and the genocidal freaks who attack Gaza, who attack workers in the Congo, who attack workers in South Africa, and Zambia, and West Papua, these forces not only attack the people and the natural resources as a collateral damage in the making of war, but they attack the natural resources as an act of war, as a way to attack the people[1][2], knowing very well that the indigenous people of the world (and the displaced people living in diaspora) still live in necessary interdependence and harmony with nature, without which we cannot survive. [3] [4]
Whoever says they are a lover of nature, a protector of water, air, land, they must protect people who are breathing the air, thriving of the water, and living on the land of their native origin and they must protect all of those peoples whose way of live is regenerative, not extractive.[5]
The connectedness of the liberation of people and of natural ecosystems brings us certain a renewed belief and determination. As we defend ourselves, we also necessarily defend the ecosystem that keeps us alive. In turn, nature works untiringly against anything which does not move according to its patterns and in so doing, nature works to defend indigenous people all over the world.
Since the latest all-out siege of Gaza began 8 months ago, surfacing the true ugliness of what is 80 years of hate-filled, racist, genocidal domination of Palestine by the European outpost, governed by a criminal organization known as “Israel”, what has been the constant and methodical demolition of everyday life for the people of Gaza doubly works to corrode the courage and sense of belief in everyone who loves Palestine. Everyone who has family in Palestine and anyone in solidarity with Palestinians, the war in the media and in the collective mind serves to depress and demoralize these righteous forces, to disempower the work for liberation for all oppressed and colonized people in our lifetime.
Many marvel (in a shock that is rooted in an unspoken despair) that the people of Gaza nevertheless persist, while relief and aid caravans are blocked, while aid distribution camps are bombed, while refugee camps are subjected to air strikes, under the immoral and inhumane barrage of the hyper-industrialised militaries against a nation without even a fully recognized state; skateboard clubs emerge, children plant flower gardens outside of their tents in refugee camps, children play football on the dry, bare ground, rappers record albums in the midst of rocket fire, and artists express the passion of and for their people.
Just as the people of Gaza have no choice but to resist and fight back against imperialism simply to survive from day to day, so too does nature in all of its hardwired tendencies, in all of its patterns, in all of its splendor and awesome power; nature resists all systems and forces who function against its designs.
Even when there is one person fighting against all of the money and might of the imperialist war machine, that one person is not alone, because all of the plant life, the land, the soil, the water resists the manufacture of death, too. It is the agenda of nature to live and persist; resistance and persistence must be our agenda too.
Gaza epitomizes the spirit of Life.
Gaza epitomizes the spirit of Life.
And after all it is precisely this that imperialism and colonialism is hoping to destroy: our will to live, our creative spark, our internal strength, our resolve. Why else would you bomb convoys bringing aid and donated goods to everyday people? Why else would you carpet bomb the most densely populated urban region on the planet? Why else would you kill journalists and attack the funeral procession? [6]
The bombs that imperialism drops on a people reflect the psychology behind their destruction. The imperialist must bomb and he prefers to bomb, because he knows his attack must be total, stretching far and wide. The imperialist knows that we live in community, with vast networks of collective consciousness and camaraderie; we come in bunches, we live and move together; where there is one of us, there is all of us. He knows he must bomb with vigor because even the very ground that we stand on is a resource against his death-drive.
The imperialist bombs even the grass, down to the roots[7]. And yet, in time, the grassroots resurge and so too the nation of people who hold on and keep fighting in defense of that very soil, in defense of those very roots. If they could they would also bomb our souls, our hearts, our memories, our passion. It is for this reason that our energy, our creativity, and our thirst for life, these comprise the heart of our anti-colonial arsenal.
If any one of us would dare give up hope we need only look around the planet and look at its history.
Look to Vietnam, Algeria, Cuba, Cape Verde, Venezuela, smaller nations who have thrown off the chains of the modern, technologically advanced imperialist war-machine. In the poetic phrasing of Ho Chi Minh, “After the rain, good weather. In the wink of an eye, the universe throws off its muddy clothes.” These small countries, small islands, small economies, they were not alone.
Look to Vietnam, Algeria, Cuba, Cape Verde, Venezuela, smaller nations who have thrown off the chains of the modern, technologically advanced imperialist war-machine. In the poetic phrasing of Ho Chi Minh, “After the rain, good weather. In the wink of an eye, the universe throws off its muddy clothes.” These small countries, small islands, small economies, they were not alone.
IN defense of our homelands and in defense of one another we are living as naturally and as true to our nature as we ever could. We have the natural advantage. We are sailing with the wind, while our enemies ride foolishly against it. Even the winds and the rain prefer us and they work in our interest.
There is no reason then or rationale to abandon belief or the revolutionary action it inspires. We must escalate our energy and our resolve. Harden our hearts against systems of domination and manufacturers of death. We enjoy solidarity, even that of the ecosystem. History thus proves that we need only to not give into fear or fatigue.
It is a primary and foundational act of revolution to believe that we can achieve liberation in our lifetimes, precisely because it is a primary and foundational war that the systems of dispossession and destruction wage against our sense of belief, our imaginations, attacking our sense of possibility. So vast a conspiracy of lies and misinformation is colonialism and capitalism that it obscures our understanding of natural ecosystems– how vast it all is, how unrelenting and indomitable the planet’s systems are; it is mandatory that any force that will succeed for long periods of time must cooperate with nature or they must perish.
The forces of colonialism and displacement, those land thieves, living under the protection of the Zionist entity and their benefactors, they live against nature, against the bounty of the earth that provides enough for everyone, in violation of not only the Palestinian’s right to the land but of course in violation of the land itself.[8][9][10].
And so, colonialism is already a project which was always in decline, because it is a project set against the awesome and uncompromising power of the planet.
If there is anything that we can know as a scientific fact: let us be sure then that all of the systems which move against nature move toward their own demise. The planet is more powerful than any of the forces it hosts. We understand with clarity and confidence that nature moves in our defense, we move together in defense of one another.
If for no other reason, victory in liberation and decolonization, for all the oppressed people of the planet, nature assures us such victory. Like the raging tempest, like the floods, and the winds and rains, rebellion and revolution is a natural process. So too is the survival and resurgence of Gaza.
And just the encouragement of each other, any insistence to keep the faith, this too is a key contribution to the fight. Fight on.
And just the encouragement of each other, any insistence to keep the faith, this too is a key contribution to the fight. Fight on.
When our comrade says their parents believe and insist that Gaza will win, against all of the man-made systems, against the world-dominant, institutional dealers of death, we know their parents possess this deep understanding. The Palestinian elders, parents, and grandparents know for whom the olive tree blooms, they know for whom dates blossom, just as our ancestors in Africa and Asia have known for whom the sun would shine and against whom the sea’s tide would rage.
History favours nature. Nature finds no match for its power in human affairs. Whatever harms nature for a moment destroys itself forever. Living deeply in their nature, in community, on their land, off the fruits of their soil and the sea, Gaza rises again and again. Imperialism and colonialism meet their match. Nature tips the scale in favour of the masses fighting for life, a people and a planet united in common cause.
What is in our collective control is the matter of how soon this freedom will come to pass. The news reports coming every day, every hour, tells us that our beloved comrades in Gaza are bearing horrors which must end now; there is no time to waste. While history is clear in its bias toward nature and its children, Gaza will be free. The freedom has been decided. It is the time and manner which is our choosing. Once again, we choose now.
We are fighting against powerful forces. Yet, in the view of history and science, we are not fighting against the odds. All of us who desire so strongly the liberation of the colonized people of the world, have to remain steadfast in firm and ferocious belief. We have won and we will win. Believe this; believing in victory is a primary act of revolutionary war.
[1]Israel’s War on Palestine’s Olive Trees
[2]The tree hugger: Settler attacks on Palestinian farmers and their olive trees | Al Jazeera World
[3]Drowing in the Waste of Israeli Settlers | Al Jazeera
[4]Israel Destroys Vines, Olive Trees, and Water Tanks
[5]West Bank: Israeli settlement wastewater destroys Palestinian lands and livelihoods
[6]Israeli forces attack funeral of veteran journalist Shireen Abu Aqla – BBC News
[7]NUMSA: ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS OF WAR: TEN REASONS WHY MILITARISM IS BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
[8]As Israeli settlements thrive, Palestinian taps run dry. The water crisis reflects a broader battle
[9] Emissions from Israel’s war in Gaza have ‘immense’ effect on climate catastrophe
[10] An Environmental Nakba: The Palestinian Environment Under Israeli Colonization
[2]The tree hugger: Settler attacks on Palestinian farmers and their olive trees | Al Jazeera World
[3]Drowing in the Waste of Israeli Settlers | Al Jazeera
[4]Israel Destroys Vines, Olive Trees, and Water Tanks
[5]West Bank: Israeli settlement wastewater destroys Palestinian lands and livelihoods
[6]Israeli forces attack funeral of veteran journalist Shireen Abu Aqla – BBC News
[7]NUMSA: ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS OF WAR: TEN REASONS WHY MILITARISM IS BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
[8]As Israeli settlements thrive, Palestinian taps run dry. The water crisis reflects a broader battle
[9] Emissions from Israel’s war in Gaza have ‘immense’ effect on climate catastrophe
[10] An Environmental Nakba: The Palestinian Environment Under Israeli Colonization
Good Days Coming
by Ho Chi Minh
Everything changes, the wheel
of the law turns without pause.
After the rain, good weather.
In the wink of an eye
The universe throws off
its muddy clothes.
For ten thousand miles
the landscape
Spreads out like a beautiful brocade.
Gentle sunshine. Light breezes. Smiling flowers,
Hang in the trees, amongst the
sparkling leaves,
All the birds sing at once.
Men and animals rise up reborn.
What could be more natural?
After sorrow comes happiness.
of the law turns without pause.
After the rain, good weather.
In the wink of an eye
The universe throws off
its muddy clothes.
For ten thousand miles
the landscape
Spreads out like a beautiful brocade.
Gentle sunshine. Light breezes. Smiling flowers,
Hang in the trees, amongst the
sparkling leaves,
All the birds sing at once.
Men and animals rise up reborn.
What could be more natural?
After sorrow comes happiness.
