How do I reconcile my intense sympathy and support for Palestine while also living in the ancestral lands of Native Americans? As a black man, where exactly could I migrate to and be accepted by the local populace? I am lost on this point.
While the question of black nationhood is a complicated one, I think there's a deeper misconception, conveyed by the idea of migration, that should be addressed, here - decolonisation does not mean physically removing non-indigenous people from the land.
Decolonisation means the destruction of the colonial state, and the return to sovereignty and self-governance of the colonised nation. Decolonisation of Palestine does not mean that 'israelis' living in Palestine must be removed - but that they must no longer be occupiers, they must no longer be beneficiaries of a state that opresses the indigenous population. In the case of Palestine, many of them will likely leave of their own accord anyway - they do not want to be residents of Palestine, but occupiers of it - but in more entrenched settler colonies, there's no reason to expect everyone who isn't indigenous to up and leave. Rather, recognising the occupied nation they actually live in, accepting its governance and authority, and renouncing any illicit gains the occupation granted them (like stolen homes and land) is much more in line with what decolonisation looks like.
The issue is not, and never was 'foreigners living on our land', it has always been the military occupation, repression of indigenous nations and nationhood, and elevation of settlers to a privileged class on the back of exploitation and base robbery of occupied nations.
i fucking haaate being a castle guard dude the king's coat of arms is fucking stupid and all the female courtiers laugh at my tabard. can somebody come usurp this guy already
Art by Ray Feibush (left) and Bruce Pennington. Check out these illustrations along with 400 others in my new art book - "Worlds Beyond Time: Sci-Fi Art of the 1970s" is out now!