This piece is written for Palestinians. You may remember that the writer was
illegally fired from the teaching position which he had just accepted at the
University of Illinois after he wrote a tweet which displeased Israeli
proponents during Israel's 2014 attack on Gaza. I thought you might agree
with me that he expresses a very positive viewpoint.
Miriam
The Native American model of Palestines future
Steven Salaita 10 March 2016
Members of the Idle No More movement for Indigenous sovereignty and to
protect the land and water, at the Peopless Climate March in New York City,
22 September 2014. (Allan Lissner/Idle No More)
Note: the hyperlinks throughout this article lead to book recommendations in
American Indian and Indigenous Studies.
Comparison of Native Americans and Palestinians has become increasingly
common. Thus arises a corresponding need to assess the problems and
prospects of comparative analysis.
Because I teach American Indian and Indigenous Studies in the Arab World,
Ive been thinking frequently about how we might productively engage Natives
from spaces of Palestine solidarity.
Theres no way to adequately represent the heterogeneity of Native and
Palestinian viewpoints, commitments and ambitions. It is unwise to present
Indian Country and Palestine as stable sites of inquiry, especially if we
approach them in tandem.
To compare Natives and Palestinians or any constellation of discrete
national communities is to constantly balance the problems of vagueness
with the value of structural critique.
The point of comparison isnt to theorize uniformity, but to discover
political and intellectual paradigms that traverse national, cultural and
geopolitical boundaries.
Comparative work is exceptionally difficult; my sloppiness often inspires
rejoinder and correction. Tension is a necessary element of meaningful
dialogue.
We have to select which points of tension are worth navigating. Here Im
concerned with the perception that Natives are defeated and disinherited.
This perception exists in the Arab World, but originates in Canada and the
United States.
People often assume that Natives have been permanently dispossessed or exist
as ahistorical monuments of conquest unable to access modernity, if they
exist at all.
Based on this assumption, those concerned with the colonization of Palestine
can be tempted to evoke Natives as the victims of a tragic fate that
Palestinians must avoid.
This formulation, however well-intentioned, does a tremendous disservice to
Natives. A less sanguine reading might observe that it reinforces an ongoing
colonial erasure of Indigenous peoples in (and beyond) North America.
It is based on an inaccurate understanding of both the past and present. Of
course we dont want Palestinians to be forever deprived of their homeland
or exist as romantic emblems of an irretrievable past. Nor do we want Israel
to eternally occupy Palestines history.
But Indian Country isnt an example of such closures having occurred. The
United States and Canada havent yet managed to settle the matter of their
permanent supremacy.
The necessity of decolonization
Natives representing hundreds of discrete nations currently fight for
restitution, sovereignty, treaty rights, self-determination and liberation.
Indeed, it is in Indigenous communities around the world, many of them
supposedly defeated or disappeared, where we find principled and innovative
forms of decolonization.
Coast Salish territory, known to many as British Columbia, remains unceded.
The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) issues its own passports.
The Diné (Navajo) control a region much larger than historic Palestine. The
Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiians) do not recognize US authority on their islands.
Ceremonial and spiritual practices have survived centuries of subjection.
Native languages are increasingly taught and spoken. Scholars, artists and
storytellers recover and accelerate sophisticated intellectual traditions.
Things arent all peachy. The US and Canadian governments remain in
violation of numerous treaties and retain ultimate jurisdiction over tribal
governance.
Poverty on certain reservations is acute. Corporations, often with the
complicity of a neocolonial elite, dump pollution in Native communities.
They also destroy sacred sites and extract precious resources. Police
violence is extraordinary in Indian Country. Indigenous girls and women
disappear at an alarming rate. Sports teams use racist language and imagery.
These problems illuminate the continued existence of colonization and the
corresponding necessity of decolonization.
Palestine solidarity activists neednt hold up Natives as either fabled
warriors or cautionary failures. We can encounter them in the context of
very real and relevant struggles for freedom.
Still undefeated
The image of the defeated Native arises from venerable discourses of
conquest. Settler colonization relies on linear histories and biological
hierarchies.
The US and Canada have supposedly surpassed the mythical point where ceding
land or authority would still make sense. The Natives lost. Those who
survived are multicultural tokens or anthropological curiosities.
Much of this reasoning invokes the persistent idea that Natives exist
outside of modernity. As objects of the past, representing a tragic but
necessary era of American progress, Natives cannot raise legitimate claims
in the present.
The model of Native Americans as Palestines nightmare scenario, then,
reproduces the logic of settler colonization. The reproduction of that logic
is often unwitting, but it is through circulation of unexamined orthodoxy
that cultural exceptionalism most vigorously survives. Any notion that
Natives lost is a triumph of US and Canadian colonial discourses.
I dont want to suggest that the logic I critique is a standard or even
normal perception among Palestine activist communities around the world.
However, I have encountered some variation of we dont want to become like
the Indians enough times to say the formulation does exist.
Read, write, shout
Working on Palestine solidarity from the Arab World doesnt necessitate the
inclusion of Natives, though any analysis of Israeli settler colonization
that ignores corresponding colonial projects will be limited.
Working on Palestine solidarity from North America, however, does
necessitate emphasis on Natives. Casting aside the notion that Natives no
longer exist or are relics of a tragic past means making ourselves available
to assist their political aspirations.
For instance, to perform boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) activism in
North America means being attuned to the horrors of settler colonization.
Being attuned to those horrors should entail an understanding of its
existence in the geographies we inhabit.
This isnt to say that we must find ways to make Natives and Palestinians
analogous. We merely need to recognize that our obligations extend beyond
Palestine.
Those of us in North America inhabit contested spaces. Deciding to align
with the native or the settler should be an easy choice.
What to do once that choice has been made?
Read as much as you can about Indigenous peoples in North America (and,
preferably, on other continents).
Seek sites of protest, celebration and learning. Proffer the forms of
support that you most appreciate in relation to Palestine solidarity
activism.
In short, participate in the projects that enliven rather than ossify
Indigenous peoples around the world.
The Native American model redefined
Despite my vigorous rejection of the disappearing Native paradigm, we can
nonetheless find appropriate models for Palestinian nationalism among Native
communities.
Instead of declaring that we dont want Palestinians to become like Natives,
it would be more accurate to think of Natives as a model for Palestinian
resistance and survival. The point isnt simply recognition, but to
emphasize the need for decolonization in North America.
Natives are still around despite persistent attempts at physical
extermination and centuries of forced assimilation. They vigorously contest
land theft and violations of autonomy. They are at the forefront of
movements to transform the US and Canada from plutocratic armories into
spaces of equality and justice.
If Palestinians can similarly survive the brutal assault on their
peoplehood, as they have done thus far, then it will be an achievement
worthy of celebration. That Natives arent fully liberated doesnt negate
the value of thoughtful comparison; it amplifies the need to compare.
It likewise amplifies the need to make decolonization of North America a
central feature of BDS activism in the US and Canada.
As long as we practice anti-Zionist ethics on colonized ground, we
necessarily involve ourselves in the politics of Native independence,
whether or not were aware of that involvement.
Those in the Arab World can explore the implications of discussing the
United States and Canada as settler colonies rather than merely as imperial
powers.
This sort of shift might generate greater recognition of Natives as
contemporaneous agents and produce even deeper understanding of the
conditions in North America that inform the colonization of Palestine.
Wherever we live, it is imperative to avoid replicating narratives of
colonial triumph. Nobody interested in Palestines liberation should imagine
an obliquely terrible future. The past is vexing enough. And the present is
still unsettled.
We neednt set Natives and Palestinians against one another in fixed
iterations of linear history. Its better to participate in the timeless
models of resistance that disturb settlers on both sides of the Atlantic.
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The Native American model of Palestines future
Steven Salaita 10 March 2016
&
Members of the Idle No More movement for Indigenous sovereignty and to
protect the land and water, at the Peopless Climate March in New York City,
22 September 2014. (Allan Lissner/Idle No More)
Note: the hyperlinks throughout this article lead to book recommendations in
American Indian and Indigenous Studies.
Comparison of Native Americans and Palestinians has become increasingly
common. Thus arises a corresponding need to assess the problems and
prospects of comparative analysis.
Because I teach American Indian and Indigenous Studies in the Arab World,
Ive been thinking frequently about how we might productively engage Natives
from spaces of Palestine solidarity.
Theres no way to adequately represent the heterogeneity of Native and
Palestinian viewpoints, commitments and ambitions. It is unwise to present
Indian Country and Palestine as stable sites of inquiry, especially if we
approach them in tandem.
To compare Natives and Palestinians or any constellation of discrete
national communities is to constantly balance the problems of vagueness
with the value of structural critique.
The point of comparison isnt to theorize uniformity, but to discover
political and intellectual paradigms that traverse national, cultural and
geopolitical boundaries.
Comparative work is exceptionally difficult; my sloppiness often inspires
rejoinder and correction. Tension is a necessary element of meaningful
dialogue.
We have to select which points of tension are worth navigating. Here Im
concerned with the perception that Natives are defeated and disinherited.
This perception exists in the Arab World, but originates in Canada and the
United States.
People often assume that Natives have been permanently dispossessed or exist
as ahistorical monuments of conquest unable to access modernity, if they
exist at all.
Based on this assumption, those concerned with the colonization of Palestine
can be tempted to evoke Natives as the victims of a tragic fate that
Palestinians must avoid.
This formulation, however well-intentioned, does a tremendous disservice to
Natives. A less sanguine reading might observe that it reinforces an ongoing
colonial erasure of Indigenous peoples in (and beyond) North America.
It is based on an inaccurate understanding of both the past and present. Of
course we dont want Palestinians to be forever deprived of their homeland
or exist as romantic emblems of an irretrievable past. Nor do we want Israel
to eternally occupy Palestines history.
But Indian Country isnt an example of such closures having occurred. The
United States and Canada havent yet managed to settle the matter of their
permanent supremacy.
The necessity of decolonization
Natives representing hundreds of discrete nations currently fight for
restitution, sovereignty, treaty rights, self-determination and liberation.
Indeed, it is in Indigenous communities around the world, many of them
supposedly defeated or disappeared, where we find principled and innovative
forms of decolonization.
Coast Salish territory, known to many as British Columbia, remains unceded.
The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) issues its own passports.
The Diné (Navajo) control a region much larger than historic Palestine. The
Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiians) do not recognize US authority on their islands.
Ceremonial and spiritual practices have survived centuries of subjection.
Native languages are increasingly taught and spoken. Scholars, artists and
storytellers recover and accelerate sophisticated intellectual traditions.
Things arent all peachy. The US and Canadian governments remain in
violation of numerous treaties and retain ultimate jurisdiction over tribal
governance.
Poverty on certain reservations is acute. Corporations, often with the
complicity of a neocolonial elite, dump pollution in Native communities.
They also destroy sacred sites and extract precious resources. Police
violence is extraordinary in Indian Country. Indigenous girls and women
disappear at an alarming rate. Sports teams use racist language and imagery.
These problems illuminate the continued existence of colonization and the
corresponding necessity of decolonization.
Palestine solidarity activists neednt hold up Natives as either fabled
warriors or cautionary failures. We can encounter them in the context of
very real and relevant struggles for freedom.
Still undefeated
The image of the defeated Native arises from venerable discourses of
conquest. Settler colonization relies on linear histories and biological
hierarchies.
The US and Canada have supposedly surpassed the mythical point where ceding
land or authority would still make sense. The Natives lost. Those who
survived are multicultural tokens or anthropological curiosities.
Much of this reasoning invokes the persistent idea that Natives exist
outside of modernity. As objects of the past, representing a tragic but
necessary era of American progress, Natives cannot raise legitimate claims
in the present.
The model of Native Americans as Palestines nightmare scenario, then,
reproduces the logic of settler colonization. The reproduction of that logic
is often unwitting, but it is through circulation of unexamined orthodoxy
that cultural exceptionalism most vigorously survives. Any notion that
Natives lost is a triumph of US and Canadian colonial discourses.
I dont want to suggest that the logic I critique is a standard or even
normal perception among Palestine activist communities around the world.
However, I have encountered some variation of we dont want to become like
the Indians enough times to say the formulation does exist.
Read, write, shout
Working on Palestine solidarity from the Arab World doesnt necessitate the
inclusion of Natives, though any analysis of Israeli settler colonization
that ignores corresponding colonial projects will be limited.
Working on Palestine solidarity from North America, however, does
necessitate emphasis on Natives. Casting aside the notion that Natives no
longer exist or are relics of a tragic past means making ourselves available
to assist their political aspirations.
For instance, to perform boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) activism in
North America means being attuned to the horrors of settler colonization.
Being attuned to those horrors should entail an understanding of its
existence in the geographies we inhabit.
This isnt to say that we must find ways to make Natives and Palestinians
analogous. We merely need to recognize that our obligations extend beyond
Palestine.
Those of us in North America inhabit contested spaces. Deciding to align
with the native or the settler should be an easy choice.
What to do once that choice has been made?
Read as much as you can about Indigenous peoples in North America (and,
preferably, on other continents).
Seek sites of protest, celebration and learning. Proffer the forms of
support that you most appreciate in relation to Palestine solidarity
activism.
In short, participate in the projects that enliven rather than ossify
Indigenous peoples around the world.
The Native American model redefined
Despite my vigorous rejection of the disappearing Native paradigm, we can
nonetheless find appropriate models for Palestinian nationalism among Native
communities.
Instead of declaring that we dont want Palestinians to become like Natives,
it would be more accurate to think of Natives as a model for Palestinian
resistance and survival. The point isnt simply recognition, but to
emphasize the need for decolonization in North America.
Natives are still around despite persistent attempts at physical
extermination and centuries of forced assimilation. They vigorously contest
land theft and violations of autonomy. They are at the forefront of
movements to transform the US and Canada from plutocratic armories into
spaces of equality and justice.
If Palestinians can similarly survive the brutal assault on their
peoplehood, as they have done thus far, then it will be an achievement
worthy of celebration. That Natives arent fully liberated doesnt negate
the value of thoughtful comparison; it amplifies the need to compare.
It likewise amplifies the need to make decolonization of North America a
central feature of BDS activism in the US and Canada.
As long as we practice anti-Zionist ethics on colonized ground, we
necessarily involve ourselves in the politics of Native independence,
whether or not were aware of that involvement.
Those in the Arab World can explore the implications of discussing the
United States and Canada as settler colonies rather than merely as imperial
powers.
This sort of shift might generate greater recognition of Natives as
contemporaneous agents and produce even deeper understanding of the
conditions in North America that inform the colonization of Palestine.
Wherever we live, it is imperative to avoid replicating narratives of
colonial triumph. Nobody interested in Palestines liberation should imagine
an obliquely terrible future. The past is vexing enough. And the present is
still unsettled.
We neednt set Natives and Palestinians against one another in fixed
iterations of linear history. Its better to participate in the timeless
models of resistance that disturb settlers on both sides of the Atlantic.
