Graphic by Shevta Shaw

                                                           “Fight for justice, not just for Palestinians. For everyone.”

I can’t really tell you how many times I heard some version of this sentiment when I was in the West Bank. So often, when we would ask Palestinians what we should do and how we could take action, after telling us to talk to our political leaders, they would often add some version of this comment. “Fight for justice, not just for Palestinians, but for everyone.”

Today, just one week after the election, the words of my Palestinian comrades echo in my mind. Something our Palestinian friends seem to understand quite well is the intersectionality of all justice and liberation struggles (see Noah Trevor's conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates in this month’s podcast recommendations for more on this). And so our fight for justice can never just be for one people, one tribe, one nation. Our fight for justice is for all creation, and we do the work in whatever ways we can, from wherever we happen to be.

For some of us, this will simply mean that after a period of taking stock, grieving, and holding space for all who are hurting right now, we get right back to what we were doing before. Whether our particular fight was for a free Palestine, women’s rights, queer liberation, immigrant rights, combatting climate change, or fighting racism and white supremacy, the work is still there, waiting for us to pick it back up again with a renewed sense of commitment.

As one friend said to me, the work is the same, it’s just gotten harder. I know that is a disheartening thought. The work is the same, it’s just gotten harder. But maybe, just maybe, we can be stronger than we think. Maybe, just maybe, this little apocalypse will reveal hidden reserves of strength within us. Maybe, after a period of grief, we will emerge more courageous, more willing to sacrifice for what we know is right. And make no mistake, that’s what it will take to overcome this setback. It will take all of us making sacrifices of some kind.

For those of us who are committed to the fight for a free Palestine, it’s very clear that our work has just gotten much harder. The Israeli government is already taking steps towards even more aggressive policies in Gaza and the West Bank, assuming that they will receive little pushback from the incoming administration. You can read about some of these policies in the Breaking the Stories portion of this newsletter.

There is another phrase that I have heard many Palestinians say, which I think is also appropriate in this moment. “We do not have the luxury of despair.” Friends, the fight has come to us in earnest. This is a moment of truth for all of us who care about justice, human rights, and building a better world. We can grieve for a time, but we cannot allow ourselves to fall into despair. The people we care about— our black and brown friends, our immigrant and refugee friends, our queer friends— do not have that luxury and so neither do we.

And so today we grieve. But tomorrow… tomorrow we pick ourselves off, dust ourselves off, and we fight. We resist. We practice joy, because we cannot let them steal our joy, and to practice joy in the midst of troubling times is itself an act of resistance. We fight for our friends, we fight for ourselves, we fight for our country, we fight for a free Palestine, and we fight for a better world.

This excerpt is from the UCCPIN November 2024 E-Newsletter. To view the full newsletter, click here: UCCPIN November 2024 E-Newsletter.