By Angelique V. Nixon
Angelique V. Nixon is a Bahamas-born, Trinidad-based queer writer, scholar and activist. She is a senior lecturer at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies (IGDS) at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, and a director of the feminist LGBTQI organisation CAISO: Sex and Gender Justice.
“We inhabit histories even if we do not understand or know them.”
– Angela Davis
In a world fractured by historical injustices, oppression, it is vital that we understand the intersections of continuing struggles for liberation and justice. Given the horrifying Israeli military assault on Gaza in Occupied Palestine and the impending CARICOM supported and UN-backed security forces to be deployed to Haiti, neo-colonial powers are steadfastly working to control narratives and justify war, genocide, and occupation. How can we not see the hauntings of empire and colonial rule and our own complicity as a region in how we have failed to support the people of Haiti? How can we understand the conflicts from Haiti to Palestine as connected struggles that demand our attention, response, and solidarity?
The region’s response to the rise in Haitian migrants fleeing violence and seeking asylum has been relative silence amidst mass deportations, particularly from The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Guyana, and just recently in Jamaica, where the government has repatriated Haitian migrants without due process and in breach of international agreements for migrants and asylum seekers. And with the closing of the DR-Haiti border, CARICOM has issued no clear response or concerns over the humanitarian crisis that continues in Haiti. And we must remember the ways that The Bahamas and Dominican Republic have continued to deport people of Haitian descent – making them stateless – who ought to have rights through birth and families to stay in the country or at the least seek asylum. Or how just a few years ago, Guyana held Haitians in detention with threats of deportation for months even though they had visas to travel through Guyana. These are some of the horrifying ways that Haitian people have suffered in our region through state-sanctioned violence.
The ongoing political instability and social and economic crisis in Haiti is created and sustained through occupations, foreign interference, and crippling debt. Haiti’s tumultuous history is unknown or hidden through the overwhelming focus on violence without context and anti-Haitian sentiments and xenophobia that run rampant across the Caribbean. Haiti and Haitians are treated as a problem by much of the region. There has been little to no leadership on the current crisis in Haiti outside of debates about migration and support for the most recent UN intervention that will prop up the illegitimate government of Ariel Henry, and little effort to take the demands of the Haitian people seriously.
When we look at the years of ongoing conflict and violence in Haiti, with barely a CARICOM response, it is little wonder that Caribbean governments have been slow or hesitant to strongly condemn Israel. Perhaps it is the intricacies of our region’s complex relationships with and dependency on former colonial powers that continue to dictate terms to their so-called allies.
On October 9th, CARICOM issued the following statement on October 9th:
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) abhors the attacks in Israel and the counterattacks in the Palestinian territory of Gaza. Further, the savage nature of the attacks and counterattacks is the antithesis of civilised life and living. Innocent lives are being lost amidst the fervour and violence of the actual combatants. CARICOM thus joins the responsible members of the international community in calling for an immediate ceasefire and end of hostilities by all parties.
The recent round of hostilities reflects the pain and suffering of ancient quarrels. The ongoing harsh conditions under which the Palestinians live in veritable colonialism and Israel’s sense of insecurity will contribute to a cycle of violence until those realities are definitively addressed.
Accordingly, CARICOM continues to support the United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 and the ongoing efforts of the United Nations towards a two-state solution as the best way to achieve comprehensive peace, security and tranquility between Israel and Palestine.
The statement is an example of CARICOM’s careful tiptoeing, which fails to name the establishment of the State of Israel as an egregious colonial occupation that involved the outright theft of Palestinian lands and ethnic cleansing. Nonetheless, CARICOM’s statement, by including the word colonialism, was at least clear about the historic inequity between Israel and Palestine, an acknowledgment that incited a hostile response from Israel. It should be obvious why Caribbean countries (along with much of the Global South and Indigenous communities in particular) would align with Palestine and speak out against colonialism and occupation. But the political nightmare and pressure from Israel and its staunch allies (from the United States and Canada to Europe) that comes with supporting Palestine begs the question, what can Caribbean governments or CARICOM really do (or what are they willing to do in speaking out against power)?
Certainly, we can acknowledge the majority CARICOM support of Palestine through UN Resolutions (for statehood and the recent call for a ceasefire). We should also recognise the long support for Palestine, particularly in Guyana and across the region’s Muslim communities and organisations. But our political leaders have been far too silent on the war in Gaza. And the news reports across the region are simply re-circulating, with little to no critique, of Western stories of the war that reproduce the silencing and dehumanisation of Palestinians. The most critical voices are coming through editorials and opinion columns that offer engagement with non-Western media sources and justice-oriented perspectives.
Recently, the group “Caribbeans Against Apartheid in Palestine” in Barbados has been organising protests and sharing updates on their social media pages. And there have been demonstrations in Guyana and Trinidad calling for support of Palestine. We need more outrage. We need more spaces for Caribbean people to learn about what is going on in Palestine and its history. We need to engage in teach-ins and reasonings about the war and share wider perspectives from those on the ground.
Meanwhile, the escalation continues with an overwhelming number of Palestinians being killed daily (reports as at 29 October – 8,005 Palestinians killed, nearly half of whom were children). We are witnessing genocide. We are watching as Israeli forces murder civilians, relentlessly destroy homes, residential buildings, hospitals, religious and cultural sites, schools, and more. Northern Gaza is being demolished right before our eyes, and millions of Palestinians, already historically displaced, are again being pushed out of their land – there is no safe space in Gaza. And there continues to be justification of this genocide in Western media and politics, enabled through Islamophobia and a complete dehumanisation of the Palestinian people.
What are we prepared to do for those most marginalised? Where is our moral compass? I wonder what we can do to stand in meaningful solidarity as activists, artists, scholars, comrades in struggle – as Caribbean people concerned with peace and justice. How can we use our voices and activate change? How can we push our leaders and governments to really stand for justice?
In 1991, Black feminist writer and poet, June Jordan identified Palestinian and queer liberation as the litmus test for our morality and the most pressing issues of our time. Legendary activist, scholar, and public intellectual, Angela Davis has insisted for decades on understanding the intersections of struggles for freedom from Palestine to Ferguson and the complexity of entangled histories of colonialism and oppression from South Africa to Haiti. She has identified in different ways in her work that the most important movements and questions facing us have to do with what we are prepared to do for the people of Palestine, people who are incarcerated, queer and trans people, and Black liberation: “When we do this work of organizing against racism, hetero-patriarchy, capitalism — organizing to change the world — there are no guarantees, to use Stuart Hall’s phrase, that our work will have an immediate effect, But we have to do it as if it were possible.”
We must consider what meaningful solidarity looks like for us in the Caribbean in the struggles for freedom and justice – from Palestine to Haiti. To do this, we need greater understanding of and reasonings across our spaces and distinct struggles. What are these inter-connected histories and differences? What does a framework for solidarity look like?
Colonialism and imperialism have inflicted deep wounds on both Palestine and Haiti. The Palestinian struggle for self-determination and sovereignty mirrors Haiti’s own fight for independence. We must recognise this shared history of resistance, acknowledging strength and resilience in the face of oppression. We must see the importance of confronting these structures, which means learning more about the occupation of Palestinian lands since 1947 and the neocolonial practices that have continually destabilised Haiti since the Haitian revolution.
In both cases, women, children and marginalised communities bear the brunt of these injustices. We must center the stories and experiences of those who are overshadowed in the broader narrative of the struggle for freedom and justice. Solidarity efforts should ensure that these voices are heard, respected, and uplifted. But what does transnational solidarity actually mean at this moment? We must uplift and amplify the individuals and organisations in the Caribbean who stand in solidarity advocating for justice, self-determination, and an end to oppressive regimes, from Haiti to Palestine.
Solidarity between Palestine and Haiti in the Caribbean is not just a moral imperative but a strategic necessity in the global struggle for justice and equality. The more we know and share, the more we can see how building alliances can make us stronger and offer spaces for us to mobilise for peace and justice – and call on our leaders to speak truth to power and speak out against genocide and occupation – from Palestine to Haiti.
We must be united in our calls for justice – no matter where we are in the world as colonised and formerly colonised people, the struggles for freedom and self-determination bind us together. Meaningful solidarity transcends borders, demonstrating that the fight for justice is a moral one, and can bring us one step closer to a world where every oppressed community can thrive and live with dignity and respect. As a Black Queer activist, writer, and scholar, during this moment, there is nothing more important than speaking out against genocide and occupation alongside the struggles for sexual rights, gender justice and Black liberation.
For those who want to learn more and stay updated: follow independent media such as Democracy Now and reporting by Al Jazeera.
https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/israel-palestine-conflict/
https://www.democracynow.org/topics/israel_and_palestine
And to understand more of the historical and political contexts, start here: What’s the Israel-Palestine conflict about? A simple guide
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/9/whats-the-israel-palestine-conflict-about-a-simple-guide