Angela Y. Davis's 'Freedom Is a Constant Struggle': Connecting Global Movements Against Oppression
BY ANGELA Y. DAVIS
An insightful compilation of essays, speeches, and interviews by Angela Davis, Freedom Is a Constant Struggle reveals how social movements around the world are linked.
The book also touches on fascinating topics such as prison its abolition, its industrial complex but also intersectionality, and the militarization of police forces.
Short and easy to read, I won't say it left a strong impact on me because I know about Palestinian history, struggles and movements as well as intersectionality, nevertheless I appreciated the moment when she makes it clear to everyone that there is no such thing as an individualistic fight.
Even though the mainstream has always tried to sanctify Nelson Mandela or Dr. King in their battle for rights and justice as heroic and exceptional individuals, they were never alone.
Angela Davis emphasizes that there is no such thing as an individualistic approach to activism and that only the collective will lead to victory.
Black liberation and Palestinian liberation are intertwined in several ways.
Firstly, both struggles are rooted in the experience of colonialism and the violent dispossession of land and resources by European powers. Palestinians have been fighting against the settler-colonial project of Zionism for over a century, while Black people in the Americas and across the African continent have suffered centuries of enslavement, exploitation, and discrimination at the hands of European colonial powers.
Both struggles have been met with state violence and oppression. Palestinians have faced brutal military occupation, checkpoints, and walls, while Black people in the United States and elsewhere have experienced police brutality, mass incarceration, and systemic racism.
Both struggles have drawn on the tactics of nonviolent resistance and popular struggle, including boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS), protests, and civil disobedience.
The connections between struggles against state violence and oppression are not limited to Black and Palestinian liberation. Throughout history and around the world, oppressed communities have often found common cause in their struggles against their oppressors.
Read it, if you want to know more about how seemingly different struggles or movements are deeply intertwined.