| Decolonization

The Struggle of One is the Struggle of All

The recent escalation of violence in Palestine by Israel is a crime against the country’s inhabitants, but such crimes have been seen against other nations around the world.

By Hector Miranda Plaza, May 16, 2021

On May 7, 2021, Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem during the final Friday prayers of Ramadan, which precede Eid and which are among the holiest of the season. As the Israeli police violently disrupted the celebrations, chaos soon ensued among the 70,000 worshipers in attendance, and more than 300 were injured.

Outside, as the mosque sat ablaze, Israeli nationalists cheered and danced with waving flags as one of the most holiest sites in both Islam, Christianity, and Judaism was defiled by government forces.

Such depravity against Muslims and Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli government is par for the course at this point, as their communities have been systematically colonized and marginalized by the government through negligence, concrete walls which tear through communities, and displacement by Israeli settlers.

The story of Palestine and its relation to Israel is one which stretches back decades, but it is perhaps most tragic in that it is not unique.

Some 1900 miles from the Levant, from the victory of Falangist forces in the Spanish Civil War in 1939 to the death of Francisco Franco in 1977, the ethnic minorities of Spain saw great persecution. In the eyes of Franco, Spain had to enforce a uniform national identity, even if it meant the destruction of preexistente identities.

Any and all political organizations in favor of the recognition of the Basque, Galician, and Catalan identities were outlawed, and the use of any language other than Spanish in government was prohibited. All schooling and lectures had to be done in Spanish, any Catalan names were forcefully changed to their Spanish equivalents, and their traditions were strictly regulated and repressed.

This resulted in many protracted conflicts between the Spanish government and militants such as the Basque ETA, which claimed the lives of many. Despite this repression, however, these cultural identities survived the Francoist onslaught.

Up north in the British Isles, the Irish were oppressed for centuries. Starting in the 16th century, the British began a conquest of Ireland.

The Protestants of Great Britain systematically suppressed the Catholic Irish, extracting the island’s resources, establishing “plantations” through which Scottish and English settlers could colonize the land, and systematically discriminating against Catholics.

During the Potato Famine, the British government treated the dire state of Ireland with indifference, resulting in thousands of avoidable deaths and the eviction of many Catholics off of their land. In 1919, fed up with British rule, representatives from the recently elected nationalist Sinn Fein party declared total independence from the United Kingdom.

The subsequent guerrilla conflict lasted until 1921, which resulted in the Irish gaining their independence with the formation of the Irish Free State, and the separation of the majority-Protestant Northern Ireland from the rest of the Free State.

In the Caribbean, the United States has exploited Puerto Rico. In 1898, the United States falsely blamed an explosion on the USS Maine, stationed in Cuba, on Spain.

This resulted in the invasion of the Spanish territories of the Caribbean, and the annexation of Puerto Rico. The Americans forced the transfer of 40% of the net worth of the island by rigging the exchange rate of the Puerto Rican Peso to the US Dollar unfavorably, buying out nearly all arable land on the island for use in sugarcane production, and forcing the assimilation of those on the island by banning the use of Spanish in any official capacity.

Due to these policies imposed on the island, Puerto Rico would lose any self-sufficiency it had before, being fully dependent on the US for its needs. In 1950, however, an armed insurrection against the US was undertaken by Puerto Rican nationalists, which was violently repressed by Army troops and Air Force carpet bombings.

While the island is no longer an agriculturally based economy and assimilation efforts have simmered, the island still sends over 58 million dollars in corporate profits to the US in exchange for less than 15 million dollars in government funds and is hamstrung by a lack of control over its own affairs. 

Despite what it might seem like at first glance, the struggles of Palestine, Ireland, Puerto Rico, and the minorities of Spain are intimately connected. All have fought against an oppressor who sought to destroy their cultures, and rob them of what makes them a unique group.

While some of these, such as the Irish conflict, have been mostly successful, there is still much work to be done. Palestine, Puerto Rico, and Northern Ireland still chafe under the foreign yoke, and independence efforts in Catalonia are being stifled by the government.

Victory in these struggles is held back by the interests of a Global North, which seeks to secure its own socioeconomic interests at any costs; the Northern Irish economy is worth over 65 billion USD, Puerto Rico is the United State’s fifth largest export market, Catalonia makes up a fifth of Spain’s GDP, and the very existence of Palestine is seen by Israel as an existential threat.

Despite these obstacles, however, we have no choice but to continue working towards the liberation of all oppressed nations, and we have no choice but to work with each other. We share a common goal, but only through the strength of solidarity and collaboration can we achieve the true liberation of our nations.

Hector Miranda Plaza is an author for and co-founder of Young Patriots Magazine.