Statement of Solidarity
12/8/2014
We the undersigned groups and individuals in the Middle East and North Africa stand in solidarity with the ongoing protests across the U.S., led by Black communities, following the killing of Mike Brown by officer Darren Wilson and the decision by a Grand Jury that Wilson is innocent of any crime. Brown’s death is not the first, and has been followed by many other fatal shootings of people of color by U.S. police. We condemn this violence against Black communities and people of color in all its forms.
We stand in support of the grassroots movement to bring justice to communities of color facing police violence with the complicity of the judicial system. The militarization of the police and its destructive interventions in communities of color has pushed many activists/thinkers to highlight the links between U.S wars and occupations inside its borders, and outside it.
It is horrifying to live in a world where Black mothers have to teach their Black sons to avoid beingshot by the police for no reason, or for holding a toy gun, for asking for help, for wearing a hoodie; and for black women to be violently policed,harassed and murdered in their homes and in the streets. In the face of such crimes without impunity,in the face of colonization and multiple oppressions of indigenous peoples and communities of color, their anger is justified. We stand in solidarity with people resisting the U.S. white supremacist capitalist regime through boycotts, protests, civil disobedience, as well as through continuing processes of decolonization and resistance that are not as visible to us.
Such solidarity also necessitates that we acknowledge anti-Black racism in the Middle East and North African countries, the marginalization of Black Arabs, as well as the identification with whiteness by many Arabs, and the exploitation of Asian and African workers by the aggressive economies within the Gulf countries particularly, as well as across the Arab region. We remain engaged in changing our realities through fighting racism, classism and marginalization.
We the undersigned groups and individuals wish to honor the legacy of Black power and the civil rights movement in emancipation and equality, and its influence in supporting many of the national emancipation efforts within our region, and in reminding us that systems of oppression will always be dismantled. Black communities are not alone. Their lives matter, and their longing for justice must be granted by ending the constant violation based on gender, race and class.
We admire those individuals and groups mobilizing against injustice in U.S cities and streets, through individual and group initiatives; we salute their anger and their heroic determination in demanding justice and peace.
Signatures:
Sawtalniswa community - lebanon
Lebanon Socialist Forum - lebanon
Lebanon Anti Racism Movement - lebanon
Lebanon Radical Beirut- Lebanon
Revolutionary Left Movement - Syria
Beirut Walls - Lebanon
Sedighe Dolatabadi Women's Library, Iran
Red Zone - Anarchists from Greece and Syria
Individual signatures:
Delaram Ali
Elnaz Ansari
Amir Yaghoubali
Emad Borghei
Sawsan Abdulrahim
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