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| Lea Kayali, Palestinian Youth Movement, screenshot by Censored News |
Palestinians and Native People -- Unity and Revolution at the National Day of Mourning at Plymouth Rock
"Nothing can stop this rising tide of resistance, because the land knows her stewards and we vowed to her that we will return victorious." Lea Kayali, Palestinian Youth Movement.
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News Series, Nov. 28, 2024
Translation into French by Christine Prat
The Day of Mourning at Plymouth Rock resounded the treachery of the settlers who arrived here, and sounded out calls for freedom for Leonard Peltier, and solidarity with the resistance to the genocide in Palestine, the genocide of stolen and murdered children now deep within the DNA.
"Genocide is the theft of all that is familiar," Lea said.
"It is the grotesque and unnatural contortion of what we once called life -- twenty kilograms of human remains in a plastic shopping bag; hamstrings of prisoners meant to stand naked for days on end without food; an ambulance shredded and left in the street like a meatball of entrails mechanical; the low hum of drones swarming like autonomous hornets in your ear drums."
"It is the Machinery of Colonialism that makes a mockery of natural life."
"My father always reminds me that we Palestinians can never make the mistake of thinking that we are the only people to endure and resist this mechanism of colonial oppression."
"Our Palestinian struggle against colonialism is a century old. We resisted first the British with the great Peasant Revolt, the popular strikes and Guerrilla attacks. Then we resisted the Zionists, expanding the mass character of our struggle and the tactics for over 76 years after."
"When I grieve the tens of thousands of children in Gaza who are orphans, I mourn the generations of Native children who have been stolen from their homes," said Lea Kayali, with the Palestinian Youth Movement, at the National Day of Mourning hosted by the United American Indians of New England on Thursday.
Describing the atrocities, and the resistance, Lea said this is the decolonization of the Zapatistas and the American Indian Movement.
"Our decolonization is a global people's resistance that will not stop until the sunrise of freedom warms every inch of this Earth from the long nights of repression."
Lea began with these words, "I'm so honored to be here today on the Day of Mourning, because as a Palestinian every day for the last 419 days has been a Day of Mourning -- knowing that the death toll is likely in the hundreds of thousands."
"So we are mourning with you today. Genocide, this unforgivable crime, has been wrought against so many of us Indigenous folk. This is the bloodied history that colonizers tried to cover up with stories like Thanksgiving and Israeli Independence."
"Today we reject those lies. Today, as a Palestinian, let me tell you our truth."
This genocide is more than the heart-wrenching stories that you've heard.
"Genocide is the theft of all that is familiar," Lea said.
"It is the grotesque and unnatural contortion of what we once called life -- twenty kilograms of human remains in a plastic shopping bag; hamstrings of prisoners meant to stand naked for days on end without food; an ambulance shredded and left in the street like a meatball of entrails mechanical; the low hum of drones swarming like autonomous hornets in your ear drums."
"Genocide is manufactured."
"It is the Machinery of Colonialism that makes a mockery of natural life."
"Zionism has produced an unrelenting mourning that will settle into our DNA for Generations."
"But in this Gathering I am reminded it need not be that way. We deserve so much more than this capitalist Armageddon."
"Today, I feel in my body that I am surrounded by the folk who stare into this machinery of death, and who extend a hand into the gears to hold ours as Palestinians, to say we have been here too -- and we will only emerge together."
"My father always reminds me that we Palestinians can never make the mistake of thinking that we are the only people to endure and resist this mechanism of colonial oppression."
"For if we believe that we suffer alone we will never rise together."
"So when I grieve the tens of thousands of children in Gaza who are orphans, I mourn the generations of Native children who have been stolen from their homes, because to borrow from Nick Este's words, 'the theft of the young is the theft of the future.'"
"When I hear of the martyrs whose bodies are stolen by the cruel Zionist regime, my heart aches for every murdered and missing indigenous person."
Lea said when she weeps for the now martyred Palestinian political prisoners, she knows that with her tears, she must demand freedom for Leonard Peltier.
"To be indigenous is to be held in a space in the front lines of the fight for Liberation, it is the space that is ours, if we promise to commit to it, to study our history."
"Our Palestinian struggle against colonialism is a century old. We resisted first the British with the great Peasant Revolt, the popular strikes and Guerrilla attacks. Then we resisted the Zionists, expanding the mass character of our struggle and the tactics for over 76 years after."
"We Palestinians have tried all manner and forms of resistance, all legitimate and glorious gendres, endeavors to shake off the shackles of colonialism."
"This is a resistance that is alive and well today. It is a resistance that tears down walls. It is a resistance that stops Mercava tanks in their tracks -- it is a resistance that forces the occupier to retreat."
Lea said the Palestinian Youth Movement is focused on the work of targeting war profiteers, like the shipping and logistics company Maersk.
"Just this month we exposed their treachery, and got Spain to reject three ships carrying military cargo for Israel. Our movement is creating chaos for one of the most profitable corporations in the world, and that is a crisis we will only escalate through our organizing."
Youths in the Palestinian movement are stepping into their legacy as Indigenous resistors.
"It is a legacy that spans not only that Century of Palestinian resistance but the half Millennia of Indigenous resistance."
She remembered the legacies that Indigenous inherited of Lakota Warriors, Fedayeen Resistors, Wampanoag Champions, and organizers in Hawaii who shared their struggle and the message of a prophecy.
In this prophecy, "the masses will come together and strike at the heart of Empire."
"I don't know about you, but every day I feel closer to that revolution. Our indigeneity is a promise. It is an untouchable bond with our land."
"Zionists have demolished my family's home. They have stolen my cousins. They have appropriated our culture -- but they cannot steal my relationship with my land. They cannot take away the texture of my hair under the Mediterranean sea breeze. They cannot rob the taste of olive oil from my lips. They cannot appropriate the way my grandmother makes sage tea to cure all evils."
"The indigenous Freedom struggle is a long middling road but it has one destination home."
"As we traverse this long middling road, we must choose every day to refuse despair, because as indigenous people, all of us, we all know two things -- first that our indigeneity is our sacred and eternal inheritance of our relation with our lands, and second that colonialism is the obstacle in our path to that prophecy."
The end to colonialism, she said, is not the decolonization of academics -- nor the decolonization of an NGO's mission statements -- nor is it the decolonization of white people's veneer land acknowledgement."
This is the decolonization of the Zapatistas and the American Indian Movement -- it is the decolonization that is threatening the world order.
"Our decolonization is a global people's resistance that will not stop until the sunrise of freedom warms every inch of this Earth from the long nights repression."
"So let them try, let them try to steal our children, to push us from our homes to repress our culture. They will fail, because they are in our way."
"The future of collective freedom is one, is our future of Prophecy, and our promise, because nothing can stop this rising tide of resistance, because the land knows her stewards and we vowed to her that we will return victorious!"
Lea ends with, "So when I say from Turtle Island to Palestine, you say, 'Land Back!"
And the crowd sounds out, "Land Back!"
And the crowd sounds out, "Land Back!"
National Day of Mourning
Listen to Lea Kayali's words, and all of the speakers:
Listen to the statements: https://www.youtube.com/live/pdpBNKI31TA
Censored News Series: National Day of Mourning
Leonard Peltier's Statement to the National Day of Mourning
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/12/leonard-peltiers-words-for-national-day.html
Freedom for Leonard Peltier urged at National Day of Mourning
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/12/freedom-for-leonard-peltier-urged-at.html
In the Legacy of Her Grandfather, Tisha James Destroys the Myth of the Pilgrims Thanksgiving
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/11/in-her-grandfathers-legacy-kisha-james.html
Palestinians and Native People: Unity and Revolution at Plymouth Rock
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/11/palestinians-and-native-people-unity.html
Leonard Peltier's Statement to the National Day of Mourning
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/12/leonard-peltiers-words-for-national-day.html
Freedom for Leonard Peltier urged at National Day of Mourning
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/12/freedom-for-leonard-peltier-urged-at.html
In the Legacy of Her Grandfather, Tisha James Destroys the Myth of the Pilgrims Thanksgiving
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/11/in-her-grandfathers-legacy-kisha-james.html
Palestinians and Native People: Unity and Revolution at Plymouth Rock
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/11/palestinians-and-native-people-unity.html
United American Indians of New England
About Censored News
Censored News was created when longtime staff reporter Brenda Norrell was censored and terminated by Indian Country Today newspaper. The issues censored included Leonard Peltier in prison. The editors forbid research into the Raytheon Dine' Facility on the Navajo Nation, which continues today to produce missile parts for Raytheon Missiles, a top war profiteer of genocide in Palestine. Today, Censored News is a collective, in its 19th year, with no ads or revenues. It is a service to Indigenous Peoples and human rights.
Copyright Censored News. Content re-use requires written permission. Content and links can not be used in any manner for revenues.
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