Leslie Feinberg - ASWAT Conference Speech (2007)

Leslie Feinberg: Shukran. Azizati, ikhwati wa akhawati. Anahuna fi Falistin. Kalamati la'ula setakun fi al-Arabiya. Shukran da'awati ilahuna inahu lasharafun kabirwana asharaf ili. Tahayati aswat. My first words in English must be, why am I here, within the 1948 borders of the Israeli settler state? Why am I here when the colonial occupier has set up an apartheid garrison state in the name of all Jewish people and steals the symbol of Judaism, putting it on every uniform and flying it from every tank? Why am I here when I remember every day of my life the people of Deir Yassin? Why am I here when the right of return belongs to those who for thousands of years planted the olive trees? Why am I here since I am one of the Jewish activists in the U.S. who struggles to dismantle the Israeli settler state? And most precisely, Why am I here when I am one of many activists around the world who are working to strengthen the boycott economically and culturally of Israel, as well as the boycott of Caterpillar, Starbucks, and Estee Lauder, while at the same time we demand that the U.S.-led economic embargo of the Palestinian Authority end immediately? I say to you here, to all Palestinian and Arab people of the Middle East and the forced diaspora, and to oppressed people everywhere, that I am here for only one reason. I am here because Palestinian Aswad asked me to come. I have long stated publicly that I would only travel here if the Israeli state had already been dismantled or if I was invited by the Palestinians to travel here to support your struggle. What an honor to be side by side with you today at your invitation. Shukran, Aswat, for giving me this great honor to be here with you to celebrate the publication, Bil Arabi, about Mithliat wa Mithlium. Sometimes people say something is a great honor, but they don't mean it. I really do mean it. History has woven our destinies. I was born into a Jewish family of factory workers one year after Al-Nakba. I am with Palestinian liberation with every breath and every muscle in my body. History will remember what an important development took place here as you have raised your Aswat, Bil Arabi. From the Crusades to the 1948 Zionist occupation of Palestine, colonialism and imperialism have brutally imposed economic, military, and cultural domination in the Middle East. It was the British mandate that brought anti-sodomy laws to Palestine, a legacy the Israeli occupation kept. The French mandate brought anti-sodomy laws to Lebanon. That's what Helem is fighting. Now today here with Aswad's first publication, this important anthology, Aswad is opening up a dialogue, Bil Arabi, with your own people about your own culture within your own history. a part of the struggle of the Palestinian people towards liberation that you so richly deserve. You are developing a language of persuasion. The discussion may not be an easy one. Profound and lasting transformation rarely is easy. But those of us who defend your right to self-determination, your sovereignty, will defend the right of the Palestinian people to carry out your internal dialogue without Israeli or US interference or political manipulation. Today there are some who will try to separate Aswat from the Palestinian struggle and only relate to you on the basis of a universal sexual identity. But those who support your self-determination will not forget that you are linguistically translating your culture your lives and your self-identities and your struggle to make it easier for those of us who are not fluent in Arabic to understand. But that does not mean that identities like lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, transsexual have one universal meaning in all places, for all peoples, for all cultures, or in all historical periods. Colonialism and imperialism have always tried to foment conflicts in order to divide and conquer. As Halem said in the case of Palestinians in support of the boycott of Jerusalem Pride 2006, The rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders should not be placed in competition with the long struggle of the Palestinian people, including Palestinian LGBT people, for self-determination, for the right to return to their homes, and for the struggle against apartheid and the occupation of their lands." Today we see how the U.S. and Israeli imperialists use the experiences of women, of gays, of transgenders as pretexts for occupation and in war. The white supremacist ideology replaces the colonial claim of bringing civilization with the imperialist claim that they are bringing democracy. But Washington and Tel Aviv have brought ruthless, racist, reactionary, and exploitative occupations to the Middle East. Today, the U.S. has made anti-gay, anti-trans, anti-woman rape and humiliation part of its science of torture and repression from the U.S. torture camp in imperialist-occupied Guantanamo, Cuba, to Abu Ghraib. So when the people of Cuba and around the world heard that Aswat was translating Bil Arabi, The Call for Rainbow Solidarity, with five Cuban political prisoners held in the U.S. who were trying to halt right-wing terrorist attacks on Cuba from U.S. soil. They hear your Oswat speaking the language of solidarity. Helem also inspired millions with its eloquent support for the global movement to boycott Jerusalem pride as part of the international boycott of Israel. And at the same time, people in Lebanon and around the world saw Helem provide help to many refugees who escaped the war zone. To Helem and to my Lebanese sisters and brothers, I salute the victory of your people over the Israeli military, armed and backed by the Pentagon. And I raise my voice here in solidarity with the Iraqi and Iranian people of all sexualities and genders who are fiercely resisting imperialism. The anti-war movement worldwide, particularly in the imperialist countries, needs to hear your Aswat. So my work here is to help amplify the Palestinian Aswat. I will listen carefully, closely, and respectfully to your Aswat. My actions also demonstrate my support for the growing world economic boycott of Israel. I did not buy a plane ticket to travel here. My mini Bruce Pratt, a poet warrior, comrade, and my partner in life and love sends her solidarity to us SWAT by donating 140,000 frequent flyer miles for my airline ticket. And within the Israeli economy, I will not buy a single souvenir. I will only spend money for food. In support of the cultural boycott of Israel, If I turn down a request to speak at Tel Aviv University, I will not speak a word of Hebrew or Yiddish while I am here, and I will not sign the Hebrew language translation of Stone Butch Blues. I already send every penny of income I receive from the Hebrew edition to Aswat. I come here knowing that Tel Aviv and Washington may detain me, because my life does not fit into the either or boxes of the US passport, but I come here to honor Aswad. It may seem that the colonial occupation of Palestine could last forever, but it will not. With the Intifada and world support, it will end just as surely as apartheid in South Africa was ended by the long struggle of the black people of South Africa who took up arms for liberation and those of us who fought alongside in solidarity. I will fight alongside you for every right, for full civil rights within the 1948 borders, for public transportation between the villages of the triangle, for an immediate end to the economic embargo against the Palestinian people as collective punishment for electing their own government representative and for an end to the siege of the West Bank and Gaza. And I will be here with you on the day that we tear down the colonial garrison state of Israel and Palestine is free from this racist, theocratic, apartheid, imperialist occupation the day when all those who planted the olive trees will taste the fruit of freedom. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. Long live the Palestinian Aswad.