To spark a powerful coalition among U.S. workers, solidarity and empathy between its members is necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There lies our first problem: Many people in this country avoid calling themselves members of the \u201cworking class.\u201d Sadly, by declaring \u2014 or aspiring \u2014 to be \u201cmiddle class,\u201d we separate ourselves from our natural allies: other salaried workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frankly, I believe that the middle class is largely an illusion, a carrot dangling at the end of a very long stick. We don\u2019t have to sing along with John Lennon that \u201ca working class hero is something to be,\u201d but the recognition of our own working and living realities will ease existential confusion. More critically, it would enable a solidarity that connects individual working people to the local, national and international struggles of other oppressed peoples. It\u2019s a solidarity that Gaza needs right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another unfortunate reality among our country\u2019s working class is that we tend to waste a great deal of time competing with each other over turf, resources or over who has had a worse history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHey! We were here first!\u201d\u2026 \u201cAll of the southwest used to be M\u00e9xico \u2026 and they robbed it from us!\u201d\u2026 \u201cWait: Even before this was called Mexico, we were here \u2026 we are the first natives \u2026 the real natives \u2026 The original people!\u201d \u2026 \u201dBut, today \u2026 Latinos are, again, being pushed around! \u2026 We are the main target of the unfair immigration policies of this country!\u201d \u2026 \u201cPlease, do not forget the Chinese Exclusion Act \u2026 or the Japanese internment camps of World War II \u2026 or today\u2019s rampant acts of anti-Asian hate!\u201d \u2026 \u201cWait a second! Our reality, as African Americans, is that we cannot even call our history \u2018a migration!\u2019 We were brought here as slaves, our families were decimated, we lost everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All the above is true, and deserving of being taught as part of our common history. Yet our current colonizers (and gentrifiers) try to keep it out of the classrooms, political debate and mainstream discourse, claiming that these histories somehow sow hatred and divisions. The Palestinian struggle clearly reminds us of our history here. The history that some try to keep hidden. To quote Martin Luther King, \u201cinjustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, it\u2019s the colonizers who divide and conquer. This tactic not only separates the people of color from each other, but also separates millions of working-class white people from everybody else. When our communities are taught a distorted vision of history, we all end up allying with the oppressor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In \u201cThe Open Veins of Latin America,\u201d the Uruguayan Eduardo Galeano wrote that \u201chistory is written not only by the winners but also by the survivors.\u201d When I taught at San Francisco State University, I used to say that large numbers of my students were \u201cthe survivors of the system.\u201d They navigated and survived the complicated currents of the U.S. educational system. They behaved and obeyed the rules, both at home and in the school system. Then, as college students, they enter a system where (hopefully) critical thinking and questioning is more readily encouraged. Mere survival is no longer enough. It was time to question, disagree and welcome new ideas. To think. To dare. To act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the atrocities continue in Gaza, we see how young people from all backgrounds suddenly awakened with a mighty roar in defense of Palestine. They\u2019re in colleges all over the nation, as well as in high school and even middle school. They are leading the charge, with many teachers and parents fighting next to them. All over the nation, people of different generations and backgrounds are joining in a common cause<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one hopeful moment, a member of a City of Berkeley organization called \u201cJewish Parents for Collective Liberation\u201d recently declared: \u201cJewish security and survival is tied up with the liberation of Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is indeed the level of solidarity and empathy needed in these cruel times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will the working class of this nation join the fray in support of Palestine? It would be against our collective interests not to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Solidarity with Palestine requires a powerful coalition among our country\u2019s working class.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88922,"featured_media":60881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":true,"newspack_featured_image_position":"above","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"coauthors":[18475],"class_list":["post-60878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-voices","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n