Black Panthers and Diaspora Palestinians illuminate shared struggle on Nakba day

posted on: May 19, 2016

Arab Resources Organizing Coalition (AROC) and Art Forces on the 68th Nakba day presented George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine; a multimedia cultural event that expresses the interconnections between current and historic struggles against colonization from Palestine to the streets of Oakland.

The event displayed posters that came from the original exhibition that was held in the Abu Jihad Museum for Prisoner Movement Affairs of theAl-Quds university in East Jerusalem from October 2015 to April 2016.

Beginning with the story of the uncanny link between Black Panther George Jackson and the Palestinian poem “Enemy of the Sun” by Samih al-Qasim, George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine unites local Oakland histories of the formation of the Black Panther Party and the resilience and resistance of First Nations/Ohlone people to the resilience of the Palestinian people.

The event took place on May 15th from 4-7pm as part of the “Off the Wall” series from the Oakland Palestinian Mural Project.

George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine uses visual art, symposium and performance–to tell the story of Black Panther and writer George Jackson’s link to the Palestinian struggle through the inspiration he found in a classic Palestinian poem, “Enemy of the Sun”. After Jackson was assassinated in 1971 a handwritten copy of the poem was found in his prison cell. The Black Panther Party shared the classical Palestinian poem in the party’s newspaper, under the assumption it was written by Jackson himself.

Curator Greg Thomas, associate professor who teaches Black Studies and literature in English at Tufts University, states:

“That was a magical mistake that expressed the depth of solidarity and closeness, because the similarity in voice and situation is unimaginable. Palestinian resistance poetry occupied a large space in the lives of black people across the ocean and it is all because of George Jackson, the eternal enemy of the sun’s enemy.

In the same way that George Jackson was drawn to and educated about the Palestinian struggle through the universal language of art (in the form of poetry), this unique multidisciplinary event uses art to unite around the undying and vital themes of shared struggle and joint solidarity in order to create connections and continuity in revolutionary purpose.”

The event included several gifted performers including Young, Gifted and Black, Traditional Te’o Kalli Mejica Dancers, Silk Road Debke bands, and panelists Maytha Alhassen, Rabab Abdelhadi- AMED, Van Dell, Greg Thomas,Tony Gonzales.

Exhibition also displayed work from international artists including Pedro Alcantara-Herran (Colombia), Jonelle Davies (Miami, Florida), Emory Douglas (African-America & the Black Panthers), Antonio Frasconi (Uruguay), the Inkworks Cooperative (Berkeley, California), Ivan Lopez (San Francisco & Colombia), Malaquias Montoya (Mexico & Mexican-America), Rafael Morante (Cuba & OSPAAAL) and Hunger Strikers of the California Prison Movement; RIGO 23; Priya Handa, Sharif Zarkout; Nidal El-Khairy.