Together We Rise: Palestine as a Model of Resistance
Together We Rise: Palestine as a Model of Resistance is a political education curriculum providing critical voices, context, and resources that make clear the connections between the struggle for Palestinian rights and the struggles of Indigenous, Black, and brown communities, and other marginalized groups impacted by US policies, both within and outside of US borders. With the three tracks broken out below—Not That Complicated, Freedom Bound, and Trainings and Resources—Together We Rise has something for everyone. From those who know little about the issue to seasoned organizers, we hope this curriculum will help deepen analysis, build relationships, and sharpen skills to work for justice from the US to Palestine.
Together We Rise is an articulation of our vision for freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people in a world without racism and oppression. In order to achieve that, it is necessary to understand that all forms of oppression are interconnected and reinforce each other, and that none can be fought in isolation. Work for justice for one community must be part of a vision of justice for all.
Through Together We Rise, we share the history of the Palestinian struggle, as well as the long histories of joint struggle and lessons learned across movements. We do this in order to draw connections and articulate dissimilarities between struggles, identify opportunities for solidarity and the refinement of our organizing principles and practices, and highlight how Israel’s Zionist project, while most directly impacting Palestinians, has also played a role in the oppression of people across the region and world.
Not That Complicated provides a 101 overview to the root of the problem and the Palestinian struggle for liberation from the refugee crisis to the Israeli occupation to Palestinian political prisoners.
The Freedom Bound track explores how US and Israeli colonialism and racism are connected, what we can learn from Palestinian, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other freedom struggles, and how we can apply those lessons in this political moment.
The global systems of oppression bearing down on Indigenous, Black, brown, queer, and other marginalized communities from the US to Palestine include white supremacy, settler colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, dictatorships, sexism, and heteropatriarchy. They manifest daily through police brutality; mass incarceration and torture; gentrification and forced displacement; surveillance and repression; denial of access to basic needs; militarized borders and refugee bans; airstrikes and military incursions; and the ability of corporations to profit off of all of this suffering.
The Trainings and Resources track offers skills-building, know your rights trainings, resources on how to start your own BDS campaigns, a suggested speakers list, and more tools to fight for justice from the US to Palestine.