Why Palestinian Liberation Is Disability Justice

Why Palestinian Liberation Is Disability Justice

 

Alice Wong 

 

 

Several years ago I organized an event at a local Jewish organization and planned another collaboration when some close friends told me it receives funding from the state of Israel and why that is problematic. My friends, Jews from the disability community, didn’t pressure me to do anything and offered me more information about Zionism and the BDS movement. It was the first time I started to educate myself on this issue. In my conversations with them, I expressed fears of being called an anti Semite and discomfort at not being Jewish, Arab, or Muslim from the region or the diaspora who have a deeper understanding of the politics, history, and cultures involved. It took years of growth and reflection to realize I was totally wrong. Everyone has a stake in defending humanity and dignity and Palestinian liberation is tied to disability justice.

Perhaps it’s because I’m turning 50 in a few months and have become more politicized than ever, I no longer care what people think. When the attack by Hamas occurred on October 7th and the subsequent asymmetrical collective punishment of Palestinians by Israel, something changed in me. It was time to take action and speak out despite the risk because the risks Palestinians face just to live another hour is nothing compared to mine. 

Activism isn’t prescriptive; everyone can do something with the time, energy, and resources they have. During the first week of the siege of Gaza by Israel, it felt lonely online even though I knew I wasn’t alone. In various speaking events I explicitly talked about Gaza. I posted on Instagram and other platforms about the relationship between disability justice and Palestinian liberation and got loads of wild comments and messages from other disabled people who were angry and sick of hearing about disability justice, apartheid, and settler colonialism. I’ve been called an anti Semite and someone who has betrayed disabled Jewish people. A commenter said, “Alice Wong has made it clear she ignores dead Jews and disabled dead and kidnapped Jews.” I am against genocide, apartheid, any form of occupation of Indigenous lands and yet a lot of disabled leaders and organizations, and friends of mine have been completely silent which is a bit hypocritical as many of them claim to follow the principles of disability justice. From the Abolition and Disability Justice Collective, “Disability justice cannot exist under settler colonialism, military occupation, imprisonment, and apartheid. We write this in support of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, dignity, and self-determination…Disability justice requires solidarity with Palestine.” Outlined by Patty Berne, one principle of disability justice is collective liberation and it is about being in solidarity with others and realizing our liberation is tied to the liberation of others. 

Some disabled friends and I noticed many posts did not contain alt text or captions in videos so we began to add them because everyone should have access to information about what is happening. My comrade Sarah Blahovec created the hashtag #AltTextPalestine in an effort to encourage everyone to help make content accessible and a toolkit for anyone who wants to get involved. This is collective access and community care. In addition to creating memes of my cats Bert and Ernie about Gaza that people can widely share, I edit and publish essays by disabled people through my website. I have three upcoming commissioned pieces by disabled women of color on Palestine and recently published a call for solidarity to disabled people by Allie Cannington who wrote, “[I] grew up being told that Israel was my homeland, a place of ultimate safety for all Jewish people – those who have survived generations of antisemitic violence, most recently being the Holocaust – in which my own relatives were killed…[I know] with abundant clarity that safety for Jewish people can and will never come at the cost of other people’s freedom, dignity and lives, including the Palestinian people…Disabled Palestinian life is intrinsically valuable, just as Disabled Israeli life is. We don’t have to know all the answers to know that this bombardment of Palestine must stop immediately. If you have ever advocated for disabled people’s rights to access emergency preparedness, housing, health care, home care, transportation, and/or believe in the principles of disability justice, this is your time, this is our time, to act in solidarity with the people of Palestine.”

While writing this piece, the killing of Palestinian civilians continues with Israeli air strikes killing at least 178 people within hours after the temporary ceasefire ended. As of December 1st according to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, an estimated 1.78 million people have been displaced, 37,400 people injured, and 21,022 killed. These numbers are likely an undercount since the health officials in Gaza lost the ability to count the number of dead due to the destruction of infrastructure and constant attacks by Israel. 

A report by Human Rights Watch documented the disproportionate impact on disabled Palestinians from hospital bombings, power and Internet outages, the trauma and mental health toll, and forced evacuations without access to transport, healthcare, communication, food, water, shelter or electricity. It was painful and distressing when I saw images of older people in wheelchairs pushed by family members as they fled, children and adults going through surgeries without anesthesia, and babies in ICUs left behind bombed hospitals. As a person dependent on electricity for my ventilator and numerous machines to keep me alive, it was particularly triggering when I saw a photo of a nurse manually ventilating a child because Israel cut off electricity and targeted attacks on entire regions in Gaza including numerous hospitals.

Solidarity isn’t transactional or conditional. While it’s clear that approximately 50,000 disabled Gazans face great danger, disabled people shouldn’t care because they can relate to what is happening. Cross-movement solidarity is another disability justice principle that I deeply believe in. We need to build relationships and show up for other movements because that’s a way to build power and it’s just the right thing to do. 

I’m no expert but I know what it means to be dehumanized, rendered disposable, and oppressed. I know that all people deserve freedom. I know that genocide is a mass disabling event and a form of eugenics. In a piece by Rabea Eghbariah that was rejected by the Harvard Law Review, “… does one have to wait for a genocide to be successfully completed to name it? This logic contributes to the politics of denial. When it comes to Gaza, there is a sense of moral hypocrisy…which mutes the ability to name the violence inflicted upon Palestinians. But naming injustice is crucial to claiming justice.” The fact that people are denying the genocide happening right before us and justifying it based on racial and religious superiority is difficult to fathom. If this isn’t genocide it is something far worse that is yet to be named.

As the holidays approach and Americans their eat dry, bland turkey and engage in crass materialism, it’s hard to be hopeful in such bleak times. I’m reminded of Mariame Kaba’s quote, “Hope is a discipline.” Practicing hope and dreaming of liberation and justice keep me going. It’s what we all need to fight for a better world together.

 

ABOUT 

Alice Wong (she/her) is a disabled activist, media maker, and consultant based in San Francisco. She is the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project, an online community dedicated to creating, sharing and amplifying disability media and culture. You can find her on Twitter: @SFdirewolf.

 

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