Lands of Solidarity: Understanding Contemporary North American and Palestinian Indigenous Realities

Malek Rasamny and Matt Peterson's 2018 documentary, Spaces of Exception, highlights the       space for solidarity found in Palestinian refugee camps in the Levante and Lakota, Sioux, and Mohawk reservations in North America. Each section of the documentary showcases Indigenous reservations and Palestinian refugee camps, exploring their histories and political commonalities. By situating vignettes on different Indigenous lives in conjunction with each other, the filmmakers show that there is space for solidarity between these spaces of exception. The documentary illuminates indigenous collective memories of oppression and ongoing resistance within the relational framework of lived experiences. Beyond this framework is also a call to action. Each frame invites viewers to witness the oppressions of settler colonialism and exposes how refugee camps and reservations within native and neighbouring lands are exceptional spaces in the the settler nation state.^[1]

Spaces of Exception is an important contribution to intersectional solidarity work through the documentary medium, providing insight into the struggles of North American Indigenous and Palestinian communities and their ongoing efforts for political justice and freedom. The documentary highlights the parallels evident between the following communities: the Oglala Lakota in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the Mohawks in the Akwesasne territory, the Navajo Nation located between Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, and the Palestinian refugees in the Balata and Dheisheh refugee camps in the West Bank and the Bourj Al Barajneh and Bourj Al Shemali camps in Lebanon. 

For Indigenous peoples in Turtle Island, “reservations represent and embody indigenous attempts at maintaining a communal and traditional system of life, governance, and connection to land in the face of the United States and Canadian attempts at assimilation through individuation, proxy governments, and economic and material domination.^[2]” Palestinian refugee camps have become homes to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians since 1948. For Palestinians, these camps are doubly conditioned by the nation-state and the global governance of organizations such as the United Nations. 

Rasamny and Peterson choose reservations and refugee camps for their unique lived experiences of duration and resistance against colonial and state powers: “The camps are the core of the Palestinian struggle: the birthplace of both Intifadas; the original power base of the Palestine Liberation Organization; the living reminder of the ‘right to return^[3]’”The notion of return is the central call for political action, for the reclamation and restoration of the land, of Palestinians on their sovereign land. 

Since the displacements of 1948, the concept of “return” has been crucial for Palestinian identity and resistance.  “Return” is essential and charged in multiple manners. Lila Abu-Lughod explains that the “term evokes nostalgia for the homeland [migrant Palestinians] were forced to flee in 1948 and a reversal of the traumatic dispersion that sundered families, ruined livelihoods, and thrust Palestinians into humiliating refugee camps or individual adventures to rebuild lives armed with little more than birth certificates, keys to the homes left behind, and the stigma of having somehow lost their country to an alien people.” Return is also a political issue; the “right of return” is a demand for righting a moral wrong. It is also a demand that the story of that expulsion not be erased^[4].” The idea of the return is the central call for political action, for the reclamation and restoration of the land, of Palestinians on their sovereign land.  

The film is a series of beautifully woven first-person narrations which flow spontaneously, jumping from one speaker to another with no third-party or omnipresent commentary, organically telling stories of the past and the present, shifting the conversation from one aspect of life on land to another. In an interview with Rania Al Namara ,^[5] Matt Peterson clarifies, the documentary makes a point not to manipulate the account of the people it features. However, it does spatially frame these narratives around the alterations in nationhood and citizenship by situating maps as the break between each chapter of the film, outlining how national borders have change throughout history. These maps provide a political and historical context for the audience of the spaces of exception in which these communities live. As it moves from one space to another, the documentary uncovers the parallel conditions between the refugee camps and the reservations and highlights a common ground of struggle and the pursuit of self-determination in an international realm dominated by nation-states. Whilst the documentary does not explicitly call for solidarity between these communities, the juxtaposition of their life experiences invites viewers to examine the settler colonial projects that affected (and continue to affect) both indigenous peoples in North America and Palestinians with the same lens. As the audience is left to draw conclusions based on the stories of occupation and colonization of lands with specified borders, treaties, and accords, a space of solidarity also opens up for the viewer.

Resilience and Resistance

Rasamny and Peterson show the strength and resilience of the people who inhabit these spaces as they fight against the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism and affirm their sovereignty. This sense of defiance and resilience is evident in many scenes, emphasizing the refusal to leave sovereign land no matter how harsh the conditions: from a group of old men in the Balata camp in the West Bank vehemently proclaiming that they will never leave Palestine to the Diné/Navajo community in Black Mesa refusing to leave the land. Both Palestinians and Native Americans attribute the harsh conditions of the camp and reservations to the ongoing occupation(s) and struggles that the residents actively resist mentally and physically. 

Resistance and refusal through continuous existence is also prominently evident in the case of both indigenous communities. Audra Simpson explains that refusals to conform to statist forms of recognition are seen as theoretically generative and offer insight into the way sovereignty and nationhood are represented. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson adds that to survive and flourish, it is important to refuse colonial recognition; instead, the people of exceptional spaces should enact “a rebellion of love, persistence, commitment, and profound caring and create constellations of co-resistance.”^[6]

In the documentary, refusal is ever present. The Diné in Black Mesa practice resistance by staying on the land despite the fact that it is being poisoned and exploited in a manner that has become detrimental to the residents’ health. The Diné risk everything to remain on their land. Klee Benally, cultural advocate and land defender, reminds us that “in the Navajo language, there is no word for relocation. To be relocated means to disappear and never be seen again.” 

Though Betasamosake Simpson and Simpson respectively speak of Indigenous refusal within North America, refusal is also a staple among Palestinians holding on to their land and identity. Rana Barakat emphasizes the ongoing anti-colonial refusal in Palestine “is and has been grounded in dignity for more than a century of liberation struggles” and can forge a new sense of future.^[7] On the idea of migrating and assimilating into a new country, a woman in the Bourj Al Shemali camp explains that resistance continues through not accepting new citizenship, through affirming their identity as Palestinians. She describes not leaving the camp as a war of existence: “My presence, the fact that I’m here in the camp and working, even if am not working, this is war, and existential war against those who want to rid the world of refugees”.^[8]

Conclusion

Ultimately, Spaces of Exception is an eye-opening film that reveals the less-than-acceptable living conditions that people put up with to remain on their sovereign land. Perhaps it is up to the viewer, to the international community to intervene and to stand against the occupations and terrible conditions that make life unlivable. As a viewer, I could not help but be left with discomfort and unease; how can the system be dismantled, how can the conditions be improved? How can we honor the land and its people? Simply, by not standing idle, by not remaining complicit, and by not turning away from the suffering of others.

The film documents the land and its divisions, revealing how governmental powers, whether American, Canadian, or Israeli, continue to restrict and condition the land and the lives of its people. What makes Spaces of Exception powerful is the local witnessing that it presents. The viewer sees the land as its natives want to show it; we hear their stories, their pride in the land and their anguish for its continued devastation. They do not glorify or romanticize the lives they live; the residents fight for their land despite all adversity and harshness because leaving the land is not an option. Continuing to live and exist are acts of resilience and resistance in the face of settler colonialism. Israel’s escalating assault on Gaza, which has also impacted Lebanon, highlights the vulnerability of Palestinians who live in spaces of exception, in refugee camps within territory that is illegally occupied by Israel or outside it. Israel continues to use aggressive measures to displace and transfer Palestinians from their land, making already difficult conditions in these areas unbearable. 

Beyond highlighting the conditions in each of the spaces of exception, the documentary intentionally compares struggles for freedom across different groups, stressing the intersectionality of the fight for freedom. It presents spaces that engage with attempts to continue building what Salaita has described as inter/national relations of solidarity^[9]. Through its interactive approach, Spaces of Exception reorients the focus from the state to nation and peoples, reaffirming the need for political solidarity. The recent Israeli war on Palestinians in Gaza has led many to connect the dots between the intersectional ties between Palestinians and other historically marginalized and oppressed groups. This comes out of a global need to counter the international silencing of Palestinian support and solidarity. Demonstrators are drawing connections between the Palestinian and Indigenous liberation movements. Spaces of exception - be they refugee camps or North American Indigenous reservations are intertwined with and enabled by the oppression and violence against Indigenous peoples. Solidarity between Indigenous activists and Palestinians has deep roots, with parallels becoming clearer in recent years. Activist groups such as Idle No More and the Red Nation Program have declared their solidarity with Palestine and have been raising awareness about the ongoing violence in Gaza. Growing activism on the left, including anti-Zionist Jewish groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace have also contributed to the shift in the conversation regarding Palestine, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza an end to the expansion of illegal settlements in Israel and the apartheid regime.

Global solidarity is an important aspect of the movement against white supremacy and colonialism.^[10] Solidarity comes from the human call against mass-scale violence, settler occupation, and genocide against people living in an open-air prison. Spaces of Exception shows the realities of living under occupation and why it is important for those who occupy such spaces of exception to show up for each other, against the militaries and powers that govern and dominate their lives. The documentary serves as a witnessing of life occupied, but also a witnessing of life determined. As an old man in Balata proudly proclaims: “We are like mountains, God willing, the wind does not shake us”.^[11]