Bryn Mawr students Katie Schroeer (‘24), Carmen Siftar (‘25), and Clara Wells-Dang (‘27) hosted a teach-in on April 16th, titled “Why Palestinian Liberation is Environmental Justice.” The hybrid event garnered over 40 attendees, both in-person and on Zoom.
The event featured three speakers: Gopal Dayaneni, professor of Race and Resistance Studies at San Francisco State University, Nora Elmarzouky, co-founder of the Philly Palestine Coalition, and Tarik Aougab, professor of Math at Haverford College and founding member of the Just Mathematics Collective. Before the guests spoke, Siftar, Schroeer, and Wells-Dang provided attendees with a brief overview of environmental justice, a movement that originated in the 1980s and which seeks to abolish all environmental harms and combat environmental racism. After a brief discussion of the principles of environmental justice in relation to Palestinian liberation, the three guest speakers introduced themselves and began answering questions.
Forms of Environmental Justice in Palestine
Wells-Dang began by asking the panelists to talk about the different forms of environmental justice in Palestine. Dayaneni answered first, expressing gratitude for the students’ description of environmental justice and explaining that the phrase “from the river to the sea,” is a bioregional identity of the diverse peoples of Palestine.
The saying “from the river to the sea” originated in the 1960s, gaining popularity among the Palestine Liberation Organization prior to Hamas was founded. The saying functioned as a call for the reinstatement of Palestinians to the land now under the control of the Israeli state. For Palestinians, the phrase encapsulates their hope to return to the homes from which their families were expelled in 1948 as well as their desire for an independent Palestinian state. Hamas later adopted the saying as a call for the destruction of the Israeli state.
More recently, the phrase has caused controversy across college campuses. Some people view the saying as anti-Semitic, while others support it as a call for Palestinian liberation.
Dayaneni went on, saying, “there is no distinguishing between the genocide and the ecocide.” He then highlighted an environmental impact of the Israeli state’s occupation of Palestine, referencing the Jewish National Fund‘s (JNF) movement to transform the desert environment by planting trees. The JNF has planted over 250 million trees, replacing native olive trees with pines and other non-native trees. Dayaneni cited this as an attempt for Zionists, many of whom hailed from Europe, to “have a little taste of home.”
Elmarzouky followed, referencing the Israeli state’s “complete control of basic necessities,” from the flooding of tunnels with salt water, potentially contaminating Gaza’s drinking water, to the bombing of solar panels, to the devastation of around 40% of Gazan farmland since October 2023.
Elmarzouky went on to say that the Israeli occupation has destroyed Gaza’s ability to self-sustain, and referenced a Social Science Research Network study, the abstract of which states that “[t]he projected emissions from the first 60 days of the Israel-Gaza war were greater than the annual emissions of 20 individual countries and territories.”
Aougab added to the discussion, introducing the idea of “architecture as environment.” In essence, Aougab explained that the construction of physical infrastructure shapes the way that people are able to move, and therefore, live. He went on to say that Palestine was first colonized in 1840, when the British Empire, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire exercised competing imperialistic desires for Palestinian land.
Aougab urged students to think about local environmental issues, saying “the idea of… architecture as environment, should also facilitate our ability to connect what’s happening [in Gaza] to what’s happening all around us, where we live.” He concluded by mentioning the work of Philly Thrive, a local non-profit focused on environmental justice. Briefly, he said that around two years ago, a “big developer” planned to buy 150 properties in the Grays Ferry neighborhood, uprooting trees in a community park in order to build houses, without accounting for the environmental or social implications of such an act.
Palestinian Echoes in Local Environmental Issues
Siftar then posed another question to the speakers, asking them to elaborate on Aougab’s connection of environmental injustice in Palestine to local environmental issues.
Elmarzouky responded by mentioning greenwashing, an effort by companies to portray themselves as more environmentally conscious and sustainable than they are in practice. Elmarzouky spoke about the company Energix, an Israeli renewable energy company. The Philadelphia Energy Authority has sourced approximately 25% of municipal buildings’ energy from Energix. The company was discovered to have been using an unsafe metal alloy in solar panels and is included in a United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights list of companies for its construction of solar panels in occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan.
She also condemned “privately owned utilities and a centralized energy system that is constantly profiting off us and [labeling] people and [the] planet as disposable.”
Dayaneni, who lives near Silicon Valley, answered next. He brought up Project Nimbus, Google and Amazon’s 1.2 billion contract to supply the Israeli government and military with cloud services to further surveillance of Palestinians. Dayaneni said that these technologies both further the Israeli occupation in Palestine and that they “will ultimately come back and be used on us here” and “have huge ecological consequences.”
The Restoration of Environmental Justice
Schroeer next asked, “Wherever there is environmental injustice, there are people working to restore sovereignty, equity, healthy ecosystems, and strong relationships between people and land. What are some examples of this work that you’ve seen in Palestine, or among groups working towards Palestinian freedom?”
Elmarzouky responded by describing the Palestinian tradition of collective land use, known locally as musha’a, an Arabic word that refers to partitioned land. Before the state of Israel was established, 70% of the land was collectively owned by local tribes. She praised Palestinians’ strength by saying that they continue to forage despite the fact that it has been outlawed. In addition, many Palestinians grow food locally despite that the land has seen dramatic ecological shifts.
She commended the work of Vivien Sansour, who founded Palestinian Heirloom Seed Library, a project meant to “conserve Palestinian heritage and culture.” She also applauded Hussam Al-Attar, a Palestinian teenager who built an electricity generator out of old fans and wire. Elmarzouky said that she recognized that “in informal spaces, the ways in which people know the solutions to their own problems.”
Dayaneni elaborated: “the conditions that people in Palestine have been facing under occupation are worse than the worst things most of us imagine about climate change.” Despite this, Palestinians have fostered rooftop gardens, seed libraries, women-cooperative farms, and repaired fishing equipment.
Dayaneni mentioned the work of nonprofits such as the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, which has connected Palestinian communities to water, and Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, founded in 1990, which has provided therapy services to Palestinians under occupation in the Gaza Strip. He stated that “Palestinian social movements can teach us how to navigate the ecological crises we are facing.”
Aougab went on to praise the Boycott, Divestment, Sanction Movement, founded by Palestinians in 2005, which calls for the application of pressure on the Israeli state through consumer choices and government accountability.
The Intersection of Palestinian Liberation and Environmental Justice
Lastly, Wells-Dang asked panelists to describe similarities and differences between the Palestinian liberation and environmental movements.
Dayaneni explained briefly, “The path to climate justice travels through a free Palestine… The origins of the climate crisis… are in settler colonialism and enslavement.”
Elmarzouky responded by bringing up the issue of environmental fundamentalism, hoping to educate and explain to people the ways in which Palestinian liberation and environmentalism are intertwined.
Aougab expanded on the others’ answers, saying that the mainstream environmental movement has lagged behind other issues of justice. He said he recognized that there are people who “feel [the implications of climate change] in their bones,” but who deny how Palestinian liberation is essential to the fight for environmental justice.
Student Questions
The guests then briefly answered student questions.
One student asked how to work with people who advocate for environmental issues, but do not agree with or understand Palestinian liberation and its role in environmental justice. Elmarzouky responded to the question by saying, “That’s organizing.” She then elaborated her original answer, encouraging students to try to understand “how to connect those pieces for them.”
Another student asked about the value of centering joy in Palestinian liberation. Dayaneni recalled his time in Palestine, citing “joy as a form of resistance.” Aougab also answered the question by saying, “even if [joy] added nothing to resistance, it’s still happening, and you should still do it.”
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