Thread by @jvplive

On this day, Indigenous people and allies confront the settler-colonial narratives of “Thanksgiving,” observing it instead as a National Day of Mourning. The whitewashed story of unity with the Wampanoag people—who have long lived in southeastern Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island—obscures the true history and ongoing violence against Indigenous life.🧵

Today and every day, we contemplate parallels between the colonization of Turtle Island and Palestine. Supporting Palestinians’ right to return and right to self-determination in their homeland goes hand in hand with supporting Indigenous people’s demand for #LandBack —for restoration of Indigenous sovereignty and stewardship, and respect for their deep connection to and knowledge of their lands.

Genocide. Land theft. Ethnic cleansing. Environmental destruction. Forced displacement of people from their homes, and sequestration into isolated areas with (artificially) scarce resources. Criminalization and surveillance.

Colonial control over lives, and denial of self-determination and sovereignty. Erasure of native history and culture. Ideologies (Manifest Destiny, Zionism) of entitlement to, and justification for, these atrocities.

While parallels exist between the colonization of Palestine and Turtle Island, each Indigenous peoples’ experience was distinct. To learn more about the specific history of the Indigenous people whose land you’re on, go to .native-land.ca

@ndncollective writes, although Palestinians and people indigenous to Turtle Island “come from different nations and geographies, the struggles against settler colonialism are the same… because settler colonists share playbooks,” and “zionism, white supremacy, and imperialism… act as one to oppress and eliminate us.”

And both groups of native people are working toward a similar vision of liberation. In the words of NDN Collective: “Just as we fight and organize to reclaim land on Turtle Island, our Palestinian relatives fight and organize to return the land and for the land to return to the people.” Read more of @ndncollective’s paper “The Right of Return is LANDBACK”:
ndncollective.org/right-of-retur…