Malcolm X (né Malcolm Little) visited
the West Bank and Gaza during his lifetime, including many refugee camps, a
hospital, and a mosque. He had talked on Palestine, and his trip “deeply
transformed him.” He wrote a critique of Zionism shortly before he was killed. Black
Nationalists in the U.S., including De Bois, had viewed the Jewish fight for
self-determination and nationhood as a struggle like that of Black Americans in
the United States. Malcolm, however, advocated for the Palestinians because of
how the Jewish nation had materialized at the expense of Palestinians, as many had
been thrown out of their houses with little or no notice when the state of Israel
was founded. Former victims had become victimizers, and the UN had failed to
oversee the transition, which could easily have been anticipated to be rough. As
tempting as it is to discuss the atrocities being committed in Gaza in
2024-2025, the thread running throughout Malcolm’s political philosophy is also
worthy of attention. I submit that the sheer extent of intentional civilian
casualties and injuries both in Ukraine and Gaza render Malcolm’s political
philosophy anything but radical in retrospect.
The full essay is at "Malcolm X on Gaza."
