On May 26, 2021, the MIT Arab Alumni Association (MIT AAA) Webinar Series presented a discussion with activists and scholars, Dr. Marc Lamont Hill and Mohammed El-Kurd, on fighting oppression in the U.S. and in Occupied Palestine. The discussion was moderated by Dana Erekat MCP’09, MIT AAA Director of Communications.

There are numerous parallels between the struggle of Palestinians and Black Americans against state violence, institutionalized racism, and settler colonialism in the US and Occupied Palestine, where decades of anti-Palestinian and anti-Black violence are at the core of both countries’ foundations.

The session [explores] alternative viewpoints on the historical context of the systematic racism inherent in the Israeli occupation in Palestine and anti-Blackness in the US, the similarities of both countries’ colonial histories, and how joint solidarity across struggles is key for liberation.  

MIT AAA