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Black September and Palestine: Black Internationalist Resistance and Transnational U.S. Imperial Coordination in Jordan in September 1970
Thu, March 20, 5:00 to 6:15pm, Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza, Floor: 4th, Salon HAbstract
In this paper, I construct an analysis of transnational U.S. imperial strategies and internationalist resistance surrounding Black September, a pivotal event in September 1970 where the U.S., Jordan, and the zionist entity collaborated in a "counterinsurgency" campaign against the growing Palestinian resistance movement in Jordan, which has the longest border with Occupied Palestine. The Jordanian military’s violent crackdown led to the murder of thousands of people. I build on Black internationalist frameworks for this analysis of U.S. empire, particularly examining the meetings of Black internationalists with Palestinian resistance organizations in Jordan and the Black Panther Party’s statement of condemnation of “reactionary and criminal political conspirators in the hire of US imperialism” that orchestrated the Black September massacres. How does a study of Black September illuminate the internationalism of resistance? From the Black Panther Party’s Algeria Section to Kwame Montsho Ajamu Somburu (formerly Paul Boutelle)’s Committee of Black Americans for Truth about the Middle-East, Black Internationalist politics at the time aligned themselves heavily with the armed struggle for Palestinian liberation led by Palestinian refugees in exile and against U.S. and zionist interests. I put their analyses in conversation with local and regional Palestinian resistance narratives around Black September, weaving together internationalist politics of the time and framing them in context of each other. Ultimately, this inquiry aims to contextualize today’s continuing suppression of Palestinian resistance movements. I ask, how can an understanding of historical transnational imperial violence and internationalist resistance in Jordan inform our response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza?