HSESI Scholar Series: Teaching Histories of Anti-Imperialist Solidarity

Teaching Histories of Anti-Imperialist Solidarity

One principle of Ethnic Studies is leaning on the knowledge that exists in our community.

Dr. Michael Schulze-Oechtering

Event Description

On February 28th, the UC Berkeley High School Ethnic Studies Initiative held “Teaching Histories of Anti-Imperialist Solidarity”, moderated by UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Department Chair Keith Feldman and featured Ethnic Studies scholars Dr. Jason Ferreira and Dr. Michael Schulze-Oechtering Castañeda. Panelists discussed the role of understanding solidarity in High School Ethnic Studies courses.

Panel

To be an Ethnic Studies teacher one has to love your students and the communities out of which your students emerge. And one has to be committed to the transformation of the very communities that students come from. Not as saviors, as accomplices, as allies, as comrades.

Dr. Jason Ferreira

Venceremos Brigade

The Venceremos Brigade sent delegates to Cuba to work on public projects. Afterward, delegates would use their experience in Cuba to organize against the economic embargo on Cuba, from within the United States.

The Venceremos Brigade is an example of anti-imperialist solidarity, showcasing how activists focused on supporting other liberation struggles by providing their skills and labor.

Tyree Scott Freedom School

The Tyree Scott Freedom School is a Black-led, youth centered, anti-racist, multicultural organization based in King County, Seattle. The school's anti-racist curriculum empowers students to take on a structural analysis of oppression and teaches them about community organizing frameworks. The school's namesake, Tyree Scott, is remembered for his groundbreaking efforts to organize workers across racial lines and resist racial exclusion in trade unions.

The school carries on Tyree's legacy of what it means to build lasting multiracial coalitions to organize communities. The school also empowers young activists to imagine a future where solidarity and intersectionality are at the forefront of movements.

No Separate Peace: Tyree Scott and the United Construction Workers Association

No Separate Peace was a political dogma, which was coined by Tyree Scott who founded the United Construction Workers Association (UCWA) in 1970 and aimed to force unions to accept marginalized workers.

No Separate Peace exemplifies the importance of solidarity and political education in organizing. It also demonstrates the importance of sharing resources between communities and liberation struggles.

An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz

An African American and Latinx History of the United States is a revolutionary, politically charged narrative history, arguing that the “Global South” was crucial to the development of America as we know it. Scholar and activist Paul Ortiz challenges the notion of westward progress as exalted by widely taught formulations like “manifest destiny” and “Jacksonian democracy,” and shows how placing African American, Latinx, and Indigenous voices unapologetically front and center transforms US history into one of the working class organizing against imperialism.

This book reveals the solidarity and interconnected nature of African-American and Latinx struggles and organizing. This book also helps show the interconnectedness of global struggles and liberatory movements.

Arise!: Global Radicalism in the Era of the Mexican Revolution by Christina Heatherton

Heatherton's comprehensive history traces "reveals how activists around the world found inspiration and solidarity in revolutionary Mexico." Arise! follows the path of figures like Black American artist Elizabeth Catlett, Indian anti-colonial activist M.N. Roy, Mexican revolutionary leader Ricardo Flores Magón, Okinawan migrant organizer Paul Shinsei Kōchi, and Soviet feminist Alexandra Kollontai. Ultimately, this work sheds light on "how disparate revolutionary traditions merged in unanticipated alliances."

This book highlights the role of solidarity in the global struggles of the Mexican Revolution. It also pushes people to interrogate dominant narratives of history that often exclude the internationalist nature of liberatory movements.

The Red Nation

The Red Nation is a coalition of Native and non-Native activists devoted to "the liberation of Native peoples from capitalism and colonialism." They highlight the importance of solidarity with Palestinian liberation activists. In the past, when Indigenous American activists attempted to bring their struggles to the UN, it was Palestinian activists who guided them through the progress.

Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP) - Union of Democratic Filipinos: Ang Katipunan Issues

The KDP (Union of Democratic Filipinos) published a national newspaper, the Ang Katipunan (AK), in the United States from 1974 to 1987. AK articles covered developments in the Philippines, exposing the injustices of the Marcos dictatorship during martial law. It covered the resistance of the national democratic movement and the New People’s Army along with other democratic opposition activities. The AK documented the extensive anti-Marcos opposition movement in the United States and efforts of the anti-Marcos forces to oppose US support for the dictator. It also covered organizing against discrimination against Filipinos and other minorities in the U.S. The AK carried on-going coverage of liberation movements across the globe. Finally, the AK published cultural work of poets and photographers of the time, in its VOICES columns.

The AK and the work of the KDP reveals how third-world liberation struggles are rooted in community-based education. Furthermore, this resource reveals the multi-faceted nature of liberation movements, in this case, the KDP also worked for housing justice.

Ethnic Studies as a Movement

Ethnic Studies is not just a discipline of study, it transcends academia and is a movement that seeks to decolonize history. Before entering the academic sphere, Ethnic Studies was centered around academia, organizing, and solidarity.

(Around 00:13) “Ethnic Studies existed as a social movement practice before it entered the university.” - Michael Schulze-Oechtering
(Around 00:22) “[Ethnic Studies] is a movement project that happens to be located partially in academia.” - Jason Ferreira
(Around 00:36) “Work, study, unity: a central concept of Ethnic Studies. Study, struggle, praxis, and theory in action.” - Michael Schulze-Oechtering

Intergenerationality of Ethnic Studies

Ethnic Studies is rooted in the past, present, and future. As a discipline, the material of Ethnic Studies draws from the struggles of the past and shows their interconnectedness to the present and the future. As a movement, Ethnic Studies inspires organizers to envision new possibilities that are rooted in the political actions of the past.

(Around 00:17) History is a source of empowerment for youth. It can show the power and political possibilities that existed in the past that can be enacted in the future. - Michael Schulze-Oechtering
(Around 00:19) We are engaged in the very same struggle that we were involved in 1999, 1969, and further back. This is a testament to the intergenerational struggle that we are involved in. - Jason Ferreira
(Around 00:51) “I always lean on what I learn from my community elders.” - Michael Schulze-Oechtering

Connections Between Ethnic Studies and Palestine

Palestinian liberation is intertwined with other forms of liberation, and is, therefore, an intrinsic part of Ethnic Studies. Palestinian liberation and activism is a foundation of Ethnic Studies itself. Palestinian struggles and the struggles of Arab Americans should be a part of the Ethnic Studies curriculum.

(Around 01:17) Palestine is a generational and defining struggle. You cannot be for Black liberation, you cannot be for Chicano liberation if you are not simultaneously willing to sacrifice and struggle on behalf of the Palestinian people. This moment [Israel’s attack on Gaza following October 7th, 2023] is unique but the arc of struggle is very very long. - Jason Ferreira
(Around 01:19) We owe Palestinians a great deal in the ways that we theorize and fight for our liberation. - Michael Michael Schulze-Oechtering
(Around 01:21) If you are not talking about Palestine you are not doing Ethnic Studies. - Jason Ferreira

Solidarity

Solidarity is one of the key principles and a cornerstone practice of Ethnic Studies. For Ethnic Studies to be relevant to today’s students it must focus on solidarity with other liberation movements.

(Around 00:58) Solidarity is not transactional. Solidarity is a basic fundamental principle. It is a principle and a practice. - Jason Ferreira
(Around 00:55) “Solidarity also means political education. If we are in solidarity with all oppressed people we have to know all forms of oppression.” - Jason Ferreira

Teaching Ethnic Studies

Educators need to know that lived experiences introduce students to Ethnic Studies, they just need the language to articulate their experiences and make sense of them. Ethnic Studies is a discipline of love and empowers students to transform the worlds that they live in. As part of that, educators must ask hard questions and reveal truths that the societal narratives are not talking about.

(Around 00:21) Students know, in their bones, about Ethnic Studies, even if they don’t know the theories or grand theorists. They have a hunger that is born of their lived experiences. Our job as educators is to introduce them to a language, to frameworks, to perspectives, to this history that they are a part of. - Jason Ferreira
(Around 00:45) To be an Ethnic Studies teacher one has to love your students and the communities out of which your students emerge. And one has to be committed to the transformation of the very communities that students come from. Not as saviors, as accomplices, as allies, as comrades. - Jason Ferreira
(Around 00:46) Ethnic Studies was initially created to transform the world. To address the material reality of our students and our people’s lives. As educators, you need to ensure that students walk out of a classroom knowing how to think critically, think strategically, and be committed to something larger than themselves. - Jason Ferreira
(Around 01:01) “Part of your job as a teacher is to make sure, as wildly and unpopular as it may be, that you ask the questions that others are not asking. That you are attentive to all the other relations that we are embedded within. That’s how I try to bring solidarity in.” - Jason Ferreira

Internationalism and Ethnic Studies

Ethnic Studies at its heart is an international struggle. Educators must highlight the internationality of Ethnic Studies so that it is relevant to students’ lives and so that it is true to the purpose of Ethnic Studies.

(Around 00:37) “Ethnic studies domesticates what was an international political project.” - Michael Schulze-Ochetering
(Around 01:13) “Our students live lives not confined by racial lines or national borders. For Ethnic Studies to be relevant to students, it has to be rooted in a coalitional, transnational, and solidarity-centered framework. - Michael Schulze-Ochetering
(Around 00:41) “Folks fought for the vision of a community-grounded internationalist Ethnic Studies well into the 1980s.” - Michael Schulze-Ochetering