Jotería For a Free Palestine: A Statement of Solidarity
We, the Association of Jotería Arts, Activism, and Scholarship, extend our unwavering solidarity to the people of Palestine. We are outraged by the violences and injustices that Palestinians are facing in Gaza and The West Bank. As a community of queer and trans Latinx, Chicanx, and people of color, our voices join in harmony with our queer Palestinian siblings who state the following facts: “What is happening in Palestine is genocide. Israel is a settler-colony. Palestinians are a militarily occupied and colonized society.” We stand firmly against these injustices and recognize and affirm that the situation in Palestine reflects a struggle for dignity and freedom. We raise our voices in unity for peace, justice, and the recognition of sovereignty.
Our Jotería consciousness demands fearless action against the forces of colonialism, genocide, and apartheid wherever they exist. We unequivocally denounce ethnic cleansing, military occupation, and the imperialist agendas of the US and Israel. We stand against racism, Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, and all forms of oppression as virulent barriers to our vision of queer liberation.
As Jotería, we fiercely reject any attempts to use our queer, trans, and non-binary identities as tools to demonize and dehumanize, and to justify the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. Our hearts are heavy with grief for the genocide of Palestinians, including our queer and trans siblings in Gaza, and we honor their memory in our relentless pursuit of justice. We recognize that our kin, our community, exists everywhere. In every corner of the globe, we find our people, and our solidarity extends to them all.
As Jotería, we are grounded in a decolonial queer and feminist sensibility and politics. This is more than a perspective; it’s a revolutionary force, a way of seeing, thinking, and feeling that is unapologetically committed to social and political transformation. We not only bear witness to the atrocities committed against Palestinians; we stand as unwavering allies in their fight for survival, resistance, and liberation from the shackles of occupation. We see you. We love you. We are unshakably here for you.
The violence inflicted upon Palestinians is a mirror of the violence that sought to erase us, our families and communities across Abya Yala, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Afro-Latinx and Latinx barrios in the United States. We recognize this not just as a parallel struggle but as a shared battle against the same forces of oppression and destruction. Our solidarity is as fierce as our resolve, and our voices will not be silenced until justice prevails for all.
As Jotería, we demand an immediate ceasefire, and the unequivocal end to occupation in Palestine. We call on our community to participate in the movement for Palestinian life and liberation, and to lead when we are called upon by our Palestinian siblings to the front. As anti-colonial and decolonial artists, activists, and scholars, our work is fundamentally rooted in resistance, freedom, and healing. Our solidarity is critical and non-negotiable. Our love must be expressed through action.
To remain silent is to take part in our own oppression. We recognize our fates are bound together, and that oppression anywhere is a threat to liberation everywhere. We raise our voices, loud and clear: For a free Palestine! For a free Congo! For a free Sudan! For a free Haiti! Our call is a cry for justice. Expect nothing less than relentless resistance, until we are all truly free!
The Association for Jotería, Arts, Activism, and Scholarship
A special thanks to José Manuel Santillana for contributing a great deal to this statement
