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WHY SO MANY YOUNG ASIAN AMERICANS STAND WITH PALESTINE  
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Cathi Choi
May 8, 2024
Yes Magazine
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_ If we are to make meaning out of “Asian America” this AAPI
Heritage Month, we must root ourselves in intersectional principles,
draw threads across global and local struggles, and forge paths toward
a world free from U.S. militarism and forever wars. _

Students participate in a protest in support of Palestine and for
free speech at Columbia University campus on November 14, 2023 in New
York City., (photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

 

As we mark Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month,
students across the country are shutting down college campuses
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spurring mass movement for a free Palestine. 

Younger generations are significantly more pro-Palestine than their
elders
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and according to a November 2023 GenForward survey
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younger Asian Americans are the demographic group most likely to
sympathize with Palestinians and to believe that the United States is
too supportive of Israel. The legacy of U.S. wars waged throughout
Asia has historically shaped generations of solidarity-building
between Asian Americans and all peoples facing the brunt of U.S.
militarism. And as the U.S. continues to fund Israel
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the Pacific
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and exacerbate tensions with China
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young Asian Americans have a particular role to play in challenging
the ever-growing U.S. war machine. 

In a recent interview [[link removed]], Ji
Hye Choi, a young organizer with Mariånas for Palestine, shared that
as a Korean woman born and raised on the U.S. territory of Guam, her
ancestral legacy and upbringing have shown her how communities across
time and space have organized to resist colonization
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militarism
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and U.S. forever wars
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Ji Hye said skeptics dismiss her because of her young age, but she is
nevertheless determined to stand in solidarity with Palestinians based
on a shared understanding of “the global fight for resistance and
liberation.” As I listened, I was deeply struck by her clarity and
deep sense of purpose, both tied to her ancestral inheritance. 

Through her work to build solidarity with Palestinians, Ji Hye is one
of many young Asian Americans working to resist U.S. militarism and
war. She is continuing a tradition that I have been proud to be a part
of through my own work mobilizing hundreds of intergenerational
activists
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the country to end the Korean War_._

While the term “Asian American” has been rightfully critiqued
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the origins of Asian America are rooted in an internationalist,
anti-war ethos. As Karen Ishizuka describes in _Serve the People:
Making Asian America in the Long Sixties_
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“no accident” that Asian America was born during the peak of
organizing against the Vietnam War, when Asian Americans highlighted
the connection between racism and militarism in Vietnam—a
perspective they felt the mainstream anti-war movement ignored. U.S.
militarism and imperialism continue to fuel anti-Asian violence today
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Past Asian American organizers also applied a class lens to their
organizing, demanding divestment from militarism
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reinvestment in working-class communities at home. This class-based
analysis is even more critical today as Asian Americans have
the largest income gap of any racial group
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Much of this economic disparity can be tied to the legacies of U.S.
wars
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Asian Americans’ countries of origin.

We stand on our predecessors’ tall shoulders and those of preeminent
feminists like Margo Okazawa-Rey, a founding member of International
Network of Women Against Militarism [[link removed]] and the
historic Combahee River Collective
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a “radical black feminist, socialist, anti-imperialist collective
of women
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As a “transnational feminist, U.S.-based African-American and
Japanese woman,”
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has long led movements in challenging militarism and radically
rethinking possibilities for intersectional activism in the Asia
Pacific and beyond.

Like Okazawa-Rey, our predecessors applied intersectional lenses to
their activism. We must learn from them as we advocate for long-term
change in all arenas of policymaking by building out a “robust
ecosystem” of movements and community power
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urged by veteran movement leaders Ahmad Abuznaid of U.S. Campaign for
Palestinian Rights [[link removed]], Deepa Iyer of Building
Movement Project [[link removed]], and Darakshan Raja
of Muslims for Just Futures [[link removed]].

In particular, we must wrest power out of the hands of war profiteers
and weapons manufacturers
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reclaim the halls of legislative power from corporate interests.
U.S. military spending
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reached new heights; in April, Biden signed into law 
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$95 billion military spending package after it was approved by
Congress, with $26 billion allotted to Israel and $8 billion to the
Asia Pacific
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As the U.S. continues to fund Israel, it also expands its military
presence in the Asia Pacific
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preparation for a potential war with China. 

More than half 
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national discretionary spending already goes toward the Pentagon,
which has failed every single audit ever mandated by
Congress, leaving billions unaccounted for
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With zero accountability, the U.S. military continues its costly
ramp-up for a war against China as it prepares for the Rim of Pacific
Exercise
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destructive war drills
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out in the Pacific biennially in coordination with 25 other countries
(including Israel, South Korea, and the Philippines). While RIMPAC
rages on
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U.S. communities lack affordable health care
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and education [[link removed]], and are
underprepared to deal with the devastating effects of the climate
crisis
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In April, Biden also approved a controversial bill after it was passed
by Congress, reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
(FISA)
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A coalition of leading Asian American organizations opposed this
renewal
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FISA has been used to “justify mass spying, racial profiling, and
discrimination of innocent people,” with harsh consequences for
both Asian Americans
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protestors
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We must continue learning from our collective pasts
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we organize during this increasingly precarious time. Our elders have
taught us that an identity grouping is only as meaningful as its
capacity to be transformative for all peoples. Okazawa-Rey has
explained that the Combahee River Collective’s “identity
politics” were not exclusionary, but about galvanizing collective
power
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organize against all systems of oppression. 

If we are to continue making meaning out of “Asian America” this
AAPI Heritage Month, we must root ourselves in intersectional
principles, draw threads across global and local struggles, and forge
new paths toward a world free from U.S. militarism and forever wars.

_CATHI CHOI [[link removed]] is the
director of policy and organizing for Women Cross DMZ, and
co-coordinator of Korea Peace Now! Grassroots Network. Her writing has
appeared previously in the LA Times, Asian Pacific American Law
Journal and the Journal of Policy History. She speaks English,
Spanish, and Korean._

_YES! Media is independent and nonpartisan. Our EXPLANATORY
JOURNALISM analyzes societal problems in terms of their root causes
and explores opportunities for systemic, structural change. Our
stories uncover environmental, economic, and social justice
intersections. Our SOLUTIONS REPORTING spotlights the ideas and
initiatives of people building a better
world. Our COMMENTARIES address dominant economic, political, and
social structures and consider alternative ways of thinking that can
produce a more equitable and Earth-friendly world._

* Asian Americans
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* AAPI
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* U.S. militarism
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* Palestine
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* Korea
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* China
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* Vietnam
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* Intersectionality
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* Combahee River Collective
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