From Nipmuc Homelands to Palestine: Land, Liberation and Self-Determination are Inseparable

Every Nipmuc person today descends from a survivor of genocide. Whether it was the physical genocide of the 17^th century conflict so-called King Phillip’s War that included forced removal to and imprisonment on Deer Island in Boston Harbor and the massacres and killings driven by scalp bounties. Or whether it was the suppression of culture and language or the “paper” genocide that attempted to extinguish and erase the presence of Nipmuc people from our homelands in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, the Nipmuc are survivors of genocide. As survivors, we carry responsibilities to our ancestors and to future generations. We also carry responsibilities to the present that sometimes extend to places in the world far beyond our tribal homelands.

We recognize that settler colonialism is not simply a chapter in history. As Nipmuc, we recognize that it is an ongoing system of dispossession: the taking of Indigenous homelands, the displacement of peoples, the destruction of communities and the suppression of culture, language, identity and sovereignty. 

Palestinians have endured decades of displacement, land confiscation, occupation, forced removal, military violence, and the fragmentation of their homeland. The destruction and mass civilian casualties and suffering in Gaza have led the United Nations and human rights experts to raise grave concerns regarding violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, including allegations of genocide. 

We call genocide what it is. We call settler colonialism what it is. We refuse to look away.

Nipmuc solidarity with Palestine is rooted in our own history of resistance and survival. We know what it means for a people to have their homelands targeted, their communities displaced, their children separated from their families, and their existence treated as an obstacle to colonial expansion. We reject the idea that colonial violence becomes acceptable because it is carried out in the name of security, development, civilization or state power.

We stand with Palestinians resisting dispossession and fighting for freedom, dignity, sovereignty and the right to live on their ancestral lands. From Nipmuc homelands to Palestine, we recognize the struggle against settler colonialism. Land Back. Free Palestine.