The ongoing genocide in Gaza, coupled with the recent martyrdom anniversary of Malcolm X, has sparked interest in what the renowned activist thought and wrote about Palestine. But a reader of The Autobiography of Malcolm X would learn little; indeed, there is no mention of Malcolm’s 1964 trip to Gaza, or of his scathing article titled, “Zionist Logic.” Even acclaimed biographies of Malcolm X, such as Les Payne’s The Dead Are Arising and Manning Marable’s A Life of Reinvention, either ignore or brush over the details of Malcolm’s visit and writings on Palestine. Marable goes as far as to claim that Malcolm’s perspective on Palestine was merely political opportunism; a stunt aimed at garnering the support of Egyptian president Jamal Abdul Nasser. It is the dismissal and neglect of this crucial part of Malcolm’s life that blunts both his burgeoning internationalist perspective and the threat he perceived of Zionism to not only Palestine but the entire Third World.
On September 5, 1964, Malcolm X traveled to Gaza — then under the control of Egypt — where he spent two days. He visited the Khan Younis refugee camp and a local hospital and mingled with locals and luminaries alike. Amongst these interactions in Gaza, perhaps the most influential was his unplanned encounter with the renowned Palestinian poet Harun Hashim Rashid. Malcolm was visibly moved by the latter’s horrific experience and recounting of the Suez Crisis nearly a decade earlier, in which hundreds of Palestinians were murdered by the IDF. Moreover, Malcolm’s diary notes indicate his admiration for Rashid’s poetry, as he hastily scribbled one of his poems titled “We Must Return:”
We must return
No boundaries should exist
No obstacles can stop us
Cry out refugees: “We shall return”
Tell the Mts: “We shall return”
Tell the alley: “We shall return”
We are going back to our youthPalestine calls us to arm ourselves
And we are armed and are going to fightWe must return
After his meeting with Rashid, Malcolm met with religious leaders and prayed the congregational night prayer. He noted in his diary that the “spirit of Allah was strong” in Gaza.
The visit to Gaza inspired Malcolm’s most famous written piece on Zionism. Published in The Egyptian Gazette on September 17, 1964, “Zionist Logic” mounted a scathing critique of Zionism and demonstrated Malcolm’s view that it was not only a threat to Palestine but to the wider Third World. In his essay, he writes:
“The Israeli Zionists are convinced they have successfully camouflaged their new kind of colonialism. Their colonialism appears to be more “benevolent,” more “philanthropic,” a system with which they rule simply by getting their potential victims to accept their friendly offers of economic “aid,” and other tempting gifts, that they dangle in front of the newly-independent African nations, whose economies are experiencing great difficulties…Thus, the power and influence of Zionist Israel in many of the newly “independent” African nations has fast-become even more unshakeable than that of the 18th century European colonialists…and this new kind of Zionist colonialism differs only in form and method, but never in motive or objective.“
Here, Malcolm draws parallels with European colonialism and the destruction that it wrought across the Third World in the preceding centuries. For Malcolm, Zionism is inextricably linked to wider European colonialism; the latest iteration designed to subdue the Third World. To confront this wider colonial endeavor, Malcolm beseeches the leaders and people of the Third World to unite together and reject the false overtures of colonial powers.
What I have written above has received some degree of public coverage, but there is a crucial document found in the appendix of The Dead Are Arising that has yet to receive the attention it deserves. The Director General of the Islamic Centre of Geneva had sent Malcolm X nine questions about his life, faith, and hope for the future, to which Malcolm wrote incisive and candid responses. The answer to the final question was typed up on the morning of February 21, 1965. It is, to the best of my knowledge, the final document written by Malcolm X and testifies to his burgeoning internationalist perspective and the threat of Zionism — not only to Palestine but to the entire Third World. It is reproduced here below:
Question: Africa seems to have captured most of your attention and eager concern. Why? And now that you have visited almost every part of it, where do you think Islam actually stands? And what, in your opinion, could be done to save it from both the brainlessness of many or rather most of those who are considered to be the champions of its cause and from the malicious, resourceful alliance of Zionism, atheism and religious fanaticism against Islam?
Answer: I regard Africa as my Fatherland. I am primarily interested in seeing it become completely free of outside political and economic influence that has dominated and exploited it. Africa, because of its strategic position, faces a real crisis. The colonial vultures have no intention of giving it up without a fight. Their chief weapon is still “divide and conquer.” In East Africa there is a strong anti-Asian feeling being nurished [sic] among the Africans. In West Africa there is a strong anti-Arab feeling. Where there are Arabs or Asians there is a strong anti-Muslim feeling. These hostilities are not initiated by the above-mentioned people who are involved. They have nothing to benefit from fighting among themselves at this point. Those who benefit most are the former colonial masters who have now supplanted the hated colonialism and imperialism with Zionism. The Zionists have outstripped all other interest-groups in the present struggle for our Mother Continent. They use such a benevolent, philanthropic approach that it is quite difficult for their victims to see through their schemes. Zionism is even more dangerous than communism because it is made more acceptable and is thus more destructively effective.
Since the Arab image is almost inseparable from the Image of Islam, the Arab World has a multiple responsibility that it must live up to. Since Islam is a religion of Brotherhood and Unity those who take the lead in expounding this religion are duty-bound to set the highest example of the Brotherhood and Unity. It is imperative that Cairo and Mecca (The Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs and the Muslim World League) have a religious “summit” conference and show a greater degree of concern and responsibility for the present plight of the Muslim World or other forces will rise up in this present generation of young forward-thinking Muslims and the “Power Centres” will be taken from the hands of those that they are now in and placed elsewhere. ALLAH CAN EASILY DO THIS.
Hours after typing this response, Malcolm X was assassinated at the Audobon Ballroom in New York. He was 39 years old.
Ali Hammoud
source: Mondoweiss