Countless protests have erupted across the United States advocating for the more than 29,000 Palestinians killed since Hamas’ October 7 attack on the state of Israel, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and the 2 million displaced to the southern part of Palestine.
That’s no different in South Texas, where the co-founders of Red Star Texas, a mutual aid organization, continue to lead or take part in demonstrations condemning elected officials’ support of Israel, their refusal to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and using U.S. taxes to fund the Israeli military.
Red Star Texas co-founders Basseema Abouassaad and Jack Nieto-Delaplane focus on providing food, anti-overdose medication and contraceptives for people in need in McAllen and San Antonio where they’ve raised around $5,000 for mutual aid efforts since January.
Through mutual aid work, the organization says that they have facilitated South Texas community engagement with Palestine during the marches, food drives, poetry readings and film screenings the organization has held or taken part in.
“We have seen hundreds and hundreds of people right here, from Brownsville to Edinburg, engage in this dialogue, and in a really meaningful and constructive way that begins to analyze the very real harm that our tax dollars are contributing to now, and what our tax dollars have contributed to in the past, and how we move forward from that in a decolonial way,” Nieto said. “Creating that dialog that can lead to the sustainment of Palestinian solidarity, the building of Palestinian solidarity. And really the building of mass intersectional mass movements in general.”
For Abouassaad, who is Palestinian and organizes for Red Star Texas in San Antonio, the cause is personal and, in the case of trying to get elected officials to listen, frustrating.
“[City officials] always try to dismiss our anger with, ‘oh, well, we can sit down and have a meeting, we can sit down and have a meeting,’ where we as Palestinians, and our allies, are just continuously dehumanized. And we have to argue why us and our people should be alive,” Abouassaad said. “That's not really something I have an interest in. I'm not going to debate with somebody whether I deserve to live or whether other Palestinians deserve to live, and neither should anyone.”
The City of San Antonio was close to voting on a ceasefire resolution in January before District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez withdrew his signature advocating for a vote. Pelaez's withdrawal prompted Mayor Ron Nirenberg to say he would not consider a ceasefire resolution should one be brought to a vote. However, the momentum of the movement is ongoing: officials have been disrupted in public, even during mayoral announcements, and the organizing has now taken an economic focus.
One way that Red Star Texas is doing this is by calling out Caterpillar, the construction equipment manufacturer, for the company selling machinery to and financially supporting Israel, along with selling equipment to mining companies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and contractors constructing the southern border wall in the U.S.
“The Israeli government would not be able to demolish homes without their huge armed Caterpillar equipment,” Abouassaad said. “If we're going to make any sort of progress and aid those in Palestine for their fight for liberation and the fight for liberation across all third world countries, then we need to make sure that we're identifying the tactics and the corporations, and we're directly attacking them.”
In the Rio Grande Valley, Red Star Texas has organized or taken part in marches in McAllen, Weslaco and Brownsville, disrupted candidate forums and protested outside of elected officials’ offices, specifically those of Congress members Monica De La Cruz and Vicente Gonzalez. While these Republican and Democrat officials and candidates have mostly stayed silent on the issues, Nieto says keeping pressure on them is still useful.
“We do it to make sure that they can't forget Palestine for one second. Because if there's no justice for Palestine, then there's no peace for Monica De La Cruz. If there's no justice for Palestine, then there is no peace for Michelle Vallejo, peace for Vicente Gonzalez, or peace for “Genocide Joe” [Biden],” Nieto said. “We will keep Palestine in our mouth. And we do it because we are desperate to contribute to an end to an atrocity that my paycheck goes to.”
Interview highlights
On the overall goals of marches in the RGV:
“We look to create an atmosphere of solidarity. We look to let the people of Palestine know that if they see on their screens something about the Texas border, they'll see Palestinian flags. They will see that we see what's happening to them, and we do not find it okay.” - Jack Nieto
On why pressuring local officials for a ceasefire:
“At a local level, consistently placing the boot on the necks of the people who would support the bombs that matters on a national level. Letting people who would use our community as political theater know that this is not a community without agency. This is not a community that will stand by. We have people in the Valley who have resisted imperialism for years and will continue to resist imperialism here in our communities with rapid militarization of the border and here in Palestine. We are all locally doing what we can, and that local energy builds state momentum.” - Jack Nieto
On organizing in San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley:
“Organizing in both San Antonio and the Valley is super important to us. Because we're stronger in numbers and because all of our struggles are connected. And we're so heavily militarized, the Valley experiencing that the most especially being so close to the border. We want to make sure that we're echoing liberation struggles from across both the state, south and all over the globe.”- Basseema Abouassaad.
On the future of the Palestinian liberation movement
“I think the largest takeaway that we can take from [the International Court of Justice ruling that that Israel must not carry out a genocide against Palestinians] is that it's not going to be Western institutions or the United States or England or Western empires that are going to be leading this fight against Israeli aggression and Palestinian liberation. It was South Africa that did. And it's been many other victims of colonialism. Like countries that have been victims to colonialism that have echoed South Africa and supported that charge, as well as bringing their own charges up against both the United States and Israel. And so, I think we have to remember the people that are going to be leading the struggle or the people that have dealt with it directly and are most affected by colonialism.” - Basseema Abouassaad.
