The Palestinian Diaspora and Latin American Solidarity with the Palestinian Cause: Brazil as a Model

• Published date: 01 May 2019
• Date: 01 May 2019
• Author: Rasem Bisharat
• DOI: 10.1177/0094582X19835524
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X19835524

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 226, Vol. 46 No. 3, May 2019, 102–113

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X19835524

© 2019 Latin American Perspectives

102

The Palestinian Diaspora and Latin American Solidarity

with the Palestinian Cause

Brazil as a Model

by

Rasem Bisharat

The Palestinian diaspora and Arab communities in Latin America, especially in Brazil,

have contributed significantly to the Palestinian cause in Latin America. The convergence

between these communities and union and left parties encouraged the left to include the

Palestinian cause on its agenda. Brazil may be considered a model in this respect because

of the influence of its Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers’ Party—PT), which led the

Latin American left after the founding of the São Paulo Forum in 1992. The Palestinian

community has an even greater role to play today, the more so since the PT’s exclusion

from power favors Israel at the expense of the Palestinian cause.

A diáspora palestina e as comunidades árabes na América Latina, especialmente no

Brasil, teem contribuído significativamente para a causa palestina na América Latina. A

convergência entre essas comunidades, sindicatos e partidos de esquerda levou a esquerda

a incluir a causa palestina em sua agenda. O Brasil pode ser considerado um modelo nesse

aspecto devido à influência do Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), que liderou a esquerda

latino-americana após a fundação do Fórum de São Paulo em 1992. A comunidade pales-

tina tem uma relevância ainda maior já que a perda de poder do PT favorece Israel em

detrimento da causa palestina.

Keywords: Diaspora, Brazil, Latin America, Palestinian cause, Left forces, President

Lula

Palestinian immigration to Latin America began in the early nineteenth cen-

tury as a response to the economic and political conditions that swept the

region under the Ottoman Empire. The destinations of immigrants at first were

Nicaragua, Chile, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, and Brazil and later included

most of the Latin American countries. Immigration to Brazil increased as one

of the results of the visit to the Middle East in the last quarter of the nineteenth

century of the Brazilian Emperor Don Pedro II, who was fascinated by Arab

culture. Most of the immigrants settled in the Northeast, especially in Salvador

and Pernambuco.

The waves of migration continued as a result of the political developments

taking place in Palestine starting with World War I and Palestine’s falling under

Rasem Bisharat has a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Centre for West Asian Studies, Jamia Millia

Islamia, New Delhi, and is coordinator of international relations for Brazil’s Universidade de

Políticos do Movimento Popular.

835524LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X19835524Latin American PerspectivesBisharat / PALESTINIAN DIASPORA AND SOLIDARITY IN BRAZIL

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