UC San Diego

Though activist groups in the San Diego-Tijuana area have long organized for Palestinian liberation, the continuous bombardment of Gaza by Israel and its resulting humanitarian crisis in the wake of October 7, 2023, has influenced a surge in transnational advocacy actions, oftentimes evoking comparisons or connections between the U.S.-Mexico border and borders surrounding Gaza and the West Bank. Analyzing events for Palestinian liberation and/or border advocacy between October 2023 and July 2024, this thesis reimagines the application of “linked fate” through a spatially removed, transnational lens motivated by interlocking systems and mechanisms of power. I propose that border sites offer tangible and theoretical links by which geographically disconnected communities may conclude that what happens in one impacts the other, clarifying how activists in the San Diego-Tijuana borderlands at times draw “linked fate” solidarity relationships through four common narratives: Directly, unpacking the material, financial, and law enforcement exchanges between the U.S. and Israel; Experientially, citing analogous experiences of life under settler colonialism, imperialism, and racial capitalism; Consequently, considering decisions at the state level which disparately impact communities abroad; and Interconnectedly, positing that liberation movements are inherently connected through intersecting systems of dominance.