The Palestine Question in Diaspora and Revolution: Spanish Refugees, the Mexican Left, and Internationalist Responses to the Nakba of 1948

Throughout the twentieth century, Mexico served as a refuge for left-wing political dissidents from around the world. In 1939, the Mexican government opened its ports to over 20,000 Spanish exiles fleeing the fascist dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Spaniards were especially supported by the Mexican Left–namely the Mexican Communist Party (PCM) and the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM)-which welcomed the Spanish refugees as comrades-in-arms. The political solidarity forged by Mexican leftists and Spanish exiles remained largely undisturbed for years, until another international crisis sparked conflicting views on the right to self-determination for displaced peoples.

The establishment of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent displacement of 700,000 Palestinians from their ancestral lands during the Nakba sparked outrage throughout the Global South. Mexico was no exception, with much of the Mexican Left siding with the Palestinian people as victims of settler colonial violence. In sharp contrast, much of the Spanish refugee community voiced their support for the establishment of a Jewish nation-state, citing their own displacement by a fascist regime as a central cause. This paper documents the underlying social and political conditions that led to these diverging political stances as supporters of Palestine and Israel both emphasized the right to self-determination for oppressed peoples. It argues that the ideological division between Mexican leftists and Spanish refugees regarding self-determination reflected contrasting views on notions of colonialism between formerly colonized people and the political diaspora emanating from its former imperial metropole. By focusing on debates publicized in the Mexican leftist and Spanish refugee press, I seek to explore the limits of transnational solidarities amidst ethnic displacement and settler colonial violence.