It is quite well known that Star Wars began as an allegory for the Vietnam War, where the evil tyrannical empire is overthrown by local, poor, guerilla rebels. The original trilogy of Star Wars, released four years after the US pulled out of Vietnam, has always been a political examination of the United States, as they were always meant to be the Galactic Empire in the story. However, at this point in time, Star Wars really wasn’t a fervent political critique. It was simply a story of rebellion with harrowing parallels to our world. This changed when the prequel trilogy came in 1999.

The prequels deal with a cunning, malevolent politician seizing control of the government, creating a new empire in his name, Sheev Palpatine. Much like how Adolf Hitler positioned himself as a fighter for the working class, Palpatine presented himself as a man of the people- a voice of reason. Over the course of two decades, he slowly built up power. It has been documented that capitalist countries have often infiltrated rebel groups to make them do the wrong things at the wrong times, thus creating a distrust of rebellion and a trust in the establishment. This is exactly how Palpatine takes power.

Palpatine manufactures a rebellion between the Galactic Republic and the Galactic Trade Federation, creating political unrest. This political instability allows for Palpatine to create distrust of the Jedi Order and win the election of chancellor and take emergency powers, giving him full reign. He starts an insurrection, wiping out the Jedi Order, all while posing himself as a hero. Over the course of the next two decades, he dissolves the republic and rules the galaxy along with his protege, whom he groomed into fear and hate.

All this to say, we have seen this happen time and time again, and we are seeing it right now with the United States in Southwest Asia. In 2001, George Bush manufactured war in Iraq, killing thousands of innocent civilians over bogus claims of nuclear weapons. Barack Obama continued this reign. Now, Donald Trump has manufactured another war, now with Iran, over the same phony claims of nuclear weapons. This is all for power, and that brings me to my point. Israel is an extension of this power.

As political dissent grows towards Israel, many fail to realize why Israel is so evil. It is not because they’re Jewish. It is not because they control the US. It is because the US controls them, and the US has used Israel as a weapon in Southwest Asia for power. 

Andor and the Palestinian Resistance

As comes with any imposing power, revolution will inevitably ignite among the people: the American and Haitian Revolutions; the revolts of enslaved African Americans; the various Communist revolutions; etc etc. Palestinians have been rebelling against Israel since they first came to occupy their land in 1922. Revolt after revolt, they broke down. They were unorganized and untrained compared to the technologically advanced Israeli military (much like the Galactic Empire and the Rebels), which would become the Israeli Defense Forces (defense in heavy quotation marks). When the Nakba came shortly after World War II ended, when over 700,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes, and when entire villages were massacred by the colonial settlers, unrest grew even more.

Many attempts were made to create change through peaceful political means, but because Palestinians are second class they could not and cannot make waves through diplomacy, especially when the whole world is for the Israeli occupation. Whenever groups did take violent action, most notably when militant groups hijacked planes, nothing changed, and things often got worse for the Palestinians. Israel used these small events of rebellion to create fear and incentivise the attacks and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, even though Palestinians did not have the military power or the organization to pose any real threat to the Israeli government. We only think of them as terrorists because Israel made it so. 

There were numerous false claims about Hamas during this attack. While, yes, Hamas killed over 1,000 Israelis and took 251 hostages, there were no major human rights violations. There were claims made of dead, beheaded babies, and systematic rapes against Israeli women- all proven to be untrue and made up by Israel. In fact, on the contrary, Israel has been found to have used sexual assault as a form of torture against Palestinians- not the other way around. Hamas has not had any major advances since that day, and Israel continues to push further into occupied lands to claim them as their own. Israel has already begun occupying Lebanon.

So how does this relate to Star Wars and Andor? 

I find that the story of rebellion throughout Star Wars is almost an exact parallel to the rebellions we see today. 

Andor follows a young immigrant criminal, Cassian Andor, as he is forced to kill two Imperial Officers after being cornered and attacked by them. He becomes a fugitive of the Empire and finds himself as a militant in a rebel group. At first he is only in it for the money, but after watching his friends give their lives to the rebellion, and after being wrongfully imprisoned in a work camp for a completely unrelated crime, he begins to truly believe in the cause. 

Cassian steals. He kills. He fights. Andor does not sugar coat rebellion. There is death. There is tragedy. There is sacrifice. 

There is a really wonderful scene towards the end of the first season when Luthen, the organizer of this silent rebellion, is asked what he has sacrificed by one of his Imperial informants. 

We see this sentiment continue as Cassian, himself, gives up the love for his partner, Bix, and sacrifices his life for the plans to the Death Star. He gives up his entire life for the rebellion. He does unspeakable things, he burns his life, just so future generations can see the sunrise, the same one Cassian and Luthen have given up. 

It’s not contemplated much in the original trilogy, but between the destruction of the two Death Stars, at least 2 million people were killed, with at least a quarter of them being civilians. If something like that were to happen today, we would label them as terrorists. It really puts into perspective how we can view the morality of violent revolution with grace when it isn’t tied to a real life political movement or organization. Terrorism has become a buzzword that governments use to incite fear and create submission. When Ukrainians resist Russian occupation we see it is honorable and necessary, despite the fact that it is violent, but when Palestinians resist Israeli occupation we label them as terrorists and extremists. It is because our democratic values have been enshrined with pro-capitalist and Zionist ideology. It is also because Ukrainians are white and Palestinians are brown, and western ideologies tend to favor so-called white people over so-called brown people. As Americans, we have come to resist resistance and embrace complacency when necessary.

I draw many parallels between Hamas and the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars. While they aren’t entirely equal in foundation, they both have the same goals and the same measures: liberation by any means necessary. 

Taking a life is one of the worst atrocities of all. We do not get a do over. So that is why it is so important to me that we make it clear what Palestinian resistance is. Killing is wrong and always will be, but when your oppressors do not see you as human- when you are seen as inferior- there is no humanity left to kill within them. Palestinians have tried to be peaceful. They have tried to be compliant, but they are still subject to genocide, and it has only grown worse. People who commit genocide do not have the right to complain when the people they’ve been committing genocide against start fighting back by whatever means they can.

Free Palestine From The River To The Sea.