One of the most visible current examples is happening in North Dakota. As the Women's Boat makes its way to Palestine, an epic battle is being waged by the Standing Rock Sioux nation to halt construction of an oil pipeline that threatens the integrity of their land and water.
They have been joined in their struggle by more than 60 Native American tribes. First Nation peoples from around the world have expressed solidarity, and statements of unqualified support have been issued by the National Lawyers Guild, prominent Palestinians, the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Black Lives Matter, and the Nation of Islam, among others. And rallies of support have been held in cities throughout the US and elsewhere.
Violence breeds global solidarity
As in the case of Standing Rock, such immediate coalescing of leftist movements in common cause has been a powerful reinforcement to the Palestinian struggle against Israel's settler colonialism. Further, the traditional response of power - namely, the use of violence - has proved ineffective.
For example, when Israel boarded and attacked the Gaza Flotilla in 2010, killing 10 unarmed passengers, the Free Gaza movement was flooded with requests from around the world to join their cause.
Overnight, the coalition grew from six to 20 organisations, including groups from Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and more.
Likewise, when the Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners used attack dogs on unarmed protectors of the land, the resolve of the Sioux peoples was further galvanised and activists around the country took to the streets in solidarity.
Predictably, power - whether corporate, state, or both - has thus turned its attention to preventing the dissemination of information.
One of the most powerful tools available to activists recently has been the relative ease in accessing news that bypasses traditional gatekeepers of information, such as mainstream newspaper editors and corporate television producers. Social media, independent news outlets, and citizen journalists have effective forums of communication with the world.
So it came as no surprise when North Dakota issued an arrest warrant for Amy Goodman, whose Democracy Now news report showing corporate security unleashing attack dogs on unarmed protesters went viral.
Israel, on the other hand, has taken the unprecedented step of concluding deals with social media giants, such as Facebook, to censor Palestinian voices, in particular video evidence of persistent Israeli war crimes.
Towards a new concept of citizenship
The theft of Palestine and destruction of its native society is the world's last vestige of settler-colonialism. It is the link between that ignominious era and contemporary neoliberal destruction of life, lucrative war-making and wholesale destruction of our planet for the profit of few.
Two boats with 11 women each and a few hundred people encamped on their land to stop a pipeline might appear only symbolic in the face of the overwhelming power of corporate and military states, but they are more.
They give cause to the global discontent of an increasingly informed public. They represent a popular awakening, where citizens are moved to protect each other from predatory power. They are the righteous agitators we all need in these desperate times of state violence and unprecedented global wars, pollution, food and water insecurity.
Their actions blur the boundaries of nation-states, race and class, shifting loyalties towards universal rights. They build global networks of activists. They help to change the prevailing narrative by injecting words like "occupation", "siege" and "dignity" into popular discourse.
The women on the Amal and Zaytouna are mostly from powerful nations, or at least stable ones. They are using their privilege and access to resources in the best possible way: to lend solidarity with the struggle of a besieged people and to help forge a new concept of citizenship.