[R-G] Gaza, the War, and Global Solidarity

[Anthony Fenton]

Socialist Project • E-Bulletin No. 180
January 15, 2009
“We are All Palestinian”:
Gaza, the War, and Global Solidarity
David Wiebe
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/bullet180.html

Across the world, the Israeli bombardment of Gaza has been viewed with  
horror and outrage. The massive loss of human life in the densely- 
populated occupied territory has sparked worldwide condemnation and  
protest. In Europe, North America, the Middle East, Latin America,  
Africa and Asia, millions of people have demonstrated against the  
Israeli version of “shock and awe.” The number and size of these  
protests are a testament of global solidarity with the Palestinian  
cause, and open new fronts against Zionism and U.S. foreign policy in  
the region.

Global Solidarity with Palestine

In the Middle East, for example, hundreds of thousands of people have  
gathered and marched in Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Dubai, Saudi  
Arabia, Libya and Egypt. In many cases, these protests have blamed the  
Arab regimes for colluding with Israel and the United States, and have  
faced severe repression as a result. Protests and riots have also  
occurred across the occupied West Bank and have suffered repression  
from the joint forces of Israel and Fatah. In Israel itself, protests  
by Arabs, communists, anarchists and Jews have also taken place,  
including a few “civil disobedience” actions.

Expressions of solidarity from outside the region have been no less  
remarkable, especially in terms of their size, intensity and political  
composition.

As part of the global day of protest on January 3rd, up to 60,000  
people gathered in London against the war and British complicity.  
After the rally, more than one thousand shoes were tossed at the Prime  
Minister's Office on Downing Street. Solidarity protests were also  
held in smaller cities in England such as Birmingham, Manchester,  
Liverpool and Newcastle. On January 10th, more than 100,000 people  
marched in a loud, militant protest in London.

The size and scope of these demonstrations cannot be overestimated:  
for the first time, they mark the Palestinian struggle as a central,  
galvanizing issue for the anti-war movement in Great Britain, even in  
small towns and cities.

Protests have been similar across Europe. On the weekend of January  
3-4, up to 20,000 people marched in Paris and 10,000 in Berlin and  
Frankfurt. Demonstrations were also held in Stockholm, Helsinki, Rome,  
Lyon, Madrid, Amsterdam and other large cities on the continent. After  
a demonstration in Athens outside the embassies of Israel and the  
United States, an effigy of George Bush was burned along with a number  
of banks. Building on a long tradition of solidarity with Palestine,  
demonstrations were also organized in Belfast and Dublin. On January  
8th in Norway, at least 40,000 people marched in Oslo, as well as in  
five other cities, in a protest called by an alliance of about 80  
organizations. This past weekend, rallies in Paris, Berlin and other  
European cities drew equally large numbers, including 100,000 in  
Madrid. In Greece, a planned demonstration for January 15th has forced  
the government to cancel a contract with the U.S. military, which  
hoped to use the port of Astakos as a transit point for new arms  
shipments to Israel.

These demonstrations in Europe have catapulted the issue of Palestine  
to the fore of anti-war organizing and sparked new demands for a  
boycott and divestment campaign and for Israeli leaders to be tried  
for war crimes. The protests have also forced many European  
governments to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to put new  
trade relations between the E.U. and Israel on hold.

Down Under, protests have also occurred in Sydney and Melbourne,  
Australia, as well as in Auckland, New Zealand, where a monument to  
Israel was recently doused in blood and paint.

Similarly, on January 5th, university students in Delhi, India threw  
200 shoes at the Israeli embassy before being arrested. Over the past  
two weeks in Srinagar, Kashmir, police have repeatedly used tear gas  
and batons against hundreds of protesters chanting, “We're with the  
Palestinians” and “Down with Israel.”

In Afghanistan, demonstrations have been held at mosques in Kabul and  
Herat, where thousands of people chanted “Death to Israel, America and  
Great Britain.”

Outrage was also demonstrated this past week in South Korea,  
Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan and Thailand, where thousands of people  
participated in protests.

In Latin America, the governments of Ecuador and Brazil have accused  
Israel of “crimes against humanity” and “state terrorism,” while the  
President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, and the President of Bolivia, Evo  
Morales, have expelled Israeli ambassadors. At the grassroots level,  
protests have occurred across the region, from Mexico and Nicaragua to  
Colombia, Bolivia, Argentina, Costa Rica and Cuba.
North American Demonstrations

Even in North America, there has been a clear outpouring of anger  
against the bombing and ground invasion. In Canada, hundreds of people  
have gathered in Ottawa, Halifax, Winnipeg and Vancouver for vigils  
and protests. In Toronto, up to 10,000 people attended a protest on  
January 3rd organized by a large coalition of Palestinian solidarity  
and anti-war groups. On January 7th eight Jewish women were arrested  
after occupying the Israeli consulate in downtown Toronto. In  
Montreal, 4,000 people gathered on January 4th for an emergency  
protest against the war. Last Thursday, thirty people occupied the  
Israeli consulate in Montreal, demanding the expulsion of the Consular  
General and an immediate end to the Israel invasion and siege of Gaza.  
In Canada, these protests and the campaign for boycott, divestment and  
sanctions have also been supported by a number of trade unions, such  
as the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the Canadian Union of  
Public Employees who have both issued public statements against the  
Israeli actions in Gaza.

Most surprising, perhaps, are the demonstrations in the United States.  
In more than 100 American cities, both large and small, thousands of  
people have attended protests and vigils since the bombing began on  
December 27th.

For example, two weekends ago, up to 20,000 people gathered for a  
protest in Manhattan, New York. This demonstration was the largest  
ever on the issue of Palestine in the city and brought together many  
groups of the Left and Arab community.

San Francisco in particular has been the scene of raucous protests.  
Over the past two weeks, hundreds of people have engaged in marches  
and civil disobedience, including a street “sit-in” of approximately  
50 Jewish anti-occupation activists. In record numbers, Americans have  
also gathered in Boston, Houston, Washington DC, Seattle, Chicago,  
Cleveland, Minneapolis, Nashville, Denver, Kansas City, New Orleans,  
Portland, Orlando, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Greenville,  
Sioux Falls, Toledo, Dayton, Raleigh, Des Moines and Oklahoma City,  
amongst other places. Most recently on January 14th about 15 Jewish  
activists attempted to shut down the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles  
by blocking its driveway and locking themselves to the entrance.
The Importance of Emerging Palestinian Solidarity Activism

These demonstrations are significant for a number of reasons.

First, they have re-galvanized an important layer of the U.S. anti-war  
movement, which has been relatively dormant since the failed campaign  
to elect Senator John Kerry as a Democratic President in 2004.

Second, they are the first demonstrations in the United States to put  
the question of Palestine at the centre of the anti-war movement. In  
the past, the movement has been seriously divided over whether or not  
to address the issue of Palestine as part of the broader campaign  
against U.S. policies in the Middle East. In this context, the current  
demonstrations represent a potential watershed moment in which  
Palestine becomes a leading issue for the anti-war movement. While  
UFPJ (United For Peace and Justice) has so far refrained from  
organizing a mass demonstration, it did encourage people to attend the  
protest in Washington DC last weekend held by ANSWER (Act Now to Stop  
War & End Racism) and a number of Arab, Muslim and Palestinian  
organizations. Pressure and protest from below will have to be  
maintained in order to keep the large anti-war organizations focused  
on Palestine over the long-term.

Third, these protests reflect an important shift in popular  
consciousness against Israeli policies. According to a new Rasmussen  
poll, the American public is highly divided on the current war, with  
44 percent expressing support and 41 percent dissent. Amongst  
Democratic voters, however, 55 percent oppose the Israeli operation  
against 31 percent in support. These numbers are highly significant  
given the full support offered to Israel by the Democratic Party  
leadership, Congress, and mainstream media. Indeed, the poll suggests  
that increasing numbers of Americans are starting to question and  
oppose the consensus on Israel within elite circles.

Fourth, the protests create hope that the anti-war movement will  
operate independently of the incoming administration of Barack Obama.  
While Obama has an old history of working with the Palestinian and  
Arab communities in Chicago, and has promised a new approach to  
American foreign policy in the Middle East, his more recent positions  
on Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Palestine demand protest and strict  
opposition from the anti-war movement. For example, his decision to  
remain quiet during the current conflict in Gaza stands in stark  
contrast to his condemnation of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and  
suggests a tacit nod of support for Israeli measures. In this context,  
it is positive that anti-war and Palestinian solidarity activists have  
already demonstrated outside of Obama's vacation hotel in Hawaii and  
his transition headquarters in Washington, DC. These demonstrations  
are hopeful signs that the anti-war movement will not be incorporated  
and marginalized by the Obama-machine, which is stacked with veterans  
from the Clinton and Bush II administrations.

Fifth, the protests are a vindication of the small-scale, community  
organizing around Palestine over the last few years. Every major city  
in the U.S. (and in Canada and much of Europe) now has a wide-ranging  
network of Palestinian solidarity activities, from film festivals and  
poetry groups to active campaigns around the Right of Return, the  
siege of Gaza, and the movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.  
Protests are organized on a regular basis outside of Israeli  
consulates, and boycott campaigns are being directed against a host of  
companies with ties to Israel.

Palestinian and Arab activists in the diaspora are leading these  
struggles across North America, and are generally unified around (1)  
the critique of Israel as an apartheid state; (2) building a movement  
for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel; and (3) the  
demand for a one-state, bi-national solution to the conflict, with the  
Right of Return for Palestinian refugees.

As the protests reveal, this organizing around Palestine has developed  
a real momentum and significance. In fact, there is a real possibility  
that Palestine may emerge as a central issue for the anti-war movement  
and the radical left in the U.S. in the near future. While the media  
and political elite continue to offer full support to Israel as the  
main ally of U.S. imperialism in the Middle East, there are  
unequivocal signs of grassroots opposition on a national scale to this  
alliance and to the ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people.

In both the United States and around the world, then, we are  
witnessing the emergence of a global movement of solidarity with the  
Palestinian cause. From New York to London, from Caracas to Beirut,  
this movement encompasses people of all nationalities and faiths, and  
asserts that “We Are All Palestinian” and support the right of  
resistance to occupation, colonization and state terror.

As such, these protests build the potential foundation to isolate and  
sanction Israel through a boycott and divestment campaign, as demanded  
by Palestinian civil society institutions around the world. Just as  
the 1976 massacre in Soweto, South Africa led to the imposition of  
sanctions on the apartheid regime, so too might the war on Gaza spark  
the same kind of international movement against the Zionist state.

The global character of recent protests gives hope for such an  
outcome. •

David Wiebe is a writer, researcher and socialist activist from Canada  
now living in the USA.
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