WAM Stands in Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
The Workers’ Action Movement joins with millions around the world in solidarity with the Palestinian people, in support of their General Strike on May 18, and against the campaign of terror and murder unleashed by the Zionist state that has taken hundreds of innocent lives. At the same time, WAM strongly denounces antisemitism and rejects the odious claim that anti-Zionism equals antisemitism.
Remember where this started -- long before the attack on Sheikh Jarrah, the violation of the Al Aqsa Mosque, and the latest bombing of Gaza. Israel was founded on a big lie: that Palestine was a land without people, for a people without land. The Palestinian people today refute that lie.
When the Ottoman Empire collapsed in the early 20th century, the Western powers carved up the Middle East, just as they did Africa and Asia earlier.
In the face of rebellion by the Arab masses, the imperial masters sponsored a military fortress in the region. They exploited the survivors of the Nazi Holocaust for their greedy goals. But the fact remains: Israel is a colonial settler state. It is an outpost of imperialism in the Arab East. Shamefully, the USSR under Joseph Stalin voted at the U.N. for the partition that produced the Nakba.
The current wave of repression, an extension of the Nakba in 1948, the expanded Occupation in 1967 and 1973, and the annexation of the Golan Heights, deepens an ugly legacy of racism and ethnic cleansing.
The world today is sharply polarized. On one hand there is a global pandemic, economic ruin, environmental catastrophe, and growing authoritarian rule. On the other hand, millions are crying out: Smash Racism! Black and Indigenous Lives Matter! Abolish the Police!
And we’ve won some victories recently. The international organization Human Rights Watch declared that Israel is an apartheid state. B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights, also proclaims that Israel is an apartheid state. The Canadian Supreme Court ruled that wine produced in the Occupied Territories and marketed by Israel must be labelled as such. Last year, the Justin Trudeau Liberal government promised Bibi Netanyahu that Canada on the Security Council would be “an asset for Israel”. Ottawa’s defeat at the U.N. was a victory for the Palestinian people and the world working class.
The federal NDP convention, in April 2021, adopted a policy that calls for an end to trade in “all arms and related materials with the state of Israel”, and for a halt to “all trade and economic cooperation with illegal settlements in Israel-Palestine.” For decades the NDP leadership tried to preclude debate on such a resolution. The NDP Socialist Caucus, and allies, persevered and won. But it is not enough for leaders of the Canadian Labour Congress and the NDP to seek a stop to trade in weapons and illegal settlement products.
Public opinion in Canada backs sanctions against the Zionist state -- while the authorities try to vilify, even to outlaw BDS. They seek to ban the annual Al Quds march and to silence anti-Zionist free speech. Zionists and their friends in big business are in a panic. It is a sign of their weakness.
The Palestinian people are in the forefront of resistance to world imperialism. They are heroes of the world working class. Many states are guilty of atrocious crimes. But Israel is a lynch pin of global imperialist rule. Richard Nixon, a strident antisemite, called Israel “America’s biggest aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean.” Freedom for Palestine means freedom for humanity.
Proudly, WAM stands with the people of Palestine. There is no ‘two-state solution’, no Bantustan solution. Our task is to mobilize public opinion in mass actions based on clear demands. For that reason, the Workers’ Action Movement and the Labour Forward candidates for CLC Executive urge:
Boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Zionist apartheid state and economy.
End the occupation.
Tear down the apartheid wall.
For the right of all refugees to return home.
Stop the ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem.
No to annexation of the West Bank.
Break the siege of Gaza.
Vaccinate all Palestinians against COVID-19.
For a democratic and secular Palestine for all its residents: Muslims, Jews, Christians, and atheists.
From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!
For more information call: 647-986-1917.
E-mail: workersactionmovement@gmail.com