Standing With Palestine: International Roundup

Palestine solidarity demonstration in Beijing, 1969. Banner reads “Resolutely support the struggle of the Palestinian and Arab peoples against Zionism and US imperialism!” Source: Qiao Collective, "The Gates of the Great Continent: Palestine, China, and the War for Humanity’s Future"

I've been reading a really interesting series of essays about the parallels that Chinese people see between occupied Palestine and their own experiences of brutal Japanese occupation and colonization in the mid 20th century.

The first essay I stumbled across was "Shattering the Iron Wall" described as:

an original translation of a video essay by Chinese political analyst Jianghuqizi (江湖弃子), exploring in detail the dialectic of colonial counterinsurgency, collaboration, and anti-colonial resistance through martyred Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s semi-autobiographical novel The Thorn and the Carnation and its many parallels with China’s War of Resistance against Japan.

These essays led me to thinking how many instances of international solidarity with Palestinian resistance I've seen on social media in the last few days.

Japan (Tokyo, I think)

https://x.com/AkimotoThn/status/1858465519906717981

Seoul, South Korea

https://x.com/s_m_marandi/status/1859174199534764162

Shannon, Ireland

https://x.com/PressTV/status/1858493345611284588

Copenhagen, Denmark (yellow sign says Ceasefire Now in Danish)

https://x.com/PalHighlight/status/1858585351344079344

Mexico City, Mexico

https://x.com/PalBint/status/1722394649149440124

Washington DC, USA (banners the cops are grabbing say FUND JOBS - NOT GENOCIDE)

https://x.com/prem_thakker/status/1858912889463087210

Maine, USA

On November 19 Belfast, Maine, unanimously passed a divestment resolution that specifically named Israel. Good on the organizers who pursued a quiet strategy of advocacy that worked. Jamila Levasseur who attended the council meeting reports:

What was clear to me was that even without immersing themselves in the alternative media we activists read and watch [emphasis mine], Israel's crimes have had a profound effect on Belfast's dedicated public servants. I think there are many more people out there who are horrified by the genocide in Gaza but don't feel empowered to do anything. We offered our city councilors the opportunity to do something concrete, and they unanimously agreed.  

Not only that, they were immensely grateful to be given this opportunity.

As reported by the Bangor Daily News:

The issue is familiar to [Mayor] Sanders, as his son was not allowed to receive his degree from Harvard University last spring because of his participation in campus demonstrations for Palestine.

I've been wondering how all those parents who had invested $200k or so in their kid's undergrad degrees were going to retaliate against the universities that did this last year. I was thinking lawsuits but this is also good!

Now, a question: How many of the items I've shared above did you see reported anywhere? Alternative media, and social media that shares truthful reporting from Palestine, are under attack and censored constantly. Keep sharing to bring real news to the people!

Use It Or Lose It: Protests To Continue Full Steam Ahead

Ending circle in Farmington, Maine created space for activists to connect and hear from one other.

A busy week presenting a webinar on direct actions at war industry facilities Thursday night and then yesterday organizing a stand out in Farmington with around 30 people bringing a pro-Palestine message to the downtown area near a University of Maine campus.

My buddies Ken Jones and Melody Shank organize Resist Raytheon actions in North Carolina and elsewhere, and helped found the War Resisters Network that offers monthly webinars on related topics. You'll see Ken introducing me and then moderating the Q&A.

Ken and Melody used to live in Maine when they taught at the University of Southern Maine. I often joke that Maine is one big small town because our sparse population means most of us engaged in resisting imperialism and the war machine know each other. We get excited when new people show up and that's been happening a lot this past year.

I thought that was happening yesterday when I stood next to a UMF worker who seemed familiar. Turns out she had come to stand with us in Farmington last year and signed up to get email announcements, but never received any. My bad, I'm sure I misread or mistyped her email address from that sign-up sheet. After we'd stood downtown for a couple of hours we circled up in the town gazebo to share why we were there. Once she heard my last name she realized that I was an old friend of her extended family, and I realized that we'd been at Occupy Augusta together many years ago. 

You meet the nicest people standing up to the war machine. 

A less than nice person who passed us on the street yesterday started shouting that all problems would be cleared up in no time if we would just vote Republican like he did (many of us are finding 47's victory has emboldened his supporters to challenge our protests on various pretexts). Eventually my friend Bruce Gagnon said, "We're not Democrats" and the man returned a few minutes later for dialogue with some more of us. There was some concern about the safety of a woman in that conversation (which was too far away for us to hear) but I noted it was my friend Mary Beth Sullivan who just retired from a long career in social work. If it can be de-escalated, MB will de-escalate it! She reported that they found common ground in the belief that the U.S. should not be funding "all these wars."

An organizer local to Farmington has been holding standouts for Palestine weekly on Saturdays at noon in front of the post office. Several attendees yesterday want to join in and contact info was shared; later over lunch people with connections to the university strategized about what each of them could do to build the movement in their town. Students and members of the public can, for instance, engage in organizing that instructors are restricted from doing by the terms of their contract.

Everyone is concerned about legislation passed in the House last week that would enable the Treasury to designate non-profits as supporting "terrorism" and rescind their tax-free status. My own odious representative, Democrat Jared Golden, voted for it -- his advocacy for Republican causes contributed to his very narrow re-election win this week after ranked choice voting tabulations concluded.

Liberals will use this law as an excuse to curtail their own advocacy for Palestine. I'm happy to know lots of well-informed people who will continue full steam ahead taking action to say no to genocide and no to trashing 1st amendment protections for political speech. We'll continue our monthly coalition stand outs at big intersections in Maine (next up: Freeport Sat Dec 21) in addition to weekly protests in many locations, and a steady stream of direct actions. 

Use it, or lose it.