Denver, CO – On Monday, January 29, the Auraria campus was disgraced by the presence of Yoseph Haddad. Haddad is a wounded member of the Israeli occupation forces who now serves as a “defender of Israel” on social media and in publicity stunts to provide cover for the Zionist occupation and its genocide.

Haddad came to speak on campus and present a showing of an occupation forces’ “documentary” about the events of Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7.

The event was held in the Tivoli Student Union building in the Tivoli Turnhalle, a venue that costs outside vendors $1950 to rent. At $40 a ticket, this event certainly didn’t cover all the barricades and dozens of police present to protect Haddad. Instead, this cost was paid by the students who attend Auraria campus and get little to no say in how the campus is used.

There are Palestinian students on Auraria campus who have lost more than 120 members of their family to the genocide that Haddad speaks in favor of. The welcome mat that Auraria Campus rolled out for him constitutes a deeply discriminatory and dangerous decision on the part of campus administration.

Haddad is charged with going on public relations damage control for the occupation, as universities and colleges across the country are increasingly organizing marches, protests, sit-ins, call-ins, and a variety of other actions in solidarity with the cause of Palestinian liberation. His lies are intended to freeze and silence the Pro-Palestinian movement with accusations of antisemitism, and by mischaracterizing the genocide of Palestinians as some righteous battle for the defense of Israel.

An SDS member who had been planted on the inside noted that Haddad’s speech was made up of thoroughly debunked Zionist talking points in what has become a fool’s toolkit of fakes and falsehoods. The more than 60 students and community members demonstrating outside the event weren’t buying any of it.

The action was a long one. Starting at 4 p.m. and ending at 7:30, the Denver chapter of Students for a Democratic Society joined forces with the Colorado Palestine Coalition and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization to show opposition to genocide-washing events.

A banner that read “End the aid, end the trade: No more funds for genocide!” was prominently displayed on the sidewalk outside the Turnhalle. Members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization held up a banner painting of a Palestinian resistance fighter holding a book and a gun and the slogan “Victory to the Palestinian resistance!”

Speeches by local organizers were interrupted by Haddad himself, who slinked up to the metal barricades that had been set up to keep the students out of the Tivoli Student Union building. Haddad tried first shouting over the speakers but was thoroughly drowned out by a rising chant of “Get this fascist, off our campus!” before he retreated inside to continue his misinformation spree.

Those protesting continued, with renewed vigor, taking to a picket-style march just outside the film screening, audible to all those inside. Towards the end of the event the march proceeded around the Student Union.

The Denver SDS and a growing coalition of student organizations on Auraria are waging a Palestine solidarity campaign to get the University of Colorado to divest from the corporations arming and enabling the U.S./Israeli genocide. It is this mounting pressure and rising level of consciousness amongst the youth on issues like Palestine that threaten U.S. aid to Israel and motivate Haddad to speak at schools here in the U.S. – thousands of miles from the genocidal project he so obediently serves.

#DenverCO #AntiWarMovement #International #Palestine #StudentMovement #SDS #FRSO

The following text was presented by Michela Martinazzi, a member of the Central Committee of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization at the International Assembly Against Imperialism in Solidarity with Palestine organized by Workers World Party.

Comrades and friends,

On behalf of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, let’s start by thanking the organizers of this important event – Workers World Party – for bringing us together at a truly critical juncture in world history. By sharing views and analyses of the world as it actually is, we can learn from each other, and, from those insights, make plans to challenge the existing order of things.

We are certain this International Assembly against Imperialism in Solidarity with Palestine will be a great success. The old world is exploding, something new is coming into being.

The great revolution that is underway in Palestine is nothing short of amazing. In the face of genocide, the Palestinian people are waging a fight that has the potential to end the Zionist project and limit the influence of U.S. imperialism in the Middle East. Israel has always existed on stolen land and borrowed time. The clock is ticking.

Holding this Assembly on the 100th anniversary of the passing of the outstanding revolutionary V.I. Lenin was a good choice. This U.S. working class has a proud history that we sometimes lose sight of. For many years following Lenin’s death, revolutionaries held huge memorial meetings right here in New York City to mourn his passing and recommit to the revolutionary cause. For example, on January 21, 1937, more than 20,000 communists assembled in Madison Square Garden for that very purpose.

Lenin and imperialism

Lenin above all else was a revolutionary, who applied Marxism to the world around him and saw that competitive capitalism was giving way to monopoly capitalism. And this monopoly capitalism is what is referred to as imperialism. The two things are synonymous.

For today’s purposes, there isn’t time to recap Lenin’s great work, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. If there is anyone in hearing range who has not read it, get yourself a copy and do so. You won’t regret it. If you have done so, there is no harm in going over it again – odds are you will get something out of it.

Lenin drew a number of extremely important conclusions from the reality that capitalism had entered its imperialist stage, and I am going to focus on a few of them.

First, noting the world had been divided up amongst a handful of great powers, Lenin pointed out that wars to redivide the world were inevitable. He stressed that the only way to end imperialist wars was by ending imperialism and replacing it with socialism.

Lenin also appreciated the vital role that the majority of humanity in the colonies and semi-colonies would exercise, and that the contradiction between imperialism and oppressed peoples of the world would occupy a vital place in the era of monopoly capitalism.

In his important 1913 article Backward Europe and Advanced Asia, Lenin contrasts the broad progressive national democratic movement in China with the monopoly capitalist rulers of Europe. Of China, he said “Hundreds of millions of people are awakening to life, light and freedom”, and of Europe’s rulers Lenin stated, “Advanced Europe is commanded by a bourgeoisie which supports everything that is backward.”

Lenin knew what all socialists and communists needed to realize as well, and, quite honestly, it is pretty likely everyone here today gets this – any movement of the oppressed that weakens imperialism is a good thing. It deserves our support and solidarity. It is like the question posed in the old labor song, “Which Side Are You On?”

Every setback for Wall Street is an advance for Main Street. Working and oppressed people in the U.S. have a common cause with all who are oppressed by imperialism. Every ship turned around by Yemen helps those of us who are fighting to end exploitation here in the U.S. – we have the same enemy. Do we want strong enemies? No, we want weak and defeated ones. By the same token, every blow that we are able to inflict on the class enemy aids those suffering under imperialism’s yoke.

Palestine and the decline of U.S. imperialism

The decline of U.S. imperialism is accelerating. The people of Palestine are showing the way. All of us need to learn from their will to sacrifice and determination to win.

Lenin stressed that imperialism was capitalism that is moribund; it is dying. And we can see the symptoms all around them, including their political representatives. I invite you to join us at the Republican National Convention, July 15 in Milwaukee, and at the Democratic National Convention, August 19, in Chicago to confront them.

Marx talked about the vampire-like nature of capitalism. Let’s build unity. The many against the few. The people of the world can and will unite. Together we will put a stake in the heart of imperialism.

#FRSO #RevolutionaryTheory #International #Palestine #Imperialism #Lenin #MarxismLeninism

Seattle, WA – On December 7, students at the University of Washington led an occupation of their administration building, Gerberding Hall.

Beginning in the Quad, students gathered for a march, with student groups joining together under the United Front for Palestinian Liberation at the University of Washington.

After arriving at the administration building, the sit-in was announced. Over 100 protesters entered the building. They announced their demands: to cut ties with Boeing; to end the repression of pro-Palestinian students, faculty and workers; and to materially divest from Israel.

Alon Lapid, a member of Students United For Palestinian Equality and Return, said, “For the last eight weeks we have been organizing on campus for an end to the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. Even here we are facing immense repression just for holding actions, just for speaking on social media, just for advocating for the just right of return.” Militant actions have been held on campus including vigils, marches and rallies, though the only response from administration was to send an email to the student body denouncing disruptive actions.

As the students entered the building, they rushed into the third-floor lobby in front of the administration's offices and pushed into the offices of the vice provosts. During this time UW President Ana Marie Cauce’s chief of staff, Margaret Shepherd, scrambled to address the protesters. After an extended period of time, she told students that they would only get a meeting with the university president if they vacated the premises immediately. Further, she threatened to give them citations for trespassing if they remained in the building past 5:15 p.m.

During the occupation, the police immediately escalated. They stationed officers by every single entrance and tried to prevent anyone from entering the building. Shortly after the arrival of the police, Doug Schulz, a police lieutenant employed by the UWPD, shoved to the ground a person who was getting food from the outside.

Later during the occupation, the police chief and chief of staff entered the offices and tried to remove a Black student from an office chair. Craig Wilson, the police chief of the UWPD, whispered threats in their ear including, “You don’t want to be the Black student that’s arrested.” However, after five minutes of the crowd chanting “Shame on you!” and moving closer, and having people edge their way between the police chief and the student, the police chief and his lackeys left the room to the cheers of the students.

On the outside, about 60 people remained throughout the day despite the rain, with speeches about combatting state repression, praising the resistance of the Palestinian people, and a virtual speech by Husam Marajda, the co-founder of the US Palestinian Communities Network.

During this rally, Oviya Krishnan, a member of South Asians Resisting Imperialism said, “We refuse business as usual, we refuse to be ‘burnt out’, and we refuse this institution’s complacency in genocide!” She said this while speaking out of a window to the crowd outside, refusing to give up her place in the historic sit-in.

The crowd gathered food and other supplies for the sit-in. Several times throughout the afternoon, food was lifted in through a window.

As the deadline of 5 p.m. approached, the growing crowd became more militant, and prepared to respond if arrests were made.

The community beyond the University of Washington came to support the sit-in, including high school students, community activists, and rank-and-file union organizers. Yerusalem Kamara of Nathan Hale High School SDS spoke on the importance of student organizing, saying “I was knee-deep in collaborating with my school’s MSA to organize a walkout advocating for Palestine. It was an eye-opener to the potency of student-led movements. This wasn’t just some casual event: we spent days planning for it.”

By 5 p.m., the administration began to warn the protesters that they were about to call in the University of Washington Police Department. By the time UWPD officially announced their intent to begin detaining protesters, there were 36 people remaining. However, despite warnings of dispersal at 5:15 p.m., police arrived about an hour later. The police’s threats were drowned out among chants of “SPD, KKK, IDF, you’re all the same!”

As UWPD dragged students out of the building, several protesters faced obvious abuse as they were thrown headfirst into the ground, while others saw bruises and injuries on their shins and hands after their encounters.

Mantak Singh of the Progressive Student Union, a chapter of New Students For A Democratic Society, said, “I was dragged out of there, and pushed face first onto the ground, because you know what, they don’t have the capacity to deal with us, they don’t have the manpower to drag 30 students into jail, and they don’t have the willpower to fight a people’s movement.”

During the process of dragging students out, police isolated and tried to intimidate each student individually. Police illegally searched students by emptying their pockets and going through their wallets, phones, and other belongings. They told a female student, “you’re quite the celebrity”, angry at the crowd supporting her, as they moved her away from the crowd to an empty hallway with only another male cop for an hour.

While police attempted to throw students out of the building, students blocked every entrance, prolonging the occupation, essentially, leading rallies at every entrance. Police then threatened the crowd with kidnapping charges, claiming they were forcing the protesters inside the building to remain there, despite the protesters trying to stay and police dragging them out. Police gathered at the edges of the rallies, with 20 riot cops on the other side of Red Square from the front entrance.

Each protester being processed and removed took anywhere between ten to 30 minutes in between, due to the coordinated response from the rally outside to barricade the doors. At 9 p.m., the police began to drag protesters out faster and faster, but the energy and motivation among the protesters still occupying remained high and chants continued, with “Every time the media lies, another child in Gaza dies!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!”

As protesters left the building after being forcefully removed, they received applause and cheers, along with food and water. One of the protesters, Robert Engel, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, spoke about UWPD’s abuse, saying “The people’s movements in Seattle are strong and the police know it! They're afraid of us and we won't stop and that's why we can't lose!”

The December 7 occupation echoed the historic 1968 Black Student Union sit-in at the same building that secured increased enrollment, the Office of Minority Affairs, and ethnic studies at the University of Washington.

With the administration trying to ignore the demands and respond with police repression, actions at the University of Washington will continue in the future, as part of a growing national student movement for the liberation of Palestine.

#SeattleWA #International #Palestine #AntiWar #StudentMovement #SDS #FRSO #USPCN