Green Bay, WI: Activists rally for Palestine as hundreds of thousands march in DC
Green Bay, WI – On Saturday, November 4, the newly formed Green Bay Anti-war Committee (GBAC) held their first official event, a rally at Leicht Memorial Park on the edge of downtown Green Bay. The event took place on the “National Day of Action for Palestine,” proclaimed after Israel’s genocidal actions, funded by the United States and Western Europe.
Following a daring attack of Palestinian resistance fighters on October 7, Israel has since carried out many utterly barbaric war crimes, such as bombing evacuating civilians along routes given to them by the Israeli government, targeting refugee camps with air-strikes, leveling of hospitals by the Israeli Air Force, and the deployment of white phosphorus.
The ethnic cleansing campaign by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has thus far amounted to the killing of at least 9400 Palestinians – nearly 4000 were children. Despite all this, Green Bay’s mayor, Eric Genrich, chose to light up Ray Nitschke Memorial Bridge blue and white in solidarity with the Israel regime.
The event drew a lively, vocal crowd of nearly 20 locals. The tone of the rally was set well with chants of “Free, free Palestine!” and “Biden, Biden you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!” After that, organizers with the Green Bay Anti-war Committee, Hate Free Outagamie, a Teamsters union steward, and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization delivered speeches.
Aodhan Bowman, founding member of the Green Bay Anti-war Committee, began remarks by tying the plight of Palestinians with the ongoing genocide of Native Americans in our own country and with a sharp denouncement of Mayor Genrich’s actions. Rally-goers were then keenly reminded that the current events we’re witnessing cannot be viewed in a vacuum and go back to the Nakba of 1948 when the Israeli apartheid state was officially launched by Western powers. It was also pointed out the U.S. has given billions of dollars to Israel and is now preparing to send $14 billion more.
“Being pro-Palestine, pro-queer liberation, and against antisemitism are not separate ideals; they are interconnected and reinforcing positions. All systems of oppression mutually uphold one another and it’s important to recognize that we cannot combat these injustices in isolation,” said Mary Blackburn of Hate Free Outagamie. “True queer liberation cannot be won by turning a blind eye to genocide, or by seeking a seat at the table with white supremacy and imperialism. Liberation can only be won through solidarity with all oppressed peoples of the world. None of us are free until all of us are free!”
“What we are witnessing is war, revolutionary war, a war of a whole people against a genocidal colonizing oppressor that kills indiscriminately and disproportionately,” said Ryan Hamann from FRSO. “Resistance to such a force, in any form, is entirely and completely justified.”
After the speeches, the group marched through the park and up onto Ray Nitschke Memorial Bridge. The chanting, signs, and fluttering Palestinian flags were met with many supportive horns of passing by traffic. Upon getting into position, a large banner reading “Long live the popular Palestinian resistance from Green Bay to Palestine” was draped over the railing demonstrating that the people, even of small cities and towns across Wisconsin, stand in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation and against the U.S. war machine.