Jacksonville hosts teach-in on impact of the U.S.-Zionist project
Jacksonville, FL – On Wednesday, September 23, the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network (JPSN) held their second class in a series of free educational sessions, inspired by the popular education that arose in the First Intifada in opposition to Israel outlawing all Palestinian educational institutions. The second class was held as an introduction to Palestine titled “Life Under Occupation: Finding Hope Through Resistance.”
Over 40 community members attended the teach-in to learn how U.S.-backed Zionism established structural obstacles to Palestinian self-determination as early as the 1910s. Prominent political figures like U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour green-lit the start of the U.S.-Zionist project, against the wishes of Palestinians.
As one instructor with JPSN said, “The legal and military components of this reality were constructed layer by layer over more than a century and tonight we’re tracing that construction.”
Instructors also covered how early components of Zionism still shape modern life under occupation, ranging from present-day resource theft, militarized checkpoints, illegal settlements, and political prisoners, completely bankrolled by the U.S. government under the guise of “aid” to Israel.
Attendees were provided literature and instructed in breakout sessions to analyze the impact of different Zionist policies on Palestinian sovereignty. Each group had the opportunity to present their responses, honoring the revolutionary tradition of popular education transforming students into teachers.
Closing out the class, instructors switched gears to focus on how Palestinians organized for their liberation, citing wins in the national movement resisting Zionist barbarism on multiple fronts, like the legacy of Land Day inspiring generations to come with notable uprisings like the 21-month long Great March of Return, or the prisoners’ struggle, with the unified Palestinian resistance freeing thousands of political prisoners.
Instructors with JPSN concluded the second class with a reading of the poem Here We Will Remain by Tawfiq Zayyad, a lead organizer of the original 1976 Land Day general strike:
In Lidda, in Ramla, in the Galilee, We shall remain, Like a wall upon your chest, And in your throat
Like a shard of glass, A cactus thorn, And in your eyes A sandstorm.
We shall remain, A wall upon your chest, Clean dishes in your restaurants, Serve drinks in your bars, Sweep the floors of your kitchens To snatch a bite for our children From your blue fangs.
Here we shall remain, Sing our songs. Take to the angry streets, Fill prisons with dignity.
In Lidda, in Ramla, in the Galilee, We shall remain, Guard the shade of the fig And olive trees, Ferment rebellion in our children As yeast in the dough.