News and Views from the People's Struggle
Portland, OR – On Friday, September 2, Portlanders rallied calling for the arrest of the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. The protest took place at the intersection in front of Powell’s Bookstore on 1005 W Burnside Street, one of the busiest intersections in the city. This demonstration was organized by Portland for Palestine (P4P) responding to a call to action by the Anti War Action Network (AWAN).
Grand Rapids, MI – On September 20, pro-Palestine protesters confronted Hillary Scholten outside of the Kent County Democratic Party headquarters during a pro-union fundraising event.
Chicago, IL- On Monday, September 22, over 60 Illinois activists and the Illinois Divest From Genocide Network, which is made up of over 50 organizations, protested at the rescheduled Illinois State Board of Investment (ISBI) meeting to oppose the board and Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerich’s continued investment in the genocide of the Palestinian people.
Detroit, MI – On the evening of September 26, the Detroit Anti-War Committee and other organizations gathered at Grand Circus Park to protest Netanyahu’s address at the United Nations and to show Detroit stands with Palestine.
Milwaukee, WI – The Milwaukee Anti-war Committee (MAC) organized a banner drop on September 26 as part of the Anti-War Action Network (AWAN) National Week of Action. This call was an opportunity to mobilize anti-war and anti-imperialist organizations around the country in defiance of Netanyahu being welcomed onto the world stage at the United Nations General Assembly.
Tacoma, WA – On September 22, community members gathered around the Federal Courthouse in solidarity with the 50-vessel lotilla heading to Gaza to deliver aid. The rally, a coalition effort of Democratic Socialists of America, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization stood together to call for an end to the Israeli genocide of Palestinians.
Tucson, AZ – The Tucson Anti War Committee (TAWC) organized a rally on September 24 as part of the Anti-War Action Network National Week of Action. The call was to mobilize while war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu attended the United Nations General Assembly.
New Orleans, LA – On September 21, around 70 people rallied and marched in response to recent attacks on the Gaza strip and also in support of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil. Demands included “Hands off Gaza City!” “Hands off Mahmoud Khalil!” and “Arrest Netanyahu!”
Madison, WI – As part of a Global Weekend of Action called by the BDS Movement, a contingent of about 40 peace activists led by World Beyond War-UW, including the newly formed Students for a Democratic Society-UW Madison chapter, community members and religious organizations, followed by Madison Area DSA, made the cause of Palestine impossible to ignore at the city's 48th annual Willy Street Fair, September 21.
As is tradition for the second day of the festival, a parade kicked off from the 900 block of Williamson Street, set to march about six blocks through the historic Williamson-Marquette neighborhood. Front and center, behind the sponsors, the beloved “Bubblemobile” coughed large clumps of bubbles into the air and immediately the chanting began.
In a typically light-hearted and proudly “weird” environment like the Willy Street Fair, chants of “From the river to the sea,” and “Stand up, fight back” echoed between the homes and small businesses. Ensuring that no fair-goer forget that while their funnel cakes fry, children are dying in Palestine. Not only from starvation, but from weapons provided by the U.S. government.
Later in the day, as part of the same BDS Movement call to action, World Beyond War-UW led a significantly longer walk, with 20 or so people carrying signs and banners around the entirety of Lake Monona, a 12-mile journey, to continue bringing attention to American complicity in Israel's crimes.
#MadisonWI #WI #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #BDS #StudentMovement #SDS
Chicago IL – On Friday afternoon, September 19, over 50 people gathered outside the Illinois State Board of Investment (ISBI) office in downtown Chicago to hold a press conference to declare a small victory. The ISBI quarterly meeting was abruptly cancelled just two days before, proving that Illinois State Treasurer (and ISBI Vice Chair) Michael Frerichs and the rest of the board are feeling the organized pressure from the Illinois Divest from Genocide Network.
On Saturday, September 13, over 100 protesters with the Coalition for Justice in Palestine shut down one of Chicago’s busiest streets to demand an end to the genocide and famine in Gaza and for an arms embargo on Israel.
San José, CA – On Wednesday, September 17, San Jose State University students gathered outside an ongoing career fair for STEM undergraduate students, for a noon protest against SJSU’s ties with Lockheed Martin.
Tampa, FL- On Tuesday, September 16, around 30 students and community members gathered to protest the recently built XTEND factory in Mango, Florida.
Charleston, SC – On September 15, an organizer with the Elbit Out Of South Carolina Coalition, Matt Colburn, appeared in court on a charge of “damaging or tampering with a vehicle.” The charge stemmed from an alleged incident on Thursday, August 7, during which time the Coalition was engaged in their weekly picket outside of the local Elbit Systems Facility in Ladson, South Carolina.
San Jose, CA – On September 10, San Jose Students for a Democratic Society alongside various other SJSU students held a silent protest outside a career fair where Lockheed Martin, notorious weapons manufacturer and supporter of the Gaza genocide, had a table.
Milwaukee, WI – At noon on Saturday, September 6, a flotilla of boats and kayaks set sail on the Milwaukee River to express solidarity with and demand safe passage for the Global Sumud Flotilla.
The Global Sumud Flotilla is an international effort to deliver aid to Gaza and break the Israeli blockade. It is made up of more than 50 vessels with over 15,000 participating activists from 44 countries. The Milwaukee flotilla consisted of four larger pontoon boats and a handful of smaller boats and kayaks, all decked out in Palestine flags, keffiyehs and signs.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Anti-War Action Network (AWAN).
The Anti-War Action Network (AWAN) calls on all cities nationally to mark another year of genocide and resistance!
AWAN calls on all anti-war, anti-imperialist organizations around the country for a week of action from September 22-26th. During this year's UN General Assembly High-level Week, Palestine will take center stage due to the genocide and starvation in Gaza. A free Palestine will be the main focus both inside the UN, outside on the streets, and at protests across the country! That week Netanyahu will come to the U.S. to try to justify his efforts to steal Gaza and the ongoing genocide. There will be protests in NYC, but we need protests across the country to demand that we hold war criminals accountable! Arrest Netanyahu! End aid to Israel! End the siege of Gaza!
Resistance is justified when people are occupied!
End all U.S. aid to Israel!
End the siege of Gaza!
San Jose – On Thursday, August 2, dozens of people attended the Santa Clara County Housing, Land-Use, Environment, and Transportation (HLUET) subcommittee meeting and the San Jose City Council Public Safety, Finance, and Strategic Support (PSFSS) subcommittee meetings to demand that they divest from companies complicit in genocide.
At the HLUET subcommittee meeting people spoke to the County Supervisors Margaret Abe-Koga and Sylvia Arenas, calling on them to divest from fossil-fuel companies and to introduce and pass an ethical investment policy.
Tim Samson, member of San Jose Against War, spoke to the supervisors saying, “Chevron is one of the largest producers of fossil fuels for Israel with a significant stake in Israel’s energy sector. As a resident of this county, I see the human rights abuses of Palestinians as a local issue. The county has a moral obligation to divest from companies such as Chevron.”
A dozen more in-person and a handful of virtual attendees spoke of the people’s demand to divest from Chevron and their desire to see an ethical investment policy introduced and passed by the county.
At the San Jose PSFSS subcommittee, around two dozen people showed up to give public comment that is only available in-person. San Jose City has upwards of $50 million invested in companies complicit in Israel’s genocide in Palestine including Alphabet, Microsoft and Caterpillar.
This mobilization was a follow up from a previous city council meeting where Councilmember Peter Ortiz directed Finance Director Maria Oberg to provide report to present at the PSFSS meeting.
Drusie Kasanova, a member of San Jose Against War, spoke to the subcommittee saying, “I’m disappointed to hear the investigation on the city’s investment portfolio were not presented. But we are still here to mobilize and raise that concern and express our support for divestment in-line with the city’s ethical investment policy and to support divestment from Alphabet, Microsoft and Caterpillar.”
San Jose community member and Palestinian American Dina Saba stated, “The 2% of the city’s funds in these companies are investments supporting genocide, the mass slaughter of over 20,000 children, and intentional starvation by Israel and that is 1000% unacceptable.”
Saba continued, “I don’t want my beloved city’s investments supporting the mass slaughter of my family and my people.”
Two dozen more people spoke on supporting the moral obligation of divestment from companies complicit in enabling genocide in Palestine.
There are plans to continue the divestment campaign through applying pressure to the finance director and councilmembers to support divestment.
Chicago, IL – The Chicago Coalition for Justice In Palestine held another protest against the genocide in Gaza on Saturday, August 30, as Israel’s campaign of destruction and famine nears its 23rd month. The coalition mobilized about 100 Chicagoans to the riverwalk near Trump Tower even as many Chicago-area activists and organizers were attending the People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit, Michigan the same day.
The protest demanded an immediate end to the genocide, sanctions imposed on and divestment from the state of Israel, an arms embargo, the right of Palestinian return, and justice for journalists martyred while covering the genocide. Many protesters held signs honoring the Al-Jazeera crew that was murdered by Israel three weeks before.
In addition to targeting journalists, Israel’s war crimes include the indiscriminate, forced starvation of the people of Gaza as the Israeli occupation forces block the flow of food and essential aid into the occupied territories. On Thursday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that the known number of people who have starved to death reached at least 317, including 121 children.
With the “looming threat of an intensified military operation in Gaza, any escalation will further devastate Palestinians already living under famine conditions,” said Nadia Alyafai, a leader with the U.S. Palestinian Community Network who spoke at the protest. “And we know who will suffer the most: the sick, malnourished children, the elderly and people with disabilities who can’t evacuate, who continue to be displaced, and now have nowhere to go.”
“The media, the US, and the Zionist entity continue to lie about access to aid — but we have the pictures, we have witnesses on the ground — this is a man-made famine,” Alyafai said.
Alyafai then stated, “A few hours ago, the genocidal Zionist entity targeted my homeland, Yemen, killing the prime minister alongside several other ministers in the Yemeni government,” Alyafai continued, “This comes after the people of Yemen have continued to stand for the Palestinian people by any means necessary: blocking ships and cargo in the Red Sea, and taking the streets to resist the genocidal Zionist entity.”
The crowd cheered in response and chanted “Yemen Yemen stand your ground! They will never break you down!”
Alyafai closed her remarks by calling out Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs and the Illinois Board of Investments for investing state tax dollars in Israeli Bonds, despite Israel’s genocidal war crimes.
“We have been fighting and marching every week demanding the very basic rights guaranteed to all of humanity – Palestinians are not lesser than any other human being on Earth,” said Tarek Muhammad Khalil with American Muslims for Palestine, who was next to speak. “If anything, I would venture to argue the people of Gaza have shown us that they are better than us – that their face is stronger than us. They have renewed our faith by giving us strength. We should not be looking down to them but we should be looking up to them, because they have shown us the way!”
“We call for an end to the occupation of Palestinian lands by the illegal Zionist entity – and in Chicago we also call to an end to the occupation of Black and brown working-class neighborhoods by a police force who was trained alongside the racist IOF soldiers,” said a member of the Chicago Alliance against Racism and Political Repression (CAARPR). “Our Palestinian comrades gave unwavering support to us during the George Floyd rebellion, and have always stood with us in our fight for community control of the police – and just as they have stood with us year after year, I can promise you that CAARPR will always stand shoulder to shoulder with you until we see a free Palestine.”
After the rally, the protesters took Michigan Avenue and marched south, past the Art Institute of Chicago. Demonstrators called out to the shoppers to join them, chanting “Out of the sidewalks, into the streets!”
Protesters will be back out again in Chicago next week on Saturday.
#ChicagoIL #IL #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #Gaza #CCJP #CAARPR
Minneapolis, MN – On August 28, approximately 50 protesters rallied outside Senator Amy Klobuchar's office to protest U.S. support for Israel's forced starvation of Palestinians. The rally drew much attention from onlookers on what was a day of multiple protests in the city. This action was organized by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition (MPAC).
On August 22, the UN officially declared a famine in Gaza. In recent months, Israel's intentional starvation campaign has produced countless images of malnourished, skeletal Palestinians, shocking people around the world. In response, MPAC speakers expressed disgust at Israel's actions and at those who have contributed to the bombing and starvation, not least of which is Amy Klobuchar.