Movements and progressive sections all across the world marked the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on Sunday, November 29. The day was marked at a time when the brutality of Israeli occupation, which is aided by the United States and other western powers, has intensified to unprecedented degrees. It also took place amid a concerted attempt by the US and Israel to ‘normalize’ the occupation by applying pressure on a number of Arab and Muslim-majority countries. At this juncture, people’s movements called out governments and global institutions for their complicity and silence in the suffering of the Palestinian people.
The occasion marks UN General Assembly (GA) resolution 181 (ii) of 1947, also known as the Partition Plan. The celebration of November 29 as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People began in 1977 at the call of the UNGA resolution 32/40B. On the day, UN general secretary Antonio Guterres issued a statement asking the world to “resolve to renew our commitment to the Palestinian people in their quest to achieve their inalienable rights and build a future of peace, dignity, justice and security.”
On the same day, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement issued a reminder to the UN that solidarity without action does not mean much, and asked it to investigate the Israeli apartheid in the occupied territories.
The Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Campaign, Samidoun, launched a #AllForPalestine campaign in solidarity with the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and the right to return. It asked its participants to issue solidarity messages and raise the Palestinian flag. The campaign also proposed a Madrid conference for Palestine in September 2021.
Similar rallies, meetings and demonstrations in solidarity with the Palestinian people were carried out in different parts of the world, with people raising Palestinian flags and slogans denouncing the Israeli occupation.
Latin America
In Venezuela, the Simón Bolívar Institute for Peace and Solidarity among Peoples organized a cultural and political event to extend solidarity with the struggle of the people of Palestine. In the virtually held event called “A song of solidarity with Palestine,” social activists and political leaders from across the world sent their solidarity messages to Palestinians. A group of Venezuelan singers and poets from the Itinerant People’s Participation Forum also performed at the event.
The Simón Bolívar Institute, launched on September 6 in Venezuela, wrote in a tweet that “the struggle of the Palestinian people is the struggle against imperialism and discrimination. The brutality of the Zionist regime must be condemned. From the Simón Bolívar Institute, we support the freedom of Palestine and we join the debate of ideas.”
Carlos Ron, the president of the Simón Bolívar Institute and Venezuelan vice-minister for relations with North America, recalled that “the UN Resolution 181 of 1947 calls for the creation of two states, Palestine and Israel, but it has not yet been implemented.” Ron said. He called “to unite voices to denounce the constant aggression against the Palestinian people, for their freedom and their right to exist.”
Fadi Alzaben, the Palestinian ambassador to Venezuela, said that “an invading power, Israel, has been pursuing an imperialist policy that violates human rights and undermines the freedom of the Palestinian people.” Alzaben further stressed that “the true international solidarity with Palestine means supporting the struggle for justice and dignity of millions of Palestinians who suffer daily humiliation and are subjected to ‘apartheid’ and racism.”
Venezuelan foreign minister Jorge Arreaza also sent a solidarity message saying, “For the people and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, solidarity with Palestine, its people and its right to exist is an everyday thing. However, taking advantage of the November 29 of this year, which has been so convulsive and difficult, we reiterate and reaffirm our unrestrained and unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to their state, territory and self-government.”
The Simón Bolívar Institute began the solidarity event with a virtual seminar on November 28 named “Palestine: for the right to exist”. The conference was joined by Jamil Abuu Saada, a Palestinian professor and member of the General Union of Palestinian Communities in Europe, Hatem Bazin, a Palestinian lecturer at the University of California, and Sandew Hira, an economist and secretary of the Decolonial International Network Foundation.
North America
In Canada, several groups took out a vehicle rally in Toronto and raised Palestinian flags in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Some also raised slogans such as “Netanyahu you will see, Palestine will be free.”
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East organized a meeting of Palestinian and Canadian parliamentarians to mark the International Day of solidarity with the Palestine People. The speakers included senior leader of the PLO, Hanan Ashrawi, and Canadian member of parliament from Scarborough Centre, Salma Zahid.
In the US, CODEPINK launched a campaign asking Congresspeople to stop the weapons sale to the UAE as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians. The outgoing Trump administration has approved the weapons sales after UAE agreed to “normalize” its relations with Israeli.
The Peoples Forum issued a statement on the occasion, demanding an “end to all support for the Zionist project” by the US government. The statement affirmed that anti-Zionism is anti-racism and demanded the immediate end of the blockade of Gaza and release of all Palestinian political prisoners from Israeli prisons.
Europe
In the UK, the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign organized an “online rally” with several activists, scholars and artists expressing their solidarity with the Palestinian people. The speakers included Noura Erakat and Omar Barghouti, among others.
Similar events of solidarity were carried out by various groups in Ireland. Sinn Fein party president Mary Lou McDonald issued a statement on the occasion calling out the daily atrocities committed by Israel against the Palestinian people. She also called on the Irish government to formally recognize the state of Palestine.
West Asia
The Communist Party of Turkey, along with the Communist Party of Greece, organized a regional teleconference of the Communist and Workers’ parties of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Gulf, and issued a solidarity statement with the people of Palestine on the occasion. They denounced the cooperation of their respective governments with Israel and demanded the end of Israeli occupation and creation of an independent Palestinian state.
A number of similar protests were held in various corners of the world.
Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch
