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

Allendale, MI – Pro-Palestine groups demonstrated the campus of Grand Valley State University on Friday, January 19.

About 50 students and community members gathered around GVSU’s Cook Carillon Clocktower for the “All Out for Palestine'' rally. Undeterred by cold and snowy weather, demonstrators stood in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and condemned the United States’ strikes on Yemen.

Before the rally, a sign-making event was organized by students in GVSU’s Calder Arts Center. Attendees of the rally grasped the signs they had made, waved Palestinian flags and held banner reading “Free free Palestine” and “No war on Yemen, victory to Palestine!”

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), in collaboration with GVSU’s Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Ferris State SDS and Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids, organized the rally.

Members of the campus community were drawn towards the clocktower after hearing chants such as “Money for schools, not for war; U.S. out of Yemeni shores” and “Palestine is our demand, no peace on stolen land.” Many students on their way to classes expressed solidarity by raising their fists and vocalizing their support of the effort.

“Even as I speak, children and families are being systematically wiped out by weapons paid for by the Michigan government; Yemen is being bombed by U.S. and British forces,” stated a member of Grand Valley’s SJP. “The U.S. war machine holds no sympathy for those who are suffering.”

A series of short speeches by members of GVSU SDS and SJP called upon the Grand Valley President Philomena Mantella and GVSU faculty to agree to a statement that recognizes the liberation and self-determination of the Palestinian people. In October 2023, Mantella turned a blind eye towards genocide by releasing a statement that condemned the Palestinian resistance.

“We call upon GVSU, President Mantella, our faculty, Michigan as a whole and the world to support the Gazan people in whatever way we can and to free Palestine now,” said Grand Valley’s SDS president.

Demonstrators then weaved their way throughout campus, passing administration offices, dorm buildings and GVSU’s Starbucks location. While students marched, people driving through campus honked their car horns in a display of support. Students again took turns chanting, denouncing the U.S. war machine and expressing solidarity with oppressed peoples across the globe.

#AllendaleMI #AntiWarMovement #International #Palestine #StudentMovement #SDS #SJP

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