News and Views from the People's Struggle
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN).
The U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) salutes our steadfast Palestinian and Arab people for their courageous self-defense and unified resistance to the ongoing U.S.-backed Israeli genocide against our people in all of Palestine, especially Gaza.
Milwaukee, WI – On November 21, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee administration put together a panel event featuring two speakers who oppose the genocide in Palestine and two Zionists. Pro-Palestine organizations across the city put out a call to mobilize people to the talk and pack the house with anti-Zionist elements. UWM Students for a Democratic Society was one of them.
The Zionist speakers included Rabbi Josh Herman, the executive director of the Milwaukee branch of the far-right Zionist group Hillel, and a political science professor at UWM named Shale Horowitz. They started off with a fictitious recounting of history, claiming that the blame for the genocide and occupation rests with the Palestinians and their unwillingness to “compromise.”
The comments from the two Zionists only got worse from there, including claiming that the Palestinian liberation chant “From the river to the sea” is a call for Jewish genocide; that a people who were victims of a previous genocide could not be perpetrators of a new genocide; that the Zionist state should be commended for its efforts to “prevent civilian casualties,” and that Muslims are the most successful colonial forces in the history of the world – especially, as stated by Horowitz, compared to Europeans.
To their credit, the other two panelists – Othman Atta, leader with the Islamic Society of Milwaukee; and Dr. Caroline Seymour-Jorn, professor and director of International Studies at UWM – responded to the genocide apologism with sharp rebuttals, reasoned positions, and factual accounts of the history.
The crowd, largely pro-Palestinian, responded more frankly, with jeers and laughter at the absurdities being put forward by the Zionist speakers. Members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) took it a step further and held up red-painted hands whenever one of the Zionists would speak, symbolic of the blood on their hands and the hands of the government which they defend. The silent protest had begun to wear on them both as the event went on, with more and more frequent allusions to their detractors in the crowd. Horowitz in particular seemed to direct his vitriolic comments at the student demonstrators.
As the panel was coming to a close, the moderator pointed to UWM's chancellor, Mark Mone, and said that he had the unenviable task of figuring out how to navigate the challenges of creating a safer and more welcoming campuses from students of all backgrounds. He then turned to the panelists to provide advice for the chancellor, but before any of them could answer, a member of SDS shouted out, “Change the name of the library!” The SDSer was referencing the UWM library named after Golda Meir, an infamous former prime minister of the Zionist state. Most in attendance cheered and clapped. There was no response from administration.
SDS will be initiating a campaign in the coming weeks to pressure campus administration to make that change. Efforts are underway to unite other organizations around this project, particularly the Muslim Student Association and the UWM chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.
#MilwaukeeWI #International #Palestine #AntiWar #StudentMovement #SDS
Oak Creek, WI – On Tuesday, November 21, The Milwaukee Anti-war Committee (MAC) held a protest outside of the headquarters of Astronautics Corporation of America, located in the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek. 30 people braved the rain and the cold temperatures to send a clear message to Astronautics, condemning its direct ties to the Israeli Defense Forces and chanting, “Astronautics you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!”
St. Paul, MN – During the early morning hours of November 20, 50 pro-Palestine protesters gathered at the site of Lockheed Martin’s new microelectronics subsidiary, ForwardEdge ASIC, in Saint Paul. They unfurled long banners, one reading, “MN, divest from Lockheed,” and blocked the driveway entrances to the facility for almost eight hours.
Police arrived shortly after the activists occupied the space and made their presence throughout the day, but no arrests were made. Due to the protesters’ presence, no employees of ForwardEdge ASIC were able to enter the facility and go to work that morning. The parking lot remained empty save for a lone security guard’s vehicle.
Austin, TX – On November 12, activists in solidarity with Palestine carried out a banner drop at a Scholastic book fair. The book fair took place across the street from a large statewide Palestinian protest on the state capitol grounds, with attendees numbering in the tens of thousands.
Tallahassee, FL – The Tallahassee community has been demanding that the Tallahassee City Commission take a stance on Palestine and sever ties with Israel. The call for action started with a gathering of 40 individuals at City Hall on October 25, where civilians insisted that the city should condemn the United States aid to Israel and cut all partnerships with the country, including their Sister City Program.
Jacksonville, FL – On Saturday, November 11, over 1500 people gathered with the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network (JPSN) to rally for Gaza. The gloomy weather did not stop community members from gathering at a major intersection at Brightman Boulevard and Town Center Parkway in the busy shopping hub of the city.
Chicago, IL – As the bombardment of Gaza entered its seventh week, 5000 protesters seized Chicago's DuSable Lake Shore Drive, November 18, demanding an immediate end to the Israeli genocide. The latest in a series of protests held across the city and beyond, this act of mass civil disobedience marked the first such shutdown of this important and iconic thoroughfare since the outset of the Iraq War two decades before.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following November 19 statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
The Palestinian people and their national movement throughout the West Bank are prepared to confront a significant zionist escalation targeting the West Bank cities, which is being actively planned as part of the occupation's schemes to resolve the conflict, and to implement a widespread displacement campaign against the Palestinian people.
New Orleans, LA – At noon on November 16, over 100 protesters gathered at Lafayette Square to protest the Port of New Orleans’ support of Israel. The activists demanded an end to all aid to Israel, including a technological trade agreement called the “innovation embassy.”