Solidarity with Palestine and all oppressed peoples of the world
The latest escalation of violence in occupied Palestine reflects nothing but the most recent episode in a long-standing project of ethnic cleansing. The displacements, ethnic-cleansing, and acts of terrorism we see today are inextricable from the violence used to establish the Israeli regime in 1948 and are nothing but a continuation of it.
The IWW condemns the actions of the Israeli settler-colonial regime for providing legal cover for forced evictions and displacement, for inciting and mobilizing its citizens to racist violence and the terrorising of the native Arab population in ‘48 Palestine, for its continuous occupation and expansionism in the West Bank, and for its wholesale slaughter and targeting of the civilian population in the Gaza strip which remains under a strangling blockade.
Recent reports from Human Rights Watch and B’tselem in Palestine have confirmed what Palestinians and most of the world has recognised for decades. The Israeli regime is practicing apartheid by implementing “laws, practices and state violence designed to cement the supremacy of one group – Jews – over another – Palestinians”. This apartheid is practiced with complete impunity and in contravention to human rights and international law and is only possible due to the continuous support and cover given to the Israeli regime from current and former imperialist countries and settler-colonial states such as the US, Canada, the UK, and France.
The labour movement is international, and we cannot forget our fellow workers around the world facing apartheid, displacement, and occupation. We stand in solidarity with the workers facing this oppression now and forever. We urge all IWW members to educate themselves and raise awareness of the oppression faced by the people of Palestine, participate in acts of solidarity including attending protests and boycotts, and place pressure on the employing and ruling classes of their nations to divest from and sanction the Israeli regime. We seek to build stronger relationships with Palestinian workers here in the areas our union operates in and internationally as well.
The conflict in Palestine cannot end until the entire land from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean Sea is decolonized. This means an end to the siege of Gaza, the lifting of the occupation in the West Bank, the return of displaced Palestinians, and the equal treatment of all within Palestine is established. Until such a time, we recognize the right of all oppressed people to self-defence.
An Injury to one is an Injury to all.