Picture: via Peoples Dispatch / Taken on November 25, 2023 – Without freedom for Palestinian women there is no freedom at all a banner reads in Rome, Italy, on Saturday, November 25. With more than 15,000 dead and 6,500 missing from Israeli attacks on Gaza, the world is mobilising on the day of International Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the writer says.
By Natalia Marques
November 29 marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, called for originally in 1977 by the UN General Assembly as a commemoration of the day the UN adopted the resolution on the partition of Palestine in 1947.
Now, 76 years after partition, Israel has violated international law and resolutions relating to Palestine and has slowly attempted to occupy all of Palestinian land. Today, Israel is also waging one of the most violent wars on Palestine in decades, which has claimed at least 15,000 lives in Gaza in less than 50 days, the vast majority being women and children.
The massacre of Gazans, as well as their steadfast resistance to occupation, has generated a global movement in solidarity with Palestine, which on many fronts is trying to end worldwide support by politicians and corporations for Israel, especially in the West. This Wednesday November 29, groups around the world will hold actions in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Below, we compiled some of the reported actions.
In Paris, Pan-Africanists and those in the Palestine solidarity movement are organising a vigil in the Place de la Sorbonne “to reaffirm the ties that have united and continue to unite peoples in their struggle against apartheid and colonialism”, between African and Palestinian peoples. Groups involved include the Association of Palestinians in Île de France, the Pan-African League-Umoja, and the Pan-African Unitary Dynamic.
In Colombia, trade unions and workers’ organisations such as the Colombian Federation of Education Workers, the National Association of Petroleum Pensioners, and the National Co-ordinating Committee for Change have organised a march in solidarity with Palestine in Bogotá leaving from the National Park.
In Brazil, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the group RS Free Palestine Committee is organising two actions for Palestine, with the support of around 50 trade unions and social movements, to commemorate the International Day of Solidarity. In dozens of cities in over 15 Brazilian states, marches and actions are being organised by a broad coalition of groups including the Arab Palestinian Federation in Brazil, trade union confederations such as CUT, major social movements such as the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST), as well as movements in ALBA Brazil and the International Peoples’ Assembly.
The nearly 50 organisations that have organised the mobilisation in São Paulo are calling for a permanent ceasefire and for the breaking of agreements and diplomatic ties between Israel and Brazil. They also stated: “They want to destroy Gaza, but today Gaza has a voice across the world!”
In Puerto Rico, the population is continuing to raise their voices in solidarity. In the cities of Mayagüez and San Juan, diverse actions have been organised such as banner drops, rallies, marches, open-mic, and discussions. The island nation has been mobilising on a consistent basis in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, especially as the Puerto Rican people continue their own struggle against US colonialism.
In several Belgian cities including Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, and Leuven, the group Intal Globalise Solidarity Belgique is organising several solidarity actions including a student march, a sit-in, a fundraising event, and rallies.
In Britain, the Palestinian Youth Movement and the Youth Front for Palestine are organising shut downs of Fisher German offices across the country. Fisher German is the landlord for the Shenstone and UAV Engines’ factory site, which they rent to Elbit Systems, an Israel-based weapons company which is supplying weapons for the genocide in Gaza. “The weapons manufactured on Fisher German’s premises are the very same weapons being used to carry out the Zionist genocide against our siblings in Gaza,” state the organisers.
In the United States, the Shut It Down for Palestine coalition, which includes the Palestinian Youth Movement, the ANSWER Coalition, National Students for Justice in Palestine, the People’s Forum, and others, has called actions throughout the country to mark the November 29 date. In New York City, people will gather for a vigil in Columbus Circle to honour the victims of the genocide in Gaza. In Boston, several student organisations at Harvard University, Emerson College, University of Massachusetts-Boston, and others will be leading student walkouts.
In the Philippines, the NO TO WAR network which was launched on Tuesday November 28 and is made up of over a dozen trade unions, and left and progressive movements, will hold a series of activities throughout the week. The NO TO WAR network said in a statement: “In solidarity with the Palestinian people, we join the international community in calling for a permanent ceasefire, a stop to genocide in Gaza, and an end to Israeli occupation. Words cannot adequately convey the horrors of war being experienced by the Palestinians from the endless airstrikes and ground raids carried out by Israel.”
In Ireland, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign and local progressive groups have organised demonstrations, pickets, rallies, film screenings, and other cultural events for November 29 in cities across the country including Dublin, Letterkenny, Derry, Roscrea, Cork, Maynooth, Omagh, Belfast, Mullingar, and Newbridge.
Natalia Marques is a writer at Peoples Dispatch, an organiser, and a graphic designer based in New York City
This article was first published on Peoples Dispatch
