Washington DC, November 4—As the fascist state of Israel continues bombing civilians and advancing into Gaza, millions of workers around the world are holding massive protest demonstrations against the genocide of Palestinians.
Mass protest in D.C.
In Washington, DC, 100,000 or more marchers converged on the White House and the surrounding streets to demand that Israel halt the genocide of Palestinians. “Joe Biden, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” rang throughout the march, recognizing the role of the U.S. ruling class in this war against the workers of Palestine. Marching side-by-side with thousands of angry workers, the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) held up the banner for the only strategy that can guarantee liberation-- multi-racial, communist revolution! No nations, no borders, no capitalists!
Chants of Shut It Down! were directed to the capitalists of the U.S. and Israel, while linking the mass movement against Israeli fascism to the racist murders by police in the U.S.--many of whom have been trained by the Israeli army!
PLP workers from Maryland, Virginia, DC, and New York City organized a bullhorn rally by the so-called Freedom Plaza to address marchers with speeches calling for communist revolution and banners declaring NO WAR BUT CLASS WAR and WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE. Our ongoing rally called out capitalism, racism, imperialism, and genocide, reaching thousands of protesters with over 500 CHALLENGE newspapers and a similar number of flyers calling for Arab-Jewish unity for communism.
With our literature table as a base of operations, we engaged 100s of protestors in conversations about the need to crush capitalism, the root of genocidal evil, and to build a revolutionary party to fight for communist revolution. We met many old friends and made new ones with whom we will work in the coming months to build the PLP.
An independent mass movement Is growing
This rally was different from many large rallies in D.C. such as the women’s march in 2017 after Trump’s election or the gun control rally called after the Florida Parkland student massacre in 2018. Those rallies were supported and organized by the Democratic Party to bolster their electoral base. Today’s massive rally and march was much more like the anti-war protests against the Iraq and Vietnam wars. It attacked the role of the U.S. in its consistent support for the Zionist regime. It led the mass movement away from slavish adherence to the Democratic Party, the organization that kills off working-class movements. No doubt the Democrats will attempt to mislead workers into the election trap, but for now, workers are not buying it!
Despite this positive development, the main strategies advocated by the organizations calling the rally are dead ends. These strategies are for a ceasefire now and the creation of a single or two-state solution. But what kind of state? Nationalism in the region or elsewhere has been shown historically to fail to liberate workers, as capitalists of various nationalities continue to exploit workers even after the overthrow of colonialism.
A Palestinian state with Hamas or a new formation approved by Israel would still be a capitalist enterprise resulting in continued oppression of workers. The continuation of a Zionist state that has oppressed Palestinians and its own working class is also not a solution. Class war against the misleaders in Tel Aviv and Gaza is the only solution to achieve liberation. Seeds of this possibility can be seen in the organizing being done by both Palestinian and Jewish organizations in the U.S. and, in smaller ways, in Israel. Jewish Voice for Peace and Not In Our Name are Jewish organizations that are calling for a ceasefire and protesting side by side with the Palestinian Youth Movement and other Palestinian organizations. In the past month, the almost daily rallies in D.C. have included thousands of these multi-ethnic local residents on the Mall, at the Capitol, and at the White House.
Israel: A vital ally of U.S. imperialism
Israel serves as an enforcer for U.S. imperialism in the Middle East. Its importance to the economic and military goals of the U.S. ruling class is huge. Biden admitted that the $3 billion given to Israel every year is a great defense investment because otherwise, the U.S. would have to establish military bases and troops throughout the region to ensure U.S. power over pipelines, trade routes, and oil. The $14 billion now going to Israel is a further investment for the U.S. financial oligarchs. Of course, Israeli fascism may not be enough to ensure U.S. power in the region. China is strengthening ties with U.S. archenemy Iran and is building strong diplomatic and economic ties with Saudi Arabia.
A single communist state is needed
For workers to build this unity, we communists must stress to other organizers that the reason for wars, displacement, and genocide of multitudes of our brother and sister workers around the globe is capitalism’s drive for maximum profits by seizing markets, resources, and labor. Anti-colonial struggles throughout the 20th century focused on national liberation from settler colonialism and imperialism. This strategy failed to end capitalism and exploitation. PLP has watched and participated in many of these struggles only to see the reversal of whatever gains were made in these battles. Some revolutionaries, like Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso, Mohammed Babu in Zanzibar and Tanzania, and Walter Rodney in Guyana, aimed at a classless society within national liberation struggles but were not able to get past the new capitalists. We must not lose again! A communist strategy can achieve and preserve workers’ power!