Colombia: Ruling-class divisions over imperialist U.S.-Israel

COLOMBIA​​, January 17—In Colombia, after the surge of the conflict in Gaza in October, the government of Gustavo Petro has taken a different position than the majority of governments, refusing to condemn the Hamas attacks, questioning the incursion of the Israeli army, and talking about the role of the Zionist mercenaries in the shaping of paramilitarism in Colombia and the subsequent wave of violence that has plagued the countryside and the cities for decades.

Petro has clearly stated that he favors a peace accord that recognizes the two states. He also said, he rejects what “the extreme right wings of both countries that will take both societies to a conflict where all will be defeated” that the Colombian government supports the National Palestinian Authority that is against Hamas.

Petro masquerades as “pro-Palestine”, but quietly supports genocide
Petro has been criticized for his position by the Zionists and the more conservative sectors of the Colombian bourgeoise, traditional ally of Israel. Gilinki, a Jewish banker and oligarch exploiter of the working class of Colombia, has declared his consternation over the declarations of the president, who recently compared Israel’s military intervention with the Holocaust, making this a choice between supporting the Israeli bosses or the Palestinian bosses.  Critical point that has created a wedge inside the national bourgeoise.
Recently this ideological dispute between Petro and the defenders of Israel in Colombia has deepened, especially after the president condemned the Israeli’s army attacks on journalists, as of this writing 109 journalist have been killed and his approval of the suit against Israel by South Africa in the International Court of Justice in the Hague, for violating the provisions if the 1948 Convention against genocide.  

However, these liberal positions that the Colombian government has taken regarding one of the bloodiest conflicts of our time, where 24,000 people have been killed, most of them workers, has not translated into real measures of support for the Palestinian resistance, reducing them to sending humanitarian aid, or calling to consult the Colombian ambassador to Israel, or the support of Argelia’s denouncement of Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes in the International Criminal Court and the demand presented by South Africa.

As we can see, Petro’s support is towards the Palestinian government, not the resistance of the workers in Palestine. We also need to point out that the Colombian government has kept all the commercial relations and especially the military connections with Israel, the “anger” of the president has been reduced to mere words.
Petro defends and shares the imperialist policies of two states, and to serve this purpose he presents his political strategy of a Peace Conference for Palestine.  His refusal to condemn Hamas and support the genocide by Israel, demands breaking relations with Israel and to assume an effective support of Palestine, but he has shown the weakness and limits of his foreign policies when maintaining his opposition to Israel only tangentially, defending only the recognition of a Palestinian state, led by murderous bourgeoise who use nationalism as a form of control of the masses.

Even though the protests in Colombia against Zionism in the last three months have not been as massive as those in the USA, UK, France, New Zealand, Turkey and others, a solidarity committee has been created for the Palestinian cause formed araba activists, independent political organizations, defenders of human rights, student collectives, amongst others.  They have called for massive demonstrations in support of Palestine and spreading the real situation in Gaza, which has not been properly presented by the media, national or international, who serve the Zionist bourgeoise.

Internationalism is essential for workers
Although we understand that these actions are revisionists, because they are limited to the defense of the constitution of the Palestinian state for a free Palestine, they are the first step towards the international solidarity mobilization of the workers against the bosses’ wars.  We have to be clear that marching does not a revolution make, and that only communism can eradicate the state violence against the working class. We have to promote communist education to be able to canalize the potential of the masses in movement.  

In PLP we have been meeting, marching and rallying, we have shared our political line and sold . We have CHALLENGE put up front the necessity of international solidarity, fought against nationalist ideas and fought for unity of the working class. Worker’s oppression will not be eliminated creating new bourgeoise states, only communism and its red flag can break our chains and end all wars.  

We have been very critical of the government’s position and Petro and his bland opposition on this conflict.  We have shown that his support is not with the Palestinian working class, victims of the war policies, but with the Palestinian ruling class; nationalist and oppressive.

No doubt, the expansion of the conflict has made the bosses of the world take a side that benefits their interests, we have to create awareness of the dangers of nationalism, liberal fascism and defending bourgeoise wars amongst the working class.  

For a free Palestine, fight for communist internationalism!