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ANTI-IMPERIALIST STRUGGLE COMMITTEE BULLETIN No. 10
On the 74th anniversary of Nakba (Disaster/Catastrophe) day, Palestinians all over the World demanded justice against Zionist regime and its imperialist collaborators. Also in Berlin, every year, this day is commemorated by thousands, and people from all nationalities show their solidarity with the Palestinian people and resistance against colonialism and imperialism.
But this year there was a catch; the police in Berlin banned all public commemorations of Nakba. This blatant attack on the freedom of speech and assembly came with an unprecedented insult to Palestinian identity itself; all of the public display of Palestinian flags and symbols like Keffiyeh were banned! This unacceptable and racist policies have to be challenged.
Several organizations, including our Committee, took the streets of Berlin on 15th of May 2022 to show our solidarity with Palestinian struggle. We successfully bring the voice of the Palestinian people to the streets of Berlin and achieved a political victory despite the so-called ban.
As a result of this, Berlin police interrupted the people on the streets and blocked their freedom to move and express. We -together with all the demonstrators- were taken under a short custody and our personal data were acquired by the police. All of the demonstrators are banned from attending to another demo in the same area for the next 24 hours.
Last year’s commemoration had coincided with the resistance of Palestinians against the events in Sheikh Jarrah and Israel terror attacks in Gaza. In every part of the Globe, thousands of people with raised awareness had filled the streets with strong presence and demanded justice. This year, Nakba Day followed a series of brutal events, characterized by explicit violence perpetrated by the Israeli Forces. Among these, the raid at Al-Aqsa Mosque on a Ramadan Day (a holy day for Muslims), where approximately 30 Palestinians were injured by Israeli police, and the murder of the emblematic Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, shooted in the head during the coverage of an Israeli military raid in the West Bank. All this, in addition to the systematic violence, taking place every day in the form of eviction of Palestinians’ houses and creation of illegal settlements in the West Bank.
Thus, the repression of this year’s demonstrations should not be a surprise for those who remember last year’s mobilisation on Nakba day. The German State is conscious about what the mass support for Palestinian struggle means:
“If the Palestinian struggle didn’t exist, the condition of the Middle East would be even harsher than the contemporary situation. Imperialist could have created conditions to exploit without any kind of resistance. Palestinian struggle dismantles many policies of the imperialist and their collaborator Zionists. Palestinian struggle becomes a symbol and an example for all the people of the World.
It clearly showed that only with Molotovs and stones together with solely using your bodies, one can create a consistent line for struggling against imperialism and Zionism.” – Palestine in 20 Questions
Mass support outside of Palestine would disrupt the imperialist policies -including German Imperialism- in Middle East and create more space to act for all the people and workers of the world. This is one of core reasons of this repression and the main political one.
The repression against us was not an exception. Also another spontaneous gathering in a nearby spot was terrorised by Police and even the vigil event of a pro-Palestinian Jewish group Jüdische Stimme (Jewish Voice) for Shereen Abu Aqleh was banned. This is emblematic, as the police statement about the ban on demonstration is justified as: “ there is an imminent danger that the gatherings could lead to inciting, anti-Semitic calls, glorification of violence, the conveyance of a willingness to use violence and thus to intimidation and violence.” German Actor Rolf Becker’s words can be descriptive: “They, as Germans, define who is a real Jew and is allowed to be a Jew.”
This brings us to the discussions regarding Palestinian resistance’s legitimacy and allegations about so-called anti-Semitism of the Palestinian struggle. Palestinian people’s struggle is legitimate, not only from the point of revolutionary/socialist politics, but even from the point of so-called international law. ‘The inalienable right’ of the Palestinian people to ‘self-determination, national independence, territorial integrity, national unity and sovereignty without outside interference’ is protected by the United Nations General Assembly resolution A/RES/37/43. Zionist project is an illegitimate colonialist structure, which is even described by liberal pro-interventionist imperialist NGO tools like Amnesty International as an apartheid regime. Thus, it is not possible to equate such entity with the whole Jewish people and smear the criticism against Zionist project as anti-semitism.
The smearing campaign against revolutionary left politics as anti-Semitic is a blatant lie and an intellectual dishonesty towards everything revolutionaries represents. Zionism is not and can not be equated with Jewish people.
Revolutionaries and revolutionary politics are the main and only motor of the defeat of fascism in Europe and ending the centuries old systematic anti-Semitism which transform itself to become the systematic extermination of Jewish people under the Hitlerite fascism. Hitler’s fascist hordes were crushed by Soviets and popular uprisings of population across Europe under the banner of Partisan forces.
Today’s revolutionary left politics descents from these forces and contrary to Zionists, it is consistent with its anti-fascism. As Anti-Imperialist Struggle Committee, we are well aware of how well Israel is connected to imperialist system and how crucial it is to US Imperialist Middle East policy. This quote from the current US president Joe Biden made in 1986 in US Senate would be sufficient to support our point:
“It’s about time we stop apologising for our support for Israel. There’s no apology to be made. It is the best $3 billion investment we make. If there weren’t an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel to protect her interests in the region.”
YOUR REPRESSIONS CAN NOT STOP US!
THE TERRORISTS ARE NOT THE REVOLUTIONARIES, THE TERRORISTS ARE THE IMPERIALISTS!
WE ARE PEOPLE, WE ARE RIGHTEOUS AND WE WILL WIN!
Anti-Imperialist Struggle Committee, Berlin, 16 May 2022