It’s not about Gaza and the West Bank – it’s about all of Palestine

Last month Palestinian journalist, editor and author Ramzy Baroud spoke at meetings around New Zealand, talking about the current situation in Palestine and promoting his new book  (see here).  Below is an article he wrote last month, highlighting that the problem is not the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza but the entire apparatus of the Zionist state, in ‘Israel’ as well.  Here we reprint a recent article of his.

by Ramzy Baroud

June 5, 2018, marked the 51st anniversary of the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

But, unlike the massive popular mobilization that preceded the anniversary of the Nakba – the catastrophic destruction of Palestine in 1948 – on 15 May, the anniversary of the occupation is hardly generating equal mobilization.

The unsurprising death of the ‘peace process’ and the inevitable demise of the ‘two-state solution’ has shifted the focus from ending the occupation per se to the larger, and more encompassing, problem of Israel’s colonialism throughout Palestine.

Grassroots mobilization in Gaza and the West Bank, and among Palestinian Bedouin communities in the Naqab Desert, are, once more, widening the Palestinian people’s sense of national aspirations. Thanks to the limited vision of the Palestinian leadership those aspirations have, for decades, been confined to Gaza and the West Bank.

In some sense, the ‘Israeli occupation’ is no longer an occupation as per international standards and definitions. It is merely a phase of the Zionist

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One-day general strike in Argentina

Striking workers blockade a major road leading into centre of Buenos Aires, June 25. Photo: Jorge Saenz

 

by Robert Belano

A general strike across Argentina brought major industries and transportation to a halt on Monday. The major union bureaucracies — the CGT and the CTA — called for the strike but refused to mobilize workers in the streets. However, the far left parties and the most combative unions organized rallies and roadblocks in various cities. It is the third general strike that has been organized against the Macri government since the right-wing president assumed office in 2015.

Left organizations — in particular, those which compose the Left and Workers’ Front — blocked various bridges and access points to the capital city of Buenos Aires as well as cities in the interior of the country like Cordoba and Rosario. Throughout the capital, not a single bus, train or subway line was running. More than 600 flights in and out of the country were canceled. Schools, banks, ports and thousands of businesses were shuttered.

The workers’ primary demand is for an immediate increase in their salaries at least equal to the inflation rate. Inflation has surpassed 27 percent in the past year while the government is proposing salary increases of only between 15-20 percent for this year, meaning that even after the proposed increases, workers would experience a major decrease in real wages and their standard of living.

This skyrocketing inflation is compounded by the major hikes in utility bills that have been imposed since

Burger King workers’ strike, June 15

The strike at Burger King in Queen Street, Auckland, Friday, June 15:

 

Rally behind Burger King workers

Burger King workers are taking on their bosses over pay and conditions, with strike action on Friday (June 15) and continuing pickets and protests.  The following was sent out by Unions Otago earlier today:

Unions Otago calls on all members and officials of affiliates to support the Unite picket line tomorrow (Sunday, 17th June) at Burger King, Andersons Bay Road (opposite Mitre 10), from 12.30 to 1.30pm. 

Here is the message from local Unite organiser, Sonja Mitchell:

“Burger King workers in Otago and Southland, and around the country, are going on strike!Unite union members at Burger King Invercargill are on strike today.
Burger King Andersons Bay Unite members are striking at different times and are holding a rally outside Burger King Andersons Bay Dunedin this Sunday 12.30-1.30pm.
Burger King Meridian – Unite rally details to be confirmed.

BK workers are. . . “sick of having some of the lowest

The role of Saudi Arabia in the Middle East

Public beheadings take place each year by the score, frequently for taking part in political protests

by Lutte Ouvriere

For more than two and a half years, Saudi Arabia has been waging a war on Yemen that has already caused 10,000 deaths. Bombing has hit hospitals, schools and military positions indiscriminately. On January 1, 2018, a gas station in the marketplace of Al Hudayadh in West Yemen was hit, killing at least 20 people. According to the Red Cross, the cholera epidemic that is a direct result of the war has affected a million people since March 2017. Due to the embargo imposed by the Saudi regime, famine now threatens 70% of the Yemeni population of 27.5 million.

NZ prime minister John Key visiting Saudi Arabia 2015; what’s a few score of public beheadings a year between friends? Photo: Radio NZ/Kim Baker Wilson

Led by the US, imperialist powers gave their go-ahead, and the Saudis launched Operation Decisive Storm on March 25, 2015. The UN Security Council immediately approved. Great Britain, France and the U.S. supplied arms and military intelligence and continue to do so, ignoring the catastrophic effect on the Yemeni people. Saudi Arabia is now bogged down in this endless conflict.

The Saudi ambassador to the US, Adel al-Jubeir, declared, “We’re doing this to protect Yemen.” Saudi Arabia has interfered in the region for decades, but its aim has never been to protect the population – it has always been to protect its own interests and prove itself a faithful ally of U.S. imperialism. Its role of “gendarme” for imperialism, together with its regional ambitions and the instability of its regime, are the ingredients of

Auckland solidarity with Palestinians

by Daphna Whitmore

Several hundred people turned out yesterday in Auckland to rally in solidarity with the people of Gaza. The vicious response of the Israeli army to the mass demonstrations at the Gaza prison fence has created a sense of urgency  that the situation demands action. The rally turned into a spontaneous march to the US Consulate.

Auckland solidarity march with Gaza

Barakat: Gaza massacre exposes true nature of Zionism and imperialism

 

Following the massacre committed by the Zionist army in Gaza on 14 May, when Israeli occupation forces killed 61 Palestinians as they participated in the Great Return March for their right of return and to break the siege, Comrade Khaled Barakat, leftist Palestinian writer, participated in a discussion with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine media committee.

“What happened in Gaza is a revolt to throw off the Israeli occupation and to break the siege that has continued for over 11 years,” said Barakat. “The popular classes in Palestine are reviving their role and claiming their cause as they witness a direct attempt by the United States, Israel and Arab reactionary regimes to liquidate the national rights of the Palestinian people.”

“The Palestinian people in Gaza have taken the responsibility of breaking the siege into their own hands,” Barakat said. “The role of the popular classes has also been represented by the wide participation of youth and women in the struggle, which has created a