On the 7th of October, 2023, after 70 years of brutal oppression by the zionist state, the Palestinian resistance began an operation they called Al-Aqsa. This was the first wave of attacks in a war — unrecognised, because the state of Palestine is not recognised — for the liberation of Palestine from its occupation. After generations of oppression, a coalition of resistance forces have finally struck a blow for the liberation of Palestine. As Assata Shakur said, “Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.” The Al-Aqsa Flood is named after the Al-Apsa Mosque; it is the cry for liberation; it is the blow of a people the zionists wish to force to their knees. It is the sling of David.
The zionist entity is shaken to its core. They did not expect the Palestinian resistance to be as strong as it is. Decades of torturing children, sniping peaceful protestors and medics and conducting airstrikes against civilian infrastructure has left the zionist entity woefully unprepared to fight a liberation force made up of 9 different Palestinian organisations.
The zionist response has been brutal massacres of Palestinian civilians. Taking this chance to complete their long genocide, the hard right wing of the reactionary zionist state has bombed entire neighborhoods out of existence. Zionist warplanes, supplied with U.S. bombs, struck the Al-Ahli Hospital and murdered 471 civilians. They repeatedly bombed the Jabalia Refugee Camp, murdering 500 Palestinians on the 31st of October, and dozens more again on the 1st of November. The zionist entity has begun a barbaric extermination campaign designed to wipe out the Palestinian population of Gaza — and possibly the West Bank. Those they do not kill, they hope to displace into Egypt in order to claim the land as their own. Already, they have begun to demolish houses in northern Gaza. Over 10,000 Palestinians have been murdered in Gaza so far, including 3,542 children, and upwards of one million have been displaced by the zionist entity’s massacres. The colonial regime has not spared the people of the West Bank, who spit in the face of efforts to divide and conquer their nation. Sweeping arrests have taken thousands hostage, young and old, to be tortured and publicly humiliated in a futile attempt to crush the steadfast Palestinian will. Since October 7th, the occupying forces have killed 132 Palestinians in the West Bank, bringing the year’s total to 340. Do I need to remind everyone that these were people? Living, breathing human beings with hopes, dreams, and aspirations. The zionist entity has shown the world its true colours; no amount of propaganda will hide their true face — their depravity and their weakness — from the world now.
While the Palestinians fight, millions in countries around the world have taken to the streets to march in solidarity. 500,000 people marched in London. One million marched in Turkey. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, more have marched in the U.S., France, Germany, Bolivia, Ireland, Tunisia, and Egypt. Humanity shines through in those brave enough to stand up against the U.S.-backed enemy; they have not been duped by the constant avalanche of propaganda that has been forced upon us by the zionist entity and its allies.
In response to overwhelming support for the Palestinian cause, the Western imperialist states have done less than nothing. President Biden, commander-in-chief of the United States imperial military, ordered that 14 billion dollars’ worth of “aid” be sent to the zionist entity. He stationed American troops in “Israel” and sent two aircraft carrier strike groups to the Mediterranean Sea.
The U.K. has sent 30 million dollars to “Israel” over the past three weeks and the leader of the so called “workers party” of the UK, Keir Starmer, has thrown in his support for this genocide, declaring that a ceasefire “only benefits Hamas” and that “Israel” does have the right to cut off life-sustaining water and power to Gaza. This directly contradicts the Geneva Conventions and “international law” that western countries and politicians putatively uphold.
Many Communist parties, ostensibly representing the committed left wing of their countries, have also failed in their duty to stand with the Palestinians. Many of them draw their political line on Palestine from the “Communist” party of “Israel”, while ignoring the existence of the Popular Front for the liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), two Marxist-Leninist Palestinian parties who are actively engaging the zionist entity for the liberation of the Palestinian people, as I write this. This shameless opportunism, this cowering in self-assured defeat despite victory on the horizon, exposes the leadership of such parties as charlatans and frauds, and indeed as anti-communists.
The people of the world must not ignore the cry of the Palestinian resistance. The PFLP has called us to action.
In a statement released October 31st, 2023, the PFLP issued a call to action to us, the people of the wider world. For those of us who are truly committed to the progressive cause, to the fight — and it will be a fight — for liberation, this call isn’t a suggestion. We must interpret them as orders. The actions are as follows:
1. To expel the ambassadors of aggression (“Israeli” ambassadors)
2. To stop the flow of oil and gas through Arab nations into “Israel”
3. To close the American military bases in Arab countries
4. For workers unions across the world to refuse to unload or load any weapons shipments destined for the zionist entity.
To the first point, we have our orders.
To the second point, we have our orders.
To the third point, we have our orders.
To the fourth point, we have our orders.
The Palestinian people are bleeding to free themselves. From the Mau Mau in Kenya to the African Slaves in Haiti, the African National Congress in South Africa, or the Republicans in Ireland — we find constant examples of righteous struggles. And when we read about them, we tell ourselves that if we had been there in those times, we too would have fought, given aid, ensured their victory. It’s easy to declare that after the fact, but it’s much harder to do it in the present. Well, we have our chance now. We can stand with the Palestinian people as they fight for their liberation against a settler colonial, genocidal, apartheid state, or we can sit by and do nothing. We have our orders.
We must apply constant pressure to our governments, we cannot give any ground, we cannot forget about this. We must apply pressure until the zionist entity’s ambassadors have been expelled from all nations around the globe. So far, Colombia and Bolivia are leading the charge on this issue. We must follow where they lead. We have our orders.
The Arab nations must follow the examples of organisations such as Ansar Allah and Hezbollah who have shown no meek capitulation, and rally behind the Palestinian people against the self-serving coloniser. They must cut off all oil and gas to “Israel”. Already in Iraq, protests have been blocking fuel trucks from entering into Jordan where they’d later be delivered to “Israel”. There can be no excuses. We have our orders.
The anti-imperialist/communist organisations and parties must continue their work unflinchingly. Imperialism is the primary contradiction in the world today, with America being the dominant imperialist power. The zionist entity is the frontline of American imperialism. They must fall. We have our orders.
The trade unions throughout the world, particularly in the nations that constitute the allies of “Israel”, must not load or unload any weapons shipments to the zionist entity. Trade unions in Belgium are already doing their part, we must do ours. In 2021, Italian port workers also refused to load weapons destined for “Israel”. In the past, British trade unions refused to work in factories that were making engine parts for the planes of Pinochet’s fascist government in Chile. We must repeat this. It is a proud moment in British trade union history, and ours will be a badge of dignity as well. We have our orders.
We must persevere. Our job is easy; the Palestinians have it harder, but they have not given up for over 70 years. We should aspire to be half as brave as they are. We must not be stagnated by despair, indecision, or fear. We have our orders.
We will not do nothing. We will not accept half-measures.
We have our orders, friends. Let’s carry them out.
