By the Labor Fightback Network

The Labor Fightback Network condemns the Israeli military blockade and recent attacks on Gaza. We stand in solidarity with protestors across the globe who demand: “Stop the Massacre of the Palestinian People!”

We condemn the U.S. political and financial support to the State of Israel — $3.8 billion per year in armaments alone. On May 18, the very same day he called for an end to the cease-fire in Gaza, President Joe Biden approved a $735 million sale of precision-guided weapons to Israel, according to the Washington Post. We demand: “End All Aid to Apartheid Israel!”

We further reject the forced evictions and expanding Jewish-only settlements throughout Jerusalem and the West Bank.

We denounce Israel’s continued campaign of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians that has taken place over the past 73 years, ever since Israel was created by a United Nations resolution. At that time, indigenous Palestinians were forcibly evicted from their homes and villages, and a colonial-settler State was established. Palestinian homeowners were promised that they could return to their homes after the 1947-1948 massacres by Zionist Jewish terrorist paramilitary forces — Haganah, Irgun, Lehi — were completed. Palestinians in Occupied Palestine, in refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, and in the Diaspora are still holding the keys to their stolen homes.

We stand in solidarity with the broad array of trade union, political, and community organizations which, across all of Palestine, organized the May 18 general strike — a strike that was called “historic” by Vera Baboun, former mayor of Bethlehem and member of the Palestine National Council. “The May 18 strike,” she said, “showed our unity as Palestinians. It was a protest of our dignity that shines the light on 73 years of violations to our people’s rights in the Occupied Territories and in the 1948 areas.” (Arab News)

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The Labor Fightback Network further denounces U.S. support to the Colombian government’s repression and violence against the Colombian people. Last month, Colombian President Ivan Duque proposed a tax reform law that would force poor and other working-class people to bear the cost of Colombia’s economic downturn. Major labor unions called for a general strike, and the people joined. Protests erupted throughout Colombia. After May Day’s largest turnouts, the president backed down and pulled the pending tax reform that would have increased tax on food, fuel, and public services — and cut pensions while granting millions in resources to big business.

Protests continue as the nation faces poverty, a health crisis worsened by the mishandling of the pandemic, repression of student and union leaders, para-militarization, and job insecurity. In recent protests 37 people were killed by police; 471 people are missing, and thousands have been arrested arbitrarily.

The U.S. government collaborates with the Colombian government to fund a failed War on Drugs and to train death squads at U.S. Fort Benning, GA (formerly known as the School of the Americas) to repress labor unions. At least 20 trade unionists were murdered in 2020, and at least four this year. According to research of Colombia’s National Trade Union School, 3,240 trade unionists were murdered between 1971 and 2018.

U.S. militarism and repression are global, and so are the people’s uprisings. The U.S. government is funding wars massacres and repression from Colombia to Palestine. When labor, community, and coalitions organize to fight back, the U.S. deploys military “assistance,” training, and weapons to the governments responsible for suppressing the resistance.

IN PALESTINE:

The LFN calls on the Biden administration to demand an immediate halt to the Israeli military assault on Gaza; and Congress to end all aid to Israel. The Biden administration must further insist that Israel halt all forced evictions of Palestinians; end construction of Jewish-only housing settlements in East Jerusalem and throughout Occupied Palestine. We further demand that Instagram and all social media end censorship of Palestinian solidarity posts and publicly acknowledge and account for discriminatory censorship.

IN COLOMBIA:

The LFN calls on the U.S. Congress to shut down the death-squad training camp at Fort Benning, Ga. The LFN calls on the Duque government to (1) end the brutal repression of the national strike, (2) guarantee the right to peaceful assembly and protest, and (3) investigate all reports of violence against demonstrators by security personnel and address any violations of human rights. Send a message to the Colombian, U.S., and international authorities to demand an end to the state terrorism being perpetrated against the Colombian people!: https://afgj.salsalabs.org/colombiadesperatelyneedsyoursolidaritystopthemassacre/index.html

We stand with Colombia, Palestine, and all oppressed people!