Email this article
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 28, 2000
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------Lessons of the Palestinian Intifada
From a talk by Sara Flounders at the Dec. 2-3 Workers World Party conference.
The revolutionary upheaval in Palestine holds rich lessons for a revolutionary workers' party in the United States.
It's when the masses are in motion that we can see their explosive potential to break through the most formidable odds, to change the balance of forces and ultimately to change history.
In every corner of the globe, imperialism talks of "maintaining peace." Its troops are called "peacekeepers." Its representatives speak of reaching a "peaceful solution." All the while they display their overwhelming military capacity.
The "peaceful" status quo of capitalist exploitation and corporate globalization is enforced through intimidation. This is true whether it's U.S. aircraft carriers ominously refueling in Yemen, Israeli tanks positioned at a crossroads in Ramallah, or New York cops arrayed in force in the oppressed communities.
What is always hidden from oppressed people is an understanding of their own power.
When we look at the new Palestinian Intifada, we gain an understanding of the power of the mass movement, even for a population totally surrounded and almost entirely unarmed.
Israel has vast superiority in weapons, technology and economic domination of every aspect of life. But its position is based entirely on the role assigned to it in the region by U.S. imperialism. Israel could not exist for one day without billions of U.S. dollars, military equipment and economic subsidies.
This is a struggle between oppressor and oppressed, between occupier and occupied. The corporate mass media presents the Palestinians as the terrorists, not the Israeli military that is bombing civilians. It is essential to resist the media frenzy.
The media have done everything to confuse, distort and hide the U.S. role. Young activists haven't been through the struggles and debates of past years. We have to go back to basics and explain imperialist interests in the Middle East, the role of Zionism, and the oppressed and colonized position of the Palestinian people.
Workers World Party supports the right of the Palestinian people to resist and to defend themselves by any and every means possible. Rocks, stones, strikes, guerrilla warfare, placing bombs, taking hostages or using conventional weapons-- we support their right to resist by any means necessary.
Weapons alone do not decide the balance in war. The struggle is decided by morale, by the level of popular support and political consciousness.
Today it's Israel that is facing a crisis of morale. Political divisions are tearing the settler state apart. The escalating brutality is demoralizing many, while the Palestinian movement is more united than it has been in a decade.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)HOME :: U.S. NEWS :: WORLD NEWS :: EDITORIALS :: SUBSCRIBE :: DONATE