Palestine solidarity: Perspectives and debates

An unforeseen development

Let’s imagine that there had been a meeting of Marxists, discussing the Middle East, on October 6, the day before the Hamas attack. Let’s further imagine that someone asked the meeting what it thought the results would be if Hamas were to launch a major attack on Israel that would kill hundreds? Our comrades would probably have come up with some fairly solid predictions:

Israel would take advantage of this situation to further its long term goal of finishing the Nakba, of expelling all Palestinians “from the river to the sea”.
Israel’s response would result in massive destruction inside of Gaza, a real exemplar of racist barbarism.
Given the urban nature of Gaza and Hamas’s organizational strength, the war would be long and bloody.
The US might seek to moderate the Israeli response to maintain regional stability. But, when all was said and done, Washington would be a firm backer of Israeli actions.
A large terrorist operation inside of Israel would move the Israeli political situation to the right.
Finally, the Arab and Iranian ruling classes would not act firmly in defense of the Palestinians.

All these prognoses would have been pretty easy to make. What our imaginary comrades probably would not have predicted was the large series of Palestine solidarity demonstrations that have taken place across the world. They are an unforeseen development that Marxists now need to assess and explain. The aim of this article is to contribute to a discussion of this new movement.

Why have the Palestinian marches been so large and successful?

There are four main reasons why the new solidarity movement has grown so rapidly.

A means of combating the growth of racism and the right

Across the world, the right and far-right have been growing rapidly. Trump is the frontrunner in next year’s US elections. Geert Wilders recently won the Dutch elections. Marine LePen is doing well in the French polls. Giorgia Meloni runs the Palazzo Chigi. The victory of Javier Milei in the Argentine elections is a clear example of this process. Anti-immigrant racism runs rampant in Europe.

Thousands of young people hate this overall situation. In particular, they want to proclaim multiculturalism and anti-racism. However, up until now, they have lacked a vehicle for asserting themselves. These young people have found the Palestinian demonstrations to be their means of asserting their opposition to the general rise of the right. This is particularly the case in Europe. In a similar way, demonstrations against the Vietnam War were about much more than just the war itself. They were manifestations of the broader youth radicalization of the late 1960s.

Palestinian organizations provided a rallying point

The Palestinian community provided an organizational framework for the demonstrators to follow. People often feel strongly about an issue. They would like to go to a demonstration or take some other action to make their feelings known. They would like to do something in the real world, not the Internet. But as isolated individuals how do they even begin to go about doing this? Someone has to take the initiative to call people together. If there’s going to be a demonstration, someone’s got to set up the route, get a sound system, organize marshals, etc. This is where the Palestinian community’s organizational heft comes in. These organizations have a great deal of experience in getting speakers, making placards, making the necessary legal preparations, and all of the thousand and one tasks that are required for a demonstration to come off successfully. The young people who wish to do something about the situation in Palestine now have a means to do so. They have a time and place to make their opinions known. They know they will be protected by experienced marshals. They know that all the banners, placards, and bullhorns will be ready so that the demonstration will be a success. Importantly, they know that Jewish people, the LGBT+ community, feminists, and the left will be welcomed. The Palestinian exile organizations have been able to galvanize the new movement around them.

First genocide in real time

We all know the enduring images of the Vietnam war: the naked child covered in napalm running with her brothers and sisters; the police officer executing a prisoner with his pistol.

Today, you just have to turn on the TV or open a newspaper to see a thousand such images of Palestinian suffering. “It’s the first genocide in real time” a young Palestinian said to me at a recent Chicago demonstration. She was absolutely right, the striking images of Gazan refugees and IDF destruction have outraged thousands and sent them into the streets. You can see this by the scores of homemade placards and the many small groups of friends who have come down together to the demonstrations. This type of participation shows that we are witnessing the birth of a real mass movement.

The BDS movement had already laid the foundations

The new movement did not start from scratch. The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction movement, the Jewish Voice for Peace, and student groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine have been working on this issue for years. They have educated thousands about the realities of Israeli policy and brought together activists. This meant that Palestine was not a new issue for many young people. So when the situation exploded with the Israeli invasion of Gaza, there were already people used to being active on this issue. A lot of the necessary preparatory educational work had already been done. Activists were in place to take action in the new situation where demonstrations would attract far greater numbers than in the past.

There’s a broader lesson to be learned here. It’s necessary to stay active, even in times when we don’t get a large response. Our work may not receive a great deal of support today. But the education, organization, and experience gained during the lean period is indispensable when the objective situation opens up. The previous work of the BDS and student movements meant that the movement did not have to start from scratch when the Israeli invasion began.

Debates in the movement: Cease-fire or solidarity?

Some activists have argued that our objective should be a cease-fire movement uniting all those who wish the fighting to end, even if all the participants do not necessarily side with the Palestinians. These activists further argue that it is sectarian and would isolate us if we seek to build the movement explicitly on the basis of support for Palestine. This is a serious argument that’s worth looking at. During the Vietnam war, we saw two somewhat different types of movements. In this country, we had an antiwar movement that focused on the immediate withdrawal of US troops. This movement included large numbers who did not support the victory of the NLF. In Western Europe, there was a solidarity movement that did not just oppose US intervention, but supported the slogan, “Victory to the NLF!”

The militants who favor focusing on the cease-fire slogan base themselves on the premise that more forces can be brought into the streets for a cease-fire than can be mobilized explicitly for solidarity with Palestine. A larger movement could bring more pressure to bear upon the Biden administration to stop its support for the Israeli offensive.

In my opinion, this formula does not work when applied to the current situation in the United States. There are more forces active in explicit support of the Palestinians than there are active solely on the cease-fire issue. The broad movement is already a solidarity movement. At the current time, there are not large forces who would mobilize for a cease-fire but would not mobilize for a Palestinian victory. Since this is the case, the premise of those who think that we should focus primarily on the cease-fire slogan collapses. Of course, even though they are not as numerous as the solidarity activists, there are organizations who solely wish to work towards a cease-fire. The solidarity movement should continue its approach of friendly collaboration with these groups.

Far from being isolated from and being outside the mass movement, solidarity activists are the mass movement. The movement is right to continue to be a solidarity movement.

Revolutionaries in the solidarity movement

Revolutionary socialists have distinctive political positions inside of the broader Palestine solidarity movement. For example, we are sharply critical of Hamas, and we advocate a united socialist Middle East. We obviously wish to discuss these ideas with our brothers and sisters in the demonstrations. However, we can only do this if we are taken seriously by our fellow activists. We can only do this if we are seen as steady and reliable militants in the movement. If we have earned our credibility, then we can find an audience for our views.

This idea of discussion as participants in the movement is greatly aided by the very tolerant atmosphere of the demonstrations. Two recent examples from Chicago bear this point out. At one of the recent demonstrations, the Revolutionary Communist Party carried a banner explicitly attacking Hamas. They were completely unaccosted and free to do as they wished. At every demonstration comrades of the Trotskyist group Socialist Revolution sell their publications which contain attacks on Hamas and explain the need to have an orientation towards the Israeli proletariat. They faced no problems whatsoever as they passed through the crowd.

The current wave of Palestinian solidarity demonstrations is the biggest opportunity for rebuilding the revolutionary left in years. It’s no secret that the past decades have been cruel ones for the revolutionary left. Our organizations have divided and shrunk. The dissolution of the International Socialist Organization in this country and the bitter split of the New Anticapitalist Party in France are only the best known examples of our retreat.

Today, we are able to do something to end this rout. There is a large new movement of young people that shares many of our basic ideas: internationalism, hostility to the Democratic Party, mass action, the role of women as leaders of the movement, and a commitment to united front activity. In turning to this movement, revolutionaries can reenergize and renew our organizations and militants. It’s rarely been so easy to answer the question, “What is to be done?”