[fse-esf] Once again on Gaza

[Dave Stockton]

Dear comrades, 
 
The situation is getting harder for the 1.5 million inhabitants of the Gaza
Strip by the day. Two thirds of them already live below the poverty line.
The United Nations estimates that they could start running out of flour,
rice, edible oil as well as heating oil and other essentials within the next
2-4 weeks. The Israeli spokesperson who talked of "putting them on a diet"
clearly meant a starvation diet.
 
Recently, Veronique Taveau, of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), said "The
blockade of crossing points has made bringing in aid almost impossible.
Medical stocks are reaching the critical level."
 
At the same time, Israel tanks and armoured bulldozers continue to make
incursions into the Strip. Apache helicopters and jets attack it from the
air. At least 12 people have been killed just in the last few days.
 
It is the absolute duty of all the organisations and individuals associated
with the European Social Forum to come to the aid of the people of Gaza.
This has to be done not only by continuing to try to send aid - which will
have to challenge or run the Israeli blockade ­ but by forcing our
governments to abandon support for this blockade. Israel is certainly in the
front line in enforcing the siege of Gaza but those who allow it to do so,
indeed encourage it, sit in the capitals of Europe as well as in Washington.
 
For us in the European Social Forum, the main enemy of the Palestinian
people is in our home countries, our governments. We have to take action to
force them to stop their genocidal policy of overthrowing the (legitimate)
Hamas government by starving and terrorising the people of Gaza.
 
At the very least, the ESF, the antiwar movements in every country, the
trade unions, the social movements, etc. must call a massive day (or days)
of demonstrations to alert the world to what is going on. It is not enough
to leave it to the various Palestinian solidarity organisations, important
as these are and praiseworthy as are their efforts
 
It was because of the extreme urgency of the situation that I proposed such
action in my mailing of June 19.  I have to say that, the very positive
response on this list from the Greek ESF comrades, on June 20 and 22, and
the planned solidarity rally on 12th July in Austria, have not yet been
matched by other countries or, at least, if they have taken any action, they
have not reported it.
 
Britain, with its powerful antiwar movement, should be in the lead of such
calls for action. Alas it is not. I myself talked to Chris Nineham, an
officer of the UK Stop the War Coalition,  before the demonstration at the
Labour Party special conference in Manchester, and asked him what StW was
doing about Gaza. He replied "nothing" because this was ³an issue for the
Palestine Solidarity Campaign². I pointed out that the PSC covered a much
smaller range of organisations and individuals than StW and that the latter
had taken up matters related to Palestine before. He then gave as a reason
for StW¹s inaction that "many people are confused over Gaza.³ I replied that
it was our duty to "unconfuse" people by mobilising those who do understand
what is happening, just as StW had exposed the deliberately confusing
propaganda of Blair and Co about the Iraq war. However, Chris was
unconvinced. I will add that Workers Power (UK section of the League for the
Fifth International) has raised this formally with StW but received no
answer as yet.
 
 
This is, in my opinion, a very wrong and irresponsible attitude. Chris, as
is well known, is a leading member of the SWP(IST). To their great credit,
their paper Socialist Worker, has come out clearly on the side of Gaza and
Hamas against the Israeli/US/EU blockade. So why, given their enormous
organising role within StW, and the likely sympathy of the Muslim Community
in the UK, which also make a up a major part of the mass antiwar movement,
are they so hesitant? The truth is that they are afraid of the divisions
that raising this issue would cause within StW.
 
Let us speak plainly. The problem is not people¹s confusion. It is the
political differences between the major components of StW. The Communist
Party of Britain, and its associated paper the Morning Star, side with
Mahmoud Abbas and, therefore, presumably would oppose StW doing anything
about breaking the Gaza blockade. Might I hazard a guess that the silence of
other campaigns internationally is due to similar "confusion", i.e the
influence of certain CPs and Fatah? The answer to these differences is not
to hush them up but to confront the arguments behind them. After all, if a
part of "our movement" is siding with imperialism and Zionism it is time to
expose and confront it. And anyway,  at least those who agree on protesting
against the Gaza blockade should unite NOW in action and organize a protest
campaign instead of waiting for the ³confused².
 
This is not "dividing our forces." Forces that are united only in inaction
are of no use to anyone. Better that those who do agree to take action go
forward. Besides, I do not believe for a minute that the real forces on the
streets, amongst the overwhelming majority of activists, are in any real
confusion about taking mass action to break the blockade of Gaza. What they
are waiting for is leadership.
 
No one is asking anyone to endorse Hamas¹ politics, or its recent actions,
in order to do so. What we are asking is for everyone to take action to
prevent Israel and its imperialist allies from succeeding in crushing
resistance in Gaza and going on to impose its "two state"
(Bantustan/apartheid) solution. Since the cause of the Palestinians is a
vital part of the worldwide struggle against imperialism, to let that happen
would be a defeat for all of us. It must not, and it will not, happen.
 
I hope this note will provoke a response. If people come forward to say they
are in fact launching a real mass international campaign that will be
excellent ­ but let¹s try to coordinate it internationally and give it the
maximum publicity. 

I repeat that we should all support the actions on July 12 but that is a
Thursday and we must also set a date for mass action and a plan for ongoing
direct action against our governments. I have no doubt that the evidence of
the suffering in Gaza due to blockade and continued brutal attacks by Israel
will eventually make silence and inaction impossible but why wait for that?
It is not only unprincipled, it is inhuman, to do so.
 
 
Dave Stockton 
International Secretary, League for the Fifth International