Monday, May 31, 2010

Viva! Viva! Palestina!

Viva! Viva! Palestina!

by Annie Fox and Ray Phillips

With only a few hours notice and planning, and this uniquely Miami chant, more than one hundred South Floridians came together in downtown Miami, across from the Israeli Consulate, to condemn the Israeli attack on peaceful protesters bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza. Participants came from as far away as Tampa, 250 miles away. We were Palestinian, Jewish, and Turkish; Black, Brown and White; young and old; women and men. All came together in solidarity with the people of Gaza, the people of Palestine, to demand that Obama condemn Israel's violent violation of international law, her "State Piracy." With "Not one penny! Not one dime! No more money for Israel's crimes!" the crowd demanded an end to U.S. aid to Israel, aid that is used to take land from the Palestinian people, to demolish their homes, to isolate them from the outside world, to drive them into poverty, to disposes them, to deprive them of basic human and political rights. Chanting "From Iraq to Palestine, occupation is a crime," protesters damned the U.S. role in the Middle East in perpetrating and funding imperialism, even genocide. "Gaza, Gaza, don't you cry. Palestine will never die!" lauded and affirmed the determination and fortitude of the Palestinian people in the face of repeated attacks, an inhuman blockade, and decades of repression by the Israeli state. With "No justice? No peace!" all sang their unity with the Palestinian people.