Protesters rally for Palestine, Mahmoud, free speech

Presenter: Israel resumed bombing in Gaza, and groups in Eugene immediately organized a protest rally. On March 18, from the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Rob Fisette:

Rob Fisette (PSL Eugene): Thanks everyone for coming on such short notice. I know that none of us want to be here today, but we all saw what was happening yesterday, last night, and we knew that we needed to show up and reassert that the movement for Palestine is alive and is not going anywhere until Palestine is free.

[00:00:36] Is the Trump administration bringing us peace? (No!) Does Donald Trump care about human rights? (No!) Do the billionaires care about slaughtered children? (No!) Do they care about our children? (No!)

[00:00:51] They’re actually actively trying to change the form of government that we have. They’re trying to roll back our civil rights, our social rights to before the 1960s, to before the 1930s.

[00:01:04] And they do it with the mask off. They say, ‘We want to turn Gaza into a series of resorts.’ They do away with this human rights language, this democracy language. It’s the mask off—he’s too lazy and arrogant to do those things.

[00:01:20] The Democratic Party will claim that they’re for women’s rights, they’re for LGBTQ rights, they’re for the climate more than them. But they won’t even claim that they’re for Palestine. They cannot. Gaza exposes the lies.

[00:01:39] When Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by ICE, taken to Louisiana, some Congressional Democrats circulated a letter saying we condemn this. There were 14—14 signatories to that letter. Gaza exposes the lies. Gaza is where the lies go to die.

[00:02:01] Here in Eugene, we have a liberal institution of our own. We had students of our own exercising their right to free speech in the encampment in the spring. And the institution, the U of O administration is, I would say, probably as arrogant as Donald Trump, but not as lazy, not quite as lazy.

[00:02:26] So they came after students speaking out for Palestine with the threat of expulsion, with the threat of suspension. If you’re an international student at the University of Oregon and you’re threatened with expulsion, they’re threatening you with deportation as well. They’re using the border as a weapon as well.

[00:02:48] Gaza exposes all of the lies. It exposes the lies of the liberal institutions as well as the conservative institutions. It exposes the lies of U.S. imperialism because they can’t even bring themselves to lie and say, ‘We believe in human rights for Palestinians.’

[00:03:05] For us here in the United States, that’s why the issue of Gaza can never go away. The issue of Palestine can never go away. It is the primary exposer of these liberal institutions and of their lies.

[00:03:25] Phia Dornberg (SJP UO): Hello, my name is Phia. I am an SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) organizer and an undergraduate at the University of Oregon. My grandma is Palestinian from Jerusalem Al-Quds. I want to tell you a little bit about my friend Tala, who lives in Gaza City.

When I saw that Israel had unilaterally ended the cease-fire and began bombing again, particularly in Gaza City, I texted her and asked her how she was, to check in on her family. She’s got a niece with a cleft palate that they’ve been trying to raise money for so that she can get the aid that she needs that isn’t available in Gaza. And as horrible as the situation is there, she still finds a way to see how lucky she is.

[00:04:09] In the city there aren’t occupation soldiers as much as there is the worry of starvation or freezing. So when I texted her about this latest siege and she told me that she had lost her aunt and her aunt’s entire family in the bombing overnight, I didn’t know what to say, knowing that it was our administration that likely gave the go-ahead for this massacre, that hundreds have died, mostly children.

[00:04:46] I didn’t know what else to do other than to text my friends that are organizing this and ask if I could bring her story to you all so that we could all have her in our thoughts. And when I asked if there was anything that she wanted me to say for you all, she gave me a poem, ‘We are not numbers.’ Her name is Tala Herzallah. And she is a beautiful poet and I really recommend you guys go and read her work.

[00:05:11] Shachar Efrati: Hi everybody. I’m Shachar. I’m grateful to be here, and I’m a poet. This one I wrote in honor of Mahmoud Khalil, and of all those standing against oppression.

[00:05:28] …Dear Mahmoud, hunted by fascists your whole life, an accidental freedom fighter. I wish the world were not so cruel and racist, so powerful, and so utterly depraved and weak. I wish you didn’t have to leave your beloved Syria. But when dealing with the dregs of humanity, we find ourselves fighting for justice against ICE, against Zionist cowards who hide behind bureaucracy and corrupt laws. We must stand tall.

[00:06:12] We must be counted and be bold. For if truth be told, what’s to stop ICE from tearing through our community, snatching up our comrades? What’s to stop them from snatching you? Or me? One word. Unity. Let that word be our shield. The power you yield with it can change worlds, can free the bludgeoning prisons, can smash the fascist state and its heartless lackeys.

[00:06:49] Remember the fight to dismantle Zionism has been raging for more than 70 years and we may not see its demise with our eyes, remember Hind (Rajab) was shot 364 times. Remember the tortured doctors and babies left to die in unplugged incubators. Burn for this nightmare to end, to free your friend who spoke truth to power, who chose not to cower in fear, not to hide or disappear, not to despair, but with his whole chest to care against a grotesque foe who has no low, a depraved goon whose demise cannot come too soon.

[00:07:49] So when the anvil of injustice smashes through our towns, grab a brick, don’t take a pick, and throw it at the prisons where all prisoners are political. Free Mahmoud Khalil. Free them all. Free Palestine.

[00:08:23] Emily Beatty (GTFF): My name’s Emily. I use they/them pronouns. I’m with the GTFF (Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation). I came up here because I’ve learned over the last few years organizing with my union how important it is to have an actionable group that can help you connect to these struggles to something more and feel like you’re building something and not just reacting.

[00:08:41] And recently, a couple of organizers from my union, we’ve come together and we’ve started to work together to reconnect the labor community here in Eugene. And this feels like a really important project right now.

[00:08:54] One, because labor unions are an already existing body that we can use to struggle against oppression. And can use our resources and our tactics that we have to fight back. Our unions are a key place where we can organize and where we can actually produce the worlds that we want to see and where we can productively work for that.

[00:09:14] So if you’re interested in coming to a labor strategy meeting to talk about how to get the Eugene labor community connected and active again, beyond the struggle for Palestine, but connecting the struggles to protect immigrants and international students and international workers, and to connect the fight for queer rights and trans rights and all of these other struggles that we’re involved in, please come and talk to me. We’ve got some meetings scheduled at the end of this month and the first week of April, and I would love to have you there.

[00:09:43] Kamryn Stringfield (PSL Eugene): So my name is Kamryn Stringfield. I’m with the Party for Socialism and Liberation here in Eugene…

The Trump administration is recklessly raging war abroad, from hitting Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, for Yemen standing up for Palestinians against the Zionists in Israel; to directing the military to draw up plans for an imminent invasion of Panama to seize the Panama Canal, which would mark a major escalation in Central America and ultimately result in the same migration that he is scapegoating and targeting with deportation and violence.

[00:10:23] Trump is vocally threatening outright invasions, annexations, ethnic cleansing, and more, all over the globe while supporting the most far-right, racist, fascistic forces worldwide.

[00:10:40] Meanwhile, the Trump administration is waging war at home, the illegal abductions of Mahmud Khalil, and now Leqaa Kordia by ICE, are a declaration of war by the Trump administration on one of our most fundamental rights, the freedom of speech. (That’s right!) By targeting Mahmoud and Leqaa, they are targeting everyone who has taken part in the massive grassroots movement for Palestine.

[00:11:11] Protesting genocide is not a crime. Raising your voice, marching in these streets, setting up an encampment is not criminal. The real criminals are leaders of Israel and the U.S. war machine. And this is something that’s recognized around the world.

If Trump can get away with this massive violation of Mahmoud and Leqaa’s rights, then who’s next? Will he decide that union organizers speaking out against corporate greed are criminals? Will he say that people protesting to save the environment are terrorists? This is the decisive moment when we need to take a stand before it’s too late.

[00:11:58] Presenter: The Party for Socialism and Liberation joins Students for Justice in Palestine and the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation to start building a broad opposition movement, as the president of the United States speaks openly about military conquest.

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See the complete rally on Todd Boyle’s YouTube channel.

The Genocide Rages On

By Shachar Efrati 

Crushed babies,
Dogs with rabies,
Scavengers among the rubble,
Too grotesque to describe,
How many bribes
Did it take to flatten Gaza?
How does the stench of death
Feel in a mother’s nose?
Are her cries too piercing to hear?
What’s not clear?!
And as she mourns her son who
Picked up a rifle to defend her tears,
What’s not clear?!
Becomes destined to be the source of her pride and agony.
Extermination nation,
Genocide countryside,
Bear witness,
Seethe in the open air my dears,
For their greatest fear
Is our unity in guillotines,
Our understanding that nothing justifies
The wholesale slaughter of babies,
That there is a price,
Paid sooner than later.
Buried now,
How
Many
More
Beneath the resistance 
Feeding resilience and rage,
Beyond age,
Late stage cannibalism,
I saw Hind Rajab.
And a world
Of demons,
Of buffoons and butchery,
Bloated bodies,
Alive and unalived,
Hive mind,
Where is our spear?
Where OUR scales of justice?
Where our love for all?
DA dead give away,
But we are standing under the empire,
Don’t worry who’s sticking their bones in the wheels,
Throw your weight into dismantling this tormenting tyranny of oppression
Because 
This.
S—.
Ain’t over. 
Organize while you eulogize.
Eulogize while you organize.
Those are our choices,
And our voices of defiance
Kicking dirt into the eyes of empire
Are a balm to the brutality.
You didn’t think it’d stay beyond the Atlantic?
It’s coming home
And I’m scared s—less for all the babies
Because I’ve seen what they’re capable of,
My love,
We must kiss our darlings nonstop, 
For it has to be love that binds us together, 
Not history, nor tear drops,
The thing zionists covet,
Sincere warmth, empathy,
A determination to face reality,
To pick away at the walls, the shrapnel, 
The pain, and fill it with gauze and samoud.

The Accidental Heroism of Mahmoud Khalil 

By Shachar Efrati 

I have no words,

But somehow i must conjure the ghosts

Of past revolutions, of martyrs blessed, 

That I am not alone,

That we are not alone,

That history shows solidarity 

Is never a lost battle,

Never a wasted breath.

What is displacement,

What is death,

What is courage

In the face of a fascist state?

What are we but the masses

Seething for justice,

Not just for you dear Mahmoud,

We have not forgotten the flame 

Of Hind Rajab,

Nor the spear of Sinwar,

Nor that Palestinian youth who

Beat his bloodied chest and proclaimed

For all the world to hear:

“We are the champions,

We are Gaza!

Gaza is this small, and the world can not defeat it!”

Dear Mahmoud,

Hunted by fascists your whole life,

An accidental freedom fighter,

I wish the world were not so cruel,

And racists so powerful

And so utterly depraved and weak,

I wish you didn’t have to leave your beloved Syria,

But when, dealing with the dregs of humanity 

We find ourselves fighting for justice,

Against ICE,

Against zionist cowards who hide behind bureaucracy and corrupt laws, 

we must stand tall,

We must be counted and be bold,

For if truth be told,

What’s to stop ICE from tearing through

Our community, snatching up our comrades,

What’s to stop them from from snatching you?

Or me?

One word: unity!!

Say it with me – unity!!

Let that word be our shield,

The power you yield with it

Can change worlds,

Can free the bludgeoning prisons,

Can smash the fascist state and its heartless lackies.

Remember,

The fight to dismantle zionism

Has been raging for more than 70 years,

And we may not see its demise with our eyes,

But the struggle to liberate Turtle Island and Palestine carries on like a tornado that silently gathers force. May we perceive the gravity of this moment and gather courage from one another. 

Bring dear Mahmoud Khalil home to be with his 8 months pregnant wife.

From the river to the sea – Palestine will be free!

And when they come for us,

Don’t film it.

Burn for justice,

Remember Hind was shot 364 times.

Remember the tortured doctors and babies left to die in unplugged incubators. 

Burn for this nightmare to end,

To free your friend,

Who spoke truth to power,

Who chose not to cower in fear,

Not to hide or disappear, 

Not to despair

But with his whole chest to care

Against a grotesque foe,

Who has no low,

A depraved goon

Whose demise can not come too soon. 

So when the anvil of injustice

Smashes through our town,

Grab a brick

Before you take a pic.

And throw it at the prisons

Where all prisoners are political.

Free Mahmoud Khalil!

Free them all!

Free Palestine!