Any Decolonial Struggle must be a Struggle to Free Palestine

We stand in deep and full solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Our support for their liberation is unwavering. We demand:

1. End the settler colonial, zionist occupation of Palestine.
2. End the ongoing, brutal genocide in Gaza.
3. End the 75 years of ethnic cleansing and systematic expulsion of Palestinians.
4. End the complicity of Western states; an immediate global military embargo.
5. End the systemic erasure and dilution of Palestinian voices and narratives from Western media, arts and cultural spaces.

Free Palestine now!

The Colonial Violence Rooted in the Creation of Israel:

In the aftermath of WW1, colonial negotiators from Britain and France divided the South West Asian region to secure European control. France took Lebanon and Syria, Britain took Iraq and Transjordan. Palestine was ‘placed under’ British colonial and military rule, later becoming an official British mandate.This was a deep betrayal as the British and French had supported the Arab resistance fighters to overthrow the Ottoman Empire, and promised to support an independent Arab state after the war.When the ‘Balfour Declaration’ (1917) was created by Britain, it granted a national homeland for Jews in Palestine, where 90% of the population were Palestinian. This began a century of Palestinian dispossession by successive waves of European settlers.Palestinian workers and the wider resistance movement fiercely fought against this in the Great Palestinian Revolt, demanding Arab Independence and an end to open ended immigration and land purchases.In 1947, the UN voted to partition Palestine into two states– one Jewish, one Arab – following the atrocities of the Holocaust. 750,000+ Palestinians from a 1.9 million population were made refugees, and were banned from returning. Zionist forces took 78% Palestinian land, destroyed 530 villages and cities, and killed over 15,000 Palestinians in a series of mass atrocities, including more than 70 massacres. This is called the Nakba, and its violence is ongoing and continues today.Palestinians have consistently resisted these ongoing atrocities through the Palestinian Fedayeen, the First Intifada, the Second Intifada and more.Both, the British government and the UN are yet to take responsibility for the crimes of 1948 and Britain’s colonial mandate, which facilitated the decades of brutality against Palestinians and the ongoing genocide culminating in what we see today.

We hold the Zionist occupation, Netanyahu’s government and complicit Western states responsible:  

• For decades of daily oppression, occupation and inhumane colonial violence exercised indiscriminately against Palestinians.
• For the suppression of accurate media reporting on the violence in Palestine, the intentional spread of misinformation, and the targeted violence against Palestinian and pro-Palestine journalists.
• For Israel’s current military assault and massacre in Gaza and the West Bank.
• For creating and legitimising the world's biggest open-air prison in Gaza.
• For the painful conditions and quality of life Gazan’s and all Palestinians have endured for 75 years.

We fiercely stand against the pledges of ‘unconditional support’ and promises of military and artillery support by Western governments, both before and during the ongoing massacre. We therefore hold states including Germany, the UK and the U.S. responsible for deaths across the region and for the collective punishment exercised by the Israeli government today.

We condemn violence against Palestininains. Our demands:

• End the Israeli forces' incessant and indiscriminate bombardment of the Gaza strip.
• End all plans for a ground invasion.
• Internationally mandated safe spaces and passage for all Gazans. Financial and material relief for European countries in Gaza.
• The guaranteed right to return for all Palestinians forced to flee.
• The Israeli government is brought before the International Criminal Court for its war crimes.
• The international community step in to enforce a military embargo on Israel, end the genocide and illegal blockade on Gaza.
• Trade unions and workers continue the global strike to stop arming israel. 

We believe all death and violence committed against Palestinians and Israelis is deeply tragic and a cause for profound grief. We oppose all forms of racism including, anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab racism and racism against Jews. We stand in unequivocal solidarity with anyone experiencing anti-semitism and islamophobia.

We reject the view that criticisms of Israel and anti-zionism equate to anti-semitism. Our support and solidarity with the global jewish community is unwavering. The fight for Palestinian liberation is an anti-colonial, anti-occupation struggle. The recent violence can only be understood in the context of long-standing structural oppression and the need for resistance. The current violence will not stop unless Israel ends its illegal occupation.

We call upon social movements to take a stance and mobilise in support of Palestine.

We understand that the current environment of mass disinformation, state propaganda and biased reporting can be confusing. We call upon the climate movement to recognise the fight for climate justice is inherently bound to the right to live free from violence, dispossession and war. There can be no 'climate justice' without a free Palestine.We call upon social movements in Europe to understand the context of colonial violence in which the current situation emerged and stand with Palestinian people, everywhere. We call on workers and trade unions to pledge practical solidarity to prevent arms being made and shipped to Israel.We call upon social movements to recognise this statement is written with a deep commitment to eliminating racism and anti-semitism, everywhere, for a world without violence, war and colonialism.

‍

Solidarity & Rage

‍WeSmellGas

‍

‍You can also find this statement as an Instargram Post

‍