Perspectives on the Palestine Protests

By David Sole

A huge wave of protests for Palestine has swept across the US in the past months, especially on the campuses of many colleges and universities. It has been seven months since the Palestinian fighters broke out of their Gaza confinement in what is known as the Al-Aqsa Flood. And it has been seven months of massive military retaliation by Israel, supplied by the US, that can only be described as genocide.

The daily descriptions of death, injury, starvation and destruction of entire cities in Gaza are enough to explain why world-wide protests against Zionism and US imperialism have grown in intensity.

What should be noted, however, is that these protests are indicative of a deeper and still developing movement inside the United States. In fact the Palestine protests are only the latest manifestation of a deep discontent with the entire system.

The election of President Barack Obama in 2008 should be viewed as a real protest movement. The electoral arena plays a big role inside the US. The outpouring and enthusiasm for Obama reflected more of the hopes and aspirations of the mass of workers and oppressed people than any real accomplishments of his administration.

Only three years into Obama’s first term of office another, more radical movement swept the country – the “Occupy Wall Street” encampments. The entire focus of the country seemed to shift away from rightwing ideology to the sinister and damaging rule of the “one-percent” of capitalist bankers and bosses. Young people played the leading role as Occupy protesters took over many downtown locations. This movement was later broken up in vicious police attacks apparently coordinated at a national level.

The brutal police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis provoked a huge protest wave that swept the country. The African American victim was killed on May 25, 2020. In record numbers people came out in cities, towns and villages. The demonstrations went on for many months.

Now we are witnessing a huge upsurge inside the United States against US imperialism which created the settler-colonial Zionist state of Israel in 1948 and which has armed and financed 75 years of genocide against the Palestinian people.

These protests superficially may seem to be unrelated. But in fact they represent a deep alienation, especially among the youth, against the system that breeds poverty, racism and war. Looking at the various waves as separate would be to ignore the connection that linked the Civil Rights Movement to the anti-Vietnam War movement which expanded into the women’s rights and LGBTQ+ revolutions.

The capitalist system is exposing itself as the root cause of society’s deepest problems. This system depends on the exploitation of hundreds of millions of workers here at home and around the world. The ruling class depends upon “divide and conquer” tactics to keep the “1%” in power over the “99%.” Racism and police terror are fundamental to this strategy as are suppression of women’s rights. Other aspects are anti-immigrant prejudice and anti-Muslim propaganda. Anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry also plays a part as well as disregard for the rights of people with disabilities.

Low wages and poor working conditions inside the US are combined with anti-union campaigns. The relative rising standard of living for the working class in the 1950s and 1960s has been followed by a steady reduction in the standard of living for most people here at home.

For the capitalist ruling class to maintain its control overseas requires more direct military control. US militarism including covert actions by the CIA are supplemented by more direct open intervention. Rather than use US troops directly, the ruling class prefers to conduct proxy wars – directing other countries to fight anyone who threatens imperialism’s hegemony with their own troops using hundreds of billions of dollars of US armaments.

Israel is one of those willing servants of US imperialism against the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world. Ukraine was also directed into a war with Russia after the CIA-organized 2014 coup in Kiev. Taiwan is being armed against People’s China while economic warfare is currently being escalated.

Discontent and disaffection permeates this entire society, but especially the youth. It is growing more widely and more deeply. It is inevitable that these feelings must find expression, at first in sporadic uprisings. But with each concrete struggle each movement will seek a more profound understanding and a broader coalition of forces.

This may take an electoral direction at first, with a serious break with the two capitalist parties – the Democrats and the Republicans. But it also can become more of a movement in the streets and in the workplaces, especially if the workers inside the unions and among the unorganized majority of workers demand more immediate results.

It is imperative that progressive people encourage and participate in all such actions that promote independent working class rebellion.