United in Struggle

United in Struggle recognizes this historic day, the anniversary of Operation Al Aqsa Flood, which we remember as an important turning point in the Palestinian liberation struggle, a day of historic defeat for Zionism and imperialism and a day of inspiration for all who labour under the boot of colonial and semi-colonial oppression and grinding imperialist exploitation. 

October 7 showed us that despite its much vaunted, U.S. bankrolled military infrastructure, despite its walls and its checkpoints and its drones and bombs and tanks, that Israel, the Zionist outpost of imperialism in West Asia, could be defeated, and soundly, by a numerically small, but highly strategic and coordinated attack of oppressed people fighting for their liberation. The prison walls they built around Gaza were broken, the shadow of Oslo was foisted off for good, and a new era in the struggle for liberation opened. 

But October 7 didn’t only change the equation in the Palestinian struggle for liberation. By its defeat of imperialism, it threw a spotlight on the decline of Anglo-American imperialism, the main enemy of the people of the world, and thus was a beacon for other oppressed and exploited people around the world, a glimpse of the end of this rotten system.

As we look back on this historic victory, it’s important to understand that a victory in the armed struggle does not come out of nowhere.  It is based in more than a century of resistance to colonization and occupation.  It is based in thousands of formal and informal Palestinian institutions that form a web of resistance at all levels and in all sectors of society. It is based on the rich Palestinian tradition of struggle that has generated some of the great revolutionary leaders of the last century.  Most of all it is based on the steadfastness of the Palestinian masses – the workers, farmers, fishers, and the militant youth throughout occupied Palestine, in the refugee camps and in the shatat.  

What we’ve seen over the past year of horrible massacres of Palestinians and Lebanese, of Israeli war crimes committed in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine, in Lebanon, in Yemen, in Syria and in Iran, is the death throws of an increasingly desperate, isolated, criminal project. The genocide that Israel was trying to commit in slow motion in Gaza – through its siege, its periodic bombings and massacres, it’s murderous attacks on all forms of resistance including the Great March of Return – was turned into industrial level mass murder.

And all with the constant support of the Canadian ruling class and political establishment. And what we see here is two different levels. 

At the level of economics, where in this country, unfortunately, the power of the ruling class is largely uncontested, the flows of trade with and investment in Israel, facilitated through the Canada-Israel free trade agreement, continues.  Canadian banks and corporations continue to invest in Israel, including, and especially, investing in and partnering with Israeli corporations that are directly supplying the weapons used in genocide. This unbroken economic relationship shows the true shared interests of the Canadian ruling class, and the ruling classes of the whole Anglo-American imperialist alliance, in the Zionist project, which it sees as fundamental to its interests in West Asia – securing its control over resources, strategic geopolitical positions, and keeping a lid on the ever present potential of the Arab masses rising up and shrugging off a century of foreign domination. 

But at the level of politics, there is an unstated recognition of a real disconnect between the Canadian ruling class’s unwavering support for Israel, and the views of the mass of people in this country, most of whom do not support Zionism, the majority of whom support the Palestinian right of self-determination, and many of whom, like us, explicitly support the Palestinian struggle for national liberation. 

The response of the Canadian political establishment – the major political parties, politicians, pundits and governments across the country – has been ironclad support for Israel on everything that matters, and to try to manage the popular sentiment in solidarity with Palestine through a combination of symbolic but largely meaningless gestures of outrage at the obvious criminal behaviour of Israel (a kind of fake humanitarianism), and by criminalizing and attacking those who express support for the Palestinian right to resist and to struggle for liberation (testing the waters of fascism).  What we haven’t seen is any part of the political establishment seriously put forward measures, like sanctions, that would have a real impact on Israel’s capacity to continue its war crimes.  

So where does that leave us as a solidarity movement, as an anti-imperialist movement, as revolutionaries here in the belly of the beast. What conclusions do we draw from this year of hard lessons and hard struggle? We propose two.

One is that we’ve got to open our eyes to fact that Canadian foreign policy is determined by the interests of the Canadian ruling class, not by how many people show up to a demonstration, or by the popular will of the people, or who we vote for in the next election. 

If we want to be able to change foreign policy, to make it a force for justice and liberation rather than for colonization and imperialism, we need to organize the one force that can truly challenge the economic power of the Canadian ruling class which is the multinational working class of this country. Protest is important for coming together, for showing our solidarity, for not feeling overwhelmed and isolated and defeated.  But if we actually want to change things, we need to be serious about organizing a material force that can make that change, and in this country, the multinational working class is the only social force that can legitimately challenge the Canadian billionaire oligarchy.  Class struggle and socialism are the antidote to capitalist parisitism and its imperialist tentacles stretched across the globe.

Second, we need to have a strategy to win, an analysis of the disposition of forces and a vision of the new world we are fighting for. How can we build the unity of the multinational working class, Indigenous nations and other oppressed people in this country? How are we going to organize real forces for change in our workplaces, communities, schools and neighbourhoods? If we’re not asking, and trying to answer these questions, we’re gonna get stuck at protest, and never reach the level of resistance or revolution. 

On October 7, the Palestinian resistance kindled a beacon of revolutionary spirit.  The continued resistance of Palestinians, across 12 months, and up to this very minute, has kept that spirit alive. It’s on us in the months and years to come to build that spirit into a revolutionary force that can stand alongside the Palestinian liberation movement in a shared struggle to overcome Zionism and imperialism and shape a truly liberated future. 

Long live the Palestinian Resistance!

Down with Zionism and Imperialism!

From the River to Sea, Palestine will be Free!

~ the United in Struggle Planning Committee