Part of the Series
Gaza on Fire
The greatest struggle facing the antiwar movement in the United States is the struggle to get people who come to antiwar demonstrations after a war starts to engage politically to prevent the same wars in the future. In the case of US policy toward Iran, we created a political movement to support diplomacy with Iran to prevent war in the future. But in the case of Gaza, there is no political movement in the United States to support diplomacy to prevent war in the future.
Consider:
1. While Israel was bombing and invading Gaza, there were demonstrations across the United States against the war and against US support for the war.
2. A key cause of the war was the blockade imposed on 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza by Israel and Egypt. Exports from Gaza are virtually banned. Gaza is not allowed to use its seaport. Palestinians in Gaza can’t travel normally to and from Gaza. They have to get permission from the Israeli or Egyptian governments that might never come, blocking their ability to work, study, receive medical care and see their families.
3. It is generally acknowledged by experts that if current diplomacy fails to end the blockade of Gaza, it is inevitable that there will be another outbreak of violence on the Israel-Gaza border in the future.
4. The question of the Gaza blockade is on the table right now in the talks that have been taking place between Israel and the Palestinians in Cairo. Press reports suggest that it could go either way: There might be an agreement that ends the blockade, or there might not.
5. Thus, there are two likely paths out of the current juncture: Either there will be an agreement in Cairo that ends the Gaza blockade, or there will be another war in the future, much like the one that people have been protesting; and which path happens is likely to be decisively shaped by what happens in the next few days of diplomacy in Cairo, a process on which the US government obviously has significant influence.
Why can’t we get the people who have protested the war to engage politically to prevent the same war from happening again in the future?
What would be worse than the killing of innocents that has happened so far? Doing nothing to stop the same killing of innocents in the future, when we had the ability to do something concrete.
Exactly two members of Congress – Keith Ellison and Barbara Lee – have publicly called for ending the blockade now through negotiations.
Tell me: If the antiwar left would engage on the issue of the Gaza blockade, we couldn’t get John Conyers to speak up for ending the blockade through diplomacy? We couldn’t get Hank Johnson to speak up? Charlie Rangel, John Lewis, Danny Davis, Bobby Rush, Donna Edwards, Karen Bass, Maxine Waters, Eleanor Norton? None of them would speak up, if the antiwar left would engage politically?
Danny Glover took a #StandWithKeith:
I #StandWithKeith: CPC co-chair Rep. @KeithEllison: End the Gaza blockade to achieve peace https://t.co/5iDqut2Ivp
— Danny Glover (@mrdannyglover) August 11, 2014
Why won’t the antiwar left #StandWithKeith?
You can take action here.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy