May Palestine Update
Protestors unfurl a Free Palestine flag at a Bernie Sanders rally in Idaho.
International
Conditions in Gaza have continued to worsen over the last month. Israel has blockaded all humanitarian aid (food, water, medicines, etc.) from entering the Gaza Strip since March 2nd, intensifying starvation and disease, and as a result, child and infant mortality rates. Since October 7th, at least 412 aid workers have been murdered. The number of people killed as of May 4 of this year has reached 52,314, with 117,792 people injured, but it’s extremely likely that the real numbers are exponentially higher than what’s being reported by Western media outlets.
Palestine’s Arab neighbors also face Israeli and US aggression but refuse to lay down. Houthi rebels have escalated their resistance efforts, launching retaliatory attacks that have breached Israel’s “Iron Dome,” most recently striking Israel’s main airport. Yemen has also announced a ban on US oil exports through the Red Sea, exposing cracks in the network of global capital.
National
In the US, Trump and ICE carry on their persecution of pro-Palestine activists like Mahmoud Khalil, who is still being held as a political prisoner. A liberal “opposition” movement against Trump has taken shape, led by the so-called democratic socialists Bernie Sanders and AOC and their “fight the oligarchy” campaign.
In typical liberal fashion, Bernie and AOC pay lip service to the demands of the Free Palestine movement while having rally attendees with Palestine flags forcibly removed, then have the audacity to claim that they are “leading the fight” for Palestine. These are the same people who stood behind Biden as he not only aided the genocide in Gaza, but promised he was “working tirelessly on a ceasefire,” though that has been proven false. Their campaign in reality fails to challenge the “oligarchy,” or ruling class because it maintains support for the US’ imperialist foreign policy and advocates for reformism and electoralism at home rather than revolutionary organization and struggle.
Local
Similarly, the recent 50501 “Hands Off” protests have adopted the slogan “Hands Off NATO.” This shift in messaging reflects a broader strategy of blunting radical demands in order to maintain respectability and to uphold the status quo. Local protests taking a clearer stance in opposition to NATO, like an upcoming rally in Dayton, are appearing in response.
These liberal “opposition” movements, which owe their popularity to the masses’ indignance for Trump, serve as a release valve by funneling the people’s revolutionary fervor into fruitless (electoral, reformist, etc) avenues that fail to challenge US global hegemony or the ruling class at home. This is what is meant when they are called “controlled opposition.” Bernie, AOC, and their orbit function as nothing more than the “left wing” of capital; their role is not to lead movements, but to pacify them.
Conclusion
The Democratic Party no longer has any progressive role to play. The liberal “opposition” is not an ally, but a roadblock. The social imperialism of the so-called democratic socialists must be rejected. Solidarity with the Palestinian resistance must be uncompromising. There is no middle ground between imperialism and liberation. The Palestinian cause demands internationalist, anti-imperialist, and socialist solidarity, not performative slogans and conditional support.
From Yemen to the streets of U.S. cities, resistance is growing. Our task is to join it not as spectators or passive supporters, but as active participants rooted in working class struggle and internationalism.