Solidarity with the oppressed is gaining momentum

Jun 13, 2024 Letters

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Dear Editor,

It is now eight months since the genocide of the Palestinian people in the Gaza and the West Bank by the Israeli regime.

The verified number of those murdered has passed thirty-six thousand. However, this figure will increase dramatically when the dead bodies lying under mountains of rubble and the mass graves that are now being discovered.

People in GAZA must have lost faith in the government of western countries who often speak glibly about human rights and democracy. Many must be asking why they have to suffer so much, for so long through no fault of their own. It would be no surprise if we hear that some of them have given up hope in god or they must at least be wondering why almighty would stand by and see what they are going through. In the GAZA, the dead are the lucky ones because life in there is hell.

They are no doubt aware that the Israeli’s actions are motivated significantly by race and greed. What they may not always grasp is the racism against them in the west, particularly in the United States, the main imperialist power of today and the United Kingdom, historically the most racist country during colonialism.

Racism as a policy arose with the advent of exploitation. It was most brutal up to the late part of the 20th Century. Apartheid was only legally abolished in South Africa and Namibia in the 1980s and 1990s.

Segregation in the US only took a legal exit in the 1960s after heroic struggles by the victims and international solidarity forced the ruling class to abandon the overt racism.

In that long period, it was not difficult to identify the victims of racism and the perpetrators of those criminal activities. The Whites were the perpetrators and the beneficiaries of racist crimes and the non-white mainly blacks were the exploited and the victims of horrible exploitation. There was a coincidence of Race & Class.

This allowed great solidarity to develop among the non-white victims the world over. Those old enough would recall the tremendous support that the Vietnamese people, the peoples of South Africa, and Namibia received from the people throughout the world.

Since that time the oppressors have learnt quite a lot and have adopted new measures to obscure their own racism and blunt the effectiveness of the solidarity movement. The biggest blow the victims of racism, oppression and exploitation got was the collapse of the Eastern European Socialist countries in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Those countries along with others such as China and Cuba, made tremendous contributions to the national liberation movement in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Their contribution to the dismantling of colonialism is still not given the full recognition it deserves.

In passing, it is apposite to note that the NATO proxy war against Russia today is in a way a revenge against the Russian people for their role in that period. It is also a determined effort to prevent Russia from rising again as an economic power. Those intentions were stated explicit by influential persons in the U.S. for example John Bolton among others.

But the tactic being used today in many of the Western countries is to assimilate a few from the oppressed groups and use them as a face to obscure the real culprits, i.e. the main shareholders and CEOs of the most powerful multi-national corporations, particularly those in the military industrial complex. There is where you can find the deep state, the real powers in many Western Democracies. This little clique is the main beneficiary of today’s racism.

Just look at the United Nations (UN) and see who are the persons raising their hands to veto measures to halt the genocide in Palestine. They are Afro-American doing the bidding of the real power in the society known as the deep state.

Before them at the UN doing the same job was another American of colour, one of Indian descent. That woman is even on record calling for more killings of Palestinians.

Further, looking at the US congress debates one would hear the speeches of many of the non-white members in support of Israeli’s massacre of defenceless children, women and the old and sick people, just because they are Palestinians. It is unbelievable and very sad to see the descendants of those who suffered but freed themselves through struggles, supporting genocide in Israel today.

In the UK, the situation is the same. Indeed, this country now has a Prime Minister of Indian descent, but he is no better than Winston Churchill who was responsible for the death of millions of Indians in India – the Bengal famine was similar to what is happening now in the GAZA.

Despite the daily killings, no respite is on the way. The Labor Party’s GAZA policy is the same as Britain’s present Government. Moreover, the person that is most likely to be the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom should Labor win the upcoming elections in UK, is a person of Afro-Guyanese descent who is also a supporter of the racist Netanyahu regime in Israel. The racists of our times who control the wealth and military power in the West have never been so powerful as they are today. They wield so much power that they have managed to prevent solidarity to the Palestinians from their closest neighbours in the Arab world.

Arab leaders who drink at the trough of the Western powers and spend hundreds of billions of dollars buying arms from western countries have become deaf, dumb and blind to the unimaginable sufferings of the Palestinian people. Imagine, that the RAFA gate is in Egypt, but that country has chosen to take orders from the US and Israel and ignore the atrocities that is being committed daily on its front door. This is the sad reality.

In spite of, the enormous forces arraigned against the Palestinian people their victory is certain. Things have started to change, and a worldwide mass movement has begun.

People in various parts of the world, in the US, UK and Europe are beginning to see through the brain washing propaganda of the corporate media and are pouring into the streets facing hostile police actions, including arrests and even risking their jobs to demand that Palestine be free.

Solidarity with the oppressed is gaining momentum.

A special word for the thousands of Jews that have taken to the streets, among the students and are making their voices heard, calling for a halt to this senseless slaughter. “Not in my Name” they proclaim. These are remarkable human beings standing up for our common humanity. These are brave humanists; we just cannot thank them enough for their bold positive actions.

In conclusion, we must not allow the racists, the real beneficiaries of the genocide to continue to hide behind the few non-white faces. We must continue to struggle to expose the modern day “Uncle Toms”. We must fight against the oppressors and their agents.

Finally, the struggle in the GAZA is showing us that the issue of class remains the most fundamental in our world. Race is often used to obscure this so that the ruthless exploitation of working people of all races, nationalist or beliefs can continue unimpeded. We, the people must unite and put an end to the crimes of the rich and powerful.

Regards,

Former President, Donald Ramotar

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• genocide, Israeli, Palestinian, regime, West Bank

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