New York City, Sept 2–Thousands of protesters swarmed Union Square in NYC to protest the continuing genocide and slaughter of Palestinian families in Gaza, now spreading to the West Bank. With anger at the bosses’ continued bloodbath in Palestine, Progressive Labor Party (PLP) comrades quickly distributed all 250 CHALLENGES we had. Protesters made fists as one comrade introduced a copy of CHALLENGE:
“Revolutionary communist paper, smash imperialism everywhere, fight for communism!” That’s the only way to put a permanent end to this racist genocide and build a world for workers!
Workers open to communist politics
A young man from New Jersey said he wanted to contact us. He added that Hamas were heroes, fighting for Palestinians. Our comrade responded, “No. Hamas is a group allied with Iran, a country allied with China and Russia, locked into imperialist rivalry with the U.S. What we need is a unified, international working class that fights to destroy all imperialists!” A young Korean-American woman, member of the New York Writers Guild, told us about her communist grandparents who were killed in Korea. She supports an organization that fights U.S. imperialism and military bases in South Korea. “I’m an internationalist, like you,” she said.
Several comrades met friends in organizations they belong to and marched with them. As we circulated, we said hello to a group of Palestinian women who raised their fists as we gave them CHALLENGES. A PLP’er said, “Well, I can’t use a bad word.” “Go ahead,” they responded, “We use it all the time.” “OK. This f…ing system’s gotta go!”
Genocidal public health crisis
Later that day there was a fundraiser to send medics and medical supplies to Gaza. Protesters are enraged at the total destruction of hospitals and healthcare in Gaza. The health of Gazans continues to be at severe risk. In addition to the near 41,000 traumatic deaths to date, many of the nearly 94,000 wounded will succumb to wound infections and other complications for lack of medical care. Lack of food and clean water has led to a profusion of infectious diseases, such as hepatitis A and chicken pox, as well as widespread malnutrition and thirst.
Most recently, polio virus has been found in sewage and one baby has been paralyzed. The Israelis are terrified it could spread beyond Gaza and so are allowing very limited half day ceasefires to vaccinate children. This effort is bound to be incomplete, although Israel is making sure its soldiers get the vaccine. Cholera is very likely to emerge. Medical facilities continue to be attacked and at least 500 health care workers have been killed and over 300 arrested and tortured.
Leading the way to smashing capitalism
There are huge opportunities to sharpen communist consciousness at these large protests, on college campuses and elsewhere. PLP must be present! A gated university like Columbia is closed to anyone who doesn’t have a Columbia ID. Students face a list of restrictions this semester: no encampments, no protests on campus, no information to be circulated except about “educational” matters. The fight will continue! No war except class war! Fight for communism!
