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Support the workers of Gaza against ALL their enemies!

Sheffield Anarchist Federation | 08.01.2009 11:18 | Analysis | Palestine | Repression | Sheffield

One thing is absolutely clear about the current situation in Palestine: the Israeli state is committing acts of horrific violence against the Palestinian working class, and this needs to be stopped immediately.

But that's not all there is to say about the situation...

On both sides of the conflict, the idea that opposing Israel has to mean supporting Hamas is worryingly common. We totally reject this argument (along with all the other false choices our rulers offer us). Just like any other set of rulers, Hamas are happy and willing to sacrifice ordinary Palestinians if it'll help to increase their power. This isn't just some vague theoretical point – it's a fact that's become painfully true in the experience of many Palestinians, such as those killed in the battles between Hamas and Fatah, who are no better and equally lacking in genuine answers.

Against the divisions and fake choices set up by nationalism, we fully support the workers of Gaza – not because of their nationality, ethnicity, or religion, but simply because they're real living, feeling, thinking, suffering, struggling human beings. And this support has to mean total hostility to all those who would oppress them – first and foremost the Israeli state and the Western governments and corporations that supply it with weapons, but also any other set of cynical politicians or theocrats who seek to use working-class Palestinians as pawns in their power struggles.

Alternative solutions to those offered by the statists do exist, they are not just utopian dreaming. The self-management and autonomous organisation of many Palestinian villages and the ongoing resistance to the colonisation of Palestine by working class Palestinians in solidarity with outside groups like Anarchists Against The Wall show that there is another way. Solutions like these that come from the working class and reject statism, religious fundamentalism and the violence perpetuated by the Israeli state and Hamas are the only way forward.

Sheffield Anarchist Federation
- e-mail: sheffield (A) af-north (dot) org
- Homepage: http://www.yorks-afed.org.uk/ www.awalls.org

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