Int’l assembly in NYC salutes Palestinian resistance

The International Assembly Against Imperialism in Solidarity with Palestinian Resistance was held at the historic Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial & Educational Center in New York City on Jan. 21. Workers World Party, the organizer of the event, had chosen the date to honor the centennial of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, who died that day in 1924.

The unique assembly challenged U.S. imperialist efforts to isolate and demonize the Palestinian resistance and its allies. Organizers surrounded reports by Palestinian Resistance groups with statements from well-known national and international organizations that have decades of authority in the world movement for resisting U.S. imperialist blockades and sanctions, and by workers’ parties and solidarity organizations from around the world.

The live-streamed event attracted participants from the Palestinian territories, South Africa, Vietnam, Australia, Canada, Peru, Spain, Ecuador, Germany, Britain, Croatia and Eswatini (aka Swaziland), according to organizers.  Participants from at least 20 U.S. states also joined online.

From the region under imperialist attack, messages arrived from diverse organizations – with both secular and religious leadership – which are a determined part of the heroic resistance in Palestine and West Asia. 

Global Leninist solidarity

This international solidarity included a delegation from Nicaragua’s mission to the United Nations, and video talks and/or messages by Venezuelan official Carlos Ron Martinez, the Communist Party of Cuba and representatives of Communist parties from Ukraine, Brazil, Kenya, Denmark and Swaziland. 

Also, messages were sent by the Rallye of African Workers in Senegal, Pole for Rebirth of Communism in France – PRCF and Socialist Unity Center of India. Additional Leninist and anti-imperialist authors and commentators sent evaluations of the struggle in this period since the events of October 7 in Palestine. 

From the United States, communist, left, anti-imperialist and progressive forces sent representatives who addressed the Assembly. These included the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, United National Antiwar Coalition, BAYAN USA, Black Alliance for Peace, Party of Communists USA, December 12th Movement, A Call to Action on Puerto Rico, Marxist Youth League, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoners Solidarity Network, Veterans For Peace, Laundry Workers Center and U.S. Peace Council.

U.S. imperialism attempts to marginalize and isolate this revolutionary upheaval by only naming Hamas as Israel’s enemy –– and then banning statements from Hamas from the media.  Messages by: Ansarullah in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, One Democratic State of Palestine, Islamic Jihad and Masar Badil (Alternative Revolutionary Path) confirmed the diversity of views in the region’s resistance and their unity in action.

International left forces from International Manifesto Group, Friends of Socialist China, China/U.S. Solidarity Network, a prominent TikTok blogger in China, International Movement for a Just World in Malaysia, a former comrade of African Marxist revolutionary Amílcar Cabral, Alex Saab Support Committee, and the House of Latin America in Tehran, Iran, sent messages that made the event buzz.

Palestinian resistance given a world platform

Monica Moorehead, a Workers World newspaper managing editor, chaired the “Voices and Defenders of Palestinian Resistance” panel. She referred to two prominent Black Liberation leaders, Malcolm X and Huey P. Newton, who both denounced Zionism during the 1960s. Moorehead underlined how since its 1959 founding, Workers World Party has taken a consistent principled stance defending Palestinians’ right to their homeland.

The panel featured Palestinian educator and editor Rabab Abdulhadi, whose presentation linked Lenin’s overall contributions on imperialism and national oppression to the struggle for Palestinian self-determination.  Prominent Palestinian novelist and activist Susan Abulhawa and National Lawyers Guild President Suzanne Adely delivered recorded video messages. 

A religious Jewish anti-Zionist perspective was presented by Neturei Karta representative, Joseph Kohn. A secular view came from Michael Kramer, former Israeli soldier and now Palestinian resistance supporter, who spoke on the growing number of Israeli teenagers refusing military conscription.

What the Assembly sought

Sara Flounders, co-director of the International Action Center, opened the Assembly by reading an organizers’ collective statement that the program’s goal was to assert the political, legal and moral right to hear, discuss and meet with the resistance forces who are under attack with bombs the U.S. supplies Israel.

The statement asserted that all who agree with the charge of genocide, as presented in the lawsuit South Africa brought to the International Court of Justice, at The Hague, in the Netherlands, have a moral obligation to act to break the enforced isolation.  

The Assembly organizers were determined to hold a large and secure in-person meeting and a hybrid meeting on Zoom with re-streams to the social media sites of Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook. 

As an added precaution against the widespread shutdowns on corporate platforms –– often made automatically by algorithms –– they streamed the Assembly on a new channel on Telegram: Workers World Party.  

There were two afternoon panels on workers’ struggles and building internationalism. Richie Merino from the Bronx Anti-War Coalition chaired the first and Dianne Mathiowetz, a retired autoworker and United Auto Workers member, the closing session. The panels stressed the importance of organizing with working-class and oppressed communities. 

Speakers included veteran activists with decades of organizing experience –– Brenda Stokely, Omowale Clay and Esperanza Martell –– along with young activists and worker organizers –– Arjae Red and Alice Yaser.

First Secretary of Workers World Party Larry Holmes highlighted the opening morning panel. He also concluded the Assembly by challenging participants to re-engage with Lenin’s perspective of merging the growing class consciousness of workers in the Global North with the revolutionary anti-imperialist movements of the Global South.

The program, including the statements from Palestinian resistance organizations often banned from corporate media, can be viewed on https://www.workers.org/videos-j21 and Workers World Party channels on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, and Telegram. Everyone in solidarity with Palestinian resistance is invited to re-stream the material and spread it as far as possible.

Contributions to the hall rental and technology expenses are needed and will be appreciated. Send via workers.org/donate.

Authors Sara Flounders and Monica Moorehead were program coordinators, along with Dianne Mathiowetz.