Baltimore Hands Off Palestine
Thurs – Discussion & Action Plans
Stop U.S./Israeli War on Palestine
Baltimore Contingent & Transportation
Nov 4 National March in DC for Palestine

Teach-In & Discussion – PALESTINE!
Plan next steps
Thursday, 10/26 7 pm
at NomuNomu Arts Collaborative
719 N. Howard Street, Baltimore, MD 21201

Find out the truth about Palestine!  Bring co-workers, students, friends & family to break the media lies.  What are the connections between Baltimore & Palestine?

Help plan our next actions to stand with Palestine.  Join action and outreach committees.

Baltimore Contingent & Transportation to Nov 4 National March in DC for Palestine

November 4th National March on DC for Palestine
Free Palestine!  No more U.S. aid to Israel!
Lift the siege on Gaza now! 2 pm Freedom Plaza

BALTIMORE CONTINGENT & TRANSPORTATION

• 10 am gather at Penn Station, 1500 N. Charles Street for a brief rally before boarding the Marc train.
• 11 am Marc Train leaves, so please be on time (the next train leaves at 2 pm).
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The New York Times said that the Israeli account of the massacre at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza on October 17 is losing credibility as new visual analyses suggest a different account.

The Israeli army has been citing a video report by Al-Jazeera, suggesting that the video confirmed the Israeli account that a Palestinian Resistance missile is responsible for the killing of nearly 500 Palestinians and wounding of hundreds more.

This, however, does not seem to be the case, according to the NYT.

“The (Al-Jazeera) footage has become a widely cited piece of evidence as Israeli and American officials have made the case that an errant Palestinian rocket malfunctioned in the sky, fell to the ground and caused a deadly explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City,” the NYT report said.

“But a detailed visual analysis by The New York Times concludes that the video clip – taken from an Al-Jazeera television camera livestreaming on the night of Oct. 17 shows something else,” the report said.

The missile shown in the video, according to the NYT, “is most likely not what caused the explosion at the hospital.”

The footage, according to the report,

“suggests that Israeli bombardment was taking place and that two explosions near the hospital can be seen within two minutes of it being struck.”

On Tuesday, October 17, a massive airstrike hit the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians who were taking refuge in the hospital’s courtyard.

Initially, a top aide for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hananya Naftali, took responsibility for the attack, stating in a tweet:

“Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza. A multiple number of terrorists are dead. It’s heartbreaking that Hamas is launching rockets from hospitals, Mosques, schools and using civilians as human shields.”

The tweet was quickly deleted, however, and a new Israeli version emerged.

In the following hours, Israel said that the mass killing of Palestinians in Al-Ahli was a result of a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad.

Since then, multiple investigations have debunked the Israeli army’s claims regarding the massive explosion.

Source: Palestine Chronicle

The Israeli regime was not the victim on October 7. The Hamas offensive bears no resemblance to the September 11 attacks of 2001, and the Palestinian resistance has nothing in common with Daesh or other takfiri terrorists. The only thing that was out of the ordinary for the conflict in Palestine on October 7 was that for once the fight was taken to the Israelis, and instead of it being dead Palestinians, it was dead Israeli soldiers and settlers.

In Western media, the Hamas offensive of October 7 is being depicted as the single worst event in the history of the Palestine-Zionist conflict, an attack comparable to the 9/11 bombings and, hence a justification for the complete annihilation of the Palestinian people as a result. This is because they have been fed the narrative that Hamas fighters, belonging to the movement’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, stormed over a “border fence” and launched a devastating attack on Israeli unarmed civilians.

According to Western media, the Hamas attack is where the war started. The attack on Israelis was unique, and therefore, it justified a racist annihilation of the indigenous population of Palestine. Israel, with the full backing of Western media and politicians, has managed to concoct a narrative that mimics the post-9/11 narrative, one that depicts Palestinians are barbaric Muslim extremists that rape white women and behead babies. But, unfortunately for them, despite this working on older portions of the population, the younger generations are not falling for it because they can see through the double standards and racist rhetoric that their parents fell for in the lead-up to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The attack was only unique in one way

Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, as declared by al-Qassam Brigades’ Commander Mohammed Deif, was a retaliatory offensive that Hamas and the some dozen Palestinian political factions had warned was coming if the Zionist regime continued its attacks on worshippers at the Aqsa Mosque. In 2021, Hamas also launched an offensive named the Sword of Jerusalem in response to similar Israeli attacks against Palestinian worshippers during the Holy month of Ramadan. The 11-day war in May of 2021 resulted in the murder of at least 285 Palestinians, while 13 Israelis were also killed. Since then, “Israel” continued, in 2022 and this year, to violently assault worshippers at al-Aqsa Mosque, with extremists inside the Zionist Knesset also discussing proposals to change the status quo at the third holiest site in the Islamic faith.

In August of 2022, “Israel” launched an unprovoked attack on the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement inside the Gaza Strip, killing 50 Palestinians – most of whom were civilians – while no Israelis were killed. Then, in May of this year, “Israel” launched another unprovoked attack that targeted PIJ, along with civilians, which resulted in around 35 Palestinians being murdered. In the West Bank, Israeli forces have been invading refugee camps and cities non-stop since the beginning of the year, murdering hundreds of Palestinians. In early July, the Israeli military invaded the Jenin refugee camp, targeting medical workers and journalists and destroying the civilian infrastructure there while killing at least 18 Palestinians before they ran away out of fear after suffering soldier casualties.

To go through the record of massacres committed against the Palestinian people would require a whole book to be written. However, for the sake of time, consider the following examples: In 2008/9, the Israeli attack on Gaza massacred around 1,417 Palestinians. During the 2014 war, there were over 2,300 Palestinians murdered by “Israel’s” offensive. Then, to throw in one of many historical massacres, when “Israel” invaded Lebanon and later occupied the south of it in 1982, the Zionist military’s offensive resulted in roughly 20,000 dead Palestinians and Lebanese. All of these examples noted are worse, statistically, than the offensive of Hamas on October 7, 2023. As for such death in a short period of time, this isn’t even comparable. Take the opening strikes launched on Gaza in 2008, which targeted a police ceremony, killing over 251 non-combatants within seconds.

In 2018, beginning on March 30, the Palestinian people in Gaza launched one of the largest non-violent protest movements in history along the Gaza separation fence, calling for the lifting of the blockade. Israel responded by killing 300 Palestinians over the course of the demonstrations that lasted over a year, targeting men, women, children, the elderly, journalists, medical workers, and people with disabilities. What was the international response to this? To condemn Hamas and claim that “Israel has the right to defend itself”. All of what is being mentioned only scratches the surface of the horror inflicted upon the Palestinian people, not even touching on the ethnic cleansing of 1947-9 and the countless wars of aggression, coupled with the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands since.

To suggest that what happened on October 7 is somehow a “unique evil” is to either say that you value Western/Jewish lives more than Arab lives, or it comes from a place of pure ignorance.

An attack on ‘Israel’

Often, we hear of “Israel’s right to defend itself” and that “Israel’s border was breached”, on October 7. To begin with, under international law, the Zionist regime is an occupying power in the Eastern part of Al-Quds, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank, meaning that they have an obligation to provide the means for civilians’ human rights to be protected; they have never lived up to the international standards. “Israel,” being an occupying power, also means that under the Fourth Geneva Convention, the people under its occupation have the right to use violence in order to free themselves from the rule of that occupying power. As the occupier, dubbed an Apartheid regime by the world’s top human rights organizations, the Israelis have no right to defend the continuation of their military occupation, none.

Also, there is no border between “Israel” and Gaza, and there are armistice lines where there is a militarized separation barrier, but there is no border. This is an outright lie. Gaza is not a separate country. This territory has been labeled by UN experts as unlivable since 2020, when 97% of the water was already undrinkable for years prior to the beginning of the war when the Zionist entity cut off the water.

Another thing we have to look at critically here is the true nature of the Hamas-led offensive against the Israeli military and settlements surrounding Gaza. Yes, the offensive initially targeted military sites and resulted in the killing of at least 300+ Israeli soldiers, in addition to other kinds of armed Israeli combatants, so when you see the Israeli death toll, this must also be kept in mind. The second issue with the narrative in Western media about the death toll is the immediate assumption of guilt when allegations are made towards the Palestinian armed groups, specifically the Qassam brigades of Hamas.

Often, Western media will cite the need for investigations into allegations of war crimes committed in Gaza, but then it will instantly assume war crimes were committed against unarmed Israelis. There must be one rule for all: if we can’t decide what is going on in Gaza, then we certainly can’t make a judgment on what happened on October 7 to the Israelis, especially since the information from the Israeli side is heavily restricted. There is no consideration of the fact that there were armed clashes between Israeli forces and the Palestinian armed groups inside the settlements, which we have video evidence documenting. These clashes, which we have film showing unarmed Israelis in the middle of, could well have meant that Israeli armed gunmen accidentally shot their own citizens. We also have testimonies of Israelis who were held hostage and testified to having witnessed Israeli forces killing unarmed hostages.

Until there are human rights reports and independent inquiries, we simply cannot know exactly what happened on the Israeli side, especially considering all of the unsubstantiated reports spread about rape and beheaded babies. On top of this, it wasn’t just Hamas fighters that crossed the separation fence. Fighters from various smaller armed groups engaged in the fighting, while even Palestinians who were from no group at all crossed over. So telling who shot who and what unarmed civilians were killed, and under which circumstances, is going to require further investigation, in the cases where we do not have any video evidence. What happened to the Israelis on that day is a more complex picture than when the Zionists fire missiles into civilian neighborhoods.

None of the above is written to justify any killing of unarmed people, but it works to put what happened into perspective. They live in settlements on top of the villages that Zionist militias ethnically cleansed. The descendants of those who were expelled by force are now making up the majority of those Palestinian fighters from Gaza. Gaza’s armed groups are a refugee resistance, many of whom joined the resistance forces following the murder of family members at the hands of the Israeli military. They lost their lands, their family members, their friends, their homes, their livelihoods, and there was not a single hope for anyone to help them, so they decided to take matters into their own hands, to free their people, to create a new life for the following generations. Hamas is a product of Israeli occupation, violence, and Apartheid. They are a national liberation movement. They do not seek to kill disbelievers in their brand of religious dogma in order to force the world to fall under their rule as Daesh terrorists do. They simply want to reclaim their lands. This does not mean you have to agree with their ideology or their violent tactics, but to ignore why they exist, why they have support throughout the Arab and Muslim World, and why they launched this attack is simply choosing to remain ignorant. The same was the case for the ANC in its fight against Apartheid in South Africa, which most of the world now understands today.

The Palestinian people were led by secular-nationalist armed movements, along with secular-Marxist movements, for the majority of the history of the struggle against the Zionist entity. There is no equivalence to be made between what was essentially a modern-day slave revolt from Gaza and a senseless terrorist attack. In all successful revolts against colonial rule, European invaders, settler-colonialism, and slave masters, there have been unarmed people killed as a result of these uprisings. This is what happens when you murder, dispossess, and humiliate an entire people just because of their ethnicity/race. Eventually, the people who are persecuted by violent racist oppressors will rise up and attempt to break their chains. For all those condemning the Gazans for rising up, they first must look at themselves in the mirror and ask what they did when the people were being forced into using violence as the obvious last option available to them. The Israeli regime itself is not the victim. It is the cause of the violence, while unarmed civilians are simply those who are caught in between.

Source:  Al Mayadeen

Oct. 22 — All over Atlanta, anti-racist, anti-imperialist, and anti-Zionist activists took over the streets despite the attempts by the APD and the Georgia State Patrol to surround us and get us off the streets. “Whose streets, our streets?” chants rang out from downtown Atlanta to the Israeli Consulate to Piedmont Park. 

Families, youth, Jews, Palestinians, BLM, and LGBTQ+ united against the Israeli terrorist state. “Netanyahu, you can’t hide; we charge you with genocide.” 

Placards like “Israel bombs hospitals” and “End all aid for Israel’s crimes” clearly expressed the need for unity in the U.S. in support of Palestine. 

The lies that the U.S. and its paid Israeli clients are telling were challenged by many speakers, particularly the one about the number of deaths of settlers allegedly killed by Hamas. “Where are the bodies?” When were the funerals for the 1,200 people killed by Hamas?

Civil rights icon Mukasa Dada, who traveled from Alabama, would have been arrested had it not been for the intervention of the activists who took to the streets and surrounded the cop car chanting, “Let him go, leave him alone.” After a few tense moments, the cop told Brother Mukasa he was free to go. 

The legendary activist, community organizer, and leader in the struggle for rights for African people around the world said, “What can you expect? These cops were trained by the Zionist occupiers in Israel. They wanted to arrest me for demanding that Israel stop bombing hospitals.”

The pressure against the U.S.-Israeli war machine must continue. It’s the one thing we can do here in the imperialist center and around the world to end the occupation and genocide of Palestine. 

Free Free Palestine!

In today’s world no one is innocent, no one a neutral. A man is either with the oppressed or he is with the oppressors. He who takes no interest in politics gives his blessing to the prevailing order, that of the ruling classes and exploiting forces.” —George Habash

“Decolonization, which sets out to change the order of the world, is, obviously, a program of complete disorder. But it cannot come as a result of magical practices, nor of a natural shock, nor of a friendly understanding” —Frantz Fanon

With Israel in particular, it is immediately apparent how willfully ignorant Americans are to the level of sheer violence that it takes to uphold a settler society. Every day that Israel exists as an apartheid State is a violent event for Palestinians. Further, every missile that strikes Gaza and every raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank is propped up by financial support from the United States. The focus of condemnation should therefore be Israel and the United States for creating the material conditions that have necessitated a liberation movement.

The purported concern about violence rings empty when it is devoid of any reference to Israel’s history as a settler colonial project; without any reference to the Nakba of 1948 or the 11-day bombardment of Gaza in 2021 which resulted in hundreds of lost lives and thousands of destroyed residences. Throughout the onslaught, hospitals and news agencies were deliberately targeted by the air strikes—which of course utilized U.S.-made warplanes and bombs. The conditions of colonialism and apartheid ensure that even the most ordinary day is subjected to violence in less blatant forms (e.g. the violence like hunger and poverty that Kwame Ture described as being “so institutionalized that it becomes a part of our way of life” and is accepted as normal). But 2021 was also preceded and followed by other explicitly jarring events, such as the senseless shootings during the Great March of Return in 2018-2019 (over 8,000 hit with live ammunition, over 30,000 injured) and the settler rampage of Huwara earlier this year (leaving hundreds of homes and vehicles torched).

All of this illustrates that, as put by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, “Settler colonialism, as an institution or system, requires violence or the threat of violence to attain its goals.” Israel’s colonization of Palestine is the embodiment of violence—and any notion that violence is “committed equally by the colonized and the colonizer [ ] blurs the nature of the historical processes.” Dunbar-Ortiz’s point has been reiterated by many voices committed to self-determination, decolonization, and universal freedom. Paulo Freire, the great Brazilian educator instructed that “with the establishment of a relationship of oppression, violence has already begun. Never in history has violence been initiated by the oppressed.” Walter Rodney, the radical Guyanese intellectual, put it similarly, “Violence aimed at the recovery of human dignity and at equality cannot be judged by the same yardstick as violence aimed at maintenance of discrimination and oppression.”

With this framework in mind, to call the recent militancy “unprovoked” is to ignore the systemic nature of oppression in Palestine. To those that opt not to ignore it, the response was inevitable for the same reasons that Angela Davis called certain tactics taken during the black liberation struggle inevitable: “Because of the violence that exists on the surface everywhere, you have to expect that there are going to be such explosions. You have to expect things like that as reactions.” An acknowledgment of how violence permeates prior to the reaction is crucial.

And it should be clear that what we expect and what we desire are not always one and the same. Malcolm X, an early advocate of Palestinian liberation articulated this point well: “I don’t believe in violence that’s why I want to stop it. And you can’t stop it with love. So, we only mean vigorous action in self-defense and that vigorous action we feel we’re justified in initiating by any means necessary.” When Palestine resists its oppression, it acts in self-defense; it aims at “the recovery of human dignity.” For anyone whose crucial guiding moral and political directive is self-determination and freedom, it is clear which side of the struggle we stand on.

To a Free Palestine in our lifetimes.

“Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.” —Assata Shakur

“The way the oppressor tries to stop the oppressed from using violence as a means to attain liberation is to raise ethical or moral questions about violence. . . . [V]iolence in any society is neither moral nor is it ethical. It is neither right nor is it wrong. It is just simply a question of who has the power to legalize violence.” –Kwame Ture

Source

It has been 15 days since Israeli Occupation Forces started their continuous bombings of Gaza following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, threatening a complete genocide of Palestinians living there

Oct. 23 — In what has been described as the most intensive bombing of the besieged Palestinian territory since October 7, at least 400 more people were killed in Israel’s indiscriminate strikes in Gaza strip on Sunday October 22.

Israel bombings inside Gaza continued on Monday as well with over 60 people killed in overnight attacks alone.

The Israeli military claimed on Monday that it bombed over 300 targets in Gaza on Sunday. Their aircrafts continued to target residential areas in Khan Younis, Al-Fallujah, and other localities killing civilians including children, on the 15th day since the Palestinian resistance movements launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

Israeli warplanes targeted densely populated Jabalia refugee camp where at least 30 people were killed, as well as other localities close to the Al-Shifa and Al-Quds hospitals.

Footage released by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) on Monday clearly shows Israeli bombing in the vicinity of the Al-Quds hospital.

These hospitals are overcrowded with wounded and in danger of being bombed like Al-Ahli Arab hospital last week. Close to 500 Palestinians were killed when Israel bombed it on October 17.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health more than 5,000 Gazans have been killed in the Israeli bombings so far, of those over 2,000 were children. More than 15,000 people have been wounded in these attacks and over a million have been displaced.

Israel has also killed over 95 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and wounded over 1,600 of them in the last 15 days. Israeli occupation forces arrested hundreds of Palestinians in different raids in the occupied West Bank on Sunday as well.

The Israeli blockade on food, fuel and medicine supplies to Gaza continued on its 15th day and despite the small number of humanitarian aid trucks reaching the territory through Egypt’s Rafah border since Saturday there is an urgent need for the full resumption of the free transit of these supplies.

Lack of fuel and medical supplies have made around 10 hospitals in Gaza go out of service, increasing pressures on the remaining hospitals and endangering hundreds of lives including newborn babies.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) warned on Monday that, “in three days UNRWA will run out of fuel, critical for our humanitarian response across the Gaza strip.”

Lazzarini stated that without fuel it will be difficult to run the hospitals and supply basic amenities including food to the affected people. UNRWA runs several hospitals and also shelters over 500,000 Palestinians displaced due to Israeli bombings in Gaza.

51 health workers have also been killed in airstrikes since October 7 and over 87 others have been injured.

Meanwhile, China’s special envoy to the Middle East, who is currently touring the region, said on Monday that his country is willing to do whatever it takes to start a dialogue to explore an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. He stated that the situation in Gaza is very serious and if no steps were taken to achieve a ceasefire now there is a possibility of a region-wide escalation.

In the meanwhile, Israel is already bombing Lebanon targeting Hezbollah, which has supported the actions of the Palestinian resistance during Al-Aqsa Flood and targeted positions of the Israeli army near the Lebanese border.

Dismal statistics

Mothers, neonates, and infants die at high rates in Louisiana. That’s been documented for years. A 2023 report by the United Health Foundation shows that it’s getting worse: They ranked Louisiana 48 out of 50 states for worst health outcomes for women and children. The death rates are increasing faster than national averages. The only states ranking lower are Arkansas and Mississippi.

The data from 2016 to 2021 reveal that, for Louisiana, infant mortality increased by 5%. Child mortality increased by 16%. The Louisiana Department of Health reported in 2019 that Louisiana ranks 47 out of 48 states for maternal mortality.

These are dismal statistics, and they contain within themselves all the other dismal statistics relating to the state, like a hellishly repeating fractal. Reflected here is all the systemic racist violence (the death rates are much higher for Indigenous and Black mothers, infants, and children); it reflects the war of the rich on the working class, with poverty being high (poor white people are not doing well here, let it be noted); it reflects the mass incarceration; it reflects the fact that the oil and gas companies are poisoning the water we drink and the very air we breathe.

So, what’s the use of a ‘war on woke’?

With our quality of life being so low and getting worse, it’s hard to fathom how anyone could imagine that things could be made any better by policing who uses what bathroom or censoring classroom discussions of race; such attacks only make our lives worse, as is evident from Ron DeSantis’ tenure as Florida’s governor.

Nevertheless, far-right bigot Jeff Landry is now governor-elect. He asserted in his victory speech that “today’s election says that our state is united.” He wants us to think he has a mandate to rule.

Is that true? Voter turnout hardly demonstrated mass enthusiasm for his Ron DeSantis-style “culture war” politics, centered on attacking trans people and other oppressed groups on behalf of the capitalist class.

He got only about half (51%) of the vote, and that’s just the start of the election turnout story. Very low voter turnout meant that only 35.8% of the state’s 3 million registered even went to the polls. In Orleans Parish, voter turnout was just 27%. Put another way, 64.2% of registered voters didn’t vote. Yet another way: Only 18% of registered voters voted for Landry. So much for a state united around him.

On the other hand, the fascistic right wing was activated, and we know that it only takes a small number of them to shift the balance of power – not least of all because they’re well-funded. For example, one person, book-banning Landry lackey Connie Nichols Phillips – who faced a sheriff’s department summons for assaulting a library supporter outside of a St. Tammany Parish council meeting – filed over 150 library book complaints in that parish.

Phillips is what has been called a “serial filer.” That’s typical of the book-banning movement nationally. Nationwide, a mere 11 people filed 60% of library book challenges in 2021-2022. However, with the backing of Landry, she and the group she co-founded, the St. Tammany Parish Library Accountability Project, led a successful campaign to ram through a bill to restrict minors’ access to library books. The cooked-up controversy was based on scapegoating queer and trans people.

We know who he serves

Landry was a state representative and has been attorney general since 2016. While in office, he has demonstrated what his politics are about and which class he serves (the rich). As an oil and gas millionaire, Landry has consistently promoted the interests of fossil fuel profits, even as the state suffers catastrophic effects of climate change. He has fomented hatred of Muslims and LGBTQ+ people, even though his own brother is gay (some “family values”). He championed the near-total abortion ban, which is now in effect after the overturn of Roe v. Wade. In 2018, he supported a lawsuit jeopardizing Medicaid coverage for some 850,000 people in the state with preexisting conditions.

During the gubernatorial campaign, he stated emphatically that he opposed raising the state’s $7.25 an hour minimum wage and even that the minimum wage should be abolished. That would make his donors happy!

Landry’s path to the governor’s mansion

As the current attorney general, Landry has made a name for himself, energizing the ranks of the far right by attacking oppressed groups and the working class. While acting as the state’s top cop, he paved his way to the governor’s mansion, using the whole past year – at least – to campaign. He got the coveted Trump endorsement. This year, he and the Louisiana Republican Party paid nearly $22,000 over the course of a few months to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for fundraising events there. Between 2019-2022, his campaign spent $54,000 at a Trump-owned hotel in Washington, D.C.

He spent $9 million on TV ads. But all that paid off because he raised far more money than any other candidate. And as we know about U.S. elections, candidates pay to play.

Before all that happened, the Republican Party eschewed norms and endorsed Landry the moment he announced his campaign last year – before any other Republican candidates came forward. The anti-democratic thrust of this is glaring and is even commented upon in the bourgeois press.

What about the Democratic Party?

The Democrats didn’t galvanize anybody or offer an alternative vision to Landry’s anti-woke campaign. The state party was effectively absent throughout the campaign season. In the days following the election, editorials and news segments are filled with calls for the leadership to resign.

Even if they had expended more energy on their candidate, Shawn Wilson, it is not clear that voters would have been moved. They’ve had a Democratic governor for eight years and have not seen much change in their lives except for the worse. And he’s an anti-abortion Democrat, no less!

We also have a Democrat in the White House. While offering nothing to the millions of people struggling to get by in this country, Biden just got on television and said he wants to spend many more billions of our tax dollars on U.S. wars and the militarized southern border. He’s building part of Trump’s border wall.

Whatever the case, it is evident that the Democratic Party will not come to save us as Landry and the Republican supermajority state legislature intensify the attacks on working class and oppressed communities. People should vote if they want to. There have been bitter but righteous struggles for voting rights, and the far right is trying to roll back those rights across the country. But we’re going to have to organize ourselves in the streets.

What kind of movement is needed?

We can sum up some things we know. A) Quality of life in our state is low and getting worse. B) The “war on woke” will do absolutely nothing to improve our condition and will only lead to more harm; C) There was no groundswell for Landry. He won the governorship by spending a huge amount of money to activate a small section of extreme right-wing voters at a time when much of the state appears to be disillusioned with electoral politics. D) Landry represents the interests of the rich and no one else. We know what his politics are because they have been on display for all the years he has held office. E) With his track record – aided by the Republican supermajorities in the state legislature – he will likely unleash far-reaching and vicious attacks on the population. F) The Democratic Party is not coming to our rescue.

This sounds rather bleak, but there may be some advantages in the situation. We are not without fighting organizations. There is already an anti-Landry movement.

In the aftermath of the Trump-stacked Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade, groups like the Louisiana Abortion Rights Action Committee hit the streets with a clear message about the danger of Landry. The action has not just been in New Orleans. Various groups have protested the attacks on queer and trans people at the capitol in Baton Rouge and confronted Landry at the gubernatorial debate held in Lafayette. Participating organizations in that action included Real Name Campaign NOLA, Reproductive Freedom Acadiana, Louisianahbrah, DSA Southwest Louisiana, and Socialist Unity Party/Struggle – La Lucha.

Local fightbacks alone will not be enough. We can learn from these recent experiences and deepen our connections across the state. We should link up now, not waiting for the attacks to come. But as they do come, we will have more opportunities to carry out exposure of Landry and the racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic capitalist class that he represents.

We should be able to join forces with everyone who is struggling, for example, with Rise St. James and other activists who have bravely struggled and won major victories against the petrochemical plants destroying their communities along the Mississippi River; these are largely working-class and Black activists who are living at the heart of the contradiction, where racism and environmental degradation meet.

We need to be ready to forge connections and find ways to bring working-class people who are not already activists into the movement and to develop them as leaders. We will need a united movement that can serve as a “tribune of the people,” as Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin put it; that is to say, a movement, with movement organizations, that can respond to every attack on the people no matter what it is and serve as the people’s mouthpiece.

Unionization rates are low in Louisiana, but we do have unions. We’ll need them. If Landry is emboldened enough to attack Medicaid again, we’ll need all the forces of the working class to fight back.

And God forbid, but what about the next hurricane? What struggles will emerge then with Landry in the governor’s mansion?

One more thing. A Louisiana-only movement may not be enough. Landry is part of a wave of far-right, really fascist politicians, not just limited to the U.S. But we can see the trend right in neighboring states like Texas, with Greg Abbott; Tate Reeves in Mississippi; Kay Ivey in Alabama; and DeSantis in Florida. We must build a united movement across the country and especially across the South.

Many of us who are active in the New Orleans LGBTQ+ and women’s struggles participated in the Oct. 7 National March to Protect Trans Youth in Orlando, Florida. We met people from across the country and Florida itself. We learned from Floridians’ struggles and raised our voices so that they don’t have to face DeSantis alone. I am convinced that this type of national organizing is the way forward. I’m convinced that when we fight Landry in the coming period, Orlando and people from many other states will have our backs.

Oct. 20 — The West’s ongoing military support and international propaganda campaign to cover up the enemy’s crimes does not appear sufficient to ensure the success of the enemy campaign against the Gaza Strip. The heinous crimes against civilians do not aid the enemy in achieving its lofty political goals. Consequently, the occupation government is seriously discussing preparations for a ground operation.

Regardless of the significant operational support provided by the West, led by the United States, the leadership of the occupation army is still confused and unclear on the strategy and timing of the ground operation. Particularly because they seem unable to agree upon the potential casualties and losses that may be inflicted by the Axis of Resistance forces outside of Palestine.

Coordination within the Axis of Resistance

In this context, Al-Akhbar learned that [since the start of Al-Aqsa Flood,] all the forces of the Axis of Resistance, spanning across Arab and Islamic countries, have solidified strategies for providing the highest level of “effective support” for the resistance in Palestine. Multiple joint operations rooms have been established to monitor the field conditions for tactical and strategic operations, in addition to political activities. Furthermore, numerous plans have been drawn up to reinforce the strength of several Resistance factions in various arenas.

Over the past 36 hours, the Resistance forces have translated this into practical steps. In addition to political stances rejecting the West’s demands to cease support for Gaza, a series of coordinated military operations have been carried out across multiple fronts. Palestinian Resistance factions continued to launch rockets deep into the heart of the entity, specifically into Tel Aviv. Moreover, a Palestinian Resistance group launched a Kornet ATGM at an enemy armored vehicle east of Khan Yunis. At the same time, the Al-Qassam Brigades carried out missile strikes from Lebanon towards the northern occupation settlements, while the Al-Quds Brigades detonated high explosive devices in Tulkarem, killing and wounding enemy soldiers. Meanwhile, Hezbollah continued its operations [destroying sensors, radar, and cameras] aimed at “blinding the occupation” along the Lebanese border.

According to Al-Akhbar’s sources, the Resistance strikes against reconnaissance outposts have destroyed a significant amount of enemy technological systems, including advanced surveillance cameras capable of covering extensive areas, some with a range of up to 20 kilometers. Additionally, specialized radars for personnel and vehicles installed on towers in the locations have been destroyed, along with systems for intercepting communications and jamming, as well as specialized sensors that can use thermal imaging to remotely track any moving object across a wide area. According to the sources, the enemy is trying to compensate for these losses by deploying more high-altitude and medium-altitude drones to cover the border front.

Furthermore, Hezbollah has dealt a significant blow to the occupation armored units by destroying a significant number of enemy Merkava tanks. Among the destroyed tanks is a Merkava Mark V, which boasts special armor and electronic jamming devices designed to thwart Kornet missiles. It is noteworthy that in recent days, the Resistance has heavily utilized the Kornet missile system as a multi-purpose tactical weapon. This reflects a vast stockpile of these missiles in their possession in conjunction with various types that have yet to be deployed.

Activating battlefield unity

Simultaneously, the Joint Operations Room of the Axis of Resistance organized operations in other battlefields. A group of Iraqi Resistance factions carried out multiple drone strikes against U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria, causing direct casualties. The United States later announced that its naval units intercepted missiles launched by Ansarallah in Yemen, but did not specify whether the missiles targeted its own warships or military points inside occupied Palestine. According to the occupation army radio, “Israeli officials confirm to us that between two and five missiles were launched from Yemen and targeted Israel.”

The Kataib Hezbollah Resistance group in Iraq also targeted the illegal U.S. occupation base at Al-Tanf on the border triangle between Syria, Iraq, and Jordan with artillery, missiles, and drones. The Resistance group also announced a drone attack on the U.S. Ain al-Asad base west of Baghdad, two days after the same base was subjected to a similar attack by drones at the same time as another attack on the Al-Harir base in northern Iraq. Yesterday evening, strong explosions were heard in Deir Ezzor and Al-Omar oil fields. At the same time, the gas line connecting to the Coneco natural gas plant, which is controlled by the U.S. occupation army through its base in the northern countryside of Deir Ezzor, eastern Syria, was blown up.

Meanwhile, large groups of Iraqi fighters and civilians have started moving towards the Iraqi border with Jordan. According to Al-Akbar’s sources, this coordinated action is part of an organized, strategic framework and will include tens of thousands of people in the coming days. This has prompted Israeli military movements along the Jordanian-Palestinian border.

Al-Akhbar News learned that the operational coordination between the Resistance Forces aims to pressure the enemy on multiple fronts and make it clear to Washington that its threats against the forces and nations of the Axis of Resistance will be met with direct action, not mere words. This led to an unprecedented rise in U.S. and Israeli security measures. Several diplomatic missions in the region have been closed, and the U.S. Department of State has issued a warning to its citizens worldwide, urging them to exercise caution due to the potential for retaliatory strikes against U.S. interests as a result of its support for the occupation in Palestine. At the same time, “Israel” advised its citizens in foreign countries to return directly to Tel Aviv while urging various Arab and regional governments to take measures to safeguard “Israeli” businesses, embassies, and citizens due to the widespread mobilization against the enemy in the Arab and Islamic world.

This information suggests that the existing coordination between the Axis of Resistance forces will translate into significant political and popular actions against Zionist aggression and the U.S. presence in the region as popular support for the Palestinian Resistance surges in countries within the Axis of Resistance. These actions are part of a growing campaign to increase on-the-ground support for the Resistance both inside and outside of Palestine. This is particularly crucial as the enemy has intensified its security and military activities in the West Bank and urged Jordan to “exert maximum efforts” to prevent any movement of people through its territory.

U.S. parameters for the ground operation

In the midst of these developments, Israel buzzed with news that a decision to launch a ground operation has been approved, and the military has been tasked with presenting detailed plans for approval at the political level. It is evident that Washington is now in control of “Israeli” decisions, as leaked reports from President Joe Biden’s meetings with Israeli officials two days ago revealed that Washington “provides significant political and military support to Israel and will prevent any international institution from issuing a call for a ceasefire or limitations.” However, the U.S., in return, demanded that the enemy commanders ensure that the goals of any ground operation are realistic and achievable. Enemy media noted that, in reply to enemy ministers who stated “a ground operation is necessary,” U.S. President Biden responded by demanding they define the goals of such an operation. President Biden also publicly stated that he never told “Israel’s” leaders that the U.S. military would join the fight against Hezbollah if the latter launched a preemptive war against the occupation.

Al-Akhbar learned that the leadership of the Al-Qassam Brigades and Al-Quds Brigades informed the Joint Operations Room of the Axis of Resistance that it was in a state of complete readiness and that the Israeli aggression had not disrupted its capabilities in any significant way. They also confirmed that their preparations for countering any ground assault were well underway, and they were fully equipped to deliver severe blows to the occupation forces. Al-Akhbar’s sources have confirmed that the enemy has failed to destroy the tunnel system in the Gaza Strip, that the operation to mobilize thousands of Resistance fighters has not been interrupted, and that the Resistance also possesses multiple new secret weapons specifically designed for ground confrontations.

Source: Al-Akhbar

Translated by Orinoco Tribune

Oct. 20 — The strikes carried out by the Axis of Resistance against the Zionist-American forces of aggression in all fields and arenas of confrontation constitute the most effective response to the escalation of the aggressors’ camp in its war of genocide and crimes against our people.

The heroic exploits undertaken by the forces of the resistance, each from its position, will be witnessed by the history of our nation and the world. They are the ones who will achieve victory and defeat the coalition of aggression.

The fires of the resistance have been consuming the aggressor’s army at the hands of the heroes of Hezbollah from the start of the aggression. Meanwhile, the heroes of the resistance in Iraq rose with their stance and angry supportive actions before they launched the noble Arab people’s fire on the U.S. occupation bases, epitome of evil and aggression. When the Yemeni lightning strikes the fleets of the U.S. aggressors, it confirms the unity of the nation and reflects the solidarity between the oppressed and downtrodden peoples and the forces of resistance against the colonial invaders.

This emphasizes that continuing to target the interests and bases of U.S. terrorism and its Zionist agents serves as a protective shield for our people, especially after the U.S., Britain, and France made the Security Council and U.N. institutions hostage to the will and policy of American-Zionist terrorism.

The Front extends its condolences to the families of the martyrs of the resistance in Lebanon and to the leadership of the resistance, which has never abandoned Palestine for a single day. The Front salutes its heroes in all arenas, emphasizing that this cohesion and rallying around Palestine by the Axis of Resistance, in defense of its people, and the convergences of their fire and positions with the resisting Palestinians within the occupied homeland, will defeat the aggression and open the doors to victory and liberation.

In conclusion, the Front emphasizes that our people’s confidence in the Axis of Resistance is great. The Front underscores the importance of supporting this heroic effort, tremendous revolutionary work, and the unified confrontation strategy. This is achieved by rallying the masses of our nation and the free people of the world, escalating their activities, besieging the embassies of the forces of aggression in all countries worldwide, and fighting against the bases of the evil U.S. regime and its interests.

This is in defense of our oppressed, patient, resistant, and steadfast people in Palestine in the face of the war of extermination and in rejection of all attempts and plots of displacement.

Translated by Panagiotis Karystinos

 Source: PFLP on Telegram

SATURDAY, NOV. 4, 2 pm

Their Families Speak: A community forum to stop racist police terror.
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church

The homicidal killing by police of Black people across the country and throughout the South is continuing. Police are going free despite evidence. Mothers, uncles, siblings, and children have pressed on to demand punishment for the murder of their loved ones. While the movement has died down, these courageous efforts continue with determination even as videos are withhold and courts declared police have qualified immunity. Building Bridges has brought together in struggle and mutual support families devastated but fighting on. Folks in our area need to step up to show your support, love and join their struggles as families come forward on Nov. 4th to speak their truth. .Please post and share this event widely and join us that day.