Global day of protest hits New Orleans streets over Gaza

The working class can stop the genocide in Gaza and the bosses’ attacks at home

Despite rain, hundreds marched in downtown New Orleans on the evening of Oct. 4, joining in an international day of action against the U.S.-Israeli genocide. Organizers with NOLA for Palestine and the Palestinian Youth Movement led the crowd from Jackson Square – named after genocidal president Andrew Jackson – through the busy French Quarter and Central Business District.

With the shadow of Donald Trump and Governor Landry’s troop deployment looming over the majority-Black city, Saturday’s militant protesters took over a lane of some of the busiest avenues, including Canal Street. The march was strategically focused on tourist areas with a dense concentration of hotels, restaurants, and casinos, giving a taste of what it would be like to shut down the city’s most profitable sector for a righteous cause.

Tax money-sucking tourism bosses with New Orleans & Company brag that the city had 19 million visitors in 2024, the second-highest number ever. But the tourism industry depends upon the labor of low-paid workers burdened with rising living costs. While the city collects hundreds of millions in hotel taxes every year they give almost all of it back to the rich tourism bosses instead of uplifting the people.  

But the rich aren’t all-powerful. They’re vulnerable. New Orleans’ working class is a sleeping giant. If all hospitality workers went on strike, they could potentially shut down the economy. And what if the dock workers joined them? 

It can happen. Millions of workers in Italy are striking right now to stop the genocide in Gaza. Teachers, railworkers, nurses, dockworkers are joining in. 

Remember how, during the COVID-19 pandemic, politicians and corporate media had to admit that workers are essential? It’s not hedge-fund managers who keep society going. When the workers stop working, the economy stops.

The incredible worldwide movement for Palestine – including on school campuses – has the potential to become a real force to stop the genocide. But millions more workers have to get involved. Italy is showing the way.

The capitalist U.S. government that does nothing for the people here sends billions and billions to the Zionist government. That money is for killing Palestinians, all to further enrich big banks, weapons manufacturers, oil companies and other war profiteers. Imagine if millions of workers in the U.S. – including here in New Orleans – stand up to end the genocide, and for their own dignity, because clearly those things are connected. The workers can stop the Israeli murder regime and win better living conditions here.