Nov. 30 — John Parker, a candidate for California’s 37th congressional district, is being detained by the Egyptian National Security Agency, along with other participants in the Global Conscience Convoy in Cairo, initiated by the Egyptian Syndicate of Journalists.  

He was taken into custody along with others when the group unfurled a banner that read “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free.” Parker and other detainees from Argentina, Australia, and France have yet to be released.  

John Parker stated: “The Palestinian people desperately need food, fuel, water, medicine and aid. The Rafah crossing must be opened so that people of the world can get needed supplies to the Palestinian people. Anything less contributes to Israel’s criminal genocide.”

Parker is a founding member of the Los Angeles-based Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice and a reporter with Struggle-La Lucha.  He traveled to Cairo to be a part of the Global Conscience Convoy for Gaza. 

The Embassy of the United States is aware and informed of the detention. The Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, Struggle-La Lucha and the Peoples Power Assembly are demanding the U.S. embassy seek Parker’s release and that Egyptian authorities release all four detainees immediately.

Contact the U.S. Embassy in Egypt, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Egyptian consulates in the U.S. to demand the release of all those detained.

Egyptian Consulate, Washington, DC, United States
3521 International Court, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20008

(202) 966-6342
(202) 244-4319

Email: embassy@egyptembdc.org
Website: www.egyptembassy.net

Cairo, Nov. 29 — On Monday, U.S. participants who are part of the Global Conscience Convoy went to a scheduled meeting with the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, to encourage the embassy to do its part in allowing the convoy to help break the siege of Gaza, and to help stop the complicity and support of Israeli genocide that the entire U.S. government is guilty of and profits from.

The Global Conscience Convoy, launched by the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate – the union of Egyptian journalists – made it clear that the U.S. is one of those countries complicit in genocide:

“For too long, the Occupation has been emboldened by the unconditional support of major world powers, who disregard its atrocities and shield it from accountability. Their complicity in the face of injustice is a stain on the world’s conscience.” 

After getting through Egyptian security, then U.S. security, we began a conversation with two representatives of the embassy’s political office, who offered us nothing but manufactured empathy, giving the impression that their hands were tied in the “awful situation” after Oct 7. 

It was curious that the attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, which was preceded by 75 years of Israeli attacks and occupation, was characterized as “heinous,” with no mention of who was actually responsible for the “awful situation” in Gaza. 

When asked whether the massacres in Gaza could be considered heinous, given the over 14,000 Palestinians killed with nearly 50% being children, and hospitals and schools included in the civilian targets, the response from the embassy was “awful situation.”

We asked, if the transfer of humanitarian and medical attention to Gaza was only possible during the ceasefire, why wouldn’t the U.S. use its influence with Egypt’s government to get them to allow the convoy to bring aid?

The embassy representatives said they do not control what Egypt does and there are so many security hurdles to go through in making decisions.

A damning admission 

This writer mentioned the culpability of the U.S. in arming Israel with weapons of mass destruction against a civilian population, and how this aid gives the U.S. great influence in Israel’s government – and how that also applies to the Egyptian government’s foreign policy, since it too receives significant U.S. funding. 

One of the embassy representatives admitted that giving weapons to Egypt and Israel allows the U.S. to have leverage in their decisions. But they had previously said they had no influence with Egypt to allow the convoy through! Although they said they supported Israel in its war against the Palestinian people, they thought that Israel had gone too far, but they had no influence.

We asked them why they couldn’t just stop giving aid and stop arming Israel with weapons that are killing civilians and children? Admitting that weapons are key to leverage, the U.S. Embassy was admitting its culpability in genocide by refusing to use that leverage. 

When asked if the over $500 billion worth of natural gas and oil on the coast of Gaza and the West Bank could be a motive for U.S. complicity with Israel – there was not a peep from the representatives.

The fuel that is vital for electricity, food production and keeping babies alive in incubators could be produced off the shores of occupied Palestine – but the Israeli occupation will not allow it. The cost of occupation includes the lives of many, many children.

Bianca Estrada told the embassy staff that as a mother with two children she had to come to join the convoy. Her tears in explaining her empathy with Palestinian parents losing their children in such horror committed by Israel added to her genuine message of solidarity and frustration with Israel and the U.S. 

When the embassy used the excuse of supporting Israel’s right to “self defense,” one of our delegates, who was born in the West Bank, questioned how it could be called self-defense when the people of Palestine are living under an illegal occupation.

Struggle-La Lucha’s Lev Koufax mentioned that his Jewish history has taught him what a concentration camp looks like and that the genocide by Israel must be considered a holocaust.

Complicity in genocide

Much information was relayed about the genocidal nightmare that Israel unleashed after Oct. 7, killing hundreds every day until the temporary ceasefire. But the U.S. regime, now led by Biden and the Democratic Party and aided by the Republicans in Congress, refused to call for a ceasefire. They instead opted for a “pause.” 

Biden and the U.S. Embassy know very well that the aid they said is going through will stop after the ceasefire (set to end tomorrow), and another 14,000 Palestinians could be killed in the next few weeks. 

We knew, of course, that the embassy already had this information and more about the horror faced by Gaza. But this meeting was a record of their informed complicity in genocidal terrorism. 

When we left the meeting, we let them know that we knew their plans to support Israel and refuse to help the convoy were set. In their own words, “our priority is the American people” – meaning the U.S. capitalist rulers. 

We put on the record that we knew that they understood that their refusal to allow aid and continuing U.S. funding of Israel means the continuation of the slaughter of children after the pause ends. 

It might be taking a leap, but it does seem curious that CBS News reported the day after our visit to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo: “A U.S. military plane carrying 54,000 pounds of food and medical supplies bound for civilians in Gaza landed in Egypt on Tuesday, the first of three such flights aimed at easing the humanitarian crisis in the enclave during a lull in fighting between Israel and Hamas.”

Why was this the first flight to “ease the humanitarian crisis”? Why didn’t it begin when the ceasefire began – instead of only two days before the ceasefire extension is set to end? 

But as the article states, the aid will not make a dent in the need. Hoping a last-minute public relations stunt smooths the way for the continuation of genocide is nothing but evil.

“From the president on down, we understand that what is getting in is nowhere near enough for normal life in Gaza,” one official said on a call with reporters.

Five years ago, on Dec. 7, 2018, we began publishing Struggle-La Lucha. It’s news and analysis for socialist revolution. That’s why you are here reading this.

Throughout, we have given frontline coverage of the many struggles taking place across the U.S. and around the world. From Black Lives Matter to the National March to Protect Trans Youth, from the U.S./NATO proxy war on Russia to the Pentagon’s menacing buildup in Asia, including a surge of armaments to Taiwan. Most significantly, right now, is the courageous Palestinian resistance in Gaza.

We have two journalists — John Parker and Lev Koufax — in Cairo, Egypt, working with the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate for the Global Conscience Convoy to deliver aid to Gaza. 

We need your help, and there are a few ways you can do that.  

Donate. Your donations are what have made it possible to send journalists to the frontlines. 

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On Wednesday, Nov. 23, two journalists from Struggle-La Lucha had the privilege and honor of spending an afternoon at the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate in downtown Cairo. The EJS is the central labor union for journalists across Egypt. We received a tour from EJS members who have also played a role in organizing the Global Conscience Convoy to the Rafah border crossing.

The first thing that stands out about the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate headquarters is the massive 50-foot-long Palestinian flag hanging from the building’s entrance. Upon approach, one can immediately feel the solidarity emanating from the building and its occupants. The struggle for union journalists in Egypt is a personal one, as the Israeli apartheid government has murdered at least 57 journalists since Oct. 7, many of whom were Egyptian. 

Historically, the EJS has not always been this anti-imperialist. While a relatively progressive trade union in the past, the EJS experienced a seachange in March of this year when a socialist bloc won the elections for the union’s leadership. This is the first time explicitly left-wing forces have ascended to EJS leadership. 

Under the new leadership, the EJS has taken steps to build coalitions with progressive organizations like the Popular Committee in Solidarity with Palestine, the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, the Bread and Freedom Party, and many others. Because of these coalitions, the EJS led the only truly popular demonstrations in support of Palestine in the entire country of Egypt. This has included the first major marches on Tahrir Square in a decade. 

At first, the Egyptian government was not only supportive of these demonstrations but even went as far as to participate to some extent. Unfortunately, the Egyptian government changed its tune regarding pro-Palestine protests and even humanitarian convoys in the days and weeks since the Palestinian resistance commenced Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. 

Due to pressure from the U.S. government and corporate media, as well as an insidious EU anti-migration aid package, the Egyptian government has significantly cooled its support for Palestine and the corresponding solidarity movement. The over $9 billion aid package comes with the express purpose of preventing Arab migration into Europe. To that effect, the package contains millions for border security and naval patrol equipment.

One of the consequences of this Western coercion has been an indefinite delay in multiple aid convoys headed to Gaza, including the Global Conscience Convoy organized by the EJS and many other organizations. However, that has not stopped the progressive organizers on the ground from struggling for humanitarian and political intervention to stop the genocide in Gaza. 

Directly after our tour and several productive conversations with Egyptian socialists and unionists, individuals from across the globe participated in a picket line in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Our main demands: End the genocide in Gaza and allow the Global Conscience Convoy to proceed!

When I told my parents I was traveling to Cairo, they immediately assumed that I would somehow find myself on the wrong side of a Hamas rocket the second I stepped off the plane because I am a Jew. This is really less a condemnation of my parents than an example of the craziness among many whipped up by the U.S. war propaganda machine. 

The fact that Cairo is hundreds of miles from the Palestinian border and that Egypt isn’t actively at war with Israel didn’t seem to matter. Reason doesn’t seem to matter when it comes to the cascade of U.S.-pushed lies. Either way, I am thrilled to report that neither myself — from the Baltimore Peoples Power Assembly — nor John Parker — a national organizer for the Socialist Unity Party and the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice in Los Angeles and current congressional candidate — were struck by any missile of any kind upon our arrival in Cairo.

I guess I should count myself lucky that I was spared from the supposed great epidemic of Hamas missiles hurtling through the Middle East. 

Piff aside, John and I landed here yesterday in Egypt’s capital city and one of the urban centers of the Arab world. While Cairo is an amazing city, the nature of our trip is not leisure. We came to Cairo to join the Global Conscience Convoy, a massive humanitarian and journalist convoy to Gaza organized by the national Egyptian Journalists’ Union and a coalition of socialist organizations here in Egypt. The goal of the convoy is not only to deliver material aid. On the convoy will be truth-telling war correspondents intent on showing the horrors of Israeli genocide to the world and relieving the severely embattled journalist core inside Gaza. 

At least sixty journalists have been killed since Oct. 7 throughout the Gaza Strip as the IDF continues to target reporters of all stripes intentionally. For that reason, nearly 170 journalists from all over the world converged on Egypt to organize and partake in this humanitarian convoy to the Rafah border crossing. They hope to provide much-needed supplies and coverage of Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinian people. The world deserves to know the truth. 

The Convoy was initially supposed to launch on Nov. 24. However, the Egyptian government held up security clearances with the hope of sabotaging such a show of strength and solidarity by unions and socialist organizations here in Egypt. Since the announcement that the Convoy would be postponed, organizers on the ground and around the globe have ramped up the pressure on Prime Minister El Sisi’s military junta to allow the nearly 60,000 pounds of material aid through to the Rafah border crossing. The general message has been: how dare one of the largest governments in the Arab world deny material and political relief to the Palestinian people as Gaza burns? 

As it almost always does, the pressure is working. Turns out, when we fight, we win. There isn’t confirmation yet, but the hard-working organizers in the Egyptian Journalists’ Union and the local Popular Committee in Solidarity with the Palestinian People have expressed cautious hope that the convoy could go forward in the coming days or weeks due to the increasing pressure and the recently announced 4-day truce between occupation forces and the Palestinian resistance. 

If the convoy is able to leave soon, you can bet that John and I will be on it. In the meantime, solidarity demonstrations are planned over the next several days in Cairo. We will also meet with the protest organizers and the Convoy itself. We hope to not only contribute to the struggle in Egypt any way we can during our brief stay but also to bring back this message of truth: Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people is not only very real, but it is worsening and must be stopped. 

We hope to provide regular updates on Struggle-La Lucha as the trip progresses. Palestinian solidarity will never die! Down with Israel! Long live Palestine!

Please follow @globalconscienceconvoy on Instagram for further updates and calls to action. 

On November 17, the Global Conscience Convoy announced that their planned humanitarian aid convoy planned for November 24 had to be postponed due to bureaucratic obstruction by the Egyptian government’s Ministry of Affairs. All progressive and anti-war organizations need to demand that the Egyptian government open the Rafah border crossing and allow the Global Conscience Convoy depart from Cairo.

The Global Conscience Convoy is a call to: 

1. End the War 
2. Open the Rafah Crossing, for all humanitarian aid (food, water, medication, and fuel) to enter Gaza, and for unconditional exit for the critically wounded 
3. Medical, humanitarian relief, and journalist crews enter Gaza
4. Support the Palestinian people in standing against Israel’s expulsion plans. 

To effectuate these goals, the Egyptian Journalists Union planned a convoy of relief workers, activists, and supplies in trucks and buses to the Rafah border crossing to the Gaza strip. Not only is the convoy focused on delivering material aid, but there is something else at stake: The world deserves to know what is really happening in Gaza. The aim of the journalists organizing the convoy is to gain access to the Strip as to report to the world Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinian people. 

This war will only end with intervention from the world’s governments, unions, religious institutions, universities, non-profits, etc. The Convoy’s organizers are asking all like-minded individuals to support the convoy through social media and public statements. So please, post a photo of yourself with a note: Let the #GlobalConscienceConvoy go and #OpenRafahCrossing on twitter and instagram. 

Let’s stand with the Egyptian Journalists’ Union and the people of Palestine! Let the Global Conscience Convoy Go! Open Rafah Crossing NOW!!!!!