the Apartheid Wall in Qalqilya
Meaning the grotesque Apartheid Wall being built by the Israelis in the occupied West Bank. Of course the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) have a euphemism: In English, it's "the obstacle".
This Sunday, November 9, there will be demonstrations around the world against the injustice of the wall and the occupation of Palestine, but only if you go.
This particular date was selected in June by the PENGON/Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign in order to coincide with the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Some of us remember an additional significance for this date. November 9 is also the 65th anniversary of Kristallnacht .
[One other editorial note: Is it not appropriate to point out again and again that "the history" so often invoked to support Zionism, and especially its current abominations, is absolutely not the history of Palestine or Palestinians? And this petition comes from a German-American who wants nothing so much as to see people flourish in each other's society.]
In Manhattan supporters will be walking through the streets with mock-ups of the real wall (in some areas, concrete and 25 feet high, with incredibly-evocative gun turrets) being built in Palestine to separate peoples, families and communities.
In the U.S., there will be similar demonstrations in Berleley, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Pasedena and Santa Monica, California; in Iowa City, Iowa; Boston, Massachusetts; Maryville, Missouri; and Seattle, Washington. They will be joined abroad by activists in Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Norway, Scotland, Spain and England, and this list is still in formation.
The most moving of all the actions should be the mobilizations expected all across the West Bank. Sunday's people hope to have news of these events by the time things start in Midtown Manhattan.
For more information, visit the Stop the Wall site.
If you're an American, talk to your government. Israel couldn't do any of this without us. Although a "first-world" nation, with one of the world's highest per capita incomes and boasting the fourth largest military force in the world, it receives over one-third of the total US aid to foreign countries.
In New York people will meet Sunday at 1 pm around the Button and Needle Sculpture in the garment district, at the corner of 7th Avenue and 40th Street.
[image from PENGON]