May 13, 2024 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) in France, translated from French
After destroying northern Gaza, the Israeli army is preparing to launch an offensive in the south, at Rafah, where Palestinians have taken refuge. At least 35,000 have died. Netanyahu’s far-right government continues 76 years of colonization and apartheid, with the support of the major powers, including France. Not in our name!
The first genocide of the 21st century, sponsored by France and the USA
Up front, UN calls for a ceasefire. Behind the scenes, an airlift from the USA to supply the Israeli army. Biden’s support for Netanyahu is total. His recent posturing, such as threatening to withhold one of hundreds of military aid packages, only serves to underline how impossible Israel’s massacres would be without American logistics.
The United States maintains the domination of its capitalist coalitions over the Middle East by relying on states that play the role of cops: Israel, but also the monarchy of Saudi Arabia or Marshal al-Sissi’s Egypt, which participates in the blockade of Gaza and represses popular demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine.
Macron’s France provides military support. Capitalist groups like Carrefour and Thalès [an arms manufacturer, tied to the French state] profit from colonization and apartheid. The government is working to discredit all expressions of solidarity with Palestine, smearing them with accusations of anti-Semitism or apology for terrorism. Slander! What is anti-Semitic is to equate Jews with the colonial policy of the State of Israel, which terrorizes an entire people under the guise of war against the reactionary Hamas organization.
Solidarity Palestine!
Students at many universities in France are occupying their campuses to denounce this leaden blanket. They are under assault from the cops and facing a smear campaign orchestrated by [French Prime Minister] Attal and his far-right clone Bardella [president of the National Front party]. Further proof, after the attacks on the unemployed and migrants [see previous editorials], that this government and the [National Front] are defending the same racist divisive policy in the service of employers.
The students are right! Let’s say it loud and clear in our workplaces. Let’s join them in demonstrating on Saturday May 18, in response to a call from numerous political and trade union organizations: the State of Israel is a murderer, Macron is an accomplice! To stop the massacre in Gaza, people will have to get involved, not only by demanding an immediate ceasefire, but also an end to apartheid and colonization. Our mobilization here can stop arms shipments to the State of Israel.
Breaking the “code of silence” to prepare the response
The struggle for peace and justice in Palestine is part of the defense of workers’ interests. The government is making no mistake: it is summoning left-wing leaders, prosecuting militants, notably from the NPA-Révolutionnaires [New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries], and sentencing trade unionists, such as Jean-Paul Delescaut of the CGT [General Confederation of Labor], who received a one-year suspended sentence.
Macron represses all opposition from the workers’ camp. He would like to silence all those who denounce not only his complicity with Netanyahu, but his entire policy of social breakdown and racist division, so close to that of the extreme right. He is preparing the ground for a new employers’ offensive, with a draft “labor law” and a wave of layoffs underway.
It’s not inevitable: our struggles can reverse the balance of power. To express the rage of the working classes, but also the hope of putting an end to this society that has become unbearable, the NPA-Révolutionnaires is running in the European elections. Voting for our slate “For a world without borders and bosses, urgent revolution!,” means expressing the urgency of a counter-offensive by workers and young people, and affirming the need to overthrow the capitalist system that is leading humanity to its doom.
