A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #364 - Spotlight - Palestine: Stop the genocide through our action (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Despite Macron brandishing the recognition of a puppet and demilitarised 
"State of Palestine", the blank cheque given to the genocidal Israeli 
army in Gaza continues. The planned famine, the systematic assassination 
of journalists and the bombings go on in total impunity. After 20 months 
of worldwide mobilisations that have not been enough to stop the 
carnage, what can be done in solidarity with Palestine? ---- While the 
people of Gaza resist, the front of international solidarity has not 
weakened. Freedom flotillas are multiplying, attempting to break the 
blockade of Gaza and bring humanitarian supplies to fight famine. After 
the Madleen and the Handala, which left before the summer, the Global 
Sumud Flotilla departed between 31 August and 4 September. On board were 
several thousand comrades of 44 different nationalities, united by 
solidarity with the Palestinian people. The flotillas alone will not be 
able to destroy the blockade, but they help to isolate Israel 
internationally. However, many governments, particularly in France, have 
refused to support their citizens in the face of the risk of Israeli 
attack[1].

The success and safety of these flotillas therefore depend on a key 
element: their visibility worldwide, making any military attack against 
the flotilla politically unbearable for Israel. In solidarity, 
dockworkers in Genoa announced an unlimited strike if the flotilla is 
intercepted. In addition to these, initiatives such as "Our food from 
our hands" (to which the UCL contributed financially[2]) or the 
Palestine Emergency campaign "Resilience Gaza"[3]provide concrete 
solidarity to the Palestinians of Gaza facing famine.

As part of the social movement of 10 September, many anti-imperialist 
contingents marched for an end to the genocide.
Photothèque Rouge/Alexandre

BDS and Stop Arming Israel, essential tools

It always bears repeating: the BDS campaign is an essential tool to 
fight the many forms of support for or normalisation of the Israeli 
colonial project. From 30 August to 6 September, a week of action took 
place against Carrefour, singled out for supporting colonisation in the 
West Bank[4]. Another important campaign was launched this year against 
Microsoft, which has supported the Israeli army for 34 years and helps 
make its apartheid system operational, notably through its prison 
system. Microsoft Azure hosts several Elbit Systems programs: combat 
simulators used in the training centres of the IDF, and AI whose role in 
the genocide in Gaza is known[5].

Breaking partnerships with targeted companies makes it possible to 
expose the capitalists who reinforce the colonial structure. The Stop 
Arming Israel campaign, which answers the call of Palestinian trade 
unions, focuses specifically on the arms sector. Its aim is to address 
the workers in this sector to try to spark social mobilisations against 
arms deliveries to Israel, but also to collect information on the 
reality and scale of such deliveries. The strike at ST Microelectronics 
last September or the one launched by SUD Aérien and the CGT Roissy 
against arms deliveries to Israel in July show that the campaign is 
already bearing fruit.
Photothèque Rouge/Martin Noda

The ideological and anti-racist struggle to be waged

Solidarity is also an ideological struggle: what is happening is not 
simply the responsibility of the Israeli far right, but the expression 
of a radicalisation of the colonial logic inscribed in the foundations 
of Zionist ideology. It is necessary to reject the attempts to balance 
the responsibilities of Israel and Hamas, a pitfall that appeared, for 
example, with Jean-Pierre Filiu. Placing the Palestinians at the centre 
of the narrative and weakening the Zionist narrative ideologically helps 
to materially strengthen mobilisations.

The issue is therefore to expand the solidarity movement, but certainly 
not to smooth it out. And to understand that this offensive against the 
solidarity movement in France is also linked to the Islamophobia of the 
ruling classes, converging with what is now designated as 
anti-Palestinian racism (denial of Palestinian identity, presenting them 
as part of an archaic Arab/Muslim mass). This double racism and 
discourse of amalgamation is very useful for stigmatisation in the name 
of the doctrine of the "war on terrorism", which justifies repression 
here and genocide there. Netanyahu thus claims that European leaders are 
"subjugated to their Muslim citizens" and therefore opponents of the 
"civilisation war of which Israel would be the spearhead".

Hundreds of Tunisians gathered in Sidi Bou Saïd, near Tunis, to welcome 
the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Wikimedia/Brahim Guedich

If racists hate Palestine, it is because they see how emancipatory this 
cause is. They see that it is also, in part, populations and movements 
from immigration and working-class neighbourhoods that mobilise. It is 
through them that the movement of support for Palestine in France was 
born and that brought the French radical left to take a clearer stand 
for Palestine.

It is a political struggle that produces results, as shown by the strong 
mobilisation in Val-de-Marne during the demonstration on 7 September, 
where several contingents converged on Choisy-le-Roi and mobilised 
nearly 3,000 people. As part of the movement on 10 September, many local 
committees or sites in struggle expressed clear support for Palestine, 
and the arms factory Eurolinks in Marseille was blocked against the 
production of weapons for Israel.
Wikimedia/Brahim Guedich

This spontaneous approach must be encouraged and strengthened. On 18 
September many other actions also took place, such as the blockade of 
Carrefour in Saint-Denis, and Palestine was present in every march in 
France. Blocking the economy must also mean blocking the war economy. 
Faced with genocidal horror: let a thousand solidarity initiatives bloom 
until Palestine is free!

Nicolas Pasadena and Daniel (Anti-racism commission of the UCL)
Validate

[1]In his statement of 11 June 2025 reacting to the illegal interception 
of the Madleen, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot condemned not the 
attack on the boat, but the solidarity initiative itself.
[2]"A Community Initiative for Food Security in Gaza", Gofundme.com.
[3]https://www.resiliencegaza.org/Resiliencegaza.org.
[4]For more details, see "Boycott, divestment and sanctions to stop 
Israeli apartheid", Alternative libertaire, 13 December 2023.
[5]Yuval Abraham, "'A mass assassination factory': Inside Israel's 
calculated bombing of Gaza", 972 Mag, 30 November 2023.

(English translation completed - Italian translation follows next 
automatically.)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Palestine-Arreter-le-genocide-par-notre-action
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