by Peter Bohmer for the November 15th Round Table, Olympia, WA
This is Peter Bohmer representing Palestine Action of South Sound (PASS) and a member of Economics for Everyone (E4E). I will speak to Palestine and global solidarity, anti-repression and political education. I am a long-term organizer for global solidarity, anti-racism and radical transformation towards participatory socialism and a teacher of political economy.
One important recent change that will affect Palestine solidarity organizing is there is now a cease fire in Gaza but no justice or peace. (Note: Israel may go back to total war by November 15th). The murderous Israeli occupation of Gaza and all of Palestine continues although there is a common perception in the U.S. that the war is over. A challenge we face is that there is nothing that can be done to stop the Israeli and U.S war and aggression against the Palestinian people. Mounting an effective campaign for an arms embargo against Israel has been difficult.
Energy in our group, PASS, has declined although we continue into our third year. We have been somewhat effective in educating the Olympia community about Palestine and the Israeli genocide and US complicity by activism that has continued for over two years and raised significant money for Gaza. As part of the national Palestine solidarity movement, we have contributed to changing public opinion to where a significant majority in the U.S. is now opposed to the Israeli war and U.S. support of it. This is an important step although we have had little effect on U.S. policy. ..,