From Palestine to Kurdistan - Against Occupation and Fascism!
The world has been watching Gaza for weeks. It is an unequal war, as the very one-sided distribution of victims makes clear. But the inequality is not only military. It is a reality throughout the territory of historic Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. It is the inequality that results from the conflict between an oppressed people and its oppressor, which is also expressed in the Palestinian struggle for liberation. This inequality is not new. It is supported by Western imperialism, it follows from the ruthless and brutally enforced theft of land and resources, from racism and apartheid since the beginning of the 20th century. This is the everyday, oppressive, normal state of affairs under occupation that is intolerable to Palestinians.
This oppressive normality was broken on October 7. It was not the first time that the everyday experience of colonial violence was transformed into the violence of the oppressed. Something similar, though not on the same scale, happened in the first Intifada, the Stone Intifada, when the Palestinian people fought back against Israeli occupation policies in the late 1980s. Similar uprisings took place, for example, during the Gezi protests in Turkey, or during the Arab Spring in the Middle East and in countless African countries. The struggle of the oppressed against their oppressors is not a self-contained struggle. It is an ongoing process that breaks with all prevailing conditions and must continue until the last damned on this earth are free - whether in Palestine, Kurdistan, Armenia, Western Sahara or anywhere else in the world. We stand with all these oppressed people. This is not always easy or comfortable, but it is the perspective from which we judge and act. To do otherwise would be hypocritical.
Hypocritical politics is an area in which the former colonial powers are world champions. They, who have been colonially oppressing Asia, Latin America and Africa for decades, are now also supporting the unfolding genocide in Palestine, be it by continuing to supply arms and ammunition, be it by trying to silence the protests in solidarity with Palestine. Where this silence is broken by the solidarity movement worldwide through demonstrations, strikes and blockades, they try to enforce the silence by banning demonstrations or criminalizing pro-Palestinian groups. They know that Palestine is only the beginning, that liberation will not stop there, but will strengthen a worldwide process of struggle that will continue until all the oppressed are free. These are moments of lived internationalism, moments of thinking together and connecting struggles, moments of breaking with those instances in Switzerland that ideologically or materially support or even profit from the Israeli occupation.
That is why we connect the struggles, from Palestine to Kurdistan, whether it is Intifada or Serhildan. Both are words that mean uprising in Arabic and Kurdish, both are not only historical references to past events, but also calls for international solidarity. While the Turkish state is carrying out heavy military attacks throughout Kurdistan, there are also rumors that Palestinians expelled from Gaza could be resettled in the Turkish-occupied areas of Rojava. In one fell swoop, it becomes clear that oppressors can never be allies in the fight against oppression, despite all the hypocritical statements of Erdogan as a "friend of Palestine". Especially when one considers the close economic ties between the fascist Turkish state and the Israeli apartheid state.
As the oppressors are united, so must the struggles of the oppressed be united. The Palestinian and Kurdish liberation struggles are excellent examples of this. They have a long history of mutual support, solidarity and internationalism. When the Kurdish guerrillas experienced their darkest days, it was none other than their Palestinian comrades who stood by their side. Without these guerrillas, the Rojava revolution would not have been possible. Rojava in particular shows how the struggle for liberation can continue, how it is possible to defend oneself against occupation and fascism and at the same time build a society based on solidarity in which different peoples live together peacefully. It is a perspective that the state of Israel, built on settler colonialism, displacement and apartheid, cannot offer. A different solution is needed so that all people in the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea can live together in peace and equality, regardless of color, origin or religion. A solution that can offer people a life without exploitation and oppression, a perspective that is oriented towards solidarity as tenderness between peoples.
Long live international solidarity!
Freedom for Palestine! Freedom for Kurdistan!
Freedom for all the oppressed peoples of the world!
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