NTERCONNECTED STRUGGLES CONTENTS This is a Call to Globalize the Intifada Acting Where We Are: NYC What is the Intifada? Wall of Memes Transcript of a Teach-In on Palestine at a De-Occupation in NYC, May 2021 Free Palestine Collage iagram: Analytic of Interconnected Struggles Operationalizing the Diagram Columbia University as TestCase Strike MeMA/Free Palestine: A Call to Action Organizing Toolkit: - How to Organize a Rally and March = Chants = Know Your Rights = Community Defense Organizing Calendar/Upcoming Events Poem: “I Must Become a Menace to My Enemies,” by June Jordan INTRODUCTION This movement document offers an operational framing and practical toolkit for the globalization ofthe Inifada in NYC and beyond in the coming weeks and months, Grounded in the Globalize the Intifada call released in July 31, this manual is intended to facilitate conversation, relationship-building, and action in the lead up to @ city-wide convergence on September 17th (S17). Week by week, gathering by gathering, community by community, things ‘are building toward this date. $17 is not an endpoint. Iris a launching pod for a season of resistance as the contradictions of setler-colonialsm, racial capitalism, and liberal imperialism continue to heighten, and the authority of governing institutions including the university, the museum, politcal partes, and the police continue to erode. In neighborhood rallies, family gatherings, study-sessions, banner-making parties, and conversations throughout our communities and workplaces, we build capaxily for he day of action. On $17 we scale up our power and bring our interconnected struggles together. This document builds on ten years of movement work in the cy, nourished in turn by many generations and legacies of struggle from around the world. It weaves together principles, practices, and lessons of anti-capitalist, decolonial, abolitionist, and ant-imperialist political formations, and operates autonomously from any sectarian organizations, political parties, state regimes, or nonprofit entities. What time is it on the clock of the world? Ten years after the Arab uprisings cof 2011, seven years after Ferguson, five years after Standing Rock, one year alter the George Floyd! uprising, and a few months since a wave of Free Palestine solidarity swept the world, inspiring an internationalist insurgent feeling at local and global scales. Palestine brings everyone together, reorienting away from empire, and toward each other's struggles Whether we are talking about massive marches, militant disruptions, de- ‘occupations, poetry readings, spiritual celebrations, or building emergent counter insiutions, our relationships are key. Such relational organizing is rooted in trust ofiity, and mutuality over fime. The manval aims to make itself obsolete as we move together along the pathways of collective liberation — THIS IS A CALL TO — GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA ‘As Palestinians continue to bravely confront ethnic cleansing and genocide, it's time to globalize the Intifada. This call is rooted in direct action and driven by the belief that all colonized and oppressed people have the right to take back their land, to realize self-determination, and to win their liberation by ony means necessary. We build upon the revolutionary spirit and inspiration of Palestinian resistance, in the understanding that our own liberation is either collective or nonexistent, and that it must reflect the interconnectedness of our struggles in our neighborhoods and homelands. That is why we are organizing actions every week as we build towards September 17th, « peak day of action across New York City and beyond. Globalize the Intifada comes from the urgent need to defend our lands, resist our oppressors, and break free from the genocidal grip of U.S. imperialism and Zionism. Waves of solidarity have swept the world in reaction to the Sheikh Jarrah evictions, the bombardment of Gaza, and the militarist policies of the U.S.-sponsored Zionist regime. These events have united Palestinians across the occupied territories and in exile, and also sparked a new unity against colonial violence in many parts of the world; from Colombia and Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Bangladesh and the Philippines, to the Bronx and Bay Ridge in New York City. As Palestinians from Gaza and Haifa to ALGuds and Beita have consolidated their resistance to the Zionist settler-colonial project, we too must amplify the spirit of Palestine Liberation in the belly of the beast by linking corms with all those who are confronting U.S. and Israeli aggression globally. Globalize the Intifada expands the terrain of struggle by creating new points of leverage for our movements based on the interconnectedness of our struggles. Although these struggles arise from our specific place in the world, the forces we are fighting against-the creditor class, the landlords, the cops, the prison industry, the teargas manufacturers, the multinational corporations, the mining companies, and the military defense complex-are all interconnected parts of the same oppressi system. So we can find points of convergence in our separate struggles when we join the dots between what is happening across the street, or ocean, and what we are doing in our own backyard, With each link, and each mobilization, we are building the collective power and relationality needed to effectively confront the tyranny of the settler state. How can you amplify the message of Globalize the Intifada? Organize an action in your neighborhood along with other communities who support Palestinian liberation and who want to channel the spirit and example of the Palestinian intifada for their own ends. Make it clear that our mutual liber n is interdependent, and identify common targets that have an active hand in the domination of our peoples. To those who participate in, and profit from, the oppression of people here in the U.S. and around the world-your days of comfort are coming to an end, In the coming weeks, the boroughs of this city will become a theater of operations where we can actualize the interconnectedness of our struggles with a diversity of strategies and tactics. Globalize the Intifada will be an ongoing strike at the heart of empire with Palestine as its compass. Bay Ridge/Sunset Park, Brooklyn July 31, 2021 Dee at ar can aka eae en CA ia Pree tne Sale eRe a a Py Tela We a Seen ah Paar i) Sores weeps ae 2 ‘acer te sem Tigre Bmp meee or ACTING WHERE WE ARE: NYC We are writing from the unceded territory of the Lenni Lenape. We stand in solidarity with Native American and Indigenous peoples leading the movement for resurgence, decolonization, and reclamation of their homelands. These lands were stolen to create settlercolonial states, and those who were dispossessed continue to live under conditions of siege, surveillance, and extractivist violence. We support land back, «an imperative addressed to all setlers and settlerinsttutions, including museums, universities, and the City of New York. AF its foundations, this city was established on stolen Indigenous land, and shaped and cultivated by enslaved African peoples. We support the undying fight for Black liberation and its many manifestations here and across the planet. Subsequent layers of the city have been built by generations of migrants cand refugees from other zones of the world violently impacted by colonialism, racial capitalism, and imperialism. Think of the Mohawk skywalkers whose labor made possible the Manhattan skyline, and the Black, Latinx, and Asian workers who maintain the urban infrastructure today even as they are displaced by realestate developers in Chinatown, Mott Haven, East New York, and beyond. We support sanctuary for all migrant communities, and the allied movement for degentrification. We support the selfcdetermination of oppressed peoples everywhere fighting against the imperial states, repressive regimes, occupying powers, comprador elites, and global corporations whose calculations have forced so many people from their homes in places like Palestine, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Colombia, Domincan Republic, Philippines, Bangladesh, Kashmir, Punjab. From within the belly of the beast of U.S. empire, we acknowledge our responsibility, and act in solidarity with struggles to get free. We are organizing and building against a system of imperialism, colonialism, and racial capitalism with gendered violence at its core. We stand in solidarity with all those who strike against patriarchy every day, at work, at home, in the fields, in the prisons, in the detention centers, in the streets, in the shelters. Stolen land, stolen people, stolen labor, stolen wealth, stolen worlds, stolen horizons. This is the modernity to which NYC is a monument Ma rd What is the Intifada? the Intifada is the shaking off (uti) of ‘oppression, the unsetling of occupied territory, an uprising for dignity inthe face of dehumanization, an expression of self-determination grounded in the relations between people rather than the authority of states and politicians that claim to represent us Who is the Intifada? The Intifada is all those seeking to get free in solidarity with others; ll those who recognize the interconnectedness of our struggles against setler-colonialism, imperialism, and racial capitalism across borders and identities; al those who refuse to allow our struggles to be isolated, segregated, and pitted against each other according to the classic colonial logic; all those who practice what Huey P, Newton called a “revolutionary intercommunalism” that sees the modern nation-state as a hindrance rather than vehicle when it comes to collective liberation When is the Intifada? The Intifada is now, nourished by roots running deep into our entangled histories of survival and liberation across centuries cand continents. In the words of Ghassan Kanafani, “Imperialism has laid its body over the world, the head in Eastern Asia, the heart in the Middle Eas, its arteries reaching Africa and Latin America. Wherever you strike it, you damage it, and you serve the World Revolution.” Where is the Intifada? The Inifada is everywhere. Its all around us, within us, between us. In our homelands, in our diasporas, in our neighborhoods here in the belly of the beast. I lives with each act of resistance and care from the Bronx to Colombia, from Haiti to Punjab, from Standing Rock to Gaza Why the Intifada? To break the binds that setlercolonialism, imperialism, cand liberalism have placed on our imaginations, relations, ond practices of life. The Inifada wants todo para todos, in the words of the Zapatistas. The Intifada is desire-driven, fighting and building simultaneously, culivating our ‘own powers beyond anything the ruling classes can accommodate within their faltering systems GLOBALIZE THE oa ( Zw 53) Oe] hosp] yl INTIFADA LEVANTAMIENTO SOULEVEMENT Ca enc MS ‘TO BE DONE W SITUATIONS WHERE WE NEED TO A Tene Ty Taualae MLU e er a) or RUIN ata’ TUNA eM ONT EXPERWENT. WE MAY NEED TO BE ANTI-STATE OR POs an Ry aT aye tig SN Ia Rass aac Tea ES Cd aaa aoa SOS MpL Nee Te CONDITIONS FRACTURE PEOPLE. WHAT IS TD BE a Sanaa UNDER CONSTRUCTION? THESE QUESTIONS ARE PLO sacl ea Manat aaa aS ss2 TaN CaaS IS me a IS FIRST AND FOREMOST THE Cee ea Tae CUCU AR UI ALL, DIGNITY.” — THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH aaNet a CaM ae Pe a geaa ag OUT THEIR CONTRADICTIONS IN STRUGGLE. HOW DO WE UPLIFTED A AN ONGOING REVOLUTION FROW AFAR? THIS IS A CTSA SLR ay PSO UE PO Rac Rd CONTRADICTIONS FROM BELOW ACROSS cS Sa sy ORGANIZING ON THE STREETS. SO Tea aN SOME TD ROWANTIOZE THE AUTHORTARAN STATE SOCAALIS PROJECTS OF YESTERYEAR TS Mata Mag ANTI-CAPTALIST MOVEMENT OF THE TURN OFTHE CENTURY ONLY GOT OFF THE GROUND AFTER THE COLLAPSE OFTHE EASTERN BLO, NEOUBERAL Br ee a LEAST THE 19708, BUT PREVIOUS FORMS OF Taser gO Ty Ua SN US aaa ZAPATITAS IN CAPA. WHO OF NECESSITY nay RMS ae rad) ae aa RG Sarg PUM econo Ber oarene ar aera See! Shean eer perenne enrnenthy Peer rer eng Pesaran Tarn Pitot seeepeenenertentes eee ery acknowledge and heighten them. Qulet forms Sea ere Perera sneer STRIKE IS A VERB nea US aS OBSCURITY, DISCOVER ITS MISSION, FULFILL IT. OR BETRAY IT IN RELATIVE OPACITY". — THE WRETCHED Ua) No te the non-profit-industial complex. No Prenat eee ot diversty-equty-inclusion complex. No to eee reas cerry ora ee ee eerie eee ee eras Pens CR TU TNT OSS a a PaO gage ST aa CS Da aU) Sea EA LS) sa aga) DISTORTS, DISFIGURES AND DESTROYS IT.” — THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH Pn rn oe Reng eae ated anton old See en tad Seana Seno ht eel PA SMa Acro Pra ar Et Runa a Perec aia eeu cy) pera ets HEIGHTEN THE co e Ue sia C3 TRANSCRIPT OF A TEACH-IN te a See DE-OCCUPATION IN NYC, MAY 2021, BY JKP Israel's violent repression happening in Palestine now is part of the settler colonialist Zionist movement that began in the late 1800s and peaked with the Nakba of 1948. The catastrophe and displacement of Palestinians continues now in Israel's attempts to forcibly remove Sheikh Jarrah residents. Again, what is and has been happening in Sheikh Jarrah is not new- this is part of decades long ongoing policies of forcibly dispossessing Palestinians of their land. The Nakba did not end in 1948, it is ongoing. Some of the terms you have heard in mainstream media include the “Israeli-Arab” conflict. Let us be clear that there is no conflict, This is a setter colonial occupation. You also hear about needing “balanced reporting’—but there is no balanced relationship between an occupying power and the occupied. Balance is not part of a decolonial lexicon. You hear that the situation is "too complicated and complex” to take a position on. This refrain is a Zionist tactic that encourages you to remain silent and reinforce the status quo—think about who says this as an excuse to avoid standing in solidarity. Palestinians never say it's too complicated to understand. There is nothing complicated about the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. One has the 4th largest military in the world, including nuclear power, and continually inflicts violence in any number of ways. The other has been resisting their colonization through a myriad of tactics, from throwing stones to the Boycott is happening now, a resistance movement on multiple fronts in multiple ivestment and Sanctions movement, because that is what forms. You hear politicians use the term “disproportionate force” in very tepid commentary about Israel that ultimately never leads to any global oF political action against Israel. You also hear debates about the term whether or not the Israeli occupation is apartheid. While we have called this apartheid for many decades, Israeli human rights organizations are finally recognizing that Israel is an apartheid state. Finally, you hear the media call the Palestinians who live in 48 “Arab Israelis.” 48-ers are Palestinian, period. Despite correcting them over and over, the media continues to perpetuate this language because it projects an utterly false picture of Israeli citizenship and co-existence. You also have been hearing about pogroms and lynching in what they call “mixed Arab- Jewish” towns and cities, to perpetuate the fantasy that Palestinians are treated as neighbors. But these towns, such as Lod and Haifa are deeply segregated, spatially in terms of where housing, businesses, and schools are located, as well as economically, in terms of denying Palestinians resources to develop community infrastructure. There is apartheid in Israel itself, not just in the occupation. These are some of the media soundbites that you will hear over and over again, despite multiple interventions by Palestinian journalists and activists. For the rest of this presentation, | turn to the specifics of Gaza, a 14-year blockage of the Gaza Strip that is often referred to as the world’s largest open-air prison as well as one of the world’s most densely populated areas. Again, these are easy tropes that we can break down. What is the blockade exactly and how does it work? What is the blockade? The blockade is a form of “logistical governance.” That means that the logistics of how, when, and why goods and people are allowed in and out is not a by-product of the blockage, but it’s actual purpose. So, when Israel says it is no longer occupying Gaza, they are attempting to erase the “remote control” of Gaza that happens through the control of logistics. In other words, logistical control is a form of population control. The blockade not only keep things out and keeps people in. It also creates a perpetual state of uncertainty. You never know when the electricity will urn off. You never know if your medical permit to receive medical care in the West Bank will take one month or 6 months to be approved, though you never assume it will actually be approved. You never know if you the Rafah border with Egypt will sill be open by the time you get there, and for how long it might be closed if itis not, You never know when medicines might be available, or surgeries that you need might be possible. You can’t count on the regular supply of clean water. Sometimes you get what you need and sometimes you don’t, but you don’t know which of those will happen when. That's part of the logistical governance, to subject a population to endless uncertainty. Gazans have been living like this for 14 years now. In 2014, during the last raid on Gaza, the UN declared Gaza uninhabitable by the year 2020. Well, that was last year, and 1.7 jon Gazans continue to exist and resist and fight for their right for the siege to end. Clearly, what is deemed “uninhabitable” does not speak to a universal threshold of human existence, because Gazans are living the unlivable. Remember also that the bombardment of Gaza is happening during a time when the pandemic has already stretched the medical infrastructure of Gaza. According to the World Health Organization, only 6% of 5 million Palestinians living under Israeli occupation have been vaccinated. Contrast that to more than 50 percent of Israelis. What would it mean for the siege to end? It would mean that Gaza could reopen an airport. It would mean that Gazans could travel to see relatives and friends in the West Bank, 48, and East Jerusalem—and beyond! It would mean the Gazan economy could grow and unemployment which is often around 70 percent could be mitigated. It means Gazans could enjoy their seashores and their homes in peace. Why Injuries Matter: We are watching in horror the death toll in Gaza and elsewhere in Palestine rise by the hour. We must also register and understand the horror of the growing number of injured Palestinians, currently in the mid-hundreds. Israel has used injury to try to strip Palestinians of their bodily capacity for resistance. During the first intifada, they used the infamous “break their bones” policy created by the Defense Ministry. There were about 2000 killings during the first intifada. But the number of injuries is staggering, estimated by some to be at least 30,000 injured Palestinians. During this time Israel had very specific discussion about using injury and maiming to keep the death toll so a8 not to solicit global attention and disapproval Disability is a big part of life in Gaza. From the siege of 2014, the stats say about 2000 deaths but the number of injuries is again staggering, estimates starting in the 10s of thousands. Because Israi targets and destroys medical infrastructure, wounds that could be treated often become “permanent disabilities.” Gaza was still dealing with a huge wave of disabled people when 2018 happened. You might recall that during the Great March of Return, which began on Land Day, March 30, 2018 and was a by and large peaceful resistance along the so-called boundaries between Israel and Gaza, the Israeli military openly and brazenly injured 10's of thousands of protestors during the first months of the Great March, including 7000 Gazans in the lower limbs. You saw these sensationalizing pictures of men in wheelchairs and with crutches on the pages of the New York Times never covered is the aftermath and the Washington post. But wha of th req compromised that it was overwhelmed by the injuries. Many of these injuries required amputation, many .d multiple surgeries, and again, the medical infrastructure is so flux. Targeting limbs, especially lower limbs and k , is both symbolically ty and the capacity ‘abled Palestinians are and literally an attempt to foreclose Palestinian mot to resist. And yet, we see repeatedly that often on the frontlines of protests. We can also connect the tactical use of injury to Kashmir, where hundreds of resisters have been shot in the e and many blinded, again the targeting of the eyes is both symbolic and literal. We can also connect these tactics to the hundreds of blinded protests from the Chilean uprisings in 2019, and the increased use globally of what is purportedly “nonlethal” weapons such as rubber bullets and tear gas for crowd control and protests, and frankly towards deliberate disabling of insurgent resisters of state violence. Solidari Tomorrow is Nakba Day, a day that commemorates the violent expulsion of Palestinians from their land 73 years ago. Tomorrow th will be mass mobilization around the world that includes every possible movement you can imagine, from Black Lives Matter to Puerto Rican Sovereignty to the Farmer’s Protest to those fighting the occupation of Kashmir, and so many more. From Angela Davis we understand that iv indivisible, and we learn this lesson over and over again from black, indigenous, queer, Arab, from Palestinian feminists, who call for the adoption of their statement “Palestine is a Feminist Issue.” In solidarity and as a tribute to the fierce resistance of the Palestinian people, | want to end with a paragraph from Ghassan Kanafani’s 1957 short story “Letter From Gaza,” where he refers to Gaza as an “amputated town.” Here his narrator is revising injury and resistance after visiting the hospital to see his niece who had had her leg amputated My friend ... Never shall | forget Nadia’s leg, amputated from the top of the thigh. No! Nor shall | forget the grief which had molded her face and merged into its traits forever. | went out of the hospital in Gaza that day, my hand clutched in silent derision on the wo pounds | had brought with me to give Nadia. The blazing sun filled the streets with the color of blood. And Gaza was brand new, Mustafal You and I never saw it like this. The stone piled up at the beginning of the Shajiya Quarter where we lived had a meaning, and they seemed to have been put there for no other reason but to explain it. This Gaza in which we had lived and with whose good people we had spent seven years of defeat was something new. It seemed to me just a beginning. | don’t know why I thought it was just a beginning. | imagined that the main street that | walked along on the way back home was only the beginning of a long, long road leading to Safad. Everything in this Gaza throbbed with sadness which was not confined to weeping. It was a challenge: more than that it was something like reclamation of the amputated leg! * Ghassan Konafari, “Letter from Gozo," Marsists.rg, May 2014, hitps://www.marnists org/archive/kanafani/1956/leteriromgaza him (accessed November 17, 2020) **Remarks made at Post MoMa Plaza In 1977, on the 30th anniversary ofthe 1947 UN pastion plan snd in commemoration ofthe ongoing colonization and ethnic cleansing ofthe Palestinian people, the UN marked November 29th “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.” While UN resolution 194 (assed December 1948) guaranted the right of return to all Palestinian refugees who were Aisplaced daring the Nakbs, 72 years later we are sil fighting for ou right wo return home. ‘As we reflect onal of the UN resolations and broken promises to Palestinians on the limernational stage for generations, we also ground ourselves inthe uncompromising support that wwe have received, and continue to receive, rom oppressed and colonized people around the sword ‘This collage features artwork by Palestinian painter Ismail Sharnmout, posters from the archives ofthe Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of fica, Asia and Latin America, Malcolm X's 1964 meeting with the PLO, and signs that our Mexican, Carribean and Filipino comrades have brought to our protest here in New York City ‘While the zionist entity and thei reactionary partners seck to normalize the ongoing annexation of Palestinian land and genocide ofthe Palestinian people, the masses ofthe world stand with Palestine, and will continue o struggle alongside us until we have achieved liberation within our lifetime ‘AaterationalDayOtSolidarity WithThePalestinianPeople #LongL.ivelmtemationalSoidarity ‘#RightToResist #Palestine #DefendPalestine #FreePalestine #WithinOurLifetime ‘plobalizethenifada 0 soon ead] The Intifada Thirty-three years ago today on December Sth, 1987, the decades after the Nakiba and twenty years aftr the Naksa in 1967. ‘The event that sparked the First Intifada took place in Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, when a -ionist ruck driver ran over a group of Palestinian workers, murdering four young men, In response, thousands of Palestinians took to the strets in protest. Te next day, on December ‘th, 1987, the Palestinian youth of Jabalia camp directly confronted occupation forces with only stones in hand, launching a new chapter of the Palestinian struggle for national liberation From Gaza, the Intifada spread to the West Bank, and then on to every comer of historic Palestine. Over the course ofthe next six years from 1987-1993, the First Intifada was led by the Palestinian masses, who not only took tothe streets to protest and resist the occupation, but also formed local committees to organize poplar education when schools shut down and coordinated ‘general strikes, economic boycotts of israeli goods and the withholding of taxes tothe ‘occupation. Women’s organizations, youth and students and labor union in particular took a leading role in these commits. ‘Today we honor all those who took part in the First Intifada, all those who were arrested, jailed, ‘and tortured by the occupation, and the over 1,100 Palestinians martyrs who were murdered While fighting for their freedom. In their memory, the Intifada continues, = GLOBALIZE i DISPOSSESS Dea SETTL COLONI. ier Urey) aA CT rotten a Se WARS ABROAD =~ NoT HISTOR VIOLENT AVA) EXTRACTION OPERATES LIK PATRIACHAL WHITE SUPR THIS IS SEIZED INI ae rN ED STRUGGLES ED PEOPLE “a LY Xol mea I) ALISM “a GOING GENTRIFICATION a a oo COLONIALISM rN "™— POVERTY WAGES Tore 1 PERMANENT WAR Fao oN Rt US) Bas SIGENOUS LAND , OPERATIONALIZING THE DIAGRAM: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY AS TEST-CASE With Palestine as our compass, the diagram on the preceding page is offered as a tool for identifying sites of convergence for our interconnected struggles as we globalize the Intifada in NYC and beyond. How can campus organizing can be strategically linked to globalizing the Intifada? The university exists on the same plane of colonial violence as the rest of settler-society, and it is riven with ever-heightening contradictions. It is full of discontented workers, students, and faculty who are already organizing on various campuses across NYC, each with its own specific conditions and legacies of struggle, from the CUNY system to NYU and Columbia, As a testcase, let’s apply the diagram to Columbia University. The following checklist is a preliminary scaffolding, to be fleshed out in the course of sharing knowledge and building relationships as we converge in the coming weeks. HE PeopLe OF HAI ru IRLEM, TAO land. The University was chartered as King’s College by King George in 1754 in Lower Manhattan, and to this day Columbia remains one of the largest landowners in so-called New York In its name and symbolism, Columbia is also monument to colonization and patriarchal violence. After the American Revolution, the in: n was renamed Columbia, in honor of the the mythical spirit of Christopher Columbus, the same genocidal conquistador and rapist whose likeness stands above Columbus Circle several ’s south at Broadway and 59th street. Between 1754 and the U.S. Civil War, half of the men who presided over the school “owned” enslaved African people, and all were prime pheric plantation system. That system and its legacies remains inseparable from the general structure of global capitalism that Columbia as an institution has always been dedicated to growing and preserving, as is evident in the list of Wall Street oligarchs who continue to make up the board of trustees. Their accumulation of wealth has always been founded on the dispossession, incarceration, and brutalization of of racialized populations. ation. Columbia University is an agent of gentrification, cannot be understand apart from the intersecting matrix of set colonialism and racial capitalism. Columbia is an ever-expanding land: grabbing machine, especially in Harlem. Its ongoing 17-acre, $6.3 billion 1n northward of 125th street continues to be met with resistance from local residents. Columbia has always had a predatory relation to Harlem. The 1968 campus uprising was catalyzed by protests from Harlem residents against the proposed placement of a Columbia athlet facility over the majority of Morningside Heights Park. This “Gym Crow’ development was but one in a long history of expansion projects by the University into the surrounding area, a process of racialized displacement condemned by community organizers as “the Big Steal. Poverty Wages. Columbia University is a place of class conflict Precarious graduate student workers have recently been on strike, and workers of all kinds are resisting in a diversity of ways all the time, unionized and not. How are student-worker struggles building with the struggles of other workers on campus and in the city at large in the face of an institution that is in its very structure hostile to workers power of any kind? What kind of class solidarities are necessary to create the kind of political formation we need and desire? / Empire: Columbia University is designed to be a knowledge factory for the global ruling class, supplemented by the pursuit of the “public good.” From the Business School, to the Law School, to the the School of International and Public Affairs, to the School for Architecture, Preservation, and Planning, and across the arts, sciences, and humanities, Columbia is in the business of preparing elites for power, and integrating select non-elites into the apparatus of liberal governance. As is the case with its fellow Ivy League institutions, significant portions of the university's programming and faculty are explicitly devoted to serving the interests of capital and empire. Others cite cultural expression, historical understanding, public service, and even social justice as their missions, but remain within the operational frames of academic research, policy: making, or the nonprofit industrial complex. But we know that radical formations of anticolonial counter-knowledge are alive at Columbia, channeling the tradition of scholars like Edward Said “whose intellectual work was embedded organically in the work of movements.” When we identify a shared place where our interconnected struggles converge, those counter-knowledges can come to fruition in the course of unsettling the imperial university. Strike €olumbie, Globalize the Intifada te Ad A CALL TO ACTION (Moy 21, 2021) We the undersigned artists, critics, scholars, and organizers are writing to ‘express our support for the Palestinian struggle agains Israeli colonial rule cond its apartheid system. We feel itis urgent to highlight the connections between the ongoing violence of Israel against the Palestinian people cond a leading institution of the art system, namely the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). This leer aims to build decolonial solidarity across borders by drawing attention to MoMA’s entanglement with the mutually reinforcing projects of setilercolonialism, imperialism, and racial capitalism in Palestine, the U.S. and around the world. When we focus on the interlocking directorate of the MoMA board, the museum becomes visible 18 a shared site of action for our interconnected struggles. This works ‘against the alltoo-frequent isolation and exceptionalization of Palestine, cand strengthens the bonds between Free Palestine, Indigenous sovereignty, Black Freedom Movements and all other movements for land, life, and liberation, from Puerto Rico to Kashmir and beyond. Violence against Palestinians has intensified in recent weeks, first with the ‘ongoing forcible displacement of families in Sheikh Jarrah, then with the violent incursion into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, followed by the carpetbombing of Gaza, and a series of organized settler attacks across occupied Palestine. This has included attacks on spaces for media, culture, and art, most recently Dar Yusuf Nasri Jacir for Art and Research in Bethlehem. At the same time, these attacks have united Palestinians both on the ground and in the diaspora, with resistance proliferating in a diversity of forms: yesterday, a General Strike shut down the entirety of historic Palestine, ‘and massive marches have taken place in cites throughout the world, with ‘#PalestineSrike as a shared declaration of agency, dignity, and solidarity. Cultural institutions are part and parcel of struggles against setiler-colonial Violence. 600+ cultural workers have announced a boycott of Zabludowicz Art Trust in London on account of that organization's fies to the Israeli military. The Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement is gaining momentum, including the affiliated Palestinian Campaign for the Academic ‘ond Cultural Boycott of Israel. As part of the Palestine mobilizations in New York last week, hundreds gathered at MoMA, where a young man ‘was arrested and beaten by the NYPD. The police had been called to the scene by the museum, which on the same day announced that it would be permanently banning five organizers from stepping foot in the museum. Why show up at MoMA? Why now? Because many members of the MoMA board are direclly involved with support for Israels apartheid rule, artwashing not only the occupation of Palestine but also broader processes of disposession and war around the world. Consider Steven Tananbaum, CEO of GoldenTree, « hedge fund known for profiteering from the Puerto Rico debt crisis. Tananbaum’s foundation donated 1.8 million dollars to “support Israel by sending young adults to Israel via the Art Insitute of Chicago, dwarfing his $400,000 contribution to MoMA itself that year. Daniel Och, CEO of Och-Ziff Capital, also known for its plunder of Puerto Rico, is @ current member and former chairman of the Birthright Foundation, which is also partly funded by the Israeli state. Birthright tours aim to recruit Jewish youth from around the world, especially American Jews, to the Zionist cause while sanitizing the occupation and erasing Palestinians. Leon Black, best known for his connections with Jeffery Epstein, has donated more than 1 million to Birthright as well. Paula Crown's wealth comes from her husband, James Crown’s armaments company General Dynamics, whose Land Systems division works closelywith Israeli military technology companies, and the Israeli Occupation Forces themselves (General Dynamics products have also been used in the bombing of Yemen by the Saudi government]. The MK-84 bombs being dropped on Gaza by the Israeli air force are made by General Dynamics. The Paula and James Crown Creativity Lab on the second floor of the museum stands while homes, schools, hospitals, and media offices in Gaza are flattened. Finally, MoMA’s Honorary Chair Ronald Lauder is president of the World Jewish Congress, which has long campaigned in defense of Zionist policies, and, most recently, has lobbied numerous heads of state including those of Britain and Germany to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Association's definition of anti-Semitism. This definition is widely used to conflate criticism of Israel with AntiSemitism, and has resulted in the proscription and criminalization of speech in support of Palestinian liberation (including but not limited to BDS) as a nefarious form of racism~a development that should concern everyone in the arts. This definition of AntiSemitism also serves to collapse a plurality of Jewish identities into one identity indissociable from the state of Israel, tacitly condoning the violence it perpetrates in their name. This is a form of psychological warfare that defines Jewish people who speck out against the occupation as “traitors,” “selhating Jews,” or even unworthy of having their voices considered Jewish at all. With this in mind, it is also worth mentioning the fact that Lauder is a close friend and donor to Donald Trump, and is closely connected with the prosrael evangelical Right. This reliance on Trumpism and the Christian Right for Zionist support has ironically fuelled the growth of real movements for white supremacy and anti-Semitism in the U.S. With figures like Lauder, Crown, and Tananbaum on its board, MoMA, cannot pretend to stand apart from the attack on Gaza or the Occupation of the West Bank and Jerusalem more broadly. Because the corporate power and wealth that sis atop the museum suffuses all ofits operations, there are no clean hands. Given these entanglements, we must understand the museum for what itis: not only a mullipurpose economic asset for billionaires, but also an expanded ideological battlefield through which those who fund apartheid and profit from war polish their reputations and normalize their violence. For MoMA’s board members, the tral of their malfeasance leads in many directions, from fueling climate crisis to support for the NYPD Foundation to the extractivist violence of the Cisneros empire. But there is no denying that Palestine is one of the crime scenes of the MoMA board. We do not expect, nor do we call for, any statement of concern from MoMA. Let us remember that a year ago after the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Aubery that museums issued statements of solidarity with Black Lives Matter, only to board up their windows as the rebellion unfolded. For those who love Palestine, we have waited too long for this moment to not say what needs to be said despite the fear, the risk, the cos, of speaking out and naming things for what they are. We stand with Palestine, or we stand with silence, aiding and abetting the disaster. We unequivocally denounce the continuation of the Israeli settler colonial project, ts apartheid regime, and the interlocking technologies of power and violence that enable it. We unequivocally support the right of return for all Palestinian refugees. We call upon our friends, colleagues, and ‘communities to join the struggle for a free Palestine. This Friday, May 21 at 4 PM Est. people will gather at MoMA. We call con the museum to respect people's right to protest, and to refrain from involving the NYPD, which creates an unsafe environment for everyone involved. For those who are not in New York City or who otherwise cannot Participate in person, an online assembly will also be held. HOW TO ORGANIZE A RALLY AND MARCH Globalizing the Intifada allows us to thread our material struggles through action. This is a non-comprehensive list of what you may need at a rally. 1 Logistics * Determine level of publicity and decide on social media strategy + Design flyer informed by this zine’s analysis * Create a blurb for people to share + Make a banner with message, e.g. “Free Palestine / Unsettle Everything” * Approach allied communities and groups to co-sponsor and get involved * Contact legal observers, e.g. National Lawyers Guild + Let people know which hashtags to use, e.g. “Hclipthelocks Hglobalizetheintifada #interconnectedstruggles #bronx” + Prepare and circulate a press release to circulate on social me- dia ond local media outlets, and with allied influencers the night before or early the day of the rally * Maybe after rallying an unpermitted march or walk around the neighborhood to spread the message and connect with folx * Create a security plan for those that attend the rally to ensure their safety particularly from Zionist, NYPD, and/or Facists disruptors *Be prepared to do jail support in case any protesters are arrested * At each gathering announce upcoming actions and events and let people know #September17 #517 is citywide, cross borough mobilization and convergence to globalize the intifada 1 Outreach Campuses: contact student organizations and see if you can build a relationship together and connect struggles, and if they can share the action on social media, Coalitions: invite any coalitions with shared politics you may be a part of fo not only endorse but attend, speak, and volunteer with security and other demanding tasks. Local neighborhood: Not everyone is online. Organize physical outreach if you live near a Palestinian community. Ask local stores to advertise your rally in their windows. Go around and tape Ay- ers to polls and bus stops and give them out fo those that may be interested. Finally, remember: we are all outreach! m Materials Signs Markers to write down legal observers/lawyers number who agreed to observe Banners. Bullhorn/speakers + mic/sound Drums Flags Poles Flyers/handouts Clipboard for sign up sh Iv Roles MC program coordinator with Speakers list live stream Video Photography Security coordinator Outreach coordinator Media coordinator v Follow Up Posting Statement + pictures on Social Media/ website Internal assessment + debrief + next steps Resistance + Building Party to dance and share spac vi Chants When Palestine is under attack, What do we do? Stand up! Fight Back! We will free Palestine! Within our lifetime! Hey hey, ho hol ionism has got to go! There is only one solution! Intifada revolution! Hey hey, ho hol Israel has got to go! Resistance is justified When people are occupied! From the river to the sea Palestine will be free! Palestine is our demand! No peace on stolen land! From Palestine to Mexico, Apartheid walls have got to go! Hage Cydlauald Ayal Ayal) Ga Min il-maya lal maya, falasteen 3arabiye From New York to Gaza {from the river to the sea, Globalize the intifada! Palestine is Arab) Free, free Palestine! igSSal (Je (Sai ay Long live Palestine! igi Nitya gla Long live the intifada! Bidna nihki al makshouf, sahyouni Intifada, intifada! ma Bidna Nshoof (Say it loud say it clear, we don’t want zionists here) This is not acceptable, Jerusalem's our capitall Stop the U.S. war machi From Palestine to the Phil Itis right to rebel, Israel go to hell! Sellers settlers go back home Palestine is our home! Occupation is a crime, From New York to Palestine! Not just annexation! Not just occupation! Fight for Liberation, Bring the whole thing down! Not another Not another dime! No more money for Israel's crimes! Israel you can’t hide! You're committing genocide! Out of Afghanistan, out of Iraq, Out of Palestine and don’t come back! Occupation is a crime, From New York to Palestine! From the river to the sea, all our lands will be free There is only one solution! Intifada revolution! Everywhere we go, People wanna know, Who we are, So we tell them, We are the people The mighty mighty people Fighting for Justice & Black liberation, Palestinian liberation, Puerto rican liberation, x liberation Resistance is justified When people are colonized KNOW YOUR RIGHTS WE ARE ABOLITIONISTS. WE DO NOT BELIEVE THE POLICE OR THE LARGER CRIMINAL PUNISHMENT SYSTEM OPERATES TO MAKE PEOPLE SAFER. WE SHOULD NOT IGNORE POLICE POWER, SO WE'RE DEDICATED TO FINDING WAYS TO KEEP OURSELVES - AND PARTICULARLY THE PEOPLE TARGETED FOR POLICE ABUSE - SAFER. WE LIVE IN A RACIST POLICE STATE, WHERE PEOPLE ARE SUBJECT TO ARREST AND SURVEILLANCE BY JUST LIVING, PARTICULARLY IF YOU ‘ARE BLACK, INDIGENOUS, LATINX, CASH-POOR, TRANS, POLITICALLY ACTIVE AGAINST THE STATE - AND ANY COMBINATION OF THOSE AND OTHER TARGETED GROUPS. BY PARTICIPATING IN STREET PROTESTS, YOUR RISK OF A POLICE ENCOUNTER AND ARREST GOES UP. PREPARATION IN ADVANCE OF ACTION GO TO THE ACTION WITH FRIENDS. HAVE AN ARREST PLAN, IN CASE. LET THEM KNOW WHOM THEY SHOULD CALL AND WHAT THEY SHOULD DO, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE HELD OVERNIGHT. YOU SHOULD MEMORIZE THEIR PHONE NUMBER OR WRITE IT IN PERMANENT MARKER ON YOUR ARM (OR A LESS VISIBLE PART OF YOUR BODY). IF YOU HAVE HEALTH ISSUES, PREPARE YOURSELF KNOWING THAT IF YOU ARE ARRESTED YOU MIGHT NOT GET URGENT MEDICAL ATTENTION RIGHT AWAY. KEEP ANY URGENT MEDICATIONS ON YOU IN THEIR ORIGINAL CONTAINER, BUT KNOW IT WILL BE TAKEN AWAY IF YOU ARE ARRESTED. SET UP YOUR MOBILE PHONE TO LOCK IMMEDIATELY OR AFTER JUST ‘A FEW MINUTES; SET UP AND USE A LONG DIGIT-BASED PASSCODE (NOT FINGERPRINT OR FACE). BRING IDENTIFICATION; GOVERNMENT OR INSTITUTION-ISSUED. IF YOU ARE ARRESTED IF YOU ARE ARRESTED, IT IS MUCH SAFER NOT TO RESIST AND TO ‘SAY ALOUD I’M NOT RESISTING, ESPECIALLY IF THEY START SAYING “STOP RESISTING.” \F YOU ARE ARRESTED, THE POLICE CAN PAT DOWN THE OUTSIDE OF YOUR CLOTHING, TO SEARCH FOR WEAPONS. THEY CAN AND WILL SEARCH THE INSIDE OF YOUR CLOTHING AND BELONGINGS. NYPD ROUTINELY OVERSTEPS WHAT, HOW, AND WHY THEY SEARCH. TO FIGHT AN ILLEGAL SEARCH LATER WITH A LAWYER, YOU MUST OBJECT TO A SEARCH AS IT HAPPENS. YOUR SILENCE DURING A SEARCH = PERMISSION. SO SAY ALouD: | DO NOT CONSENT TO THIS SEARCH. THOSE WORDS WILL NOT ‘STOP THE SEARCH, BUT WILL GIVE YOUR LAWYER THE ABILITY TO CHALLENGE THE SEARCH IN COURT. IF ANY OTHER OFFICER BEGINS ‘SEARCHING YOUR BELONGINGS, REPEAT! DO NOT CONSENT TO THIS SEARCH. iF LATER, THE SAME OR ANOTHER COP BEGINS SEARCHING YOUR STUFF, REPEAT | DO NOT CONSENT TO THIS SEARCH. REMEMBER SILENCE OR SAYING “SURE” OR “WHATEVER” OR “FUCK YOU" = CONSENT. SO THESE WORDS COME TO YOU AUTOMATICALLY, REPEAT THEM NOW: | DO NOT CONSENT TO THIS SEARCH // 1 DO NOT CONSENT TO THIS SEARCH. IF YOU ARE ARRESTED, YOU SHOULD PUT POLICE ON NOTICE THAT YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE INTERROGATED. YOU NEED TO SAY: I’M. NOT TALKING WITHOUT MY LAWYER. THis TRIGGERS YOUR RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT AND YOUR RIGHT TO AN ATTORNEY. THE POLICE MIGHT LAUGH AT YOU, MOCK YOU, TRY TO TRICK YOU INTO SPEAKING WITH THEM. BUT KNOWING THESE WORDS AND THEN REMAINING SILENT IS POWERFUL FOR YOU AND YOUR COMMUNITY. AFTER SAVING THESE WORDS, DO NOT TALK TO THE COPS. eee LE Tha ab THREE WAYS TO BE BETTER COMRADES AT A PROTEST IF YOU ARE WHITE CIS GENDERED, LGPL ACT Sau ead + YOU HAVE THE PRIVILEGE AND POWER TO BEHAVE IN WAYS AND GET AWAY WITH THINGS THAT FOLKS OF COLOR, THE UNDOCUMENTED, TRANSGENDER FOLKS DO NOT HAVE + YOU FACE FEWER RISKS AND LESS SEVERE CONSEQUENCES FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND IN CRIMINAL PROSECUTION + YOUR ACTS CAN BE A PRETEXT FOR POLICE VIOLENCE AGAINST MORE VULNERABLE PEOPLE AROUND YOU, INCLUDING PEOPLE LIVING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, NOT EVEN PARTICIPATING IN THE PROTEST GENERALLY EVERYONE SHOULD BE AWARE OF THE VIBE AND LOOK TO THE ORGANIZERS FOR CUES, SO WE MOVE AS A COMMUNITY. EAMICEY MTP IH tf YOU WILL TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS OR VIDEO AT ‘A PROTEST, BE THOUGHTFUL ABOUT WHAT IMAGES YOU SHARE. POLICE AND DA OFFICES - AND OTHER WHITE SUPREMACISTS - REVIEW SOCIAL MEDIA FOR EVIDENCE. IN GENERAL, REVIEW BEFORE POSTING AND AVOID SHARING ANYTHING THAT COULD BE PROBLEMATIC FOR YOU OR ANYONE ELSE (WOULD YOU WANT TO EXPLAIN WHAT YOU ARE SHOWN DOING BEFORE A JUDGE?). SHARING IMAGES IS IMPORTANT FOR DEFENSE, TOO, ESPECIALLY WHEN FUCKERY HAPPENS. SO TO BALANCE THAT NEED AND PROTECTING ONE ANOTHER,USE APPS TO COVER FACES AND FILM IN A WAY TO AVOID IDENTIFYING PEOPLE. + IF YOU FILM AN ARREST, IT’S BEST NOT TO SHARE ANYTHING THAT SHOWS ANYONE EXCEPT POLICE. CONNECT WITH NLG, JAIL ‘SUPPORT TEAM, OR ORGANIZERS, SO YOU CAN SEND YOUR EVIDENCE PRIVATELY TO THE PERSON WHO WAS ARRESTED OR TO THEIR LAWYER. « IF YOU ARE COPWATCHING - FANTASTIC. BE SURE YOU ARE FILMING THE POLICE, NOT YOUR COMRADES. ; IF ANYONE ASKS YOU NOT TO FILM OR PHOTOGRAPH THEM, RESPECT THAT. DELETE THE IMAGE, IF THEY ASK. LATE TTL Lg NYPD USES AGITATORS TO CAUSE CONFLICT AT PROTESTS. WE MENTION THIS HERE NOT TO SCARE YOU AND NOT TO ENCOURAGE YOU TO DISTRUST OTHERS OR EVEN TO FOCUS ON OUTING SUSPECTED AGITATORS AT A PROTEST. THIS iS IMPORTANT TO DISCUSS, SO YOU AND OTHERS AREN’T TRICKED BY NYPD AND SO YOU CAN BE READY TO DISENGAGE AND DE-ESCALATE. THESE ARE ALL EXAMPLES SEEN IN PRACTICE: + ANYONE WHO WANTS TO ESCALATE BEYOND WHAT OTHERS ARE DOING, DON'T FALL FOR IT - AVOID THEM OR DE-ESCALATE AND HELP OTHERS AVOID THEM. + ANYONE INSULTING OTHERS OR ACTING AGGRESSIVELY TOWARDS CERTAIN PEOPLE, DON’T ENGAGE AND HELP OTHERS AVOID THEM. + ANYONE SPOUTING OFF POLITICS THAT ARE OBVIOUSLY CONTRARY TO THE REST OF THE GROUP, AVOID THEM OR DE-ESCALATE. YOU CAN ALERT ORGANIZERS OR MARSHALS, IF ANYONE IS AGITATING LIKE THIS. CALLING THEM OUT PUBLICLY AS AGITATORS COULD GAIN THEM THE ATTENTION AND ENGAGEMENT THEY WANT, SO BE SMART, AWARE OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT, WHEN PROTECTING YOURSELF AND OTHERS. ** All "Know Your Rights” and “Community Defense” content is the work of the KYR Radical Collective. STREET SAFETY + Scour | + Rives THE GCoORAPRY | + PL rhe oF WiNeRABrErTY |} Buslding trust + MAVE AND EXIT STRATEGY | confidence + wwentary Res ! offanity + FEND SAFE SPREES | e RESPECT CMELLS! +t) ON SENTI _ ancrsee WAL PaneEsRe PENCILS MCKIE FRAIL paRCTELE RORETY E QrGaniZing CALENDAR, + Upcoming EvenTS August 8 Festival of Life #Steuple, Pence # Resistance August 15 ‘Avyst 2a — Weekly Weekend Mobilaatons ++ Avgest 29 — September § GT! Film Festival * Domaings September 12 317 Ora, Pa, se Action { Seenbe IT, Cay wide Ackens # Gnvergnce * Shore decomestation of oct and achong Ly us +o create, **Fallou 1G Qdeolinehispace tnd Cvblpclestine Lor Communications . Im addition +0 parkeipati mine Gchons, axganize with owaler es, marches, rendi . dinners and, "4 A IOUPS, Cenistance Paces, Fiveriog. wheat - Pte a bl, and Small avg Sic chs Bod wr cea peers sp? want 4 dean S11.) ¥ AL EVENTS ARE out Onors x | Must Become a Menace to My Enemies by June Jordan Dedicated fo the Poet Agostinho Neto, President of The People’s Republic of Angola: 1976 1 | will no longer lightly walk behind ‘2 one of you who fear me: Be afraid. | plan to give you reasons for your jumpy fits ‘ond Facial ict | wll not walk politely on the pavements anymore ‘ond this is dedicated in particular to thote who hear my footsteps ‘oF the insubstantial rating of my grocery cart then turn around ‘ond hurry on ‘away from this impressive terror | must be: | plan to blossom bloody on an afternoon surrounded by my comrades singing terrible revenge in merciless ‘accelerating rhythms But | have watched a blind man studying his Face. | have set the table in the evening and sat down to eat the news. Regularly have gone to sleep, There is no one to forgive me. The dead do not give a damn. ive lke @ lover who drops her dime into the phone just as the subway shakes into the station ‘wasting her message canceling the question of her call: fulminating or forgetful but late ‘ond always after the fat that could save or ‘condemn me | must become the action of my fate 2 How many of my brothers and my sisters will thoy kill before I teach myself retolition® Shall wo pick a number? South Arica For instance: do we agree that more than ten thousand in less than a year but that less than five thousand slaughtered in more than six months will WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH ME? | must become a menace to my enemies. 3 ‘And if iF ever let you sl who should be extirpated from my universe who should be cauterized from earth completely (lowandorder jerkofs ofthe first the terrorist degree) then let my body fail my soul in its bedeviled lecheries And if iF 1 ever let love go because the hatred and the whisperings become @ phantom dictate lo: bey in liev of impulse and realities (the blossoming Ramingos of my wild mimosa trees) then let love freeze me out. | must become | must become a menace to my enemies.