For two years, Gaza has been a moral and political compass that has guided so many towards true liberation.
Israel, with full US backing and support, is starving 2 million Palestinians, carrying out a plan for mass displacement and ethnic cleansing in both Gaza and the West Bank, and continuously bombing and shooting Palestinians with the number of martyrs rising daily.
Israel's brutality, though gruesome and with the ultimate price being paid by Palestinians in Gaza, resembles more the last thrashes of a dying beast, than it does a mighty force. Zionism itself is facing an existential crisis. Around the world, Israel's murderous rampage has given it a spotlight for international scrutiny and has turned Zionism into a pariah among the world's masses.
Israel has been exposed on the world stage, for its colonial, apartheid, and genocidal project that continues to dispossess and oppress the Palestinian people. This political turning point provides us with an opportunity to utilize every tactic and strategy to ensure this genocide not only comes to an end, but also that Zionism fails to survive this indelible mark in history.
This is not the time to despair, but a pivotal time to come together with greater strength and fight even harder to end the genocide and occupation of Palestine once and for all. Gaza calls us to bear witness. Gaza demands that we look closer even when they try to force us to look away -- and we refuse to look away.
At the end of this month, thousands of Palestine's supporters will be convening in Detroit, Michigan for the second annual People's Conference for Palestine, guided by the principle: Gaza is the Compass. This conference is a place for all, whether it's activists, students, workers who have been on the streets and organizing at their institutions for Palestine, or families with young children hoping to build consciousness in the minds of the next generation. We will all convene to recommit to Gaza and to collectively determine the next phase of our movement for liberation.
The conference includes speakers from the recently sailed Freedom Flotilla, Handala: Chris Smalls and Huwaida Arraf, student activist Mahmoud Khalil who was targeted by the Trump administration, popular Palestinian figure and athlete Belal Muhammad, and many movement leaders and organizers representing dozens of organizations across the country. Plenaries and workshops include topics like the Palestinian political prisoners movement, an analysis on the Palestine movement in North America, and the current campaigns for an arms embargo on Israel.
This second iteration of the People's Conference for Palestine comes back to the heart of Michigan -- home to one of the oldest and largest Arab communities in North America which dates back to the late 1800s. Michigan is where Arab activists, equipped with revolutionary politics, migrated upon their arrival in the United States. It is the home of the Arab Workers Caucus, who organized the very first successful BDS campaign in the early 1970s. They went on strike and shut down production to demand their union stop using their dues to fund Zionism. They left a legacy that not only led to the BDS movement, but other unions taking a stance on Palestine. Many of our community members across the country can trace their history in the US to Detroit, specifically due to jobs in the auto industry which Arabs were fundamental in building -- including the father of Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian woman in congress who represents Michigan.
By gathering in Detroit, the conference honors that legacy and strengthens our collective power for the fight ahead -- a fight that echoes across the world, from the streets of Michigan to Gaza, where Palestinian resistance persists against unimaginable brutality.
Over 600 days of genocide have passed in an attempt by the west to destroy the Palestinian people's aspirations and struggle for freedom. This current moment is defined by an inhumane mass starvation campaign waged by Israel and the US. As they employ every tactic to ensure the Palestinian people pay a price for resistance, from carpet bombing to starvation, the true face of Zionism is being unsheathed for what it really is. With each week that passes, another complicit actor is confronted, a divestment resolution is passed, or additional research revealing the extent of western and corporate complicity is uncovered. Zionism's complete and utter isolation is not a matter of if, but a matter of when -- and it begins and ends with the will of the masses.
Zionists, pro-genocide figures and media, have attempted to smear the conference, spreading lies about those who dare to resist a genocide and century's long occupation. These same figures who spent years screeching about free speech, are now calling on the government to crack down on people's rights and to silence Palestinian organizing.
But the movement for Palestine and all those attending the conference have made it very clear: nothing will deter our commitment to the struggle for Palestinian liberation. Thousands will convene at the People's Conference for Palestine in Detroit from August 29 to the 31, with Gaza as the compass.