Defend Peoples’ Struggle! End Biden’s Countering Domestic Terrorism (CDT) Program!
We live in an era of heightened of political repression, regardless of the party that holds the seat of the presidency. While the people's movements are under attack, ILPS is there to join the fight to defend organizers, allies, and communities.
- Background -
From ILPS Statement "The Palestinian Resistance is a Beacon to our Resistance against US-backed Zionist Aggression":
"We . . . condemn the attacks on Palestinian and Palestine solidarity organizations around the world on behalf of the US and Zionist forces. We are witnessing an unprecedented outlawing of democratic organizations and bans on free speech when it comes to the Palestinian cause while pro-Zionist slogans are given full support, even within the so-called “democratic” liberal states of North America and Europe. Now is the time to defend peoples’ struggle in all its forms."
"The ILPS calls on its members to take actions worldwide outside of Israeli, US and European embassies to condemn the genocide taking place in Gaza. We also encourage members to demand of their own governments official condemnation and to push for the unconditional end of the blockade, assault and genocide of Gaza, as well as the end of all military aid to the Zionist state, especially from the US."
"All organizations are encouraged to hold educational sessions on the history and current situation of the US-Zionist occupation and resistance of Palestine. Ongoing actions in support of the Palestinian resistance must be maintained worldwide, especially amidst the crackdown and banning of anti-Zionist organizations. We must assert that activism and resistance of any form is not terrorism."
We are witnessing an unprecedented moment of repression. On the one hand, the outright genocide of the Palestinian people at the hands of the US-backed Zionist occupation state. On the other hand, crackdowns on Palestinian and Palestine solidarity organizations in the form of censorship, outright bans, harassment, doxxing and physical violence have increased exponentially since this latest assault began, including the heartbreaking and racist murder of a six-year-old Palestinian boy by his family's landlord in Chicago. For years, it has not been this dangerous to organize openly for Palestine, and yet it is more important now for that very reason.
It was in anticipation of moments like this that ILPS-US launched the Defend Peoples' Struggle campaign. Through conversations with organizations throughout the last couple years and after many powerful discussions at our 2nd National Assembly in 2022, we resolved as a country chapter to launch this campaign to "Defend freedom fighters, mass organizations and movements for peace and justice being targeted relentlessly by state forces through so-called “counter-terrorism” programs; stand with organized and unorganized communities alike as they experience brutalization in the workplace, in racially policed neighborhoods, in prisons and at the militarized borders; and raise high the banner of the League and uphold the justness of all fights for national and social liberation."
The US War on Terror machine is on full power to protect the US ruling class's interests and shield its brutal satellite state of "Israel" from accountability for its campaign of extermination against the people of Gaza. While Zionist organizations are given full state support, the Palestinian resistance and its allied and sympathetic organizations are tagged as "terrorists" in an attempt to weaken public support for them and more easily use legal and even violent recourse to repress their activities.
This toolkit contains resources from various organizations with lots of information and skills to help keep our organizing safe and to know what rights we have to assert when we're under attack. But we add the additional framing that in order to truly defend our rights, we must ASSERT OUR RIGHTS!
- Why ASSERT your rights?-
Attacks against people and organizations, like those mentioned in the background above, occur when those in positions of power are feeling their power being successfully challenged. This is a good thing, and it's why organizations like ILPS exist. These attacks and crackdowns are a counter-attack against the good work that we are doing in building the anti-imperialist movement.
While the tools contained in this document are necessary to help defend our movements, we must remember that THE BEST DEFENSE IS A GOOD OFFENSE. Our movements are stronger when we combine our forces and act together, since it's easier for the state to target individual organizations over the movement as a whole.
Ultimately, the perspective of ILPS is to help overthrow imperialism, the root cause of the repression against our movements. Therefore, our strategy is to build an anti-imperialist and anti-fascist mass movement that is decisive and able to weather attacks from state repression on the way towards achieving this goal. The Know-Your-Rights tools below are to help with the tactics of asserting our organized power so that the enemies of the people will be less effective in their attempts to silence and divide us.
In this crucial moment, we must assert our right to fight so that we can effectively assert our collective power as a united front against imperialism, Zionism and all other forms of repression!
Visit our Defend Peoples’ Struggle Primer and Toolkit for more resources!
