Stodden/Cholensky 2024 Campaign Statement on Recent Crisis and Israeli and US Crimes Against Humanity
We endorse the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement put forth by the State of Palestine and support the Right of Return of Palestinian refugees. We oppose the apartheid policies of the Israeli government and call for an end to all U.S. aid to Israel. We call for the end of the occupation of the State of Palestine and support the creation of an inclusive, secular, and democratic state in Palestine. - From the Socialist Party USA Platform, Approved in National Convention Oct 21, 2023
The Stodden/Cholensky 2024 Campaign unequivocally supports the Socialist Party USA’s Platform on Palestine and the Socialist Party USA’s Principles of self-defense and self-determination. We stand in solidarity with the working people and the poor of Gaza.
We call for an immediate ceasefire and withdraw of military forces from in and around Gaza. We call for the delivery of humanitarian aid and the restoration of basic human necessities including food, water, fuel, medicine, and electricity to the people of Gaza. We call for the end of the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank by Israel. We call for the immediate dismantling of all settlements built after the ceasefire of 1967, the return of all land stolen by Israel, and the demolition of all security fences between Israel and the Occupied Territories. We see each of these points as a necessary pre-cursor to peace in the region.
We call for the establishment of a single, secular, multi-ethnic state in Palestine, that ends the racist apartheid policy of Israel, and recognizes the Palestinian Right of Return that was affirmed by the United Nations following the 1948 Nakba and was reaffirmed as an “inalienable right” by the UN in 1975.
We demand that the United States cease funding and arming Israel. The US has historically been a bad faith actor in the region and our tolerance of Israeli human rights violations against, and genocide of the Palestinian people is tantamount to complicity. If the US has any role in the future, it should be restricted to supplying basic necessities to and diplomatic support of the Palestinian People.
While we explicitly condemn all attacks that target civilians, we explicitly affirm the right of the Palestinian People to determine their own method of self defense against oppression and genocide, and we affirm their right to determine their own future using all means that they deem appropriate for their situation.
We stand on the side of peace, justice and the oppressed, in this and all wars, and will oppose any efforts of imperialist states to end human life. We welcome victims and refugees displaced by US foreign policy, environmental injustice and global capitalism as our neighbors. We stand with the working class, the poor, and the dispossessed, wherever they are and whoever they happen to be. We call for working people of all ages, students, journalists, and all US residents to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine in the streets, in our classrooms, in our union halls, in our workplaces and elsewhere!
“While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.” – Eugene V. Debs, September 18, 1918.
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