Cherrie Hanson, Wisconsin Muslim Journal, Dec 12, 2023
Photos by Kamal Moon
The Wisconsin All Out For Palestine March drew thousands of people to the State Capitol in Madison on Dec. 9. Organized by the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, (WCJP) it was the largest, most diverse protest for Palestine in the state’s history. (video)
A caravan of cars, trucks and buses departed from Milwaukee’s park and ride on College Ave. displaying a sea of Palestinian flags showing support and solidarity. Caravans came in from other parts of the state as well.
Janan Najeeb, executive director and founder of Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition who emceed the march, spoke passionately to the crowd,
“Thank you for coming to this historic event, and to those who traveled for hours to show the children of Palestine, they are not forgotten. This event was organized by the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, an organization that convened on October 8, and now two months later, consists of nearly 60 organizations from around the state.
“These are people like you who want to be on the right side of history. Organizations and individuals that refuse to be silent as a genocide takes place with our tax dollars, who spend sleepless nights trying to end this holocaust perpetuated by the depraved government of Israel. Never in history have so many children been subjected to such a brutal death within such a short period of time. Israel can list this as an accomplishment that will go down in history and define it forever.”
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WCJP activists, civic leaders and students declarations:
- We are here in unity to demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a permanent lifting of the siege
- An end to all US aid to Israel and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, we will not be complicit in genocide
- We demand an end to the criminalization of speech in support of Palestine; We will not be silenced!
- We demand the freeing of all political prisoners in Israeli prisons including the thousands of innocent children and civilians kidnapped in the last two months in the West Bank
- We demand reparations and reconstruction for Gaza
Dodie Whitaker sang “We Rise” and poets Tasneem Jassar, the 2023-24 Milwaukee Emerging Poet fellow and Angie Trudell Vasquez, Madison Poet Laureate shared their powerful messages.
Along the stops of the march, Etsy Dinur, Jewish Voice for Peace- Madison; Rory Donovan, Wisconsin Labor for Palestine; Lex Nutile, Party for Socialism and Liberation – Milwaukee; Sarah Wunderlich (Kalu’hya ko ha), Oneida Nation; Lo Cross, Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression; Sabine Wolter, Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression; and Students for Justice in Palestine-Madison took turns addressing the crowd of thousands.
Israel’s military campaign has now killed more than 17,400 people in Gaza — 70% of them women and children — and wounded more than 46,000, according to the Palestinian territory’s Health Ministry, which says thousands more are trapped under rubble and there is minimal equipment to remove them. Clearly, the government of Israel is actively targeting women and children.
Then, last Friday the vote in the 15-member United Nations Security Council was 13-1 with Secretary of State Antony Blinken again defending the U.S. government’s decision to veto the resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. Despite the global support for a cease-fire to end what human rights groups are calling the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, the U.S stood alone in its choice to veto the resolution and allow the genocide to continue.
Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, called the vote “one of the darkest days in the history of the Middle East. History will judge Washington’s actions” in the face of what he called a “merciless Israeli bloodbath.”
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