Four months ago I attended the People’s Conference for Palestine. Organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement, Answer Coalition, The People’s Forum, National SJP, and International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network to name only a few, this conference stood toe to toe with eight months of renewed Israeli aggression visited upon the Palestinian people and several lifetimes of suppression and misrepresentation of the Palestinian cause in the west. It was a gale of fresh air, then, to step into the atrium of the conference center (named the Reed Badwan atrium for this event) and see massive Palestinian flags hanging over a bustling crowd of comrades in kuffiyehs. A prayer room was set apart from the noise of the conference, where Muslim, Jewish, and Christian comrades were able to pray side by side. The work of Palestinian visual artists and informational placards lined the atrium. The various conference rooms on either side of the atrium were emblazoned with the names of martyrs for the cause; Refaat Alareer, Khader Adnan, Walid Daqqa, Shireen Abu Akleh.
At the central vendor fair in the Reed Badwan atrium I was able to chat with comrades from all corners of the country: members of PSL, Code Pink, Action for Cuba among other organizations; members of the Palestinian diaspora, many carrying the memories of martyred loved ones; students new to the movement who had tasted revolution at their first encampment or rally and were burning to know what was next. Representing Keweenaw Socialists, I handed out issues of our quarterly to other organizers whose eyes widened at the news of the cause being supported in such remote places as the Upper Peninsula. It wasn’t long before my arms ached beneath a growing pile of literature detailing the countless groups, ideas, pedagogies, and modalities of action that had finally brought us here to downtown Detroit. This central space would continue to celebrate the diversity of the movement and provide opportunities for its various paths to cross. However, it was clear in the eyes of everyone there that we did not come here merely to cross paths, but to merge them.
At the conference’s opening keynote and plenary, emcee and PYM organizer Mohammed Nabulsi laid out the weekend’s aim: “This conference will allow us to reflect on our strengths and weaknesses, on our achievements and failures. It will allow us to develop greater political cohesion and understanding across the movement… This conference is an opportunity for us to consolidate and concretize what our resistance will look like, develop shared vision and understanding of what our role must be.” Growing fervor for the Palestinian cause in the west, characterized by the student encampments and social media pushes for BDS had achieved much for the movement in the months leading up to the conference. The great influx of interest, however, had led to some decentralization of Palestinian voices and moments of intense and effective action without clear direction or follow through (the “digitine” movement surrounding this year’s met gala being a prime example). For a movement with powerful adversaries like the united states’ government and media, such moments of distraction or disunity could be the difference between another victory over the imperialist leviathan and another Gazan refugee camp crushed while our backs are turned. Many hearts have been softened by the voice of the Palestinian people, but the conference made it abundantly clear that it is now time to listen closely to what those voices are demanding and respond as one.
In the various plenaries and panels offered over the weekend, the Palestinian narrative and the voices of those who have been fighting for Palestinian liberation since long before October 7th were central. The plenaries, all of which are available for viewing here, offered comprehensive but detailed overviews of the 76 year-long war on Palestine, the connection between Zionism and US imperialism, the history of the Palestinian movement in north america, the student Intifada, Palestine’s place at the front of an international struggle for liberation, and more. These plenaries are, in my opinion, required listening for those new to the cause. Hearing from revolutionaries who have fought ceaselessly through the first and second Intifadas, who endured israeli prison like Wissam Rafeedie, who prevailed over israel’s genocidal aims through the prison movement and semen smuggling like Sanaa Daqqa, was a sobering reminder of what the Palestinian people have endured over the last century, but also a hopeful reminder of their continued strength and resilience.
The Palestinian voice and its call for unified action among its supporters was echoed and expanded upon in the smaller panels. In a panel on alternative education, revolutionary pedagogy, education that is dialectic, fluid, and holds collective actualization over the individual was offered as an alternative to the capital-fueled industry of western higher education. Jewish activists gathered for a panel to discuss the history of Jewish anti-zionist activism ( a history as old as zionism itself) and their role in anti-zionist organizing, reaffirming Palestinian leadership and condemning zionist, right-wing instrumentalization of Jewish people. The analytical framework of the conference was consistent across the three days - the struggle for Palestine is a struggle against imperialism and imperialism is everyone’s problem. In each panel the larger message was never lost; in uniting for Palestine, we are uniting against great evils that impact us all.
On the final day of the conference, we stood in Walid Daqqa hall listening to Walid Daqqa’s widow, Sanaa, discuss the prison movement while their daughter, Milad, colored beside her. About midway through the talk, I opened my phone to see a breaking news update from Raffah. A child’s body, no head, being frantically shaken by a screaming man before the camera. I looked around the room to see more faces pale as the news flashed onto the conference jumbotron: Israel had enacted a drone strike on a refugee camp, burning dozens alive as they slept in their tents. The talk was quietly wrapped up and the conference was paused momentarily, allowing organizers to regroup and respond to the horrors that were unfolding before our eyes.Small groups huddled in the rain outside the conference venue, I watched comrades try to light cigarettes with shaking hands.
Following the break, we gathered for the final plenary and comments. Nadya Tannous of the PYM opened the talk in no uncertain terms: “This panel…is talking about what is next. To strike at the heart of empire. We have all attended panels elsewhere that talk about the central importance of solidarity between our causes and our communities…but on this panel we want to talk about not just how we stand with one another in solidarity, but how we fight together.” The speakers delivered their comments to a room full of thousands of people who were grieving, angry, tired, but above all unified in their understanding of the speakers’ message: each and every person on this planet has a share in the struggle against imperialism. The empire has its eyes on Palestine now, but it forgets that it is surrounded and far outnumbered. The people are not helpless and the people will win. The closing statement of the conference can be read here, but it ended with what I think is the most important iteration of the conference’s message, a section of a poem by Ghassan Khanafani: “Imperialism has laid its body over the world, the head in Eastern Asia, the heart in the Middle East, its arteries reaching Africa and Latin America. Wherever you strike it, you damage it, and you serve the World Revolution.”
What, then, are the marching orders I bring back here to the Keweenaw Peninsula from the leadership in the struggle for Palestinian liberation? The conference was historic and an absolutely necessary exercise in and demonstration of unity. The revolution, however, will not happen in conference rooms at big city centers. It won’t need catering or commercial accommodations. The front of our war with empire is in Palestine, but the fight is everywhere, in what we eat, what we buy, how we teach our children, how we spend our time. “Wherever you strike it, you damage it.” Taking back your time from empire-tied employers and using it to nurture skills that build your community is a blow to the empire. Relieving yourself, bit by bit, of your dependence on money is a blow to the empire. These steps may be painful, but each one moves all of us closer to liberation.