Member Statements on PCR03: Make the Internationalism Working Group’s Palestine Solidarity Program a Chapter Priority Campaign for 2025

Member Statements
1

Statement IN FAVOR

Hudson C.

I support this priority campaign because it is our duty as socialists to always look internationally. This is our duty especially because we live in the United States. The principal contradiction in the world is the imperialist system headed by the United States, the United States military, and its alliances such as NATO. While living in the heart of this barbaric system we have every obligation to tear it down so our comrades around the globe can be free, and only then can we ourselves be free. Without this global perspective we will only create “National” Socialism at home. While the US sponsors a genocide in Gaza, puts sanctions on the majority of the worlds poor, and occupies the globe with over 800 military bases we cannot lose sight on our real historic mission which is taking down the US war machine, and with it its imperalist system. This work should be one of our highest priorites.

A quote from Malcolm X whose example we all fall short from:

“As long as you think that we should get Mississippi straightened out before we worry about the Congo, you’ll never get Mississippi straightened out”

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Statement IN FAVOR

Elizabeth T.

Hi all – my name is Elizabeth Tang (she/her). I am an organizer with the Internationalism and Abolition WGs, a lead sponsor of our chapter’s original anti-Zionist resolution, and the lead organizer of campaigns to raise more than $325,000 for families in Palestine. I strongly support the resolution to make the Internationalism Working Group’s Palestine Solidarity Program a priority campaign for 2025, with support from the Abolition Working Group.

IWG has seen tremendous growth since we re-formed this year, with now 15 core members and 60 active members. From Palestine to Cuba to Philippines solidarity, our WG’s mission is, as residents of the imperial core, to break the hammer of U.S. militarism, capitalism, and imperialism.

With the ongoing U.S.-backed genocide and Israeli expansionism happening as we speak against a backdrop of 76 years of settler-colonialism, Palestine solidarity is undoubtedly our WG’s foremost priority for the foreseeable future. Our work will now progress with greater efficacy and collaboration, now that yesterday’s passage of our anti-Zionist resolution has lifted the Palestinian-led boycott of our chapter.

We will continue to support efforts like #StopFuelingGenocide against Chevron, which supplies almost 70% of Israel’s electricity; the No Appetite for Apartheid campaign to promote BDS; the campaigns to dismantle the Virginia Israeli Advisory Board and Maryland Israel Development Corporation; political education for members and electeds alike; and additional mutual aid efforts for Palestinians in Gaza.

As the carceral state is increasingly weaponized against organizers for Palestinian liberation, IWG will also work closely with the Abolition WG to provide jail support, court watch, and other participatory defense and mutual aid for our comrades who are criminalized.

June Jordan said back in 1991 that Palestine is a moral litmus test for the world. It is our duty as socialists to fight for a free Palestine, from the river to the sea. Just as you all voted yesterday by a resounding 96% to make our chapter anti-Zionist in both principle and practice, I urge you to vote Yes on making our Palestine solidarity program a priority campaign for 2025.

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Statement IN FAVOR

Eliza G.

Comrades, I am writing to urge you to vote for priority status for the Internationalism Working Group and Abolition Working Group’s Palestine Solidarity Program for the upcoming year. As socialists, international solidarity must be at the core of our organizing. As the US continues to sponsor genocide in Gaza, it is imperative that we use all resources available to us in solidarity with our comrades in Palestine. The growth of membership of IWG over the last year as well as the chapter vote in support of resolution CR3: For an Anti-Zionist Metro DC DSA last Saturday clearly demonstrate our chapter’s commitment to solidarity with the Palestinian people.

In 2025, we will be focused on the Stop Fueling Genocide boycott and divestment campaign against Chevron. With priority support, we will be able to coordinate both with DSA chapters across the country and other local orgs and expand our political education and recruitment capacity.

Speaking from personal experience, while I have been a member of DSA for many years, the genocide in Gaza drove me to become active again and IWG was invaluable in providing me with the direction, resources, and support to become an active and engaged member.

Now is the moment to demonstrate our commitment as socialists to oppressed people around the world. Please vote to give IWG’s Palestine Solidarity Program priority status in 2025.

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Statement IN FAVOR

Vee D.

I strongly support the proposal to make the Internationalism Working Group’s Palestine Solidarity Program a chapter priority campaign for 2025. The IWG has been doing incredible work in building solidarity with the Palestinian people and opposing the occupation and apartheid regime.

The proposal outlines a clear plan for the IWG’s work in 2025, including a focus on the Chevron campaign and broader BDS work, coalition-building, and political education. I believe that this work is crucial to building a stronger, more just world, and I am excited to see the IWG take on this challenge.

I also appreciate the IWG’s commitment to building capacity across the chapter, particularly in terms of branch working groups engaging with similar work. The IWG’s efforts to create welcoming spaces for new members and to provide opportunities for education and training are essential to building a stronger, more inclusive chapter.

Furthermore, I believe that the IWG’s Palestine Solidarity Program is a key part of our chapter’s efforts to recruit new members and to establish ourselves as a leader in the Palestine solidarity struggle. By officially codifying this program, we can help to legitimize our chapter as a long-term participant in this struggle and build trust with area organizations and community members.

I urge everyone to support this proposal and to help make the IWG’s Palestine Solidarity Program a success. Let’s work together to build a stronger, more just world for all.

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Statement IN FAVOR

Claudia S.

Comrades, I’m writing to encourage you to smash that Internationalism Priority Campaign button on your upcoming opavotes, and endow IWG and Abolition with the resources we need to implement our Palestine Solidarity Program.

In the 10 months since a handful of chapter members re-formed this working group, we have seen it blossom from an amalgam of individuals, all committed to exploring, discussing, and lending a hand to various international issues, into a robust element of area-wide Palestine organizing infrastructure. Building out from this foundation, however, will require more material support from the chapter.

In 2025, we have big plans. We can be a critical part of the region’s BDS work, and we’ll be especially focused on growing the Stop Fueling Genocide campaign to drive a boycott of and divestment from Chevron Corporation, Israel’s main supplier of fossil fuel energy. Priority support and funding from the chapter would allow us to expand and improve this and other campaigns, in several ways, including to propagandize for public opinion with badass fliers; hold events that require space rentals, food, interpretation services, literature, and art supplies; host direct actions; get serious about our political education, along with Poli Ed and other formations; and recruit like hell – especially from folks looking to get involved in organizing since the beginning of this genocide, but haven’t found DSA just yet.

I’d also like to share what this working group has meant to me personally, and the promise I believe it holds for member-development as organizers — not just people have socialist politics. At the beginning of my MDC DSA journey, I avoided opportunities to lead or be involved in external campaign work, believing I lacked the skills or theoretical expertise necessary to be “an activist.” Membership in IWG, and leadership of these stewards is what empowered me to talk to strangers canvassing for Uncommitted for ~20 hours this Spring, connected me with people I now see as role models in Local Palestine organizing, sharpened my ability to speak and write bravely and effectively about Palestine liberation, equipped me to advocate in front of an aggressive Zionist CM in the DC council for a ceasefire resolution, and enabled me to work with national DSA leaders in our International Committee. This working group turned me from an angry radical into a disciplined organizer with a plan. Please support our bid for priority status and let’s get on the same page in elevating our work on Palestine.

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Statement IN FAVOR

Jane N.

Good afternoon comrades and friends. I want to start off by saying thank you so much for the opportunity to motivate the Resolution to Make Internationalism Working Group’s Palestine Solidarity Program a Chapter Priority Campaign for 2025, with support from the Abolition Working Group. It is an honor and privilege to organize amongst all of you. My name is Jane N. (she/her) and I serve as one of the stewards for the Internationalism Working Group.

The Internationalism Working Group (IWG) aims to build solidarity with global movements for a more just world. We are committed to opposing militarism and global capitalism from the capital of the U.S. empire. Through direct action, political education, and coalition building, we seek to put global solidarity at the center of our socialist practice. In the past year, the Internationalism Working Group has prioritized Palestine solidarity work since its regrouping in February 2024. We have organized alongside comrades in Jewish Voice for Peace and DC4Palestine in direct actions and political education events. Comrades in IWG have also organized around Cuba and Philippines solidarity.

As we move into 2025, IWG has a solid plan to focus on the National DSA-sponsored Chevron “Stop Fueling Genocide” campaign as part of broader work in support of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement led by Palestinian civil society. We will also double down on coalition-building across the DMV and our political education work. We plan to continue our work on the Chevron campaign and BDS broadly by working with allies, including DC4Palestine, Virginia for Palestine, and the Montgomery County Palestine Solidarity Network, to reach the broader Metro DC and DMV public by holding public events, postering, mutual aid campaigns, and mobilizing for mass actions. We also plan to collaborate with other working groups such as Abolition, Electoral, and Political Education, on developing additional topics/formats to integrate education about Palestine into our chapter’s regular activities. Check out our full application for more details.

We believe that international solidarity with all oppressed people is the future for not only our chapter, but for the broader socialist movement as a whole. Our chapter clearly recognized the imperative to focus our resources and time on solidarity with the Palestinian people when we voted overwhelmingly in support of the resolution CR3: For An Anti-Zionist Metro DC DSA on Saturday. In order to fulfill the promise of that resolution, our chapter should also stand firmly behind the working group that will be carrying out much of the program described in CR3. Comrades in the IWG, with support from the Abolition Working Group, believe that this priority campaign is necessary if we want to continue our anti-imperial efforts within the DMV. I urge you all to vote yes on Motion 12 to Make the Internationalism Working Group’s Palestine Solidarity Program a Chapter Priority Campaign for 2025.

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Statement IN FAVOR

Kathryn D.

I am writing in strong support of priority status for the Internationalism Working Group’s Palestine Solidarity Program. If the purpose of priority status is to provide material support for campaigns that are urgent and necessary, to name our moral commitments as a chapter and back them up with actual resources, to build DSA’s capacity to work in coalition while broadening our membership base, then it is hard to imagine a better candidate for priority status than the IWG’s Palestine Solidarity Program.

The Anti-Zionism Resolution, recently passed at convention with 96% voting in favor, formalizes our chapter’s commitment to Palestinian solidarity and opens up new opportunities for organizing alongside Palestinian-led organizations in our region. Priority status for the Palestine Solidarity Program is the crucial next step — a chance for our chapter to put its money where its mouth is. It enables us to move in step with allied organizations working on national campaigns like “Stop Fueling Genocide,” as well as local efforts to dismantle the Virginia Israeli Advisory Board (VIAB) and the Maryland Israel Development Corporation. Moreover, it ensures that DSA will continue to be a place where newly-activated folks, radicalized by the U.S. government’s insistence on funding and arming an ongoing genocide, come to plug into this fight.

I am not personally a part of the Internationalist Working Group. Most of my work with DSA has focused on migrant justice and abolition as a member of NoVA Abolition. But part of my political education over the past several years has involved a growing understanding of how inseparable struggles for liberation at home are from struggles against U.S. imperialism abroad. Academic and activist Ruth Wilson Gilmore points out that the military industrial complex and the prison industrial complex share more than just a naming convention: they are linked by a material exchange of tools and methods, and by the creation of unwinnable “wars” against imagined enemies (the war on crime, the war on drugs, the war on terror) to justify limitless investment in international and domestic state-sanctioned violence. These forever wars at home and abroad siphon money away from communities’ survival needs and prop up the crumbling legitimacy of a government predicated on the exploitation, repression, and abandonment of the most vulnerable. Recently, we have seen further examples of the interconnectedness of fascism on both sides of the U.S. border with the increasing criminalization of pro-Palestine organizing and the deployment of police to crack down on student demonstrations.

DSA is only one small piece of this larger struggle for Palestinian liberation, but our chapter has an important role to play due to its capacity to bring people, established communication channels, and financial resources to this fight. Watching how this struggle has brought together organizers from across the left and across borders over the past year has, for me, inspired genuine hope in our collective ability to challenge entrenched interests and reject narratives of human disposability. I am excited to see our commitment to this struggle deepen in the coming year, and I hope you all will join me in voting in favor of the resolution to make IWG’s Palestine Solidarity Program a priority campaign for 2025.

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Statement IN FAVOR

Nell G.

I urge all members to vote in support of priority campaign status for the Palestine solidarity program of the Internationalism Working Group, supported by the Abolition Working Group. I first got involved in international solidarity work more than 20 years ago and believe it is core to achieving socialism: capitalism is a global system and the working class can only achieve transformational change through global organization. International issues are also always and already local to our region because we are a diasporic society and our local institutions are highly reflective of global power dynamics. This has been especially clear in the case of the genocide in Gaza and the Zionist occupation that so many U.S. institutions support materially and ideologically.

Our local Internationalism Working Group had been inactive for nearly a year before I organized with a group of comrades to reboot it at the beginning of 2024. I wanted to see the working group restart because the crisis in Palestine demanded it and because the DSA-wide International Committee – for which I serve on the steering committee – was aiming to build a chapter liaison structure and I could not imagine MDC failing to participate.

While our steering committee mobilized admirably for initial protests against the genocide in Gaza following operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023, they had too many responsibilities to continue leading Palestine solidarity work by themselves. Instead, an institutional home led by rank-and-file members was needed. The IWG has welcomed dozens of new members into our chapter and involved them in concrete campaigns in solidarity with people in Palestine, Cuba, and the Philippines. We ran a four-session organizing training for a cohort of new leaders over the summer and now have six active stewards. Overall, we have nearly 60 members who are active in the working group and a core of about 15 leaders who are consistently engaged week-to-week.

Our chapter clearly recognized the imperative to focus our resources and time on solidarity with the Palestinian people when we voted overwhelmingly in support of the resolution CR3: For An Anti-Zionist Metro DC DSA. In order to fulfill the promise of that resolution, our chapter should also stand firmly behind the working group that will be carrying out much of the program described in CR3. Please vote to support this priority campaign application.

9

Statement IN FAVOR

Afrah H.

I am in strong support of the resolution to make the Internationalism Working Group’s Palestine Solidarity Program a priority campaign in 2025. Our location in the DC region uniquely places us at the forefront of national protests at Freedom Plaza, the White House, and the U.S. Capitol. The IWG’s plan of (1) supporting BDS and the national Chevron #StopFuelingGenocide campaign, (2) coalition-building in the broader DMV with support to dismantling the Virginia Israel Advisory Board and the Maryland Israel Development Corporation, and (3) political education supporting these campaigns harnesses our strengths as a chapter, identifies both local and national avenues for change, and provides ample opportunity to bring in new members who’ve began their organizing experience through Palestinian solidarity. In my experience, I have seen many people begin to question their understanding of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and how the U.S. is directly involved in upholding it. Becoming a priority campaign expands our reach to people who are disillusioned with the actions of the U.S. government, both here and abroad. As socialists, it is imperative that we organize around an end to the genocide and liberation for the Palestinian people. Israel and the U.S. have shown their determination to continue the genocide at all costs, and we must continue being a force in the drive against Zionist occupation.

10

Statement IN FAVOR

Tricia G.

I support the Palestine Solidarity Program priority campaign and encourage my fellow comrades to do the same! Over the last year I am proud to have witnessed and been a part of the restoration of the Internationalism Working Group (IWG). While US imperialism remains a constant danger to people all over the world, the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people was the primary reason I joined the IWG. Contributing to the successful campaign for the CR3 Anti-Zionist resolution was both energizing and inspiring, and I am looking forward to the work ahead. I hope we can take advantage of the momentum and pass this resolution that will fully equip the chapter to carve out a leading role in the local fight for Palestinian liberation. Lastly, as the second Trump administration looms, it is more important than ever that people understand the links between (neo-)colonialism abroad and the fight against domestic fascism. We need to respond accordingly–one piece of that is making the Palestine Solidarity Program a top priority.

11

Statement IN FAVOR

Ben M.

Hi comrades, my name is Ben M (he/him), and I’ve been an organizer with the Abolition Working Group since its inception in 2020. I am writing to strongly support the Resolution to Make Internationalism Working Group’s Palestine Solidarity Program a Chapter Priority Campaign for 2025, with support from the Abolition Working Group.

Over a year into an ongoing genocide and a century into a brutal settler-colonial occupation, and with our chapter voting overwhelmingly just days ago to become anti-Zionist in principle and practice, we must make Palestine solidarity a priority for 2025. The Abolition WG supports this campaign because we recognize that the fight against capitalist imperialism abroad is the same fight as that against state violence and fascism at home. It is our duty as socialists to build solidarity between oppressed peoples across borders, from jail cells in Ward 7 to refugee camps in Gaza. After all, the enemy is organized (the cops on our streets have a long historical training relationship with the Israeli occupation forces), and we must out-organize them to win.

With the passage of the Unified Anti-Zionist Resolution, we are now well-suited to broaden and expand our chapter’s Palestine solidarity work, and our Internationalism WG has the plans ready to do just that. By becoming a priority campaign, we can strengthen and expand the Chevron campaign and BDS work more broadly by building coalitions with allies new and old alike, such as Palestinian Youth Movement, Students for Justice in Palestine, DC4Palestine, Virginia for Palestine, and the Montgomery County Palestine Solidarity Network. With this mass power, we’ll reach the broader DMV public by holding public events, postering, organizing mutual aid campaigns, and mobilizing for mass actions.

There’s no time to waste — join me in making Palestine solidarity a priority campaign today.

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Statement IN FAVOR

Maxwell H.

I am asking my comrades to vote YES on priority status for the Internationalism Working Group’s program for Palestine solidarity.

Internationalism is one of the most crucial arenas in fighting working class oppression, both domestically and abroad. As such, socialists here in the imperial core have a duty to engage in meaningful internationalist work to play our part in dismantling the global, neoliberal order. And we need to be set up for success.

While the IWG covers an array of issues and regions - Cuba, the Philippines, fighting NATO - we recognize that Palestine remains one of the primary contradictions in American society. Much of our work in the coming year aims to reflect this assessment.

Currently, we have organizers developing a strategy for local targets as part of DSA’s national Chevron campaign. We also have a presence on the DC 4 Palestine coalition, whose core team has asked us explicitly to support their next course of action by our members showing up to canvass and lobby. These projects will be taking off substantially in the coming months; when the time comes, we need to deliver.

Furthermore, with the recent passing of our anti-Zionist resolution, we are now moving into a new phase of building and rebuilding bridges with the Palestinian Youth Movement’s chapter here in the DMV. This could entail several points of collaboration: providing resources to them for protests, conducting political education events together, and offering support on their Mask Off Maersk campaign.

I want us to be able to hit the ground running on these efforts across the board. We have a big opportunity here to plug into various local efforts, in full, with clear goals and strategies. Let’s seize it.

So please comrades, vote in favor of priority funding for the IWG. This support will maximize our chapter’s group’s ability to contribute tangibly to systemic change.

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Statement IN FAVOR

Keeli M.

Internationalism Working Group has created a great strategic roadmap for how this chapter can support Palestine through this Palestinian Solidarity Program. They’ve shown over the last year that that are focused, passionate and determined to do what we can to help the cause. I think it it a no-brainer that the chapter throw it’s weight behind this campaign and the movement. Putting our money and resources where our posts are is important to being taken seriously as an ally in this fight. We have no time to waste. The plans that encompass the Abolition Working Group in a supporting role show the thoughtfulness and engaging commitment Internationalism has put into getting this idea off the ground and making sure there would be opportunities for expansion in it if given the resources to thrive.

This plan and all of the ideas to come from it should be supported to the fullest extent.

14

Statement IN FAVOR

Rishi G.

In this time where the eyes of the domestic proletariat are looking outward more than ever, at a time of unprecedented violence and aggression at the hands of the US state, the energy influx to socialist movements is largely motivated by energy around issues of international solidarity. For this reason alone, Internationalism Working Group must be awarded priority status. Palestine is merely the tip of the spear, marking an era of the instability of American hegemony becoming more apparent and more vulnerable to rupture. Now is the time for a socialist movement to seize this energy and cause this rupture.

Internationalism working group is the center of our chapter’s Palestine related organizing, and therefore would put the extra resources that come with priority status to good use triaging new members into effective organizers and building cadre across immigrant communities whom we crucially need as part of our movement. The immediacy and intense need of the Palestinian people at this time is well known to most in Metro DSA, while coalition forming with our comrades abroad from the Philippines to Cuba will make us stronger to take action against the heedless actions of our government that endanger the wellbeing of our community members here in the DMV. A broad war in the Gulf is sure to affect oil prices, international shipping and crucial supply lines that disrupted would affect our most exploited neighbors acutely.

Internationalism Working Group has done the work to form cogent campaigns to target the suppliers of the Israeli genocide such as Chevron. With our newfound ability to build local coalitions with the passage of the Anti-Zionist Resolution, Internationalism Working Group needs these resources at this moment to help position DSA as the domestic leader of the global movement against capitalism-imperialism.

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Statement IN FAVOR

Jasmine P.

I am voting for the Internationalism WG’s Palestine Solidarity Program to be a 2025 priority campaign, and I urge others to do the same. I joined DSA in February of this year largely because of the ongoing genocide in Palestine, and I joined the Internationalism WG two months after that. Through the working group, I’ve gotten to lead a training session, coordinate reading groups, and most recently, help plan our chapter’s actions for the national Chevron BDS campaign. Throughout this work, I’ve learned how international and domestic issues are inextricable. I think it’s important for us as a socialist organization to prioritize our solidarity with people around the world oppressed by imperialism and colonialism. Priority campaign status next year would help the program reach many more in the DMV who, like me, are enraged by the atrocities in Palestine but have no idea how to organize and act. Passing CR3, the Anti-Zionist resolution, was a tremendous step for us as an organization, and I think we now need to use our resources to back the Palestine Solidarity Program to continue this important work.

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Statement IN FAVOR

Far F.

Hello friends. I urge everyone to vote in support of priority campaign status for the Palestine Solidarity campaign of the Internationalism Working Group as supported by the Abolition Workgroup. As a steward in the NoVA Abolition work group, last year we saw many people join DSA and the Branch, moved to action by the atrocities they were seeing in Gaza. Without an active Internationalism work group at the time, many of the folks coming into the org fell into Abolition as anti-imperialism shares similar lines of analysis. In NoVA Abolition many of our core working group members were invested in doing Palestine Solidarity activities as well, so it was a good fit. We had a fundraiser and movie event for Stop Cop City which we pivoted to include the intersectionality of Palestine in our abolitionist analysis and fundraising goals. We also helped put on an event to screen the movie Israelism in part through our working group. However, the lack of a dedicated campaign and with no Internationalism working group, made figuring out how to fit the cause into our pre-existing work ultimately less effective than it could have been. Seeing the work the Internationalism Working Group has done to reinvigorate the nascent working group, and the slew of amazing talented people that now steward it gives me a lot of confidence in DSA’s ability to truly do justice to the Palestinian cause. The growing collaboration between the two working groups has also been a great development for our internal structures, working groups often end up siloed and isolated working on similar things. It is good to explore intersectional struggles and campaigns beyond rigid constraints of a work group. Palestinian liberation is, and has been, one of the most important issues of our times. It is a lens through which we can frame so much of the rest of the work our org hopes to do. To me, DSA is not just a vehicle through which we build a mass movement. DSA is a vehicle, the mass movement is a vehicle, to obtain liberation for us all. No one is free until we are all free. Free Palestine.

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Statement IN FAVOR

Andrew C.

I strongly encourage all comrades to please vote to make the Internationalism Working Group a priority campaign for 2025. With the passage of the Anti-Zionist Resolution at our chapter convention, we now have an opportunity to deepen our ties and build projects in coalition with local PYM, SJP, and JVP. Having local Palestine organizations potentially collaborate with us on the Boycott Chevron campaign, for example, or dedicating chapter resources to canvassing local businesses and getting them to drop Israeli products will go a long way in deepening ties with the Palestine liberation movement in the region by engaging in struggle with them. In doing so, we will be able to articulate our own socialist line on Palestine and build towards a more politically aware and engaged community around this cause.

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Statement IN FAVOR

Beth S.

I am writing to urge my fellow comrades to support the Internationalism Working Group’s Palestine Solidarity Program as one of the Chapter Priority Campaigns this coming year. I think we all understand the ethical duty to support Palestinian liberation, and I encourage folks to read the proposal for some of the examples of work already done - not to rest on any laurels, but to see how many clear, tangible lines of connection Palestine solidarity work could or does with other facets of DSA’s work.