Never Stop Protesting!

As of June 19, more than 37,000 people had been killed in the Gaza Strip since the attack by Hamas and the Israeli invasion in October 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

An article published in Lancet magazine on July 5 written by Rasha Khatib, Martin McKee and Salim Yusuf describes how war has indirect health implications beyond the direct harm from violence.

The authors state that “even if the conflict ends immediately, there will continue to be many indirect deaths in the coming months and years from causes such as reproductive, communicable and non-communicable diseases.

“The total death toll is expected to be large given the intensity of this conflict; destroyed health-care infrastructure; severe shortages of food, water and shelter; the population’s inability to flee to safe places; and the loss of funding to [the] UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency), one of the very few humanitarian organizations still in Gaza.

“It is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza. Using the 2022 Gaza Strip population estimate of 2,375,259, this would translate to 7.9% of the total population in the Gaza Strip.”

This number of predictable casualties does not take into account the many thousands buried under the rubble that the United Nations estimates to be at least 10,000 people.

As the U.S.-funded carnage continues, protests continue locally, nationally and worldwide. This large protest movement is led primarily by the youth. On July 4, there was a march and demonstration in Fresno that began and ended in front of the Fresno Police Department. The protest was organized by PaliRev and the Fresno Brown Berets. While the focus was on Palestine, the organizers appropriately raised other important struggles.

A statement from the organizers reads: “We host this march to condemn the atrocities done by the US, the genocide in Palestine, Kenya, Congo, Sudan, Haiti, Hawaii, etc., have no business being celebrated by this 4th of July, 2024.

“We do not believe in celebrating the ‘Independence’ of the United States, since we acknowledge this is indigenous land that was brutally colonized and occupied by settlers, the same way ‘Israeli’ settlers have occupied and colonized the land of Palestine…[and] that indigenous people have the right of return, to self-determine, and govern their homelands globally.”

After several hours of marching through the streets of downtown Fresno to raise awareness about the genocide, the group returned to the starting point. Fig, a spokesperson for PaliRev, said, “We decided to take this action on the 4th of July specifically after almost a year of the Palestinian genocide to make it well-known that we stand against imperialism and the United States as an empire.

“The future for us and the whole world can only exist with a free Palestine. That’s the driving force for why so many of us continuously come out, like in this 100-degree heat today.

“You have to recognize that our politicians are way too comfortable gaining the benefits of war and not representing us because they contribute to these foreign causes such as the Palestinian genocide. They benefit from it ultimately, so war and militarism are increasing all the time.

“And they’re not addressing climate change or the threat of nuclear war. I think every day we get closer to extinction, so we need to link all these issues. They are connected, and we recognize that.

“I strongly do believe that this movement is growing because this issue is so undeniably connected with class consciousness. I mean, you see it when you talk to your neighbors, when you talk to your co-workers; there has been a shift in us recognizing that we are one class.”

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