NEW YORK CITY, July 7 —PLP and over 100 other demonstrators marched through soaring heat and hilly terrain, right to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s door to protest his support of Israel, a racist and fascist apartheid state. The whole town saw the march, and several Latin workers we met at the train station even joined the march. PLP members made sure there were chants in Spanish. This march was an important step in smashing borders and bringing all workers together: white, Black, Latin, Muslim, Jewish, men, and women.
Israel: Fertile Ground for Racism
With U.S. backing, Israel has colonized the West Bank and Gaza for 49 years. Palestinians are restricted from travel and suffer scarcities of food, water, and health care. Israelis abuse and humiliate Palestinians on a daily basis. Soldiers and settlers can kill Palestinians with impunity, and every few years the Israeli army rains mass slaughter on Gaza, the last time in 2014. Palestinians in Gaza can’t even flee bombings because they are completely fenced in.
Palestinian citizens of Israel, as well as Israeli Jews from Ethiopia, the Middle East, and North Africa, are also subject to intense racism and brutality.
There were two large rebellions, known as Intifadas, against Israeli rule in 1988 and 2002, which both failed
under corrupt misleadership. As a result of these rebellions, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), instead of the Israeli Army, gets to arrest, harass, and kill Palestinians in some parts of
Palestine. Today, there is no leadership for resistance. The main two parties,
Fatah and Hamas, although different, are both corrupt and in it for their own enrichment. These parties can never
liberate workers in Palestine. They fight for a separate, capitalist Palestinian state. Drawing borders will only divide workers and change which capitalist is in control. It will not end oppression and exploitation. Only worldwide communist revolution led by Progressive Labor Party gives a chance for workers to be free.
BDS: Big Fake Solution
About ten years ago a group of activists in the West Bank launched the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement against the Israeli state. This movement aims to force businesses and institutions to stop investing in Israel via sanctions and boycotts. It has become an effective international tool for educating people about the horrific situation within Israel and Palestine and the bad
publicity has gotten under the skin of Zionists everywhere. In the U.S., students who promote BDS have been threatened and intimidated on their campuses.
Several states are considering legislation against BDS, and in NY Governor Cuomo took matters into his own hands. He single-handedly issued a proclamation that all BDS supporters would be banned from doing business with NY State and be listed on the internet.
But let’s be clear: the BDS movement cannot end oppression in Israel, or elsewhere. It is nationalist, focusing on the plight of Palestinians without regard to class. Workers in Palestine have more in common with workers in Israel than with the ruling class of Palestine. Palestine is a capitalist and highly unequal society. The Palestinian bosses cooperates with Israeli and international capitalists to exploit other Palestinian workers. There must be a struggle for a communist world, not just an end to occupation.
Many BDS supporters think a boycott alone can win politicians and achieve a free Palestine. They look to South Africa for inspiration. Fighters forget that years of armed struggle were most important there. More serious yet, the leadership in South Africa settled for an end to apartheid without ending capitalism. This guaranteed that the vast majority of Black workers remained in poverty while some white politicians and businessmen were replaced with Black ones.
Israel, U.S. Tied to Imperialism
So why did Governor Cuomo take action against BDS if it is not a real threat to Israel? Cuomo has interests in higher office and needs to show that he is
pro-Israel. Every president since Israel’s creation has supported Israel, including the present candidates for the office, Trump, and Clinton. Israel serves as a strategic military watchdog for the U.S. in the Middle East, and the U.S. gives Israel $3 billion in aid every year in exchange for protection of oil profits.    
Although BDS is not the solution to oppression and brutality in Israel, many militant anti-Zionists, Jewish and Arab, are active in BDS. We must win them to see that only a mass PLP can defeat U.S. imperialism and its worldwide terror.
Comrades in several cities are involved in organizations that promote BDS and we are struggling with workers to see the power of communism. We shall continue to bring our revolutionary perspective to our fellow activists,
promoting the international fight against capitalism.