Millions protest worldwide against the genocide in Gaza
For the fourth week in a row, millions of people on every inhabited continent have flooded town squares, train stations and the streets demanding an end to the genocide in Gaza being conducted by Israel with the support and oversight of the US-NATO axis.
Refusing to remain silent as 1,000 children a week are murdered in Palestine by the IDF, and under threat of arrest, fines, loss of employment and slanderous charges of “antisemtism,” millions of people of every ethnicity, including many thousands of Jews, took to the streets Saturday to peacefully protest against Israeli’s ethnic cleansing campaign. In four weeks, Israel has murdered some 11,000 Palestinians, including over 5,000 children.
The massive protests are taking place in the major imperialist centers, the capitals of the powers that constitute the chief allies of Israel, including London, Berlin, Paris and Washington D.C., where some 300,000 took part, making it the largest protest against war in the US since the 2003 demonstrations against the US invasion of Iraq.
Protests were held in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and dozens of other cities.
In addition to the hundred of protests throughout Europe, North America and west Asia, protests are currently taking place or have already been held in Auckland, New Zealand; Brasilia, Brazil; Sydney, Australia; Johannesburg, South Africa; Santiago, Chile; Kingston, Jamaica; Lima, Peru; and Seoul, South Korea, among other cities.
In Australia, there were again mass protests in all the major capital cities. Some 15,000 took part in Sydney, while the rallies in Melbourne and Brisbane were the largest yet, with respective crowds of around 40,000 and more than 7,000. The demonstrations are spreading, with several thousand participating in a rally in the working-class former steel city of Newcastle.
Significantly, hundreds of protesters in Tokyo surrounded the Israeli embassy to Japan demanding an immediate ceasefire or the closure of the embassy.
The global character of the protests and the participation of wide layers of the population, including many young people, are a rebuke not only to the current mass murder campaign, but to the the dispossession and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people for 75 years.
Despite the mass and global character of the protests, the major media conglomerates continue to ignore, slander or downplay them.
At the same time, capitalist politicians from the governing parties of every country complicit in the massacre refuse to endorse a ceasefire, a central demand of the protests.
In a news conference with Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers on Saturday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejected a ceasefire saying, “It is our view now that a ceasefire would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did.”
After being given the green light by Blinken, the Israeli military, armed with MQ-9 Reaper drones and an array of other US-supplied weapons, continued to pummel Gaza with artillery and air strikes. Videos posted by Palestinians on social media show the Israeli military striking civilian targets, with hospitals, universities, churches and mosques at the top of the list.
Israeli ground forces are attempting to encircle Gaza City, leaving a bloody trail of civilian deaths in their wake. Inflicting collective punishment on the civilian population, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops are specifically targeting the last remaining bakeries in Gaza in an attempt to starve the population.
Demonstrations calling for a ceasefire erupted in Israel on Saturday, a rebuke to all the imperialist liars who falsely equate the Zionist state of Israel with all Jewish people.
In Tel Aviv, dozens of left-wing protesters held signs calling for a ceasefire and an “everyone for everyone” exchange of hostages, such as that offered by Hamas for weeks but rejected out of hand by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In Jerusalem, hundreds protested outside Netanyahu’s residence demanding he resign over the “security failure” of October 7 and the subsequent casualties suffered by the IDF in Gaza. The IDF has acknowledged at least 28 dead soldiers in the current ground offensive. However, that figure is expected to soar as the invasion continues.
In Berlin, enormous crowds took to the streets, marching from the Alexanderplatz to Potsdamer Platz, waving Palestinian flags and denouncing the Israeli government, actions that have been criminalized in Germany. One protester held a cardboard sign reading, “How many children is it OK to kill in Gaza? 3,760?”
Johannes Stern, editor-in-chief of the World Socialist Web Site in Germany, reported that thousands were on the streets in Berlin, with many more joining the protest as it continued throughout the day.
Some 10,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched in Rome, Italy. Similar-sized crowds were also observed in Paris and Strasbourg, France.
As was the case last week, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in London, massing on Trafalgar Square.
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian supporters occupied the Charing Cross train station in the British capital.
At the massive rally in Liverpool, Muhammad told the WSWS he and his wife came to the rally to support the “freedom of the Palestinians” and to “spread the truth and stand up for the truth.”
At the same rally, Jahoel, originally from Derry, said he was the rally to stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza and Palestine, “while the Zionist bombs are dropping on helpless children and helpless babies.
“[Kier] Starmer, I’m not in Labour, but what he is doing is showing no backbone. He’s doing what every politician here is doing: ignoring the plight of innocent people dying, innocent men and women dying in Gaza.”
In Scotland, hundreds more occupied Edinburgh’s Waverly train station. Thousands of protesters took the streets in Leeds and engaged in a sit-down demonstration at the railway station.
The World Socialist Web Site will be updating this article throughout the weekend with on-the-ground reports and interviews.
More than a quarter million demonstrate in Washington, D.C.: “You can’t convince the American people that this is right.”
In Washington DC, the cockpit of world imperialism, tens of thousands of people massed outside Freedom Plaza against Israeli’s genocide.
Reporters for the WSWS conducted several interviews with the protesters at the Washington D.C. demonstration.
“We have family overseas that have been, unfortunately, slaughtered, by the Israeli government. And we are here demanding ceasefire,” one protester said.
“Its a humanitarian matter, it’s about humanity as a whole,” another protester said. “It’s not about religion.”
Another rally-goer told the WSWS, “The US and Israel are collaborating to commit genocide against Palestinians and we will not stand for that. Joe Biden has been clear in his statements for many decades that he is on the side of Israel and he is on the side of genocide. That is not even a question. He has said it. He has demonstrated it.”
“I think that Bernie Sanders serves US imperialism,” she added.
“We are here to show our support for Palestine” a young man told the WSWS. “What’s going on over there is not right. And it’s even more appalling that our own government, who is predicated on being the ‘land of the free and home of the brave,’ is supporting such atrocities.
“Something like this where you have children dying all the time, this is not what we stand for. You can’t convince the American people that this is right.”
On Saturday evening, thousands of protesters continued to demonstrate outside the gates of the White House, chanting, “Biden Biden, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”
Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters rally in Los Angeles and Anaheim, California: “I believe there has to be one state for all of its people with equal rights.”
Two well-attended pro-Palestinian protests took place in Southern California on Saturday. Both demonstrations attracted diverse nationalities, with several thousand people participating in the Los Angeles protest.
Walaa said, “I’m Egyptian. I came here 30 years ago, and I live in Orange County. I can’t tell you how many times I have came to a protest to support Palestine in the last 30 years that I’ve been here.
“All the US is good at is financing wars,” he added. “They are using our tax dollars, that we work really hard for, to finance these wars. If it was up to me...no more money for crimes against humanity.”
A strong and genuine sense of solidarity dominated the protest. As is the case in demonstrations throughout the US and internationally, many Jewish people joined the demonstration, stating their firm opposition to Zionism and solidarity for the Palestinians. The narrative of an unprovoked attack on October 7 by Hamas was countered by a historical view of the last 75 years of Israeli occupation and apartheid.
Koteiba, whose mother is Palestinian and from Jaffa explained, “This whole thing started before October 7. It’s been going on for 75 years. We’re kind of used to it. The Palestinians have been calling the United Nations for many years. Nobody heard them out.
“What the [Palestinians] been going through is really, is really tough. It’s not easy. The genocide, they’re losing their kids, they’re losing their families. Anytime you have someone that has control of the water, the food, what goes in goes out and nobody’s stopping them.
“It just feels like since I was born. It’s the beginning of a war, and then a war ends. And then two years later, another war starts and then another war ends. For the last 40 years, all we’ve been living is this war, then another war. This thing has got to stop.”
An Anaheim protester explained, “Our country is sending more weapons to Israel right now, against a defenseless people...to fight against a population of civilians who have no food, no water, they have been under siege for the past 16 years.
“If it wasn’t for social media people, in the US and other places would not really know what the truth is.”
The majority of those interviewed did not believe in a two-state solution. Many expressed interest in the perspective advanced by the WSWS of a formation of a multi-ethnic state with full democratic and social rights for Jews and Arabs, as part of a socialist federation of the Middle East.
“You know, [a socialist federation of the Middle East] sounds wonderful,” Walaa said. “That sounds great.”
Jane told WSWS reporters, “I am an anti-Zionist Jew. I’m here because 75 years of oppression, dispossession, 75 years of occupation is enough. It’s enough.
“I used to be for a two-state solution,” Jane said. “That was always my thing. I believe it’s impossible now. I believe there has to be a one state for all of its people with equal rights. Period.
“I’ve been [to Israel], it’s an apartheid system. I was allowed to use one road, but other people weren’t. I was allowed to have water, while other people weren’t. Not right.
“Obviously our governments are not listening to us now,” Jane concluded, “but I’ll tell you one thing, I am not contributing to any political campaign of anyone that does not come out in favor of the Palestinian people.”
Yaseen, a Pakistani from Hollywood, said they came to the protest to stand “in solidarity with not just the people in Palestine for what’s going on, but as a human.
“As a human, it’s my right to stand up against oppression. Somebody’s being oppressed, and we are here to vocalize our voice to make sure we get the word out there that this is not right.
“Obviously we do know that there is a genocide going on and it’s not right to be okay with it,” Yaseen added. “America is just trying to colonize the entire world... I don’t agree with America funding another country for weapons. Los Angeles has the highest population of homelessness in all of America, so we could eradicate that before we send weapons overseas, instead of killing children.”
Another protester, Ibrahim explained, “In 1948, my great-grandparents migrated to Jordan, right after the Nakba.
“My first time going to Palestine was last summer. The village that I’m from is occupied right now, so we didn’t even get to go there.
“The whole West, the French, the German, the US, is with the Israelis no matter what they do. You know, they can bomb a hospital, bomb a school, bomb a house, and they’ll be backed up... And we think it’s very unfortunate, and that’s why we’re here protesting.
“The CEOs and the owners of these big companies are, unfortunately backing Israel... And they fund money and they give them whatever they want, even after they see this genocide happening.
“So yeah, I think if the workers were to speak out, then I think things will change.”
Thousands protest in north Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois: “I think we need to shut things down until they are free”
At least 2,000 demonstrators gathered in downtown Evanston, Illinois, just north of Chicago. The demonstration included people of all nationalities, including young families and many students from the nearby Northwestern and Loyola universities.
Speakers and demonstrators at the event called for a ceasefire to immediately stop further attacks on Palestinians and charged President Joe Biden and his allies in the Democratic Party with genocide.
Members of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality attended the rally presenting the socialist opposition to war, calling for demonstrators to break with the Democratic Party and turn to the working class to build for a political general strike. The IYSSE presented and sold many copies of pamphlets on Gaza and other Marxist literature.
A number of protestors carried signs and placards by the IYSSE calling for an end to the genocide.
A young member of Jewish Voice for Peace told the IYSSE, “I believe that all of our humanity is tied to each other. There should not be a genocide done in my name. I am so disgusted and in pain and enraged and taking that into action.”
When asked about her view of the Biden administration and other figures in the political establishment, like Bernie Sanders, she said, “They need to call for a ceasefire and stop sending money. It’s our money at the end of the day.
“We have to make it stop. I am so deeply disappointed with Senator Sanders as someone who has done campaigning for him.”
She concluded by saying, “Criticizing Israel is not antisemitic. In my opinion, no states should be religiously based.”
Another protester said she came to the protest to spread awareness and to teach her children who had joined her at the rally.
“I truly cannot believe that our tax money is paying for this and that we have no say,” she said. “You can see how much they want to silence the people. I feel like our generation, our time, will not allow that. We will never forget this. We will never forget. I think that’s going to be stronger than anything that’s happening. Palestine will be free.”
Another student spoke to the IYSSE on the call for a general strike to stop the war saying, “I think we need to shut things down until they are free. We need to hurt the pockets of the people that are causing this. We need to stop the weapons going overseas. It feels weird and wrong that I am still going to class and partaking in regular day activities. The kids in Gaza can’t go to school, why am I going to school if no one else can go to school?”
“I wasn’t old enough to vote when Biden got elected… but the idea that someone I voted for is backing a genocide is disheartening. I don’t think I could sleep at night knowing I voted for that.” The student continued, “I had looked up to Bernie a little bit and I have seen him be wishy-washy, and I don’t like it. If they keep doing that, my generation, we are not putting up with it at all.”
Dozens of pro-Palestinian protests erupt across Canada, with more than 40,000 workers, students and youth marching in Toronto
Demonstrations were held Saturday in more than two dozen cities across Canada to demand an immediate halt to Israel’s genocidal assault on the Palestinians. Protesters condemned the Justin Trudeau-led federal Liberal government and the Biden administration for providing political and military support to the far-right Netanyahu regime.
In Montreal, thousands chanted “Free, free Palestine.” The march concluded with a brief blockade of the offices of the national public broadcaster CBC/Radio Canada. Like the rest of the corporate media, the CBC systematically covers up Israeli war crimes and the history of the Zionist state’s suppression and dispossession of the Palestinian people, while denouncing Hamas.
The largest demonstration and the biggest in Canada since the Gaza genocide erupted four weeks ago took place in Toronto.
More than 40,000 workers, students and youth gathered in front of the US Consulate on University Avenue. People continued to flow into the broad avenue with the crowd overflowing into surrounding side streets for two hours.
The crowd was addressed by 82-year-old Holocaust survivor Suzanne Weiss, who attacked Zionism as a “racist ideology.” Ontario MPP Sarah Jama, who was expelled from the New Democratic Party (NDP) for demanding a cease-fire and for refusing to retract her characterization of Israel as an “apartheid state,” also spoke.
Many Jewish groups were prominently visible, including members of the Orthodox Hasidic community, and ad-hoc groups of Jewish people who reject Zionism and Israel’s genocidal policies in the Middle East.
After the speeches, the massive crowd marched towards the Ontario Legislature and then made its way south down Bay Street, where tens of thousands occupied the intersection of King and Bay Streets, the heart of Canadian finance capital.
At sunset, hundreds of observant Muslims prayed for an end to the genocide in front of the gilded towers which house some of Canada’s most powerful mining corporations, including Barrick Gold.
In an attempt to force Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, the widow of former social-democratic NDP leader Jack Layton, to demand a cease fire, thousands of peaceful protesters remained encamped at King and Bay overnight. Mayor Chow has previously denounced demonstrations against the criminal Zionist regime as antisemitic.
Many demonstrators spoke out forcefully against biased news coverage in the capitalist press. One marcher told the WSWS, “I think the journalists in the West need to come out and show the true story, and be real, and not just show one side.”
The WSWS spoke with Palestinian Canadian journalist Zahraa Al-Akhrass, who was fired from her job at Global News for simply sharing images and stories from the ground in Gaza which cut across the onslaught of corporate propaganda, and for expressing criticism of the official narrative. She did not mince words: “I believe Western media is complicit in the genocide Israel is committing against the Palestinians.”
Over 10,000 protest Israeli genocide in San Francisco, California, “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes!”
Over 10,000 people joined a mass demonstration at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza to voice their opposition to the US-NATO backed Israeli genocide in Gaza. Israel’s targeted bombing of journalists, children, healthcare workers and scores of innocent civilians has outraged broad layers of the population. Many students and young working class families with children came out to protest, in addition to older people.
In between speeches, protesters chanted “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes!” and “Free Palestine!”
Members of the Socialist Equality Party and reporters from the WSWS received significant support handing out hundreds of leaflets calling for a political general strike by the working class to end the slaughter. Several protesters stopped to give interviews and purchase literature.
“I’m here to show solidarity with the people of Palestine,” one demonstrator told the WSWS. Asked to comment on the Biden administration’s request for $105 billion to carry out genocide in Gaza and war in Ukraine, and soon China, he responded, “We’ve got so many issues already at home, we can see people without homes, with medical issues and so forth. We’ve got infrastructure that’s crumbling all over the place.”
One protester said, “Please in the name of humanity end Israel’s genocide. Thousands are being killed every day.” Another demonstrator, who identified herself as an Iraqi Christian, voiced her opposition to US imperialism’s role in the Middle East, noting “they sent the guns there so people would kill each other.”
“If I tell you that I’m mad, I’m sick, and that I sometimes cry because my family, all over the world, what [US imperialism] did, one million people.”
Drawing a comparison to the “sociocide” of Iraq and Gaza she added in both cases the Israelis and Americans “bombed hospitals.”
Norfolk, Virginia demonstrators welcome call for political general strike: “I would support a general strike. Something drastic has to happen.”
Around 150 demonstrators marched in downtown Norfolk, Virginia Saturday afternoon denouncing the Biden administration and the Israeli onslaught against Gaza.
A WSWS reporting team distributed the statement “Mobilize the Working Class to Stop the Genocide in Gaza,” and spoke with demonstrators about the political direction of the fight against war.
Regarding the call for a political general strike, Osama, a father of two from nearby Virginia Beach, expressed agreement. “I support it 100 percent. It is time. My wife is Palestinian, so my children are half-Palestinian. The bombing of the refugee camp turned it into rubble. Thousands are dead. The world leaders are giving a green light for Israel to do whatever they want to do.”
A young restaurant worker, Miles, said, “I don’t understand how anyone can support genocide. They are doing this with our money.
“We have the power, we just need to come together.”
Kenna, a young worker, said, “I am blown away by how they are using our money to fund this genocide. There are so many things that could be used for. It could support us, it could support them [Palestinians] in their situation.”
“I would support a general strike,” Kenna added. “Something drastic has to happen. Something like that has got to happen.”
Dozens of other demonstrators took the WSWS leaflet and expressed enthusiasm about plans to hold a public meeting in Norfolk on November 17.
Powerful appeal to workers at Port of Oakland stalls military vessel en route to Israel
Militant action undertaken by hundreds of residents of Oakland, California on Friday stalled the Cape Orlando, a military supply ship bound for Israel, for several hours at the Port of Oakland. The powerful protest, which began early in the morning, spread quickly on social media, garnering worldwide support among workers and all people of conscience.
The Cape Orlando was built in 1981 and used repeatedly in support of US military operations in Iraq from 2003 through 2004.
As news of the protest action began to spread online, demonstrators near Cape Orlando made special appeals to workers on the ship to refuse cargo. Throughout the protest, passing truck drivers honked their horns in support.
Social media indicate that at least one worker expressed strong sympathy with the protesters’ demands to stop transporting suspected war cargo to Israel. Other unconfirmed reports indicate that one worker may have walked off the ship in solidarity with the protest.
While the protest was overwhelmingly peaceful, as it began to grow Oakland police and California Highway Patrol, along with elements of the US Coast Guard, surrounded the protesters and made multiple arrests.
Reporters for the World Socialist Web Site interviewed several people who took part in Friday’s historic protest and distributed many statements calling on the working class to the stop the genocide in Gaza. The WSWS statements, along with the call for the international working class to lead the struggle against imperialist war, resounded strongly with a majority of the protesters.
Suzanne said:
I’m here today because brave people of conscience in the Bay Area have decided that it’s imperative to block the boat, the military vessel, from going off and sending weapons back to Israel, especially in the midst of what’s going on right now.
The bombs Israelis are dropping in Gaza are bombs that are supplied by the US government, and it’s backed by $3.8 billion in US aid. I think [Biden’s request for $105 billion] is really disgusting... it’s very shameless and, honestly, at this point, shocking.
Natalie told the WSWS:
That boat is filled with bombs that are going to kill innocent Palestinian children, and I’m just hoping to get more involved in direct actions like these because I’ve been going to protests, but I feel like we need direct actions like this. We need to really take money away from Israel. It’s been an apartheid state since its foundation, and it wouldn’t exist without the United States. We need to understand the history behind this. It’s not just like history started on October 7th.
Asked to comment on Biden’s $105 billion World War III package for Ukraine and Israel, Natalie said:
I think it’s absurd. It’s unacceptable that we give billions of dollars to Israel every year, and it’s unacceptable that we’re trying to increase the amount that we give to them. Netanyahu and all of Israel is committing war crimes, not only in Gaza, settlers are running wild in the West Bank too.
Natalie added, “I think we need to unite. I think there’s so much power in workers coming together. That is the source, right? Collective... coming together, that’s a source of power.”
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Hundreds attend IYSSE and Students for Justice in Palestine rally at Detroit’s Wayne State University
On November 2, some 500 students and workers participated in a rally organized by the Wayne State chapters of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), called “Stop the Genocide in Gaza!” The protest was held at the Wayne State University campus in downtown Detroit, Michigan.
Speakers included students from the SJP, the IYSSE and the Socialist Equality Party. After the speeches, a march was held in which protesters chanted, “Biden Biden, what do you say? How many kids did you kill today?” They also chanted, “Israel Israel you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” and “Free free Palestine,” among other slogans.
Prior to the march, Aya, the co-president of SJP at Wayne State University, pointed out that while the last 27 days have featured “relentless violence” and thousands of “shattered lives and lost dreams,” this is a continuation of “75 years of enduring injustice and relentless oppression.”
“It is time for change and it is time for action,” said Aya.
After Aya, a member of the IYSSE at Wayne State explained, “We believe that the only people who can stop the atrocities that are happening in Gaza, and throughout the world are the working class. Only through the unification of the working class can we change the world around us.”
After a brief review of the history of Palestine, including the Nakba and the ongoing blockade of Gaza, the IYSSE member spoke about the current genocide, its censorship in the capitalist press and the slanderous framing of Palestinian protesters and opponents of mass murder as “antisemites.”
“The media is calling us terrorists and antisemites. They are not only calling us that, they are calling the Jewish people who support us this as well,” he said. “This shows that the fight is not between the people, this is a fight between the working class and the capitalist class.”