Moroccan illustrator using comics for #MeToo campaign
BY SOPHIE PONS (AFP) 



Young Moroccan cartoonist Zainab Fasiki draws on a whiteboard in a Casablanca studio where she is holding a workshop that mixes art with a homegrown illustrated #MeToo campaign.

"We are here to change this rape culture, which says the victim deserves what they get while the criminal is innocent," says Fasiki, 26, her eyes flashing with indignation.

A dozen students and professionals have joined forces with Fasiki, a pioneer in comics and illustration in Morocco, in response to a web series titled #TaAnaMeToo that depicts women's real-life ordeals.

As part of the series -- "Ta ana" means "Me Too" in Moroccan Arabic dialect -- she illustrated the harrowing testimony of a 22-year-old woman who for years was raped by her brother, to the indifference of her parents.

Unlike in the broader #MeToo movement, the Moroccan women who have agreed to share their stories for the campaign have preferred to remain anonymous.

Series producer Youssef Ziraoui says rape victims in Morocco not only have to deal with a sense of "shame" and the risk of being cast out by their families, but can face charges for sex before marriage under Moroccan law if they go to the police.

The participants in the Casablanca workshop are looking for creative comebacks to some of the toxic reactions the campaign has elicited.

"Choose a negative comment and respond to it," Fasiki says, as the group gets to work on tablets or with paper and pencil.

Fasiki, who calls herself an "artivist" (an artist and activist), says art is "a major instrument of change".

"Images have power, particularly on social media."

- 'Revolution, resistance' -

Students and professionals have joined forces with Fasiki in response to a web series titled #TaAnaMeToo that depicts several Moroccan women's real-life ordeals
Fadel SENNA, AFP

The illustrator, her dark hair cropped in a short bob, says she became a feminist at age 14, when she began to feel that often "being a woman is a sin" in the North African country.

"There is a culture where men correct women, keep an eye on them -- it's a patriarchal system," she says. "Men treat us as if we weren't humans who are responsible for our choices."

She is pushing through her illustrations for "changes to laws written by men, for men, to control women's bodies", she adds.

The self-taught Fasiki says her artistic training involved reading comics as a child, drawing in her bedroom as an adolescent, and "meeting authors at comics festivals" when she was old enough to travel.

Fasiki became known on social media for her nude self-portraits and for illustrations showing "the female body as it is, without taboos".

Her book "Hshouma" (modesty) -- a term she says covers "the culture of shame" around women's bodies in Morocco -- took her to a wider audience, in a country where sex education is also taboo.

"Some feminists think that drawing the naked female form doesn't serve the cause," she says.

"I think it's a revolution -- a form of resistance in the face of a patriarchy-based history."

- Stifling talent -

Fasiki says she was unable to find a local publisher for "Hshouma", and the book's first edition was instead published in Paris in 2019.

Florent Massot, her French publisher, told AFP the book had had "good sales" in Morocco.

"Zainab is very courageous," he said. "She is always very positive even though she gets insulted a lot on social media."

Fasiki is preparing for an exhibition at a contemporary art museum in Tetouan, and will also be teaching at a fine arts school in the northern Moroccan city.

She says she is looking forward to countering "artists who preach against artistic nudity", and wants to "develop the female presence in art".

First and foremost, that requires helping girls "escape the control of their family", says Fasiki, adding that she was influenced by French feminist writer Simone de Beauvoir and her seminal work "The Second Sex".

"When I started to publish (my work) on social media, my family told me, 'either you stop or we don't consider you a member of the family anymore'," she says.

But she was undeterred.

"This type of control over children, who are doing nothing wrong apart from living their passion, has destroyed thousands of talents," she says.




Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/moroccan-illustrator-using-comics-for-metoo-campaign/article/587727#ixzz6qg3y61gt

Drought tightens its grip on Morocco

Kaouthar Oudrhiri
Thu, August 11, 2022


Mohamed gave up farming because of successive droughts that have hit his previously fertile but isolated village in Morocco and because he just couldn't bear it any longer.

"To see villagers rush to public fountains in the morning or to a neighbour to get water makes you want to cry," the man in his 60s said.

"The water shortage is making us suffer," he told AFP in Ouled Essi Masseoud village, around 140 kilometres (87 miles) from the country's economic capital Casablanca.

But it is not just his village that is suffering -- all of the North African country has been hit.

No longer having access to potable running water, the villagers of Ouled Essi Masseoud rely solely on sporadic supplies in public fountains and from private wells.


"The fountains work just one or two days a week, the wells are starting to dry up and the river next to it is drying up more and more," said Mohamed Sbai as he went to fetch water from neighbours.


The situation is critical, given the village's position in the agricultural province of Settat, near the Oum Errabia River and the Al Massira Dam, Morocco's second largest.

Its reservoir supplies drinking water to several cities, including the three million people who live in Casablanca. But latest official figures show it is now filling at a rate of just five percent.

Al Massira reservoir has been reduced to little more than a pond bordered by kilometres of cracked earth.

Nationally, dams are filling at a rate of only 27 percent, precipitated by the country's worst drought in at least four decades.
- Water rationing -

At 600 cubic metres (21,000 cubic feet) of water annually per capita, Morocco is already well below the water scarcity threshold of 1,700 cubic metres per capita per year, according to the World Health Organization.


In the 1960s, water availability was four times higher -- at 2,600 cubic metres.

A July World Bank report on the Moroccan economy said the decrease in the availability of renewable water resources put the country in a situation of "structural water stress".

The authorities have now introduced water rationing.

The interior ministry ordered local authorities to restrict supplies when necessary, and prohibits using drinking water to irrigate green spaces and golf courses.

Illegal withdrawals from wells, springs or waterways have also been prohibited.

In the longer term, the government plans to build 20 seawater desalination plants by 2030, which should cover a large part of the country's needs.

"We are in crisis management rather than in anticipated risk management," water resources expert Mohamed Jalil told AFP.

He added that it was "difficult to monitor effectively the measures taken by the authorities".

Agronomist Mohamed Srairi said Morocco's Achilles' heel was its agricultural policy "which favours water-consuming fruit trees and industrial agriculture".
- Key sector -

He said such agriculture relies on drip irrigation which, although it can save water, paradoxically results in increased consumption as previously arid areas become cultivable.

The World Bank report noted that cultivated areas under drip irrigation in Morocco have more than tripled.

It said that "modern irrigation technologies may have altered cropping decisions in ways that increased rather than decreased the total quantity of water consumed by the agricultural sector".


More than 80 percent of Morocco's water supply is allocated to agriculture, a key economic sector that accounts for 14 percent of gross domestic product.

Mohamed, in his nineties, stood on an area of parched earth not far from the Al Massira Dam.

"We don't plough the land anymore because there is no water," he said, but added that he had to "accept adversity anyway because we have no choice".

Younger generations in the village appear more gloomy.

Soufiane, a 14-year-old shepherd boy, told AFP: "We are living in a precarious state with this drought.

"I think it will get even worse in the future."

kao/agr-fka/srm/hc

Could AI pen ‘Casablanca’? 

Screenwriters take aim at ChatGPT

By JAKE COYLE

May 5, 2023

NEW YORK (AP) — When Greg Brockman, the president and co-founder of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, was recently extolling the capabilities of artificial intelligence, he turned to “Game of Thrones.”

Imagine, he said, if you could use AI to rewrite the ending of that not-so-popular finale. Maybe even put yourself into the show.

“That is what entertainment will look like,” said Brockman.

Not six months since the release of ChatGPT, generative artificial intelligence is already prompting widespread unease throughout Hollywood. Concern over chatbots writing or rewriting scripts is one of the leading reasons TV and film screenwriters took to picket lines earlier this week.

MORE ON THE WRITERS STRIKE

– Why Hollywood writers are striking and the immediate impact

– What do striking Hollywood writers want? A look at demands

– Late-night TV shows go dark as writers strike for better pay

Though the Writers Guild of America is striking for better pay in an industry where streaming has upended many of the old rules, AI looms as rising anxiety.

“AI is terrifying,” said Danny Strong, the “Dopesick” and “Empire” creator. “Now, I’ve seen some of ChatGPT’s writing and as of now I’m not terrified because Chat is a terrible writer. But who knows? That could change.”

AI chatbots, screenwriters say, could potentially be used to spit out a rough first draft with a few simple prompts (“a heist movie set in Beijing”). Writers would then be hired, at a lower pay rate, to punch it up.

Screenplays could also be slyly generated in the style of known writers. What about a comedy in the voice of Nora Ephron? Or a gangster film that sounds like Mario Puzo? You won’t get anything close to “Casablanca” but the barest bones of a bad Liam Neeson thriller isn’t out of the question.

The WGA’s basic agreement defines a writer as a “person” and only a human’s work can be copyrighted. But even though no one’s about to see a “By AI” writers credit at the beginning a movie, there are myriad ways that regenerative AI could be used to craft outlines, fill in scenes and mock up drafts.

“We’re not totally against AI,” says Michael Winship, president of the WGA East and a news and documentary writer. “There are ways it can be useful. But too many people are using it against us and using it to create mediocrity. They’re also in violation of copyright. They’re also plagiarizing.”

The guild is seeking more safeguards on how AI can be applied to screenwriting. It says the studios are stonewalling on the issue. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which bargains on the behalf of production companies, has offered to annually meet with the guild to go over definitions around the fast-evolving technology

“It’s something that requires a lot more discussion, which we’ve committed to doing,” the AMPTP said in an outline of its position released Thursday.

Experts say the struggle screenwriters are now facing with regenerative AI is just the beginning. The World Economic Forum this week released a report predicting that nearly a quarter of all jobs will be disrupted by AI over the next five years.

“It’s definitely a bellwether in the workers’ response to the potential impacts of artificial intelligence on their work,” says Sarah Myers West, managing director of the nonprofit AI Now Institute, which has lobbied the government to enact more regulation around AI. “It’s not lost on me that a lot of the most meaningful efforts in tech accountability have been a product of worker-led organizing.”

AI has already filtered into nearly every part of moviemaking. It’s been used to de-age actors, remove swear words from scenes in post-production, supply viewing recommendations on Netflix and posthumously bring back the voices of Anthony Bourdain and Andy Warhol.

The Screen Actors Guild, set to begin its own bargaining with the AMPTP this summer, has said it’s closely following the evolving legal landscape around AI.

“Human creators are the foundation of the creative industries and we must ensure that they are respected and paid for their work,” the actors union said.

The implications for screenwriting are only just being explored. Actors Alan Alda and Mike Farrell recently reconvened to read through a new scene from “M(asterisk)A(asterisk)S(asterisk)H” written by ChatGPT. The results weren’t terrible, though they weren’t so funny, either.

“Why have a robot write a script and try to interpret human feelings when we already have studio executives who can do that?” deadpanned Alda.

Writers have long been among notoriously exploited talents in Hollywood. The films they write usually don’t get made. If they do, they’re often rewritten many times over. Raymond Chandler once wrote “the very nicest thing Hollywood can possibly think to say to a writer is that he is too good to be only a writer.”

Picketing outside CBS Television City in Los Angeles

 (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Screenwriters are accustomed to being replaced. Now, they see a new, readily available and inexpensive competitor in AI — albeit one with a slightly less tenuous grasp of the human condition.

“Obviously, AI can’t do what writers and humans can do. But I don’t know that they believe that, necessarily,” says screenwriter Jonterri Gadson (“A Black Lady Sketchshow”). “There needs to be a human writer in charge and we’re not trying to be gig workers, just revising what AI does. We need to tell the stories.”

Dramatizing their plight as man vs. machine surely doesn’t hurt the WGA’s cause in public opinion. The writers are wrestling with the threat of AI just as concern widens over how hurriedly regenerative AI products has been thrust into society.

Geoffrey Hinton, an AI pioneer, recently left Google in order to speak freely about its potential dangers. “It’s hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things,” Hinton told The New York Times.

“What’s especially scary about it is nobody, including a lot of the people who are involved with creating it, seem to be able to explain exactly what it’s capable of and how quickly it will be capable of more,” says actor-screenwriter Clark Gregg.

The writers finds themselves in the awkward position of negotiating on a newborn technology with the potential for radical effect. Meanwhile, AI-crafted songs by “Fake Drake” or “Fake Eminem” continue to circulate online.

(AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

“They’re afraid that if the use of AI to do all this becomes normalized, then it becomes very hard to stop the train,” says James Grimmelmann, a professor of digital and information law at Cornell University. “The guild is in the position of trying to imagine lots of different possible futures.”

In that way, the long work stoppage that many are expecting — Moody’s Investor Service forecasts that the strike may last three months or longer — could offer more time to analyze how regenerative AI might reshape screenwriting.

In the meantime, chanting demonstrators are hoisting signs with messages aimed at a digital foe. Seen on the picket lines: 

“ChatGPT doesn’t have childhood trauma”; 

“I heard AI refuses to take notes”;

 and “Wrote ChatGPT this.” ___

 Associated Press Writer Krysta Fauria in Los Angeles and Robert Bumsted and Aron Ranen in New York contributed to this report.

___ Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

VIDEO https://apnews.com/ba42e8d70a4a48e989ae98269c80d741

Israeli court rejects petition to curb spyware company

FILE - In this March 5, 2020 file photo, journalist and activist Omar Radi speaks after a hearing at the Casablanca Courthouse, In Casablanca, Morocco. On Sunday, July 12, 2020 the Tel Aviv District Court rejected a request to strip the controversial Israeli spyware firm NSO Group of its export license over the suspected use of the company’s technology in targeting journalists, including Radi, and dissidents worldwide. The case, brought by Amnesty International in January, called on the court to prevent NSO from selling its technology abroad, especially to repressive regimes. The court ruled that Amnesty’s attorneys did not provide sufficient evidence. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar, File)


JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli court has rejected a request to strip the controversial Israeli spyware firm NSO Group of its export license over the suspected use of the company’s technology in targeting journalists and dissidents worldwide.

The case, brought by Amnesty International in January, called on the court to prevent NSO from selling its technology abroad, especially to repressive regimes.

The Tel Aviv District Court ruled that Amnesty’s attorneys did not provide sufficient evidence “to prove the claim that an attempt was made to track a human rights activist by trying to hack his cell phone” or that the hacking was done by NSO.

“Granting a license is done after the most rigorous process and also after granting the permit, the authority conducts oversight and close inspection, as necessary,” the court said. If human rights are found to be violated, that permit can be suspended or canceled, it added.

The court issued its ruling on Sunday, but only made it public on Monday.

Gil Naveh, spokesman for Amnesty International Israel, said the group was disappointed but not surprised.

“It’s been a longstanding tradition for the Israeli courts to be a rubber stamp for the Israeli Ministry of Defense,” he said.

The group doesn’t know what evidence NSO or the Defense Ministry gave to the court, because the hearings were closed. “Even if we knew, we were not able to talk about it,” he said.

In 2018, Amnesty claimed one of its employees was targeted by NSO’s malware, saying a hacker tried to break into the staffer’s smartphone, using a WhatsApp message about a protest in front of the Saudi Embassy in Washington as bait.

NSO, an Israeli hacker-for-hire company, uses its Pegasus spyware to take control of a phone, its cameras and microphones, and mine the user’s personal data.

The company has been accused of selling its surveillance software to repressive governments that use it against dissidents. It doesn’t disclose clients, but they are believed to include Middle Eastern and Latin American states. The company says it sells its technology to Israeli-approved governments to help them combat criminals and terrorism.

NSO Group said in a statement that the company “will continue to work to provide technology to states and intelligence organizations,” adding that its purpose is to “save human lives.”

In a report published last month, Amnesty International said Moroccan journalist Omar Radi’s phone was tapped using NSO’s technology as part of the government’s efforts to clamp down on dissent.

A Saudi dissident has accused NSO of involvement in Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s killing in 2018.

 

Morocco: Activist’s 5-year Prison Sentence For Criticising Relations With Israel Is Unfair, Must Be Rescinded

Sunday, 6 August 2023, 3:00 pm
Press Release: Euro Med Monitor

Geneva - The five-year imprisonment sentence of Moroccan activist Said Boukyoud on charges of free expression is unfair and cannot be justified under any circumstances, said Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor in a statement.

The First Instance Criminal Court of Casablanca sentenced Boukyoud, 48, to five years in prison on Monday 31 July for social media posts he made in 2020 that included criticism of Morocco’s decision to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. The arbitrary ruling is part of the Moroccan authorities’ campaign against freedom of expression, which includes practices aimed at criminalising critics and opinion-holders and silencing dissidents.

Moroccan authorities had arrested Boukyoud at Casablanca Mohammed V International Airport on the morning of Monday 24 July, upon the activist’s return from Qatar with his family. His request for parole was denied, and he was kept detained following the arrest. Euro-Med Monitor noted a violation of his right to a fair trial, citing the court’s decision to issue a verdict only seven days after his arrest, meaning the relevant authorities, the prosecution, and the defence may not have exhausted all legal procedures; this indicates a clear intent to punish Boukyoud for his dissenting views.

Boukyoud’s case exemplifies the country’s policy of using its judiciary to punish and retaliate against certain journalists and opponents. Several journalists and dissidents have been detained in recent years, with some receiving harsh sentences on charges that appear to be fabricated and biased. “The decision to imprison Boukyoud for five years for merely expressing his opinion reflects a shameful disregard for the right to freedom and human dignity, and demonstrates the risks and challenges that dissidents and opinion-holders face in Morocco,” said Euro-Med Monitor’s Chief Operating Officer Anas Jerjawi.

“Moroccan authorities are obligated to respect citizens’ freedom of publication and expression, as all individuals have the right to express their views on the country’s policies and relations with other countries, within the limits set by the Moroccan constitution and relevant international covenants,” Jerjawi added.

The detention of individuals for expressing their opinions clearly violates Morocco’s relevant international obligations as well as Article 25 of the Moroccan constitution, which guarantees the “freedoms of thought, of opinion and of expression under all their forms”. Furthermore, it violates Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Morocco, which states that “[E]veryone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference” as well as “the right to freedom of expression”.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor emphasised the importance of establishing a truly independent judiciary in Morocco—one that is not used to punish opponents or undermine freedoms, and is free of all forms of government influence—and urged authorities to rescind the arbitrary sentence imposed on activist Said Boukyoud, release him unconditionally, stop prosecuting and criminalising peaceful activity, and cease all practices that undermine individuals’ rights.

The organisation also called on Moroccan authorities to release all prisoners of conscience, including all journalists and dissidents convicted on charges that may be fabricated and unfair, stop viewing dissidents and critics as threats that must be neutralised and silenced, and respect individuals’ opinions and peaceful activism.

BIG TOBBACCO LOSES

NZ

Survey shows milestone drop in smoking among Pasifika youth

Jan Kohout, Journalist
jan.kohout@rnz.co.nz


Photo: 123rf

A newly-released survey shows daily tobacco smoking rates for New Zealand Pasifika youth are at a record low of less than 2 percent.

With just 1.2 percent of Pasifika smoking daily, that is significantly less than what it used to be in 2017 when it was at 5.3 percent.

Published by Action for Smokefree 2025 (ASH), the survey is one of the largest ongoing youth smoking surveys in the world, with 29,538 Year 10 student participants, aged between 14 and 15.

The survey looks at both vaping and tobacco use.

It found that 45 percent of Pacific Year 10 students had tried vaping, 11 percent vaped daily as opposed to 1.2 percent who were daily tobacco smokers, and 2.6 percent were regular (ie, either daily weekly, monthly) smokers.

ASH director Sir Collin Tukuitonga, who is a strong advocate for Māori and Pacific health, credits the decrease in smoking rates to various smokefree messages throughout the years in Aotearoa and a general acceptance from youth that smoking is not sustainable.

"But I think what has worked generally is the messages to young people that smoking is not cool and they used prominent people to promote that message to really get young people to accept a movement away from smoking."

Tala Pasifika lead for Hapai Te Hauora's National Tobacco Control Advocacy service, Lealailepule Edward Cowley said there was a gap between people already smoking, compared to those in the 14-15 age group who could not legally purchase tobacco which showed not all age groups had stopped smoking.

"It's difficult for young people to access tobacco, which is probably why we see a drop. We really do see an increase from age 18 to 24, so whilst they are at a young age when they are at school we see a decrease when they start working and earning their own money, then are able to access and start to purchase things they want to purchase so we do see an increase in that age group."

Cancer Society medical director George Laking said adults most likely remained smokefree if they had not taken up smoking in their teenage years.

The Cancer Society's Dr George Laking Photo: Supplied

"The initiation of smoking characteristically occurs in youth, if you can get through your teen years without taking up smoking then you are less likely to take it up in general; they've basically missed the opportunity to take it up and they are not especially likely to take up smoking later on."

Dr Laking also said there was a clear decline in tobacco use for both young people and elders - a positive sign for Pacific and Māori youth.

The survey shows a clear decrease in tobacco use this year among year 10 groups which certainly suggests as Dr Laking said that young people in the future would be much less likely to pick up smoking even though some young people were currently picking up the bad habit when they were 18 years old.

However, a smokefree New Zealand in 2025 still looks grim according to Dr Laking who said there was currently a lack of regulation and legislation in place.

Tobacco use was still prevalent in Māori communities which would still take a bit of time to reduce, he said.

"It would be 50-50 chance to get to that point," he said.

The Ministry of Health is hoping to have less than 5 percent smoking rates for each ethnic demographic by that date.

To find out more about the annual ASH Year 10 Survey visit ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey 2021 NationBuilder.

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The New Prohibition

Smoking....

Smoking is forbidden in nearly three out of four U.S. households, a dramatic increase from the 43 percent of homes that prohibited smoking a decade ago, the federal government reported Thursday.




SEE:

Casablanca R Rated

Anti-Smoking Hypocrites

Punishing the Victim

Smokers and Smokestack Industries

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Unprecedented: 350-million-year-old Shark Ancestor Found in Morocco

By Ezzoubeir Jabrane





A team of paleontologists has discovered the first complete skeletal remains of the phoebodus, a 350-million-year-old ancestor of the shark in the Small Atlas region in Morocco.

The discovery was made by Linda Frey, Michael Coates, Michał Ginter, Vachik Hairapetian, Martin Rücklin, Iwan Jerjen and Christian Klug, an international team of paleontologists who published their paper in British Journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B on October 2nd.

The paper explains that the Phoebodus was known among the paleontological community but only through “isolated teeth and fin spines”. As its skeleton was made soft cartilage rather than hard bone, this is the first time a fossil of its entire body is founded.

The paper continues that the characteristics of the environment of the Small Atlas Mountains, which at the time was a shallow ocean basin, made this discovery possible. The restricted water movement mixed with the low oxygen levels in this area made it possible to preserve the entire structure of the Phoebodus for millions of years.

The scientists proceed to described the creature as having “an anguilliform body, specialized braincase, hyoid arch, elongate jaws and rostrum, complementing its characteristic dentition and ctenacanth fin spines preceding both dorsal fins.”

These characteristics suggest “a likely close relationship” with the Thrinacodus gracia, a shark ancestor that lived in the Carboniferous (a period that that span between 358.9 million years ago and 289.9 million years ago). Both these species are part of the elasmobranch, an ancient and successful lineage that consists of sharks, rays and skates, which has managed to survive four main extinction periods.

The paper adds that the newly found shark ancestor is “the most easily compared [species] with the modern frilled shark Chlamydoselachus” and considers the discovery a great addition to the efforts to understand earliest elasmobranchs.

ABOUT US

International Morocco is intended to be a special corner of exchange and learning, for free thinkers, creators, as well as for those beautiful hearts and minds, the intellectually and spiritually enlightened, from Morocco and beyond.

Ezzoubeir Jabrane
Ezzoubeir Jabrane is a writer, teacher and entrepreneur. He holds a Master’s Degree in Linguistic and Literary Studies. He has written over 1000 articles in different fields. He works as a teacher of Academic English at Hassan II University in Casablanca and a teacher of English for Engineering in the National Higher School of Arts and Craft (ENSAM), in addition to a number of other institutions. Ezzoubeir is the founder of Exchange Lab and a founding member of International Morocco. His company Exchange Lab offers 3 services revolving around the use of English in the workplace: content and multimedia content creation, translation services, and language instruction.

The People of the World Declare: “Palestine will be free!”

Tanupriya Singh | 09 Nov 2023

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November 4 marked an International Day of Solidarity with Palestine as people took to the streets in over 300 cities across the world to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to stand with the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation.

November 4 was an international day of solidarity with Palestine. The protest held in Washington DC was the largest in US history for Palestine. Photo: Sofia Pérez

Israel has killed over 10,000 Palestinians in 30 days of its relentless, genocidal bombardment of besieged Gaza. Armed to the teeth by the US, and emboldened by corporate-controlled mainstream media insistent on dehumanizing and admonishing the Palestinian people, Israel has destroyed ambulances, hospitals, schools, and homes, and bombed refugee camps whose very origins lay in the horrors of the Nakba of 1948.

While Israel continues to be shielded by its imperialist patrons, as resolution after resolution fails in the UN Security Council, the millions-strong, historic wave of mobilizations that have taken place globally in the past month have sent a clear message— the ruling elite do not speak for the people, and the people stand with Palestine.

On November 4, organizations in over 300 cities across the world joined a call issued by the International Peoples’ Assembly for an International Day of Solidarity with Palestine, to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, an end to the blockade, and to stand with the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation.

North America

Over 300,000 people gathered in Washington DC on Saturday for the biggest Palestine solidarity demonstration in US history as chants of “Biden, Biden, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide!” rang through the capital.

“We are here because Palestine reveals the naked hypocrisy of western universalism, it reveals our enduring colonial reality, and it offers a glimpse into a future without colonialism,” declared Palestinian human rights attorney, Noura Erakat.

“We are like olive trees like the ones that our ancestors planted, we are unshaken, we are unmoved, we are undeniable. Stand with us in this promise, we promise, Palestine still promises, that we will all be free!”

Over 300,000 people gathered in Washington DC. Photo: Ikhlas Captures

In Canada, protests were held in over 30 cities, including in Kingston, Ottawa, Toronto, and Winnipeg following a call issued by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) for a national day of demonstrations. Thousands of people gathered in the streets of Montreal, chanting “Free, Free Palestine!” and “Justice Now!”.

Arab and Maghreb against normalization!

Though most governments in the Arab and Maghreb region have refused to heed to popular demands for substantive political action against Israel (some of whom have also normalized ties with Israel via US-brokered deals), people have continued to take to the streets in support of Palestine.

A massive demonstration was held in Egypt’s Taiz governorate on Saturday, organized by trade unions, political parties, and civil society groups including the People’s Committee to Support the Issues of Palestine. In a statement, the coalition called upon Arab and Islamic countries to take a “practical and responsible” position to stop the genocide in Gaza, and before that, to deliver aid, fuel and medicines to the besieged area.

The groups called upon the Egyptian state to exercise its sovereignty over the Rafah border crossing— the only way out of Gaza that is not under Israeli control— and to open the passage permanently for the entry of necessary relief materials.

They also implored countries in the region to immediately cut ties with the Zionist entity, to suspend any diplomatic and economic transactions and the supply of oil and gas to all countries supporting the aggression against Palestine, and to extend support to the Palestinian resistance “with all available means”.

Photo: Workers’ Party of Tunisia

A day prior, on November 3, Tunisian President Kais Saied objected to a bill being debated in parliament that would punish the “crime of normalization” with Israel, citing threats to the country’s external security and foreign interests. The move took place against the backdrop of major protests in the country demanding that ties with Israel be banned.

On Saturday, progressive organizations including the Workers’ Party in Tunisia held a demonstration outside the Municipal Theater in the capital city. Addressing the gathering, the Workers’ Party general secretary, Hamma Hammami, condemned Saied’s actions as a “stab to Palestine at a time when its people in Gaza are subjected to a war of extermination”.

In a statement, the Workers Party condemned the president’s objection, which marked a turn in his previous stance against opposition, as a capitulation to Western colonial and imperialist powers and an “insult” to the Tunisian people.

This chasm between the government and the will of the people was also on clear display in Morocco, which officially normalized ties with Israel in 2020, on November 4. The Moroccan Front to Support Palestine and Against Normalization organized renewed protests and demonstrations in several cities including Tangier and Chefchaouen. Another protest was held in Casablanca on Sunday in protest of the “escalating barbaric aggression” on Gaza.

Protests have also been held in other parts of the African continent in recent days, including a major demonstration that took place in the Ghanaian capital of Accra on November 2, as well as a protest outside the Grand Mosque in Dakar, Senegal.  Protests have also been held in South Africa , targeting not only South Africa’s diplomatic ties with Israel, which were put on pause on Monday as South Africa recalled its diplomats to Israel, but also the capture of key industries in the country by Israeli companies.

Meanwhile, in Lebanon, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) organized a sit-in protest outside the UK embassy in Beirut. Youssef Ahmed, a member of the DFLP’s polit-bureau said, “What the Palestinian people are exposed to in the Gaza Strip is a war of genocide with the participation of the United States and Western countries, through which Israel seeks to impose its liquidation projects, especially the displacement, deportation and annexation plans.”

“Our bet is on the [Palestinian] resistance and on the steadfastness of the people [and it] is a safe bet, and the coming days will confirm the correctness of this choice.”

Protest actions were held in the Syrian capital of Damascus, including by Palestinian refugees living in the Yarmouk camp, where they set up a sit-in protest tent. Meanwhile, a solidarity action was also organized in Baghdad, Iraq.

Protest at the Yarmouk camp in Damascus.

Asia

Mobilizations also took place in parts of south and south-east Asia, including in the Philippines, the Partido Manggagawa (Labor Party) mobilized workers and youth and held solidarity actions in the capital city of Manila, Bacolod, and Cebu.

“The retaliatory campaign by Israel to completely siege Gaza by cutting off food, water, and electricity supplies to annihilate ‘subhuman’ Palestinians is not simply out of bounds but is downright genocide that needs to be opposed to avert a colossal humanitarian crisis,” the party said in a statement.

“We continue to emphasize that the only solution we see for peace to finally reign in this region is for the peoples of the world, along with institutions such as the United Nations, to campaign for an end to Israel’s occupation and continued land grabbing in Palestinian territories, and to guarantee the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people.”

Photo: Partido Manggagawa

Scenes of solidarity were also witnessed in Pakistan, where the Mazdoor Kissan Party (PMKP), under the banner of the Left Democratic Front coalition, organized protests in cities including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Hastinagar and Hyderabad.

While condemning the silence of the UN, and the complicity of the US empire in the genocide in Gaza, the PMKP called upon progressive forces across the world to stand with the Palestinian people in pursuit of their rights— “The Palestinian people in Gaza have opened a new chapter in the history of the war of national liberation and opened a new horizon of hope for the oppressed and a bright change for the future of humanity”.

Palestine solidarity protest organized by the Left Democratic Front in Pakistan. Photo:Mazdoor Kisan Party

Europe

Protests and demonstrations were also held across Europe on Saturday. In Italy, more than 10,000 people gathered in Rome for a national demonstration organized by the left-wing Power to the People (PaP) party and joined by various civil society groups, unions, and political parties to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, for an end to the Israeli apartheid regime and the occupation of Palestine.

Protesters further called for the revocation of the military cooperation agreement between Italy and Israel, and for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be tried at the International Criminal Court. The protest action also raised broader issues including an end to the supply of arms for the proxy war in Ukraine, and for cuts to military spending to expand social expenses.

Protest for Palestine in Rome. Photo: Potere al Popolo

Around 10,000 people also gathered in the city of Milan to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

On November 6, students part of the Self-Organized University Collective (CAU) at the L’Orientale University of Naples occupied the Palazzo Giusso building in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

“For almost a month, in Gaza, in the silence and complicity of Western governments, primarily the Italian one, a genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian population has been taking place.

“If the institutions and the media have demonstrated a clear desire to cover up the war crimes for which the Israeli government is responsible, it is urgent and necessary that a response in solidarity with the Palestinian people starts from the bottom, from us students who do not want to remain in silence in the face of all this,” the Collective said in a statement.

Demonstrations were held across France on Friday organized by 100 trade unions, political parties, and civil society organizations, including the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and La France Insoumise as part of the “National Collective for a Just and Lasting Peace between Palestine and Israelis”.

According to LFI, 60,000 people gathered for the demonstration in Paris. The demands raised during the protests included an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, an end to bombings and forced displacement of the Palestinian population, immediate lifting of the blockade, protection of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. The collective also called for the “construction of a just and lasting peace in Palestine, in accordance with UN resolutions so that the rights of the Palestinians are finally recognized”.

“This is an absolutely appalling massacre that is in place and is being organized by Mr. Netanyahu in a methodical and not at all improvised way.” said LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon. He further condemned the French government’s call for a “humanitarian truce” — “Why talk about a humanitarian truce? What does that mean? Who will decide the start and especially the end of the truce?” — and called for an immediate ceasefire.

Mobilization in Paris for Palestine.

Demonstrations were similarly organized in communes throughout the country, including Épinal, Brioude, Saint-Claude, Albi, as well as several cities including Grenoble, Lille, Montpellier, Saint-Étienne, Lyon, Toulouse, Rouen, Nantes, Strasbourg, and Marseille, among others.

Thousands of people also took to the streets in a fresh day of protests in Berlin on November 4, resolutely defying an increasingly hostile government that has criminalized solidarity with Palestine.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people also took to the streets across the UK for a “Day of Action – Ceasefire Now!” organized by groups including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Saturday’s protests were organized at the local level ahead of a national mobilization set to take place on November 11.

In one of the biggest protests on November 4, 40,000 people gathered at Trafalgar Square in London to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. The names and ages of all Palestinian children killed by Israel were read out during the gathering, and the photos of the children were also displayed in tribute.

London for Palestine. Photo: PSC

Protests also took place in Bristol, Luton, Harrow, Newcastle, Leeds, York, Durham, and Cambridge. 20,000 people also marched through Manchester, with several thousand occupying the Piccadilly railway station.

“This is not just for the ongoing abominable genocide in Gaza…The massive mobilizations…are for the 75 years of Israel’s settler colonization of Palestine, brutal occupations, ethnically cleansing Palestinians, imprisoning them and mass murdering them,” said Adie Mormech of the Manchester Palestine Action, a direct action protest network.

“Palestine will always stand, and we won’t stop till they’re free,” he added, as quoted by the Morning Star.

Thousands of people also marched in the streets in Scotland, in actions organized in places including Aberdeen, Dundee, Dunfermilne, Glasgow and Edinburgh— where protesters took over the Central Station and the Waverly Station respectively in massive shows of solidarity.

Protests and solidarity actions were also organized across other parts of Europe, including in Bucharest in Romania and as well as in Spain including in Valencia and in Zaragoza, where the Communist Party of Spain organized a protest to demand an immediate end to all hostilities and the blockade of Gaza, for the Spanish state to recognize Palestine, and for the “return of all the territory to the Palestinian people”.

Thousands of people also joined the demonstration called by the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in Barcelona on November 4 to demand “the end of the genocide, the massacres, and the impunity of the Zionist regime”, “to free all prisoners being held in Zionist prisoners”, and to “free Palestine from the River to the Sea”.

Photo: @samidoun.esp/Instagram

Actions were held in Bern in Switzerland on November 4, as well as a major rally in Oslo in Norway the day prior. Palestine Solidarity Austria also joined actions in the country on November 5, including in Salzburg and Vienna. Protests had also been held in Vienna on November 4 by the Global South Alliance, as well as in Innsbruck.

Protest action in Vienna on November 5. Photo: @palaestinasolidaritaet.at/Instagram

Latin America and the Caribbean

In the Latin America and the Caribbean region, a major action was organized in the city of São Paulo in Brazil on November 4. It featured powerful scenes including blindfolded protesters carrying blood-stained shrouds— a reminder of the horrific images that have emerged from Gaza of parents holding their slain children.

São Paulo for Palestine. Photo: Maneco Magnesio Guimarães

A demonstration was also held in the Colombian capital of Bogotá, with people raising the flag of Palestine and bearing banners with the slogans calling for an end to the “Zionist-imperialist occupation” and “liberate Palestine!”

Bogotá for Palestine.

 

A demonstration and vigil for Palestine was also held in San Juan in Puerto Rico. “We witness Jabalya, we remember Jayuya”, read a protest sign, referencing the 1950 armed insurrection led by Nationalist Party against the US. During the vigil, prominent Puerto Rican activist, Tito Kayak, climbed a flagpole and removed the US flag and hoisted the Palestinian flag in its place.

 

 

Protests were also organized in Mexico, including in the city of Guadalajara on November 4, with hundreds of people marching in the streets demanding “a stop to the genocide in Gaza” and “Killing children is not self-defense”. Another protest was held by a group of more than 100 social organizations in Mexico City on November 6, with people painting the Palestinian flag outside the National Palace. Protesters demanded the breaking off of ties with Israel and raised the slogan “Netanyahu, fascist. You are a terrorist!”.

A protest was also held in Uruguay calling for an to the genocide in Gaza. Meanwhile, in Honduras, an action was held at the Camp Viva Berta, named after the slain Indigenous activist, in Tegucigalpa on November 2 by the National Network of Women Human Rigths Defenders in Honduras to denounce the genocide in Gaza and express their support for the Palestinian people.

“We regret the pseudo-pacifist speeches of those who speak of a conflict in order not to point out those who for decades have uprooted the grass, the water and the vital breath of the living being of this ancient land of Palestine.”

People also gathered in the streets of Buenos Aires on Friday November 3, bearing the Palestinian flag and raising banners that read “It is not a war, it is a genocide”. Protesters also demanded the expulsion of Israel’s national water company, Mekorot, from Argentina.

Buenos Aires rally for Palestine. Photo: Rafael Soriano

“Gaza resists. Palestine exists. An end to Zionist apartheid!” read a slogan during the march in the capital of Santiago in Chile. Thousands of people also gathered in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas on Saturday for a massive solidarity march, which was also attended by government officials, including Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.

“Palestinians are our brothers…Palestine, we are going to defend it as if it were Venezuela,” one protester stated.

Thousands Turn up at Kolkata Rally Condemning Israeli Attack on Palestine

Sandip Chakraborty | 09 Nov 2023

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The rally was joined by working-class people, teachers, students, and peace activists.

Kolkata: Thousands of people on Wednesday took part in an anti-imperialist march against Israel in Kolkata, gathering from south Bengal districts. The rally, which started from Mahajati Sadan in Kolkata, continued up to Ramlila Park in the Park Circus area, covering a distance of nearly three kilometres.

The rally was joined by working-class people, teachers, students, and peace activists, and was resplendent with slogans and placards. "Say no to war" read numerous placards, with the pictorial depiction of the condition of the Gaza strip. Left Front Chairman Biman Basu, CPI(M) state secretary MD Salim, Abhijit Majumdar of CPI(ML) Liberation, Naren Chatterjee of Forward Block, Swapan Banerjee of CPI, Tapan Hore (RSP), Tarun Mondal of SUCI also took part in the huge rally and led it from the front.

Arindam Mukherjee, a peace activist from Kolkata who was at the rally, told NewsClick that this rally represented the penchant of the majority of the people of West Bengal to stop the imperialist war on the Gaza strip, which has been under Israeli occupation for a long time. 

He added that a section of the Indian media is following the wish of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party by toeing the line of supporting Israel in the war. It amounts to supporting state-sponsored terrorism in the Middle East, he said, talking with Newsclick while walking in the rally. He also strongly criticised the present inclination of India, which, according to him, is to become a junior partner to the USA and take a reactionary role in the Middle East, removing itself from its earlier role of supporting the Palestinian state and its liberation struggle against Zionist Israel.

Speaking at the rally after the march, Left Front Chairman Biman Basu said that in Palestine, Israel is continuing with genocide after being armed by the imperialist USA. Till now, there have been more than 10,000 deaths in the Gaza Strip alone, a large number of whom are women and children. He mentioned there have been protests against Israel's aggression in Western cities like London and Paris, and Indians, too, have to protest against this genocide in large numbers. 

After the protest march in Kolkata, similar marches in a decentralised manner will take place in all the district towns of the state on November 9 and 10, Basu added.

CPI(M) State Secretary MD Salim, in his speech, traced the historical anti-imperialist role played by the people of Kolkata against any imperialist intervention across the globe. He reminded people of the role played by Kolkata during the Vietnam War. The Palestinian liberation struggle was intrinsically related to the Indian Independence movement, he said, and added that even Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were all in support of the people of Palestine and were against Zionist aggression of Israel. 

He also strongly condemned the role played by the Rashtria Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which did not oppose the British during the country's freedom struggle. Hence, they are now taking the side of Israel during the time of this war, Salim claimed. Because of this, India abstained from voting when a proposal was taken at the United Nations condemning Israel, the Left leader said. 

While people all throughout the globe are condemning the role played by Israel, the Indian Hindutva proponents are finding similarities between Zionists and Hindutva and are supporting Israel, while the ruling party of West Bengal, Trinamool Congress, is maintaining a stoic silence on the issue, he added.