Yes, Globalize the Intifada!

"ɪ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ꜱᴡᴏʀɴ ᴜᴘᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʟᴛᴀʀ ᴏꜰ ɢᴏᴅ ᴇᴛᴇʀɴᴀʟ ʜᴏꜱᴛɪʟɪᴛʏ ᴀɢᴀɪɴꜱᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ꜰᴏʀᴍ ᴏꜰ ᴛʏʀᴀɴɴʏ ᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍɪɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴍᴀɴ"

When I was in New York City recently, I spent some time at protests, including by CUNY grad students.

The most moving chant to me was:

Palestine will free us all
All these fascist states will fall

When my dad was still alive, I’d visit him in Jordan every few years and I’d stop by some European city on my way back. (I frequently wanted to stop in North Africa, but it was always too pricey.)

So, I’d spend a day or two in Rome or Paris or Amsterdam and see as many museums and art galleries as I could, check out the local political scene if I could figure out how to do that and then get back to the US.

One time I saw some graffiti — “Global Intifada” — on the base of a statue. I think it was Rome. Probably early 90s.

I loved it.

Intifada literally means “shaking off”. It means uprising up against oppression. It should be global.

But few Europeans seem to have much thirst for freedom. On this Bastille Day, one should note how infinitely worse Israeli prisons are now than anything in the Bastille when it was stormed amid the summer heat. And if Palestinians stormed those prisons, they’d likely be mowed down — and the French government would likely issue a statement condemning the Palestinians.

“Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” is so passé.

Associating “intifada” with violence is an absurd propaganda ploy, especially given that the Palestinian intifada of 1987 — in which over 1,000 Palestinians were killed — was overwhelmingly nonviolent. And it did a great deal to expose imperial Israel before the world.

Some progressives have defended Zohran Mamdani for being questioned about “Globalize the Intifada” by media outlets, taking pride in him not denouncing it. Some Muslims have argued that they “should no longer be expected to condemn words that we have never used”.

This seems ridiculous to me. No one who says “Globalize the Intifada” should denounce it.

My question is: Why wouldn’t he say it?

As I was considering communicating this a week or two ago, I thought of so many other statements that are analogous. One is from the French-influenced Thomas Jefferson:

“ɪ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ꜱᴡᴏʀɴ ᴜᴘᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʟᴛᴀʀ ᴏꜰ ɢᴏᴅ ᴇᴛᴇʀɴᴀʟ ʜᴏꜱᴛɪʟɪᴛʏ ᴀɢᴀɪɴꜱᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ꜰᴏʀᴍ ᴏꜰ ᴛʏʀᴀɴɴʏ ᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍɪɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴍᴀɴ”

It’s etched atop the Jefferson Memorial:

Ironically, the shameless mass murderer Mileikowsky just visited Monticello. Of course there are crimes in Jefferson’s record that would make that visit unironic.

Uprising is an honored notion from many flawed messengers, from religious texts to rock music (setting starting time in embed doesn’t seem to be working, “Uprising” by Muse — inspired by 1984 — starts at 1:16:30.)

Globalize the Intifada means confronting the US mission at the UN — throwing blood upon it.

It means relentless, intelligent protests against the machinery of death.

Confronting people at the institutions making crimes against humanity happen daily.

It means challenging The Hague Group to step up to their rhetoric and stop imperial Israel’s genocide.

It means standing up for freedom of speech that the forces of oppression seek to snuff out.

There have been protests for Gaza around the world, which have been inspiring.

They need to be more strategic.

A great example of globalizing the intifada was the Feb. 15, 2003 protests against the then-impending invasion of Iraq. That movement died because it allowed itself to become an appendage of the genocidal Democratic Party. (Yesterday, World Beyond War had a global Peace Wave, which was modest but could be built upon.)

Just as imperial Israel is the tip of the spear of a resurgent colonialism, Palestine is at the vanguard of a quest for liberation — a great litmus test of our time.

It’s why for years, Palestinian flags would appear at protests the world over.

Globalize. The. Intifada. Every. Day.