Italy: Solidarity with our Palestinian comrades who have been detained

The Goal Is Movement

Statement from the National Executive of the PDAC

We express our complete and unconditional solidarity with Hannoun, president of the Association of Palestinians in Italy, and with the other Palestinian comrades who have been detained.

While ships full of weapons that Israel uses to continue the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank depart from or transit through Italy, the Italian judiciary arrests Palestinian activists on the basis of documentation provided by the genocidal Israeli government, accusing them of supporting “terrorism,” i.e., the Palestinian masses fighting against the only terrorism present in Palestine: Israeli terrorism. Since 1948, Israel, acting on behalf of imperialism, has occupied Palestine, expelling, torturing, and massacring its inhabitants.

Contrary to the belief of those who are either naive or in bad faith (the latter being the case of the Five Star Movement), the reality is that when it comes to striking at the struggles of workers and youth, the various apparatuses of bourgeois domination act in unison. The government orders, the repressive apparatuses execute, and the judiciary provides legal cover while parliament prepares to pass new laws that would criminally punish the struggle against Zionist racism as “racism.” This further confirms the class nature of the state and its apparatuses, which exist solely to defend the interests of capitalists.

In this case, the objective is clear: to attack leaders of Palestinian organizations in Italy in order to strike a blow against the movement of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. This movement has placed Italy at the forefront of international mobilizations. The strikes in early October and the massive demonstrations that paralyzed the country with port, station, and highway blockades concern Meloni’s government. Hence the police operation, which they planned to carry out during the end-of-year holidays in order to minimize street protests and maximize media coverage.

Hannoun and his comrades are being targeted to weaken a movement that concerns the bosses and the government. The only possible response is to organize a large mobilization demanding the release of our imprisoned comrades. When Israel boarded the flotilla and arrested its crew, we responded with a general strike and a large demonstration in Rome on October 4. Now, with the Zionists’ accomplices arresting our Palestinian comrades here in Italy, we must organize a new general strike in support of the Palestinian struggle. We must strengthen the balance of power in workplaces, schools, and on the streets to oust Meloni’s government, not to pave the way for the false, anti-worker opposition of the center-left—which is as complicit as the right in Zionist terrorism—but rather to establish a workers’ alternative. October 3 and 4 showed that this is possible.

Long live the resistance! Free Palestine from the river to the sea! Zionists out of Palestine!

For a socialist federation of the Middle East!

Let’s build the international movement needed to unite our struggles against capitalism!