PHILADELPHIA: Today, the Philadelphia chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America issued the following statement on the ceasefire in Gaza and the struggle for a Free Palestine.
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We proudly celebrate the resistance that won a hard-fought ceasefire in Gaza and the prisoner exchange that reunites thousands of Palestinian families. Up against the combined military might of the U.S.and its client state of Israel, resistance factions in Palestine channeled their connection to the land and their commitment to the liberation of the Palestinian people, and successfully won a ceasefire.
The past 15 months have been marked by horrific violence that continues a 77-year campaign against the Palestinian people. Zionism, by definition, calls for a systematic campaign of death, displacement, and erasure of Palestinians. In light of this, we recognize that this ceasefire is just one victory. While this genocide was conducted by Israel, it was funded by the United States. Joe Biden will be remembered as the chief sponsor of the world’s first live-streamed genocide, with the full support of countless Zionist politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike. Instead of “working tirelessly for a ceasefire,” imperialist policy, protected by the Democratic party line, abetted a genocide.
True liberation for Palestine lies in decolonization. We call for a one-state solution where safety and dignity are not predicated on religion or nationality – for the complete dismantling of the Zionist state and the prosecution of the Israeli military’s war criminals so that Palestinians may enjoy self-determination, sovereignty, and peace.
The liberation of Palestine is the cause of the oppressed, the cause of anti-colonialism, anti-fascism, and the cause of the working class. It is a cause that unites millions in solidarity around the world and here at home. Working people of Philadelphia rose up to show solidarity. Brave students faced police violence on their university campuses as they sought divestments from Israeli apartheid. We are proud to have been a part of a coalition of Palestinian activists and organizers who have been leading this effort in our neighborhoods.
In Philadelphia, settler-colonialism and fascism are not merely threats from afar, but at home as well. The dogma that enabled the violent displacement of Palestinians in 1948 also enabled the violent displacement of the Lenape people whose land we now know as Philadelphia. The bombing of Arab children to “eradicate Hamas” in 2025 is no different from the bombing of Black children in West Philadelphia to “eradicate MOVE” in 1985. When we see police violence in the U.S., we remember that American police departments across the country receive training from the Israeli military.
Our struggle to end apartheid and to build a socialist world is an enormous one. We have a unique duty to wage the anti-zionist struggle as residents of the country which actively arms and funds Israel as it maims and murders as many Palestinians as possible before the ceasefire goes into effect. Join the Democratic Socialists of America to be a part of that fight to Free Palestine — from the river to the sea, from Gaza to Jerusalem.
“We have seen it — Zionism is fascism.” - George Habash, former leader of the PFLP.
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