We’re only free when we’re ALL free. As the Zionist entity continues its colonization of Palestine, it has never been more vital for us to stand with the oppressed and bring the struggle for Palestinian liberation to Philadelphia. Our No Appetite For Apartheid (NA4A) campaign is seeking to do just that.
NA4A is a campaign being undertaken by DSA chapters and movement allies to coordinate action against companies in the food industry that are complicit in the ongoing settler colonial occupation of Palestine. We’re canvassing businesses that could carry or do carry Israeli products or products complicit in the oppression of Palestinians (like products on the BDS list), and getting them to pledge to join us in boycotting the sale and purchase of those goods. It’s a citywide boycott campaign to get harmful products off the shelves of the grocery stores, cafes, markets, and other businesses we frequent in our day-to-day lives.
Our goal is to put pressure on companies complicit in Zionist settler colonialism and apartheid with a coordinated economic boycott - hurting their bottom line to bring about positive change for Palestinians. We aim to establish networks of apartheid-free stores to create apartheid-free zones across Philadelphia. Our efforts locally have the potential to make a serious impact thousands of miles away.
For over a year, the Zionist entity has been waging a brutal campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine, campaigns that have existed since well before October 7th. Palestinians have for decades suffered under Zionist oppression, being exploited, brutalized, ethnically cleansed, murdered, and utterly dehumanized by their colonial oppressors.
That violence is not isolated to Palestine. The Zionist entity and its supporters are doing real harm to workers and communities across Philadelphia as well. Ori Feibush, a Zionist and Philadelphia business leader shut down coffee stores in our city in response to his employees organizing a union, wiping out their jobs in the process. Josh Harris (the billionaire owner of the 76ers and notable Zionist) fundraised openly for an Israeli NGO and is currently continuing to fight for an area in Center City that would decimate Chinatown. Our Philadelphia Police Department is one department of many actively benefiting from Israeli training through the Deadly Exchange - using the tactics developed through the oppression of Palestinians to harm our neighbors and community members. Palestinian community members in Philadelphia are having to struggle with the updates from Gaza as their relatives are displaced and murdered by Israeli Occupational Forces. These struggles are tied together.
The Palestine liberation struggle is a struggle for justice not just for those in Palestine, but for our Philadelphia communities as well. Our boycott efforts help bring us one step closer to justice for countless communities at home and abroad, and make a real, lasting economic impact that puts pressure on bad actors. It’s one step we can take here to begin building a better world.
NA4A became an official Philly DSA campaign via this resolution in October, 2023.
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