Ahmad Sa'adat - Letter to the US Social Forum

June 2010

Ramon Prison - Isolation Section

To the US Social Forum:

I greet you from inside the walls of the prisons of the occupation, with the voice of thousands of Palestinian and Arab political prisoners. On behalf of the Palestinian prisoners' movement, the Palestinian national movement, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, I carry our salutes to the US Social Forum, this coming together of movements of oppressed peoples to organize and stand together against racism, colonialism, oppression and imperialism.

The Palestinian struggle for national liberation is part and parcel of the international movement of peoples for national liberation, international racial and economic justice, and an end to occupation, colonialism and imperialism. We salute all of the oppressed groups, nations and communities who have come together to build this social forum, including our sisters and brothers in the Palestinian and Arab community in the US and the indigenous peoples of the Americas on whose land the US empire of today was built, and who have remained a constant presence of resistance for over 400 years.

As we struggle to end apartheid, racism and occupation in Palestine, we recognize that we face not only the enemy immediately before us - Israel - but the full force and muscle of the U.S. government behind it. We view the US Social Forum as an expression of the popular movements inside the United States, working inside the empire to achieve justice for all, and join our hands in solidarity with yours. Our struggle is your struggle, and your struggle is ours.

The power of the U.S. empire in a unipolar world is being shaken by resistance and popular movements, from those inside the U.S., to the rising strength of the Left in Latin America, in Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and elsewhere, to the development of alternative and regional powers around the world who are forming a strong counterweight to the empire. It is a necessity that the US empire and the unipolar world upon which it thrives is upended, and we greet the USSF's commitment that "another U.S. is necessary" with resounding agreement and solidarity.

A global front of the Left, of popular movements, of those who struggle for liberation and against imperialism and oppression, is necessary today, and the US Social Forum - and the entire Social Forum movement - is integral in building that global Left Front.

As you know, our struggle in Palestine is deeply linked to the struggle in the United States. There are two camps - the camp of empire and its allies, headed by the U.S. and Israel and, in our region, the complicit Arab regimes, and the camp of resistance. We see you as part of the resistance camp. The U.S. government is responsible for the Israeli crimes against our people - the thousands of political prisoners behind bars, the millions of refugees prohibited from returning home, the ethnic cleansing and home demolitions, the ongoing occupation, the apartheid wall tearing through our land, the apartheid and entrenched racism. For over 62 years, the U.S. government has been the sponsor of the racist Israeli state.

Today it is more critical than ever that you escalate your campaigns in solidarity with Palestine, that you internationally isolate Israel and all of its products, that you make it clear that the people of the United States stand alongside the people of Palestine to achieve our full national and human rights - to self determination, return for our refugees, an end to occupation, and national liberation.

We have heard news recently of the massacre of the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, and that the seas have carried a great message of courage and shouldered a great burden of blood; that the prisons that hold our prisoners of freedom have held the prisoners of freedom of the world; and that the international movement for justice has new martyrs who will inspire us all to struggle in their path of courage, strength, indomitable solidarity and commitment to justice in the face of brutal oppression. Their example is an example to us all, and the Flotilla martyrs, prisoners, organizers and participants are part of the long line of heroes of our Palestinian people's struggle, and all of our global people's struggles for justice and liberation.

Towards a global left front - for socialism, equality, justice and liberation!

We join in your call: Another World is Possible! Another U.S. is Necessary!

Ahmad Sa'adat
General Secretary
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine