Hassan Al Jaajaa, APN (Arab Group for the Protection of Nature) Co-Founder, is a keynote speaker at the opening session of the 7th International Conference of the International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS), attended by 500 participants from around the world. Al Jaajaa also spoke on the struggles of the Palestinian rural peoples at the ILPS Commission 6 Workshop.
بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم.
السالم عليكم ورحمة هللا وبركاته.
In the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful.
Please rise for a moment of silence in respect for the souls of the hundreds of thousands of martyrs risen in Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Iran, and all over the world in our quest for freedom.
Dear brothers, sisters, comrades and partners in humanity and struggle.
I am greatly honored and humbled to be given this opportunity to address this very unique assembly of freedom fighters each in her or his place and role. I am a co-founder of a green resistance movement, APN, which has been, over the last 20 years, supporting more than 32,000 small farmers. This work directly reflected on the sovereignty and livelihood of around 260,000 Palestinians. Your generous donations yesterday will support more farmers, making you our direct partners in our campaign.
Again, I will kindly ask for your attention and concentration as we all have travelled thousands of miles to meet, hear, and discuss our common concerns. So please kindly postpone your side talks and WhatsApp messages to the break later. Thank you again,
We have reached a very decisive and fateful stage in our quest for freedom, justice, and dignity of everyone, individuals and peoples. The conflict between imperialism, settler-colonialism and its allies on one
side, and revolutionary forces on the other does not leave space for neutrality, as fascism and all forms of exploitation, domination and colonialism, are currently being utilized to control the world in the most vicious and bloody wars of extermination.
In Palestine, our heroic people are sacrificing their lives, livelihoods, and entire residential neighborhoods, in this unprecedented genocide to defend the existence of our present and future generations. And while we are fighting to liberate our homeland in Palestine, we are simultaneously contributing in emancipating our Jewish brethren from Zionism and fascism. Confronting Israel’s genocide is a battle against one of the most important fascist bases imperialism has founded against peoples worldwide.
Fascism, Zionism, Nazism and Imperialism have always been allies complementing each other. There is ample evidence that the Zionists helped finance Hitler’s campaigns in Germany. The Nazis and Zionists exchanged Jewish properties in Germany for captured properties in Palestine prior to 1948. They were allies in forcing Jewish migration to Palestine. Many descendants of holocaust survivors believe that many of the Jews murdered then were ones against the very establishment of the state of Israel and were against Nazism and Jewish fascism led by infamous characters like David Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin, Chaim Weizman, and others.
Jewish historic personalities like Albert Einstein who declared his stance in writing on April 10th 1948 addressing Shepard Rifkin who was the executive director of the American Friends of the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel, and I quote “Dear Sir, when a real and final catastrophe should befall us in Palestine the first responsible for it would be the British and the second responsible for it is the terrorist organizations build up from our own ranks. I am not willing to see anybody associated with those misled and criminal people. Sincerely yours, Albert Einstein”.
Now, the descendants of the terrorist organizations of 1948 mainly, Aragon, Stern, Haganah, Bitar, Belmah, and other minor ones are ruling the Zionist state, leading the Israeli society and public opinion towards extreme fascism and genocide, while persecuting Israeli liberal and cultural and social segments and Jewish lead thinkers and historians who stand in opposition, calling them self-hating Jews. To name a few individuals: Naom Chomsky, Ilan Pappe, Gideon Levy, Norman Finkelstein, Avi Shlaim, Shlomo Sand, Zeive Sternhell, Daphna Levit, Miko Peled and many others who passed away like Uri Avnery and Israel Shahak, etc.
There are plenty of Jewish groups as well including Neturei Karta, Jewish Voice For Peace, If Not Now, Satmar Hasidim, and others. It is important to state here that some of these have hundreds of thousands of dedicated followers.
The United States has over 800 military bases in five continents around the globe: in Europe and in Asia: including Japan, South Korea, Guam, Philippines, Singapore, and others. In Africa, such as in Djibouti and Niger. In Latin America and the Caribbean naming Cuba, Honduras, among others. Also, in Australia and Greenland. The USA has tens of military bases in the Arab world as well.
Some people believe that Israel dominates USA. Let us be certain that the tail never wags the dog, but rather the dog wags the tail. USA is the dog and Israel is the tail. We recall Guevara characterizing USA as the head of the snake, and Ho Chi Minh’s depiction: “There is no destroyed
house, no scattered stone, no amputated hand, no bereaved mother, no displaced nation, without the trace of the United States of America in it.” And we recall the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini who led the revolution against the Shah who was the USA puppet and the ally of Israel who described USA as the greatest Satan.
Israel, as a western colonialist project and a very player in the USA’s chain of conspiracies and imperial assaults, had contributed in supporting the apartheid regime in South Africa, trained and armed the Guatemalan army in the 80’s against the indigenous people, took active part against the people in EL Salvador and Nicaragua, trained torturers in Chile, gave military aid to Taiwan, supported all dictatorships in Africa, was part of the 1956 aggression committed by Britain and France against Egypt, invaded Lebanon in 1982 occupying its capital Beirut and took a very active role in Sabra and Shatila massacres slaughtering thousands of civilians, and currently supplies arms to the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan who are committing horrendous crimes, among many other atrocities around the globe.
In 1967, Israel backed by USA waged its aggression war and occupied the rest of historic Palestine as well as areas from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. However, through its fascism, the Zionist expansionist project has re-created “Frankenstein”, and for those who do not know Frankenstein killed his creator. Israel has armed and trained more than 100,000 fascist settlers in the west bank, and we believe this will create a cornerstone contributing to Israel’s division and self-destruction.
In 1999, the Israeli Intelligence Mossad collaborated with the colonialist Imperialist states in the crime and conspiracy of kidnapping the Kurdish leader Abdallah Ojallan in Kenya while he was on his way to be hosted by the late Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Later, the Mossad met Ojallan in his prison in Turkey and offered him his freedom if he agrees to be complicit with their political conspiracies and plans in the region. He refused completely and kept loyal to his revolutionary genuine political beliefs.
Arabs, Persians, Kurds, and Turks have a history of living together for thousands of years, even before Islam, and should be able to resume this healthy relation to prevent foreign Imperialist powers and the Zionist common enemy to sow and reap the seeds of destruction in this colorful region which has always respected and enjoyed diversity within unity.
We should seize the historical moment and work to reform this unipolar world and break imperial dominance by improving and escalating the relationship between organized revolutionary forces and the growing popular and spontaneous movements all around the world.
Being key players on the global stage does not necessarily mean being the strongest or largest in number; rather, it means being the wisest, most mature, and possessing a clear vision and strategy. We must deal with present challenges and not fall behind in keeping up with the current global awakening, lest we lose rare historical opportunities and fail to reap, for the benefit of our peoples and homelands, the fruits of massive sacrifices made by our aware, capable, and courageous masses.
At this stage, major global events intersect and coincide, imposing immense responsibilities on us. From the war in Ukraine and Russia to the disruptive imperial intervention in Southeast Asia, to the confrontations throughout Africa, and West Asia, to the student movements in North America, Europe, extending to Australia and Japan, these are fundamental changes [that] will contribute in reshaping the current global order.
We represent the peoples’ aspirations striving towards social justice, freedom, equality, and dignity of our nations and healthy ecosystems, a balanced equilibrium that ensures the continuation of our future existence.
Together we stand in resilience, fight our common wars and march forward with peoples toward victory.
Power to the people.