The nonprofit Code Pink and the San Francisco-based Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC) were among the organizers of the All Out for Gaza march on Saturday, October 14, which was estimated to have drawn thousands. It began at noon at Harry Bridges Plaza near the Embarcadero in San Francisco. Mission and Fourth Streets were closed for the two-hour event that included a rally at Justin Herman Plaza.
A flyer released by Code Pink ahead of the event stated, “In the past few days, Apartheid Israel has waged an ethnic cleansing campaign against the people of Gaza, carpet bombing entire cities and cutting off Gaza from the rest of the world with no place to go. We demand an END to the siege on Gaza and an END to U.S. aid to Israel.”
Some of the signs at the march read “No more human suffering” and “This is not war. This is genocide.”
The AROC website (https://aroc.herokuapp.com/) shares a quote from Black lesbian feminist Audre Lorde (1934–1992): “Your power is relative, but it is real. And if you do not learn to use it, it will be used, against you, and me, and our children. Change did not begin with you, and it will not end with you, but what you do in your life is an absolutely vital piece of that chain.”
Regarding the recent escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, AROC, in part, shared: “Recent events did not occur in a vacuum but as a result of unrelenting colonial aggression.For the last two decades, 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in a dense open-air prison, besieged by Israel in violation of international law. Two thirds of the population in Gaza are refugees that were forcibly displaced from other parts of Palestine. Half of the population is unemployed, and the vast majority are impoverished and are denied regular access to food, water, and healthcare by the Israeli siege. Completely surrounded by a militarized barrier, Gazans are denied freedom of movement. In 2018 the United Nations deemed Gaza ‘unlivable,’ and since then Gazans have experienced multiple bombardments by Israel, intensifying an already untenable situation.”
AROC calls “on all to boycott Israel. We call on institutions to divest from Israel. We call on the U.S. government to sanction Israel and end the billions in military aid. We call on our community and allies to take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians by demanding an end to the siege on Gaza, an end to the occupation, freedom for political prisoners, and an end to U.S. aid to apartheid Israel.”
In recent weeks, other pro-Palestinian marches have been held locally, nationally, and globally. A sign held at one such march in London read, “LGBT stands with Palestine.” This sparked heated exchanges on social media. Andy Ngo, senior editor of The Post Millennial, for example, wrote that “Hamas-governed Gaza is run under Sharia law, which criminalizes male same-sex activity.” Another commenter posted, about the sign holder: “They should go live in Gaza. Let’s see how that works out for them.”
As for LGBT rights in Israel, while same-sex marriages are not performed in the country, the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles maintains that “Israel is one of the most inclusive societies in the world for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Israel adamantly protects the rights of its gay citizens, and the LGBT community is represented in the highest echelons and in all facets of Israeli society.”
Members of the political organization LGBT+ Socialists that has a strong base in the U.K., however, have been “marching in solidarity with the Palestinian people, facing bombardment in Gaza,” according to social media posts. They ask for others to “join them to demand an end to the violence and Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.”
Published on October 19, 2023
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