[News] PFLP salutes the Black struggle in the US: The empire will fall from within

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  PFLP salutes the Black struggle in the US: The empire will fall from
  within
  <http://pflp.ps/english/2014/08/19/pflp-salutes-the-black-struggle-in-the-us-the-empire-will-fall-from-within/>

Aug 19, 2014

*http://pflp.ps/english/2014/08/19/pflp-salutes-the-black-struggle-in-the-us-the-empire-will-fall-from-within/*

In light of the police murder of the martyr Michael Brown and the 
ongoing struggle in Ferguson, Missouri, in the United States, the 
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine salutes and stands firmly 
with the ongoing struggle of Black people and all oppressed communities 
in the United States.

Comrade Khaled Barakat said in an interview with the PFLP media outlets 
that "Police brutality, oppression and murder against Black people in 
the U.S., and against Latinos, Arabs and Muslims, people of color and 
poor people, has never been merely 'mistakes' or 'violations of 
individual rights' but rather are part and parcel of an integral and 
systematic racism that reflects the nature of the political system in 
the U.S."

"Every time a crime is committed against Black people, it is explained 
away as an 'isolated incident' but when you see the massive number of 
'isolated incidents' the reality cannot be hidden -- this is an ongoing 
policy that remains virulently racist and oppressive. The U.S. empire 
was built on the backs of Black slavery and the genocide of Black people 
-- and upon settler colonialism and the genocide of indigenous people," 
said Barakat. "The people of Ferguson are resisting, in a long tradition 
of Black resistance, and we support their legitimate resistance to 
racist oppression."

"As people in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Arab World see the 
brutality of the United States outside its borders, these communities 
confront its racist and colonial oppression within the borders of the 
U.S. The two are inextricably linked," said Barakat. "We also see U.S. 
exploitation and plunder of people's resources around the world. And 
inside the United States, Africans, Latinos, Filipinos, Afghans, Arabs 
who have suffered war and imperialism at the hands of the United States 
outside its borders are the same communities who face criminalization, 
brutality, exploitation, isolation and killings and murder at the hands 
of the state. We see the targeting of migrants and refugees inside the 
U.S. after their countries have been ravaged by imperialism, war and 
exploitation by the same ruling forces."

Barakat noted that "Mass imprisonment and incarceration has been a 
central tool of racist control in the United States. One out of every 
three Black men in the U.S. will be imprisoned; every 28 hours a Black 
person is killed by the state or someone protected by the state. 
Palestinians know well the use of mass imprisonment to maintain racist 
domination and oppression and breaking the racist structures of 
imprisonment is critical to our liberation movement. We salute Mumia 
Abu-Jamal and all of the political prisoners of the Black liberation 
movement in U.S. jails and call for their immediate freedom."

Furthermore, he said, "since the earliest days of the Black movement in 
the U.S., from slaves revolting for freedom to the civil rights movement 
and beyond, Black people, organizations and movements have faced severe 
state repression, targeting, incarceration and killings at the hands of 
the state. U.S. domestic intelligence agencies such as the FBI, who 
target Palestinian and Arab communities for state repression, have for 
years focused on attacking Black movements, leaders and communities as a 
central project."

"Racism, poverty and oppression are the predominant scene faced by 
oppressed nations and communities in the United States. Black people in 
the United States are in fact under siege. And just as we demand the end 
of the siege on our Palestinian people, in Gaza and everywhere, we 
demand an end to the siege of institutionalized racism and oppression in 
education, jobs, social services and all areas of life, and support the 
Black movements struggling to end that siege."

"When we see the images today in Ferguson, we see another emerging 
Intifada in the long line of Intifada and struggle that has been carried 
out by Black people in the U.S. and internationally. The Palestinian 
national liberation movement salutes the Black liberation movement, and 
has learned so much from the experiences of Malcolm X, Martin Luther 
King, Frederick Douglass, the Black Panthers, Sojourner Truth, and 
generations of Black revolutionaries who have led the way in struggling 
for liberation and self-determination," said Barakat.

"The struggle inside the United States is an integral part of the 
struggle against imperialism -- in fact it is central, as it is taking 
place 'in the belly of the beast.' This is also the case for the 
struggle of Indigenous peoples and nations throughout North America, 
where settler colonial powers have been built through land theft and 
genocide, yet where indigenous people have always resisted and continue 
to resist today," he said.

"Every victory inside the United States and political achievement by 
popular movements and liberation struggles is a victory for Palestine 
and a victory for a world of human liberation. Those who think that the 
fate of people in the United States lies with the ruling class parties, 
the Republicans and Democrats, until the end of time, are living in an 
illusion. So too are those who believe Palestine can find freedom by 
seeking alliances or guarantees by those who oppress Black people," said 
Barakat.

"The Black struggle is leading the world in the struggle for an 
alternative political system that will bring U.S. empire to defeat. We 
know that this will happen only through struggle, through organization 
of people, emerging from uprisings and communities rising in anger 
against injustice," said Barakat.

"The anti-racist movement and anti-Zionist movement are not and cannot 
be separated. Fighting against racism means fighting capitalism; 
fighting against capitalism means fighting for socialism," Barakat said.

The Front encourages all Palestinians, and especially our Palestinian 
community in the United States, to continue and intensify their efforts 
in support of the Black liberation movement, from joining actions in 
support of Ferguson and in honor of Michael Brown, to long-term and 
sustained joint struggle and mutual solidarity with the Black movement. 
There are long histories of this work, and it is critical for all of our 
communities to expand and deepen our links of struggle and solidarity.

The PFLP sends its revolutionary greetings, its solidarity message and 
its salutes to the struggling people of Ferguson on the front lines 
confronting U.S. empire, and to the generations upon generations of 
Black struggle. Our Palestinian liberation movement is part of one 
struggle with the Black liberation movement. This has been a position of 
principle for the Front since its founding; we reaffirm this stand today 
and will always do so until both of our peoples -- and our world -- are 
liberated.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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