[News] No more business as usual: the world shuts it down for Palestine

[Anti-Imperialist News]

peoplesdispatch.org
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/11/18/no-more-business-as-usual-the-world-shuts-it-down-for-palestine/>
No more business as usual: the world shuts it down for Palestine
Natalia Marques - Noveber 18, 2023
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Students at the University of the Philippines Diliman stages an action in
solidarity with Palestine (Photo: UP Diliman University Student Council)

On November 17, people across the globe heeded the call for a pause on
business as usual <https://www.shutitdown4palestine.org/> in solidarity
with Gaza and to apply pressure to Israel and its supporters. The day of
action was convened by several Palestine solidarity and anti-imperialist
organizations including the Palestinian Youth Movement, National Students
for Justice in Palestine, the ANSWER Coalition, the People’s Forum, the
International Peoples’ Assembly, Al-Awda NY, and the Palestinian American
Community Center in New Jersey. The organizations called on people
everywhere to “increase the pressure with more marches, walk-outs, sit-ins,
and other forms of direct action directed at the political offices,
businesses, and workplaces that fund, invest, and collaborate with Israeli
genocide and occupation.”

In the United States, Israel’s biggest funder and political supporter,
local business owners shuttered stores in solidarity with Palestine,
reminiscent of the general strikes historically undertaken by Palestinian
store owners as a protest tactic. In Bay Ridge, a neighborhood in Brooklyn,
New York with a large Arab community, dozens of stores closed their doors.
Mahmoud, the Palestinian owner of Al-Aqsa restaurant, which shut down on
Friday, said of other store owners who had expressed worry about losing a
day of business, “Families are getting destroyed, what are you gonna worry
about one day that you’re not gonna make that money?”

On November 17, hundreds of stores in New York City were shut down in
solidarity with Palestine, displaying posters that read “This place is shut
down for Palestine today!”

Protesters in several US cities also occupied
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/17/fox-news-israel-gaza-ceasfire-protest-new-york>
the headquarters of major news stations which have provided cover for
Israeli genocide. In New York City, protesters marched into the
headquarters of NewsCorp, which owns mainstream right-wing news station *FOX
News*, the most watched cable news channel in the US.

*FOX News *ran headlines
<https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/november-17-israel-hamas-war> on TV such
as “IDF Shares video of Hamas tunnels under hospital” and “IDF uncovers
weapons cache behind hospital MRI,” just after Israel raided the largest
hospital in Gaza under the pretext of an alleged Hamas base underneath
Al-Shifa hospital. Ultimately, the Israeli occupation forces could not
share any proof of such tunnels beyond a computer-animated video, but that
did not stop them from conducting a ground invasion on Al-Shifa and opening
fire on patient rooms. The New York police made several arrests of the
demonstrators as they read out a statement by a doctor at Al-Shifa hospital
about the impact of the Israeli attacks.
Protesters occupy the headquarters of News Corp in New York City (Photo:
Craig Birchfield)

The headquarters of *CNN* in Atlanta and the *Chicago Tribune *in Chicago
were also occupied by demonstrators, who unfurled
<https://x.com/pslnational/status/1725590217317347344?s=20> the long list
of names of some of the over 11,500 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza.

Across the globe, demonstrators staged further actions in solidarity with
Palestine. In Seoul, South Korea, activists organized an event to call for
a ceasefire and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people. To
commemorate the more than 11,500 people killed in Gaza, organizers laid out
empty shoes and unfurled a banner with the names of the martyrs. In São
Paulo, Brazil demonstrators rallied outside of the Israeli consulate.
Protesters with Italian left party Potere al Popolo, trade unions Unione
Sindacale di Base and Si Cobas blocked the Port of Salerno, preventing
trucks from the company ZIM, the Israeli company that provides logistical
support to the genocide in Gaza, from entering.
Demonstrators in front of the Israeli consulate in São Paulo (Photo: Lucas
Martins and Articulação de Redes)

In Cuba, President Miguel Díaz-Canel held a meeting with the 144
Palestinian medical students, of whom 53 are from Gaza, at a time when
Gaza’s health workers and hospitals are especially under attack. Cuba makes
a point to show solidarity with Palestine by training Palestinian medical
students at the world-renowned Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) on
the island. One of the largest international contingents
<https://x.com/BTnewsroom/status/1597970943896215553?s=20> at ELAM, a
school which trains doctors from all over the globe, is from Palestine.
Following the meeting of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel with Palestinian
medical students, they headed to the Plaza de la Revolución where Cuban
musicians and poets raised their voices for the Palestinian cause and
against the genocide perpetrated by Israel

Students around the world staged walkouts and actions in solidarity with
Palestine. Students at the University of the Philippines Diliman held an
assembly to demand an immediate ceasefire of the Israeli forces, taking
action on the International Day of Student Struggle, which happens to also
be on November 17. In Glasgow, Scotland, students, parents, and workers
staged a “School Strike for Palestine,” gathering by the hundreds in front
of Redbridge Town Hall.
Students at the University of the Philippines Diliman held an assembly to
demand an immediate ceasefire and express solidarity with Palestine (Photo:
UP Diliman University Student Council)

Thousands of protesters finished off the night of November 17 by gathering
outside of the Union Station in Washington, DC, South Station in Boston,
Pennsylvania Station in Baltimore, Pennsylvania Station in New York City,
and the 30th Street Amtrak station in Philadelphia, blocking off the
entrances of the major centers of transportation. In Los Angeles,
protesters blocked the exit and entrance of the 405 highway during rush
hour traffic.

The organizers of Shut It Down For Palestine have called for another
international day of action on November 29, the UN-recognized International
Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
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