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<h1 class="posttitle"><a
href="http://pflp.ps/english/2014/08/19/pflp-salutes-the-black-struggle-in-the-us-the-empire-will-fall-from-within/"
class="entry-title" rel="bookmark" title="PFLP salutes the
Black struggle in the US: The empire will fall from within">PFLP
salutes the Black struggle in the US: The empire will fall
from within</a></h1>
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<div class="date"><span class="month">Aug</span> <span
class="day">19, </span><span class="year">2014</span></div>
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<b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://pflp.ps/english/2014/08/19/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/</a></small></small></small></b><br>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
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522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
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