New York protest calls for a world without walls from Palestine to Mexico

Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace

New York City activists protested on Monday, 6 November outside the Best Buy in Manhattan as part of the Global Day of Action for a World Without Walls, an international series of actions urged by the Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign. The protest came ahead of the global actions planned for Thursday, 9 November.

Photo: Joe Catron

The protest was organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in New York. Samidoun was one of hundreds of organizations that signed on to the global call for the 9 November day of action that highlights the connections between the Israeli apartheid wall and the U.S. Wall of Shame.

“From Israel’s apartheid Wall on Palestinian land to the US Wall of Shame on indigenous land at the border with Mexico – almost 70 walls across all continents are today ripping through people’s lives and lands as they fortify often unilaterally defined borders or limits of state control. They cause thousands of deaths every year and destroy means of livelihoods and hope for many more. They are monuments of expulsion, exclusion, oppression, discrimination and exploitation.”

Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace

The World Without Walls protest also focused on the growing global boycott of HP (Hewlett-Packard.) Organized outside the Best Buy electronics store in Manhattan, organizers distributed leaflets and materials about HP’s role in profiteering from Israeli colonialism, apartheid and occupation, including the HP companies’ contracts with the Israel Prison Service and to manage the system of ID cards and checkpoints, including those at the Apartheid Wall. A growing number of churches, labor unions and other institutions are becoming HP-free zones until the corporation ends its involvement in the oppression of Palestinians.

Photo: Joe Catron

It came one day after Samidoun held a study focusing on the 100th anniversary of the Balfour declaration and 100 years of British and Zionist colonialism – and Palestinian resistance – in Palestine.

The protest also came days after Samidoun joined a number of other Palestine organizations in New York, including the NY4Palestine Coalition, Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, American Muslims for Palestine, New York City Students for Justice in Palestine, the International Action Center, the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, Labor for Palestine and more for a protest on the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration in New York on 2 November.

Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace

“I think it’s especially important today on the 100-year anniversary of the Balfour Declaration that we continue to struggle,” said Michela Martinazzi from CSFR and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in Fight Back News. “Every time we take two steps forward, Israel is right there enclosing Palestinians inside walls. They’re testing new weapons, and new ways to oppress and enact genocide on people trying to liberate their land.”

Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace

Samidoun is continuing its New York City organizing and protests to support Palestinian prisoners. All supporters of Palestine are invited and encouraged to participate in the weekly protests outside Best Buy to free Palestinian prisoners and build the boycott of HP.

Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace