A couple of days ago I attended my first meeting with Vernon4Palestine, a local advocacy group that operates near me. I was invited after reaching out to them via Instagram a number of weeks ago. I introduced myself at the meeting as a Marxist and a member of the RCP and was met with great excitement over that fact, even when I mentioned I was actively looking to form and grow a cell here.
I had a number of very good conversations with the other attendees through the night, including the founder of the group, an elderly Palestinian man who was born in Jerusalem, who told me he was impressed that I was so bold and proud of my being a communist even though he was not one. He told me that I was practically his daughter now and because I was his daughter we would work together to make the group talk about communism at every meeting because, as he said to me that night, “These people work so hard and they care so much but none of them understand it’s all connected, it’s all one thing together, and to dismantle the one thing we must dismantle the whole thing.”
The turnout was about twenty people across every possible age group, most of whom I was able to talk to in depth. There is no political consensus whatsoever in this group, but I could tell they’re searching for one. They’re almost lost after months of nothing but small rallies and Instagram posts, they want to know what to do next.
At the end of the meeting I was asked by the group if I would teach about Gaza and Palestine from a Marxist perspective at a public event they want to hold soon. I agreed and was then asked if we could make it a weekly internal thing too. I agreed to that as well. So, things are going well here—though I haven’t found recruits yet, I definitely found a few people there that I’m hopeful about.
–Lena S., Northern Okanagan
