Over the past 18 months, we have witnessed a tremendous mass movement in support of the Palestinian people. Throughout this period, it has become clear in the eyes of hundreds of thousands that the Liberal government is complicit in the genocide in Gaza. Moreover, many are drawing radical and revolutionary conclusions from these horrific events.
In countless pro-Palestine demonstrations, it is now common to hear slogans like “There is only one solution: Intifada, revolution!” chanted by thousands.
“Intifada”—meaning “shake off”—is a term that calls back to the revolution of the Palestinian people in 1987. And that is the way forward—in the Middle East just like in Canada, the workers and poor need to rise up and overthrow their ruling class to put an end to the suffering they inflict on us.
In the Palestine movement, many are openly talking about revolution and targeting the Canadian ruling class. One such organization is the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), one of the most prominent pro-Palestine groups in North America.
Last year, the PYM was even talking about how the Palestine solidarity movement had the potential to develop into a revolutionary movement, and saying that we should beware of the movement being co-opted by liberal elements. They often talk about the need for a revolution.
Now, however, the PYM, together with dozens of other pro-Palestine organizations, have thrown their full weight behind the “Vote Palestine” campaign—which is endorsing 17 Liberal candidates so far, including MPs of the incumbent government.
Coming from groups like the PYM who claim to fight for a revolution, this is mind-boggling.
We need to call things by their name: this represents a big step back for the movement, and a complete misdirection of the efforts of activists and revolutionaries who want to free Palestine.
Support for Liberals
In a recent statement on their Instagram page (also published in an article from The Maple), the PYM explains their position:
“Vote Palestine is a non-partisan platform calling on candidates to commit to five demands: a two-way arms embargo; the end of Canadian involvement in Israeli settlements; addressing anti-Palestinian racism and protecting free expression on Palestine; recognizing the State of Palestine; and properly funding relief efforts in Gaza, including UNRWA.
“The thousands of people who have taken the Vote Palestine pledge are not only committing to consider a candidate’s position on Palestine, but are joining a movement of people organizing in their neighbourhoods to make Palestine unavoidable this election.”
The PYM does comment on how even Liberal candidates and MPs, from the same party that has aided and abetted genocide, are now supporting the campaign. Here is how it is explained:
“…compared to the 2021 election, where no Liberal candidates took the Vote Palestine pledge, we can see that momentum is shifting. This election, Israel’s reputation is facing irreparable damage, a reality that, combined with 18 months of mass movement building, has made it impossible for many Liberal candidates to toe the party line and ignore these demands without risking their seats in Parliament.”
What they are saying is that it is a step forward that a few Liberals pay lip service to supporting Palestine.This could not be more wrong.
Far from pushing Liberals to oppose their party line, what we have here is “revolutionaries” giving left cover to Liberals.
They are helping Liberal candidates and incumbents, people with blood on their hands, pretend that they care about Palestine. This is yet another example of the enormous pressure towards “lesser evil” politics. We often hear the argument that the Conservatives are so much worse than the Liberals for workers and the oppressed. But history has shown countless times that Liberals enact very similar policies to the Conservatives on all the key questions—not least of all when it comes to Palestine. The Liberals have continued the sale of weapons to the murderous Israeli regime, smeared pro-Palestine activists, denied the genocide and made excuses for the Israeli regime this whole time.
By encouraging a vote for Liberals, the PYM and the “Vote Palestine” campaign are effectively fomenting illusions in the main party of the Canadian ruling class which defends Israel’s genocidal actions. The support of “Vote Palestine” for NDP candidates, including Jagmeet Singh himself—the very party leader who propped up the Liberals all through the genocide—is not going to bring the movement forward either, as we’ve explained elsewhere.
Marxists are not abstentionists. We do point out that parliament is an alien environment and parliamentary elections are fundamentally a way for a few parties to peacefully decide which one will get its turn at managing the affairs of the ruling class. But we also recognize that in certain circumstances the workers and the oppressed can use that forum to agitate for our interests. This is something we saw in the British general election in July last year, when dozens of independent pro-Palestine candidates ran against the pro-Zionist Labour and Conservative parties, with five of them getting elected to Parliament.
But what we have here is not the same thing. Instead of running independent candidates, we have another example of the failed strategy of appealing to the ruling class and its political representatives to stop the genocide, and fomenting illusions that the Liberals can help.
What the movement needs is a genuine class approach. We can have no faith in the capitalist parties who occasionally say they support Palestine only to betray once elected.
You cannot be for an “intifada” and at the same time support Liberals, the main representatives of the Canadian ruling class.
The way forward
As if this campaign wasn’t misguided enough, it was announced at the same time as mobilization was mounting for student strikes on campuses in Canada.
At UBC in Vancouver, almost 8,000 students voted in a referendum in favour of a two-day student strike for March 24-25. This vote was historic both in terms of the enormous participation, and for the fact that it was the first such strike in English Canada in decades. It is a big step forward for the movement, and shows what is possible.
Likewise, at McGill University in Montreal on March 27, more than 600 undergraduate students voted almost unanimously in favour of a student strike for Palestine on April 2-4. It was the sort of remarkable meeting we haven’t seen on that campus in a very long time! This general assembly was followed by a referendum where 2,700 students (72 per cent of voters) voted in favor of the strike.
These strike votes give a glimpse of the mood among students. Any time they are actually asked, students overwhelmingly support a strike for Palestine. The potential for a mass student strike movement is clearly there.
Unfortunately, most pro-Palestine organizations are ignoring these developments. The PYM has not said a single word about these strikes—not even a basic Instagram post offering passive support.
These groups basically left the students out to dry. The result is that the strikes were isolated, and turnout was rather small on the strike days. The fact that the student union leadership at both campuses did not really mobilize did not help. But the main point is that no effort was made by the main pro-Palestine groups to amplify these struggles.
If the PYM and other groups put even a fraction of the effort they put into “Vote Palestine” into a campaign for student strikes, it would completely change the situation. In fact a mass student strike movement would have been the very way to make Palestine “unavoidable this election”!
The Palestine solidarity movement is at an impasse and needs a new strategy. The fact that two substantial strike votes happened at two of the most important universities in Canada (universities often portrayed as conservative and right-wing at that) in almost complete isolation demonstrates what can be done. If all Palestine solidarity groups united to organize and promote student strikes, they could get a massive echo all across Canada. Instead, the main organizations continue their failed strategy of appealing to the ruling class to listen to us
What we need is a movement that stands in irreconcilable opposition to the ruling class and its politicians; one that promotes student strikes and workers’ strikes as the way forward. What we need is a genuinely revolutionary movement against imperialism. That is what the RCP is fighting for.
