France – Paris 8: Success of the large anti-imperialist rally
On Wednesday, 15 October, a major conference was held at Paris 8 University in Saint-Denis, bringing together more than 300 people and numerous organisations.
Organised as part of the ‘anti-imperialist week’ called for by the Student Union Federation (FSE) on a national scale, this event, which featured various democratic, anti-imperialist and revolutionary organisations, was a huge success. In fact, it was the most important political event at Paris 8 in years.
In a packed lecture hall, students, professors and activists gathered for over two hours to listen first to the report presented by the United Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah (CUpLGIA). This assessment is that of a victorious struggle full of lessons: the most important are the need for unity in the struggle, combativeness, solidarity with imprisoned activists, but also unwavering support for popular resistance movements around the world, in particular the heroic Palestinian national resistance.
For its part, the FSE reiterated the need for students in an imperialist country to develop a strong current of solidarity with oppressed peoples around the world. Why? Because we live in a country that actively participates in the oppression of the vast majority of countries in the world: from Africa to Palestine, including our own colonies, such as Kanaky.
During this conference, the FSE forcefully and combatively demonstrated the need for students to mobilise, as they did to free Georges Abdallah, in the anti-imperialist struggle.
Kanak organisations were also able to speak out about the situation of their prisoners, who have been deported to France and subjected to unprecedented judicial harassment in a vain attempt to break the resistance of their people. Like Georges, these prisoners have stood up to repression and continue to fight for emancipation from colonialism.
This valuable testimony from activists in colonised Kanaky is fully in line with the global nature of the general crisis of imperialism, which affects all regions of the world. The famous slogan ‘From Palestine to Kanaky: no more colonies’ was chanted powerfully in the hall. The intensified struggle of the masses throughout the world is undermining the foundations of a dying imperialism that sows only death and destruction everywhere. Its downfall is a historical necessity, and it is clear that the growing mobilisation of peoples throughout the world is preparing its inevitable fall.
Finally, the intervention of the committee for the foundation of the Anti-Imperialist League in France (L.A.I.) was particularly instructive: indeed, as we describe above, the objective factors for the revolt of the masses throughout the world are clearly present: every week new revolts break out, from Morocco to Peru, from Madagascar to India. What is missing? The subjective factor, that is, an organisation capable of developing, coordinating and organising vital support for all these struggles around the world. The time has come for sincere anti-imperialists to unite, developing powerful links between the peoples of the imperialist metropolises and the dominated countries.
Finally, Mariam Abu Daqqa, member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), spoke via video and declared: “Imperialism and Zionism represent the greatest danger to the whole world […] wherever we are, let us unite against imperialism […] I salute you on behalf of the people of the Gaza Strip! “.
This statement from the Palestinian resistance was very well received by the conference. It is a clear guideline for all those involved in the struggle against this barbaric system that leads only to misery, hunger, exploitation and, ultimately, war.
The success of the conference testifies to the level of awareness of the students of this university in particular and of students in France in general and, ultimately, of a whole section of youth that has been politicised by the genocide of the Palestinian people and even more so by the action of its resistance.
Finally, let us say a few words about the ‘journalists’ from the pro-genocide media outlet Léon. They “infiltrated” the meeting without much discretion and published a video supposedly revealing the ‘anti-Semitic’ nature of the event.
This type of action by the Zionist far right is nothing new. For decades, they have been trying to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. This tactic aims to divide the working class, break support for the Palestinian people and criminalise supporters of the resistance.
Lies, slander and misrepresentations will not change the fact that supporting Palestine, and in particular its armed resistance, is not a crime, and that revolutionaries have always fought against anti-Semitism, just as they have fought against all forms of oppression.
The bourgeois media all jumped at the opportunity to try to criminalise this meeting, demanding sanctions and arrests. They went to the university for two days, but left empty-handed, without the precious testimonies they had come to seek. Why? Because the student masses know that their organisations are on the right side of history and that they have the support of the vast majority of students.
The university president, the local revisionist MP and traitors and collaborators of all kinds have all ‘condemned the event without appeal’. These notorious corrupt individuals who sit on the university’s governing boards are constantly tainted by stories of embezzlement of public funds and theft of all kinds. What are they after? Simply, at heart, to condemn and repress a conscious and combative youth that is raising its head, that does not believe in lies, that does not forget and that is preparing to fight with all its heart to bring down the old world.
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