Protestors gather on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People to stand against the genocide in Gaza

Protesters gathered on Friday for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People to stand against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has killed over 44,000 Palestinians, over half of whom are children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The International Day of Solidarity, established in 1977 by the United Nations (UN), attempts to recognize Palestine and reprimand the settler colony of Israel.  

The UN declared November 29 the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People to commemorate November 29, 1947: the day the UN adopted a resolution recommending the partition of Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state. 

Osama Mor, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, said the UN’s declaration in 1977 “was made against the backdrop of anticolonial internationalism that swept the Third World, across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The success of national liberation movements and ongoing anti-colonial struggles forced the UN to contend with this revolutionary current.” 

On Friday, protesters gathered where the Beltline meets Piedmont Park to voice their anger while consumers shopped on Black Friday. Demonstrators chanted against what they said was the United States’ continued financial and political support of the genocide in Gaza.

“Not only does today commemorate the colonial partition of Palestine in 1947, but we’re also protesting on Black Friday to condemn the profit-driven, imperialist system that’s driving the genocide of the Palestinian people,” said Nat Villasana, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. 

The protesters called for an arms embargo, as the U.S. continues to supply and ship military cargo to Israel. The United States has provided $12.5 billion in direct military aid to Israel since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. 

The demand for an arms embargo is part of Palestinian Youth Movement’s “Mask off Maersk” campaign.  Maersk is the largest logistics company in the world, and since Sep. 2023, it has shipped millions of pounds of military cargo to Israel, according to the Palestinian Youth Movement.  

“We’ve been in the streets for over a year demanding an end to all U.S. aid to Israel, an immediate permanent ceasefire, and an end to the occupation,” Villasana said, “and we will stay in the streets building this movement for as long as it takes, no matter which imperialist, war-mongering party is in the White House, until Palestine is free!”

Community members discussed how U.S. policies create oppression both domestically and worldwide. Shea Roberts, an Atlanta resident who attended Friday’s demonstration, said, “Palestinian liberation and Black liberation are innately connected. The mechanisms by which oppression is enacted are the same in a lot of cases, especially locally with the ways in which Black people are oppressed in America.”  

Friday’s demonstration came after the U.S. vetoed a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the UN Security Council for the fourth time since the escalation of the genocide. On Nov. 20, the U.S. was the only member of the Security Council to vote against the ceasefire resolution. Majed Bamya, Palestine’s deputy U.N. representative, spoke out against the U.S. veto decision, saying that there is no right to mass killing, starvation, forcible displacement, and annexation of civilians. 

On Nov. 21, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, for their war crimes in Palestine. The ICC has 125 member states, and countries such as Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland say they will obey the arrest warrant. However, many question whether the arrest warrant will result in any change as the genocide in Gaza continues.