Sawant Stands in Solidarity with Greta Thunberg and Peaceful Anti-Genocide Activists Detained by Israeli Military

By Kshama Sawant, independent socialist antiwar pro-worker candidate for Washington state’s ninth Congressional district

Solidarity with Greta Thunberg and the more than 90 other activists who have been detained by the Israeli military in an attack against their courageous effort to break Israel's genocidal blockade and deliver crucial food and medical aid to Gaza.

So far, this assault on peaceful activists has been met with deafening silence from Democratic Party politicians like Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Pramila Jayapal.

The Democratic Party had no problem praising Greta when they thought she was "safe" for them and could be molded into yet another political gatekeeper. Even my pro-genocide opponent Adam SMith congratulated Greta in 2019 when she was selected as TIME Person of the Year, saying, "Thank you for all that you do!"

Now, even self-described progressive Democratic Party politicians have turned their backs on Greta the MOMENT she started speaking out against the genocide in Gaza, which they are complicit in. 

These same Democratic politicians were also silent when Chris Smalls was detained and beaten by the Israeli military in July.

What's happening in Gaza is the holocaust of the 21st century. More than half a million are now estimated to have been killed, and more than 400 are confirmed dead from forced starvation. Democrats like Adam Smith voted to ban U.S. funding for United Nations food aid for Gaza AFTER they knew about the catastrophic mass starvation.

The attack on Greta and other flotilla activists is part of a widespread attack on antiwar protesters. My husband and our campaign’s political director, Calvin Priest, was also arrested for protesting the genocide at a public town hall hosted by Adam Smith in July, and is currently being slandered in the media by Adam Smith, who labeled antiwar protesters "leftwing fascists" and called for their arrest.

Stopping this genocide will require protests on a much larger scale, along with mass strike action and mass peaceful civil disobedience. We need actions like we’re seeing in Italy, where a general strike has been called Friday in solidarity with Greta and the other arrested activists, and where dockworkers have refused to load military cargo headed for Israel.

Union leaders in the U.S. need to call similar actions, including a general strike. Unfortunately, most top union leaders are tied at the hip to the Democratic Party and, in some cases, the Republican Party.

We need new, fighting leaders who will break from these two genocidal parties and call mass protests and strike action to stop the attacks on Palestinians, immigrants, antiwar protesters, workers, and oppressed people everywhere, and fight to win real victories for working people.

This is also why our campaign to defeat genocidal Democrat Adam Smith and elect the first-ever revolutionary socialist to the U.S. Congress is such a crucial part of the antiwar movement. I'm fighting to end all U.S. military funding to the Israeli state and to win free healthcare for all funded by taxing the rich.