22.08.2004
Alain Ah-Vee, leading LALIT member, in his report back from the Palestine Freedom March, gave a devastating description of the effects of the Wall on the people of Palestine. Using the Wall as one of the ultimate symbols of the illegal Israeli OCCUPATION, Alain Ah-Vee kept the audience of about 70 people rivetted as he outlined the effects of the Wall on families, on agriculture, on trade, on production, on employment, on education, on health. But the worst effect is on human dignity. He described all this from what he had seen with his own eyes, heard with his own ears. The report back was at the LPT building in Grand River North West on Saturday 21 August at 3.00 pm.
And yet he described all the proud forms of resistance different villages and towns have developed, resistance in the face of overwhelming military power. Resistance with the knowledge that one has history on one's side.
LALIT members had prepared a mini-exhibition of colour-photographs of the Palestine Freedom March, newspaper cuttings, and maps.
The Report Back was chaired by Lindsey Collen, for LALIT. She said that this would be a historical day, because, although there is vast support in Mauritius for the Palestinian people, as a result of past struggles led by first Labour, then the MMM in favour of the Palestinian people, that this support had become passive and without focus. Now LALIT is beginning a re-awakening of support for the brave struggle of the people of Palestine against occupation. She gave a brief outline of the history of the conflict in Palestine, from British colonization, the Balfour Declaration, and the effects of mass colonization as a result of generalized anti-semitism in the West, and the USA's need for a gendarme in the Middle East to, in the last analysis, secure oil supplies.
She said how the first part of the history of resistance was the resistance of the millions of refugees, displaced by the Israeli State's policies and wars, and the second was the internal resistance, the Intifada. She also outlined how LALIT, through contact with the Palestine Solidarity movement in South Africa, developed the contacts and the confidence to delegate a member to participate in non-violent direct action designed to educate people world-wide about the Occupation of Palestine, while at the same time, bringing personal support to those facing the occupation every day of their lives.
Alain Ah-Vee also spoke of facing up to tear gas and sound bombs, as they confronted the Israeli army. He spoke of LALIT's support to the hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners right now. He said how Palestinians, alongside many Israelis who do not agree with the Wall, welcomed Internationals like himself, to participate in common actions against Occupation.