Palestine Forum at SNIT Bell Village Yesterday
27.11.2023
Yesterday the network called “Together for Palestine” organized an impressive Forum at which LALIT member Lindsey Collen and Linyon Moris member Rama Valayden were speakers.
The theme had been chosen with exquisite precision by the organizers, “Sanctionner le genocide en Palestine.” That is the question: How can the impunity of the state of Israel to commit genocide be broken?
The forum thus contributed to the understanding of the issues involved and knowledge about the conflict, and ended with a resolution to continue to act to end the genocide and bring a democratic solution for everyone living there. The way to move towards this is to isolate Israel.
Abdoolah Earally was a fine moderator for the forum, which was one of two that was held yesterday in the midst of a lively family-attended and family-run “Charity Day” raising funds for the people of Palestine, in particular of Gaza.
So, a big crowd of whole families had come either to sell food and snacks or other things or to buy them so as to raise money, and at the same time about 100 people were sitting listening to the forum on the First Floor of the Shar Noorani Institute of Technology in Bell Village. The sound system also allowed people outside, at food tables, to hear the forum.
Both speakers, noting that it was the third day of a temporary ceasefire in the Israeli bombing of Gaza, and called for a permanent ceasefire, which really means a permanent halt to the Israeli bombing, and the isolation of the State of Israel as a means to help put an end to occupation and the siege. A resolution to this effect was voted at the end of the forum. Both oraters spoke to the three main questions raised by the moderator:
- The source of the Palestinian peoples’ suffering today – Since 1948, the continual Israeli colonization of Palestine, military occupation, apartheid laws, and the siege, compounded for the past 48 days by a vengeful punitive bombardment of Gaza, the forced displacement and the starvation of the people living there.
- The nature of the genocide being perpetrated, and the responsibility of the Israeli State and of other countries, in addition to the perpetrator, especially the USA which provides the funds, arms and diplomatic cover for this genocide.
- What we are doing, and what we can do, so as to impose a permanent ceasefire, followed by an end to military occupation and the siege, and the creation of a democratic society. This means both preventing the continuation of the genocide and punishing the States that are perpetrating it.
LALIT members were hailed for being amongst those who have called on the International Criminal Court to issue warrants of arrest for the Israeli Prime Minister, President and Defense Minister during the course of an investigation into the genocide being committed. The LALIT members are Alain Ah Vee, Ragini Kistnasamy and the LALIT speaker, Lindsey Collen.
Genocide, it was noted during the Forum by both speakers, demands “intention” as well as acts like killing, injuring, starving and forcibly removing people. They noted that Israeli leaders had expressed the intention, and continue to express it, as well as having acted out the genocide.
The Forum was a very well-organized event, and there were an impressive number of young people warmly welcoming the public and helping the traffic police to organize the traffic jam that the size of the event was causing on the Old Moka Road, in Bell Village.
