Association of Raza Educators – Los Angeles
January 14th, 2009
As educators, we are horrified at Israel’s war on Gaza in which, as of
today, the UN reports 1,000 Gazans have been killed, including at
least 300 children, as well as 4,800 wounded of whom one-third are
children.
As Raza Educators that stand for critical consciousness, we are bound
by our profession to expose the misconceptions/ lies that the
corporate media and the Euro-centric/ pro-Israeli educational system give.
We will continue to raise the consciousness of our communities to
understand the connections between the Israeli attacks on the
Palestinians in 1948 and the U.S. attack on Mexico people in 1848
which are almost synonymous in nature. Zionism is the modern day
Manifest Destiny; both are clear expressions of racism. We express our
total and complete solidarity with the Palestinian people and their
struggle for liberation.
We call on all educators, and to all Raza, to stand is solidarity with
Gaza!
* We CONDEMN the ongoing genocidal massacres by Israel across Gaza;
* We CONDEMN Israel’s bombing of the UN School in Jabaliya resulting
in at least 45 deaths.
* We CONDEMN Israel’s refusal to allow medical workers access to the
wounded and dying;
* We CONDEMN Israel’s targeting of medical workers and clinics;
* We CONDEMN Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for his shameful
support of Israel and we insist that he does not speak or
represent the interests of the majority of our community.
* We RECOGNIZE that 56% of the 1.5 million Gazans are children;
* We RECOGNIZE that 80% of Gazans were living below the poverty line;
living on $2 per day.
* We RECOGNIZE that Gazans have been living under a crippling blockade
by Israel for 18 months.
* We RECOGNIZE the similarities between the genocidal campaigns of
settler colonies against Indigenous populations and Israel’s treatment
of the Palestinian people.
* We RECOGNIZE the similarities between the conditions in Gaza and
the Warsaw Ghetto of WWII.
* We RECOGNIZE the similarities between the fascist bombing of
Guernica and Israel’s current offensive on Gaza.
* We RECOGNIZE that Israel is a settler colony with the world’s 5th
most powerful military;
* We RECOGNIZE the Palestinians’ right to exist, to self-determination
and to self-defense.
* We CALL ON the international community to demand an immediate halt
to Israel’s genocidal campaign on Gaza,
* We JOIN WITH APPO teachers from Oaxaca, Mexico who are declaring:
Alto al genocidio en contra del pueblo palestino! Palestina no esta sola!
* We JOIN WITH Zapatista Subcomandante Marcos who stated, “The
Palestinian people will also resist
and survive and continue struggling and will continue to have sympathy
from below for their cause.”
* WE JOIN WITH Union del Barrio who stated, “We know the impact that
walls of apartheid have on people; we also know the deaths that these
walls create. And while they may be two different walls that divide
our peoples, our struggle is one.”
AQUI , ALLA, LA LUCHA SEGUIRA!
