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Noura Erakat
CÉLINE SEMAAN: We are seeing a rapid transformation. The international governments, the majority of them, are acknowledging a Palestinian state. What does that mean? And is that helping us? Is that stopping the genocide we are witnessing?
NOURA ERAKAT: This question is really interesting, as it’s being posed after Trump and Netanyahu basically presented their ultimatum to the Palestinians, which is to surrender to permanent occupation that now includes the United States. Gaza will be severed from the West Bank, and statehood is completely off the table. Let me start from that position and work backward, and say, notice how none of the states that endorse the Palestinian State have come out in full opposition to Trump’s plan, even though Trump’s plan is unequivocally saying that statehood is off the table. Or if it is on the table, it’s going to be a process controlled by Israel, but not a process controlled multilaterally by other legal principles.
What we see demonstrated is the shallowness of the earlier recognition bid for a Palestinian state. It means nothing, given that the very states that said they recognize it are now endorsing the Trump plan.
Why is that? For me, that’s not surprising at all, because the recognition of Palestine for many of these states was a way to appease their insurgent domestic populations who want their government to act. These very governments that are actually complicit in the ongoing genocide. They pivoted towards recognition without sanctions or other diplomatic commitments. At best they are endorsing the status quo wherein Palestine is recognized as a state (in 2012, it was recognized by a majority of General Assembly members) It’s not a member of the United Nations because it was blocked by the US and the Security Council.
It has been recognized as a state, so all of the privileges and the rights it would get from that recognition, Palestine already enjoys, which is why it can bring this petition to the International Criminal Court. What they should have done, and should still do, is abide by their legal obligations, which means not recognizing Israel’s unlawful presence in the West Bank or in Gaza, per the ICJ (International Court of Justice) decision of July 2024. They could prevent genocide by ending all of its support for arms and trade with Israel. Instead, the international community has regressed even from that position and is now endorsing a plan that will basically enable Israel and the United States to remain in Gaza permanently. We’re in a very, very dismal place, diplomatically. They don’t want to deal with this. And as soon as they can get a ceasefire, they’re going to wrap it up. They’re going to normalize and rehabilitate Israel once again. They’re going to act like nothing happened.
CÉLINE: We have protests all around the world. The world is against the occupation in a way that it has never been before. But it’s not yet the governments that are mobilizing, just the people around he world. Do you think this bottom-up approach is going to be sufficient for us to enact change, or do we need to have a top-down endorsement from governments around the world?
NOURA: The bottom-up approach is absolutely critical and necessary to mobilize the top, where diplomacy happens, where we can see trade sanctions, where we can see pressure placed on Israel. There is a power incongruency between Israel, a nuclear state and the eighth most significant exporter of weapons in the world, and a stateless people. Palestinians will not prevail against Israel without international support, primarily by ending the harm they’re already causing through their financial and military support of Israel. The bottom will do the work that is necessary to mobilize their governments and shift us into a different future. But it will not be enough without those diplomats also shifting and responding to these calls.
We’ve seen a response. We’ve seen Spain impose sanctions. Colombia has imposed sanctions on the transfer of coal. We’ve seen a number of European countries halt the transfer of arms. South Africa has gone to the ICJ to hold them to account and to establish this as a matter of law. All of that is a response to the bottom up, which is the most important element. But in the long term, we need these states to stop causing harm. They’re all complicit. They’re all the problem. We’ve been here before.
This is precisely what happened in 1993 when Palestinians agreed to enter into the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self- Government Arrangements, also known as the Oslo Accords. That was in December 1987, when, at the height of the First Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, Israel was isolated, the nature of its occupation was made clear, and the exclusion of Palestinians by the United States from any kind of diplomatic process was conceived as short-sighted. And in that moment, Palestinians entered into Oslo and saved Israel from itself. Really, the terms of the Oslo Accords were the terms of autonomy, never the promise of Palestinian statehood. And the reality that we live in today is one that the Palestinians themselves agreed to in 1993, and, in their own words, they entered into this trap, “on faith.”
We’re in a similar situation today where the terms of what Trump and Netanyahu have proposed are very, very dismal. The writing is on the wall. They basically say that Israel will withdraw from Gaza. They don’t set a timetable for withdrawal or even the boundaries to which they will withdraw. So, Israel can withdraw from the south or the Philadelphi Corridor and say they withdrew and met the terms. And that’s exactly what they’ve done since 1967, because the terms of Security Council resolution 242 on the withdrawal of Israel from occupied Arab territories were similarly vague, allowing Israel to make a legal argument that because it withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula it has honored the terms of 242 even as it remains in the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights. Palestinians entered a very similar trap in Oslo. It’s taken us 30 years to demonstrate that Oslo is a trap, that the peace process is a farce. Israel has been declared an apartheid regime by Israeli and legacy human rights organizations. This is the moment to keep pushing, and instead, what we’re seeing is the rehabilitation of Israel. Yet again. They want to put the genie back in the bottle, and normalize Israel’s genocide and the ongoing Nakba but it can’t be sustained. It can’t be sustained because Palestinians, like all people, will always struggle for their freedom.
Unfortunately, the last time Israeli apartheid was normalized through the Abraham Accords, the outcome was genocide. t And so, if genocide is normalized, who knows what the next outcome will be or the amount of harm that’s going to be done to Palestinians before the world gets this right. In the US, Democrats are just as bad as Republicans on Palestine. Thirty Democrats just signed on to oppose Palestinian sovereignty. Though as an indication of some change, there are some 50 members of Congress who are supporting the halt of weapons transfers to Israel.
CÉLINE: We are entering a bleak time in our politics, in international politics, and in the United States. Beyond the censorship we’re facing, there’s also a lack of funding going towards progressive movements or platforms. From your perspective, what skills do we need to develop to protect our cultural freedoms, to create a cultural infrastructure that sustains the work we are collectively doing? By archiving, by putting information out there, by mobilizing, educating? From your perspective, from someone who has ties in the Global South, in Lebanon and Palestine, how can we adapt in the Global North, as diaspora?
NOURA: I would defer to the organizers who are on the ground and in the trenches. I work more in the production of knowledge, the shaping of thoughts, as opposed to organizing mass movements. There are experts who have been thinking about this. My sense is that we need to be pivoting to do much more local work. I think that our emphasis on thinking nationally, federally, and so on, is actually disempowering us because those levers are more difficult to push and pull, versus the work that we could do locally to build the alternatives we want.
The truth is that we want sustainability. We want community gardens. We want food for everyone. We want clean water that’s not monetized. Those are all things we have a better chance at achieving locally, on the municipal level, and even smaller than the municipal level.
As someone who studies Palestinian resistance, the times when Palestinians were the closest to liberation were when they got off the grid, when they organized their own schools, their own care for one another, access to their own foods, and stopped being dependent on those who can use dependency against them. That was when there was the greatest amount of potential and hope. We can think about what it means to have community governance, to be able to take care of ourselves in order to weather the storm that’s to come. This is probably the time to create alternative forms of social media because the largest platforms are all bought up by billionaires who are using them to manufacture consent and brainwash populations.
The worst thing we can do is to surrender. Instead, do the work. Do the work. Understand that we are a generation in this time, but there was a generation before us and a generation before them, and there will be generations after us. So, do not assess our potential and our capacity merely by what’s happening just in this moment, but to understand the horizon of this work and what we need, the seeds that we need to plant for future generations to be able to pick up.
CÉLINE: Focusing locally also means running for local offices, being able to be more involved on a local politics level, not just delegating to whoever has the time and energy to do these types of things. We need to reinforce our values through our schools, our universities, and our communities. On the local level, a small action can make other people feel safe and emboldened to do more. Small actions may sound and feel insignificant in the grand scheme of the horrors we’re witnessing, because ultimately, it does not solve the immediate major issue we are experiencing, which is the genocide in Palestine. And it may feel like an impossible task. There are a lot of people who come to us and say, “I feel so powerless.” Ultimately, that feeds into the oppression. A solution might be to continue educating people, educating ourselves, and creating actions that inspire more actions, to keep doing things, keep doing the work, no matter what, it will end up adding up. And ultimately, it’s better than not doing anything at this point.
NOURA: I’m going to add one more thing to think about. Yes, it ends up adding up, but the other thing that we want in this process is our own freedom. It’s not just about doing it for other people and for Palestinians who deserve our solidarity, but this is also about us. It’s not just about adding up. Who are we when we don’t do anything?
In Conversation:
Photography by:
{
"article":
{
"title" : "Noura Erakat",
"author" : "Noura Erakat, Céline Semaan",
"category" : "interviews",
"url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/noura-erakat",
"date" : "2025-11-21 09:02:00 -0500",
"img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/noura-478A9280.jpg",
"excerpt" : "",
"content" : "CÉLINE SEMAAN: We are seeing a rapid transformation. The international governments, the majority of them, are acknowledging a Palestinian state. What does that mean? And is that helping us? Is that stopping the genocide we are witnessing?NOURA ERAKAT: This question is really interesting, as it’s being posed after Trump and Netanyahu basically presented their ultimatum to the Palestinians, which is to surrender to permanent occupation that now includes the United States. Gaza will be severed from the West Bank, and statehood is completely off the table. Let me start from that position and work backward, and say, notice how none of the states that endorse the Palestinian State have come out in full opposition to Trump’s plan, even though Trump’s plan is unequivocally saying that statehood is off the table. Or if it is on the table, it’s going to be a process controlled by Israel, but not a process controlled multilaterally by other legal principles. What we see demonstrated is the shallowness of the earlier recognition bid for a Palestinian state. It means nothing, given that the very states that said they recognize it are now endorsing the Trump plan.Why is that? For me, that’s not surprising at all, because the recognition of Palestine for many of these states was a way to appease their insurgent domestic populations who want their government to act. These very governments that are actually complicit in the ongoing genocide. They pivoted towards recognition without sanctions or other diplomatic commitments. At best they are endorsing the status quo wherein Palestine is recognized as a state (in 2012, it was recognized by a majority of General Assembly members) It’s not a member of the United Nations because it was blocked by the US and the Security Council.It has been recognized as a state, so all of the privileges and the rights it would get from that recognition, Palestine already enjoys, which is why it can bring this petition to the International Criminal Court. What they should have done, and should still do, is abide by their legal obligations, which means not recognizing Israel’s unlawful presence in the West Bank or in Gaza, per the ICJ (International Court of Justice) decision of July 2024. They could prevent genocide by ending all of its support for arms and trade with Israel. Instead, the international community has regressed even from that position and is now endorsing a plan that will basically enable Israel and the United States to remain in Gaza permanently. We’re in a very, very dismal place, diplomatically. They don’t want to deal with this. And as soon as they can get a ceasefire, they’re going to wrap it up. They’re going to normalize and rehabilitate Israel once again. They’re going to act like nothing happened.CÉLINE: We have protests all around the world. The world is against the occupation in a way that it has never been before. But it’s not yet the governments that are mobilizing, just the people around he world. Do you think this bottom-up approach is going to be sufficient for us to enact change, or do we need to have a top-down endorsement from governments around the world?NOURA: The bottom-up approach is absolutely critical and necessary to mobilize the top, where diplomacy happens, where we can see trade sanctions, where we can see pressure placed on Israel. There is a power incongruency between Israel, a nuclear state and the eighth most significant exporter of weapons in the world, and a stateless people. Palestinians will not prevail against Israel without international support, primarily by ending the harm they’re already causing through their financial and military support of Israel. The bottom will do the work that is necessary to mobilize their governments and shift us into a different future. But it will not be enough without those diplomats also shifting and responding to these calls.We’ve seen a response. We’ve seen Spain impose sanctions. Colombia has imposed sanctions on the transfer of coal. We’ve seen a number of European countries halt the transfer of arms. South Africa has gone to the ICJ to hold them to account and to establish this as a matter of law. All of that is a response to the bottom up, which is the most important element. But in the long term, we need these states to stop causing harm. They’re all complicit. They’re all the problem. We’ve been here before.This is precisely what happened in 1993 when Palestinians agreed to enter into the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self- Government Arrangements, also known as the Oslo Accords. That was in December 1987, when, at the height of the First Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, Israel was isolated, the nature of its occupation was made clear, and the exclusion of Palestinians by the United States from any kind of diplomatic process was conceived as short-sighted. And in that moment, Palestinians entered into Oslo and saved Israel from itself. Really, the terms of the Oslo Accords were the terms of autonomy, never the promise of Palestinian statehood. And the reality that we live in today is one that the Palestinians themselves agreed to in 1993, and, in their own words, they entered into this trap, “on faith.”We’re in a similar situation today where the terms of what Trump and Netanyahu have proposed are very, very dismal. The writing is on the wall. They basically say that Israel will withdraw from Gaza. They don’t set a timetable for withdrawal or even the boundaries to which they will withdraw. So, Israel can withdraw from the south or the Philadelphi Corridor and say they withdrew and met the terms. And that’s exactly what they’ve done since 1967, because the terms of Security Council resolution 242 on the withdrawal of Israel from occupied Arab territories were similarly vague, allowing Israel to make a legal argument that because it withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula it has honored the terms of 242 even as it remains in the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights. Palestinians entered a very similar trap in Oslo. It’s taken us 30 years to demonstrate that Oslo is a trap, that the peace process is a farce. Israel has been declared an apartheid regime by Israeli and legacy human rights organizations. This is the moment to keep pushing, and instead, what we’re seeing is the rehabilitation of Israel. Yet again. They want to put the genie back in the bottle, and normalize Israel’s genocide and the ongoing Nakba but it can’t be sustained. It can’t be sustained because Palestinians, like all people, will always struggle for their freedom.Unfortunately, the last time Israeli apartheid was normalized through the Abraham Accords, the outcome was genocide. t And so, if genocide is normalized, who knows what the next outcome will be or the amount of harm that’s going to be done to Palestinians before the world gets this right. In the US, Democrats are just as bad as Republicans on Palestine. Thirty Democrats just signed on to oppose Palestinian sovereignty. Though as an indication of some change, there are some 50 members of Congress who are supporting the halt of weapons transfers to Israel.CÉLINE: We are entering a bleak time in our politics, in international politics, and in the United States. Beyond the censorship we’re facing, there’s also a lack of funding going towards progressive movements or platforms. From your perspective, what skills do we need to develop to protect our cultural freedoms, to create a cultural infrastructure that sustains the work we are collectively doing? By archiving, by putting information out there, by mobilizing, educating? From your perspective, from someone who has ties in the Global South, in Lebanon and Palestine, how can we adapt in the Global North, as diaspora?NOURA: I would defer to the organizers who are on the ground and in the trenches. I work more in the production of knowledge, the shaping of thoughts, as opposed to organizing mass movements. There are experts who have been thinking about this. My sense is that we need to be pivoting to do much more local work. I think that our emphasis on thinking nationally, federally, and so on, is actually disempowering us because those levers are more difficult to push and pull, versus the work that we could do locally to build the alternatives we want. The truth is that we want sustainability. We want community gardens. We want food for everyone. We want clean water that’s not monetized. Those are all things we have a better chance at achieving locally, on the municipal level, and even smaller than the municipal level.As someone who studies Palestinian resistance, the times when Palestinians were the closest to liberation were when they got off the grid, when they organized their own schools, their own care for one another, access to their own foods, and stopped being dependent on those who can use dependency against them. That was when there was the greatest amount of potential and hope. We can think about what it means to have community governance, to be able to take care of ourselves in order to weather the storm that’s to come. This is probably the time to create alternative forms of social media because the largest platforms are all bought up by billionaires who are using them to manufacture consent and brainwash populations.The worst thing we can do is to surrender. Instead, do the work. Do the work. Understand that we are a generation in this time, but there was a generation before us and a generation before them, and there will be generations after us. So, do not assess our potential and our capacity merely by what’s happening just in this moment, but to understand the horizon of this work and what we need, the seeds that we need to plant for future generations to be able to pick up.CÉLINE: Focusing locally also means running for local offices, being able to be more involved on a local politics level, not just delegating to whoever has the time and energy to do these types of things. We need to reinforce our values through our schools, our universities, and our communities. On the local level, a small action can make other people feel safe and emboldened to do more. Small actions may sound and feel insignificant in the grand scheme of the horrors we’re witnessing, because ultimately, it does not solve the immediate major issue we are experiencing, which is the genocide in Palestine. And it may feel like an impossible task. There are a lot of people who come to us and say, “I feel so powerless.” Ultimately, that feeds into the oppression. A solution might be to continue educating people, educating ourselves, and creating actions that inspire more actions, to keep doing things, keep doing the work, no matter what, it will end up adding up. And ultimately, it’s better than not doing anything at this point.NOURA: I’m going to add one more thing to think about. Yes, it ends up adding up, but the other thing that we want in this process is our own freedom. It’s not just about doing it for other people and for Palestinians who deserve our solidarity, but this is also about us. It’s not just about adding up. Who are we when we don’t do anything?"
}
,
"relatedposts": [
{
"title" : "Trump’s attack on Venezuela: An Exemplary Punishment",
"author" : "Simón Rodriguez",
"category" : "essays",
"url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/trumps-attack-on-venezuela-an-exemplary-punishment",
"date" : "2026-01-14 10:13:00 -0500",
"img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/Uncle_Sam_Straddles_the_Americas_Cartoon.jpg",
"excerpt" : "After four months of maritime siege in which the US military killed more than 100 people in alleged anti-drug trafficking operations and seized oil tankers, as well as the bombing of a small dock in northwestern Venezuela, Trump launched a large-scale attack and kidnapped de facto ruler Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, who were in Fuerte Tiuna, the country’s main military complex in Caracas.",
"content" : "After four months of maritime siege in which the US military killed more than 100 people in alleged anti-drug trafficking operations and seized oil tankers, as well as the bombing of a small dock in northwestern Venezuela, Trump launched a large-scale attack and kidnapped de facto ruler Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, who were in Fuerte Tiuna, the country’s main military complex in Caracas.The invaders attacked civilian targets such as the port of La Guaira, the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research, the Charallave airport, and electrical transmission infrastructure, as well as military installations in Caracas, Maracay, and Higuerote. The preliminary toll is around 80 dead and more than a hundred wounded. The US government claims that it suffered no casualties and that it had the support of infiltrators working for the CIA. This internal collaboration was crucial to the success of the attack.The Venezuelan military defeat has political causes, beyond US technical superiority. Chavismo has prioritized coup-proofing over military effectiveness, going so far as to have one of the highest rates of generals per capita in the world, who have been given control of various economic sectors for cronyism. Furthermore, the government lacks a military strategy for asymmetric resistance to imperialist aggression.During Chávez’s administration, in 2007, there was debate over which military model to adopt. Retired General Müller Rojas criticized the large investments in sophisticated military equipment, proposed by then-Defense Minister Raúl Isaías Baduel, proposing instead a doctrine of popular resistance and asymmetric warfare. Chávez settled the debate in Baduel’s favor, and in the following years, the Venezuelan government spent billions of dollars on arms purchases from Russia and China. This equipment proved useless in the face of the US attack, as the late Müller Rojas predicted, but it was part of the patronage system that enriched the Chavista military. Ironically, Baduel died as a political prisoner in 2021.A corrupt military may be useful for repressing workers, students, or indigenous peoples, but it can easily be bribed. Maduro himself does not seem to have had much confidence in the military, having entrusted his security largely to Cuban personnel, 32 of whom died in the US attack.Vice President Delcy Rodríguez assumed the interim presidency. She declared a state of emergency to avoid the constitutional requirement to call elections in the event of the head of state’s absence. The US government has stated that, through the continuation of the naval blockade and the threat of a second attack, it hopes to ensure that the Venezuelan government serves US interests. When asked on January 4 whether they would use this pressure to demand the release of political prisoners, Trump responded emphatically that he is interested in oil, and everything else can wait. In spite of this, the Venezuelan government announced on January 8 the unilateral release of an unspecified number of political prisoners. Human rights NGOs estimate there are around 800 political prisoners.The rights of Venezuelans have never interested Trump, as demonstrated not only by his lack of interest in democratic rights in Venezuela, but also by the racist persecution of Venezuelan immigrants in the US, stigmatized by Trump as criminals and mentally ill people allegedly sent by Maduro to “invade” the country, a fascistic discourse endorsed by the Venezuelan right-wing leader María Corina Machado. Thousands of Venezuelans have been deported to Venezuela, while hundreds have been sent to the CECOT, Latin America’s largest torture center, run by the dictatorship of El Salvador, under false accusations of belonging to the Tren de Aragua, a gang classified as a terrorist organization by Trump.Delcy Rodríguez has reportedly already reached an agreement with Trump to deliver between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil. The US government would sell the oil, establishing offshore accounts for this purpose outside the control of its own Treasury Department; part of the petrodollars generated would be used to pay debtors, and payments in kind would be made to the Venezuelan state, including equipment and supplies for oil production itself, as well as food and medicine.This policy bears similarities to the “Oil for food” program applied as part of the sanctions regime of the 1990s against Iraq. That program became a huge source of corruption in the UN. We can expect something similar or worse from Trump’s corrupt government. Chevron, which already is the main oil extractor in Venezuela, is lobbying for a privileged role in Trump’s plans for oil theft, enforced through a naval blockade and threats of new attacks, as the stock capacity on land or in ships off the Venezuelan coast reached their limit and the alternative was to stop production. On January 9, Trump met executives from Chevron, Conoco-Phillips, Exxon-Mobil, among other oil companies, to lay out the profits opportunities in Venezuela enhanced by military intervention.We are facing a new version of imperialist “gunboat diplomacy” and the methods of the “Roosevelt Corollary,” on which the US based its invasion of Latin American and Caribbean countries in the first half of the 20th century, taking control of their customs, as in the cases of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nicaragua.Rodríguez’s capitulation has been interpreted by some as evidence that her rise to power was agreed with Trump, as startlingly quickly negotiations for the restoration of diplomatic relations, which were severed since 2019, have begun. For this purpose, a US delegation visited Caracas on January 9. Certainly, Chavismo’s anti-imperialism was always rather performative, it did not even nationalize the oil industry, and the US maintained an important presence through Chevron. The US remained Venezuela’s main trading partner until at least 2024.The regime is cooperating with the extortionist Trump, not resisting. The traditional right-wing opposition, which celebrated the January 3 attack (describing it as the beginning of Venezuela’s liberation), welcomes Trump’s measures. Not even Trump’s humiliation of Machado, when he declared she lacked “support” and “respect” within Venezuela, has led Venezuelan Trumpists to regain a modicum of sobriety. Their entire political strategy, after Maduro’s 2024 electoral fraud, has been solely to wait for Trump to hand them power.Trump’s priorities are different, although they could converge in the future with Machado: to distract attention from recently published documents reflecting his friendship with the criminal Jeffrey Epstein; to enhance his foreign policy based on extortion, refuting the Democratic slogan “Trump Always Chickens Out”, and to manage billions of petrodollars at the service of his business circle. And finally, in a more strategic sense, it represents the application of the new National Security doctrine, which gives priority to absolute US control of the hemisphere, expelling its imperialist competitors, China and Russia. Venezuela represented the most vulnerable point in the hemisphere for spectacular and exemplary military action. After the attack on Venezuela, threats against Colombia, Mexico, and even Greenland follow.Chavismo itself largely created its own vulnerability after years of anti-popular and anti-worker policies, such as imposing a minimum wage of less than USD$5 per month, eliminating workers’ freedom of association, persecuting indigenous peoples, defunding public health and education, and forcing the migration of 8 million Venezuelan workers, all while favoring the emergence of a new Bolivarian bourgeoisie through rampant corruption, creating new chasms of social inequality.Until 2015, Chavismo ruled with the support of electoral majorities. After its defeat in that year’s parliamentary elections, it took a dictatorial turn, relying on repression and electoral fraud, while bleeding the economy dry to pay off foreign debt, creating hellish hyperinflation. The economy contracted by around 80% between 2013 and 2021, most of this before US sanctions. The destruction was such that the export of scrap metal, obtained from the dismantling of abandoned industries, became one of Venezuela’s largest exports.It is illustrative to recall the cables from the US embassy in Caracas to the State Department, published by Wikileaks, which asked the Obama administration not to publicly confront Chávez, as this would strengthen him in the context of widespread popular rejection of the US. The current situation is different, with many Venezuelans cynically accepting US domination. Opposing imperialist intervention, on the other hand, does not save dissidents from persecution either. The presidential candidate backed by the Communist Party of Venezuela in 2024, Enrique Márquez, has been in prison for 10 months without formal charges.The humiliation to which the Venezuelan people are subjected today, under the double yoke of a dictatorship and a US siege, is brutal. The policy of aggression against Latin America and the Caribbean, the perceived sphere of US dominance, gains momentum with this attack. In the face of this we need a continental response, to defend the possibility of a free and dignified future for Venezuela and for all of Latin America and the Caribbean."
}
,
{
"title" : "A Lone Protester, Rain or Shine: One Man’s Daily Act of Dissent in Japan",
"author" : "Yumiko Sakuma",
"category" : "essays",
"url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/a-lone-protester-rain-or-shine",
"date" : "2026-01-13 10:00:00 -0500",
"img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/Cover_EIP_Lone_Gaza_Japan.jpg",
"excerpt" : "Photographs by Chisato Hikita",
"content" : "Photographs by Chisato HikitaThe way Japan’s grassroots activism has shown up for the people of Palestine has been nothing short of extraordinary. In a country known for its low political engagement, I’ve met countless newly woken activists who not only joined the international movement but have also incorporated direct action into their daily lives through street protests, fundraising events and content creation, writing campaigns, etc. Many of them express frustration that demonstrations in Japan aren’t as large as those abroad, or that their efforts seem to yield little visible change, but their persistence and quiet stubbornness are unlike anything I’ve ever seen.One of the figures who has emerged from this movement is Yusuke Furusawa, who has taken to the streets every single day, seven days a week, for more than two years, usually for an hour or so each time. I came across him on social media and reached out while I was in Tokyo.The day we met was an excruciatingly hot Saturday in July. On my way to meet him near Shinjuku Station, a sprawling terminal of train lines, subways, and shopping complexes, he messaged to say he’d had to relocate because of a nearby Uyoku (right-wing nationalist) presence. As I exited one wing of the station, I passed a large crowd gathered around Uryu Hirano, a young hardline activist who had just lost her bid for a national council seat.Then I found Furusawa, delivering a monologue about what the Palestinian people have been enduring, about the complicity of the Japanese government, and about the tangled relationship between the U.S. military-industrial complex and the Israeli state. He stood in the middle of two opposing streams of foot traffic, turning every few seconds to address people coming from both directions, waving a large flag and holding a sign that read “Stop GAZA Genocide.”In October 2023, he had been home-bound for Covid. “I was frustrated because I wanted to go to the protests but couldn’t. Finally, feeling restless, I eventually stumbled out holding a placard, that’s how it all began. When I thought about how I’ve never really taken any actions on this issue while seeing these terrible situations unfolding every day, I just couldn’t sort out my feelings.”Furusawa makes his living as a prop maker for a broadcasting company while occasionally getting gigs as a theater actor. He wasn’t particularly political until a few years ago when he joined a local grass-roots movement to elect Satoko Kishimoto, an environmental activist and water rights activist who had lived in Belgium, to be Suginami Ward mayor against the pro-business, pro-development incumbent. Especially, he was inspired by the Hitori Gaisen, solo street demonstration, movement which was triggered by one person who decided to campaign by standing quietly on the street with a sign, which spread like a wild fire and resulted in a win by Kishimoto, a move viewed as a victory of the People, who were determined to stop the over development and gentrification.'I’m not really good at group activities, so rallies and marches aren’t really my thing. I get too tired trying too hard to chant or keep up with everyone else.” Previously, he had been suffering from depression. “This has been helpful like as a daily rehabilitation activity.”Thus, he stands alone, daily and consistently. As I watched him speak under the glaring sun, I was struck by how most people don’t even look up, or notice him, seemingly so self-absorbed or focused on where they are going. Occasionally, non-Japanese people stop and take pictures of/with him. While I was there, a mother and a kid from Turkey stopped him to thank him through a translation app on her phone. She had tears in her eyes. Furusawa said he does get yelled at a few times a day and was once even choked by a person who identified as an IDF personnel.This was a few days after July 20th, when Japan had a national council election where more than 8 million people voted for candidates from the Sansei Party, which ran on “Japanese First” platform and a far-right, nationalist political messaging. Furusawa says, a few Japanese people who walk up to him with encouraging signs tend to be ultra nationalists and conservatives. “A lot of times, these guys who say to me ‘you are great for standing against the United States,’ are far right people, which makes me feel defeated.” And there are younger ones who mock him or laugh at him.Do you have an idea as to how long you’d be doing this? I asked him. Furusawa told me about the time an Aljazeela crew came to his apartment to shoot a segment on him. When he told them, “I will stop if Israel stopped bombing Gaza,” the reporter said, “That is how Japanese people forget about the Middle East.” Furusawa thinks about this episode daily. “I realized I hadn’t understood anything at all, and I felt this helplessness like all my actions over the past four months were being erased in an instant. That’s when I made the decision to do it every day. Those words swirled around me daily.”After I came back to New York, I procrastinated writing this story. I tried writing it many times in my head, but between being disappointed in the surge of xenophobia and racism in Japan, dealing with medical issues and being scared as an immigrant, my head was not in the right place to give a proper ending to this story. Then, so called “ceasefire” was announced. I thought of him and reached out.I apologized to him for not writing a story sooner. “I didn’t know how to write the story without glorifying the protest movements.”He told me attacks by people from Israel were happening increasingly, probably like three times more, especially after the UK recognized the state of Palestine. “They come at me with anger. I’ve also met a few people from Palestine thanking me with tears for what I do. I feel l need to keep a distance from these emotions because what I am really protesting against is the illegal occupation and apartheid of Palestine and how we are not really facing it.”He hadn’t stopped his protests, still standing out there every day with a flag and a sign, delivering his monologue. He does so because, for one, he did not trust the “ceasefire,” but also because what he stands against is not just the current wave of assaults, bombing, starvation, etc.“I want to keep going until we seriously tackle the issue, not just go through the superficial motions of Palestine’s state recognition. It isn’t about just stopping the war. It is about getting people to care so that nations collectively help them. I am not talking about months, more like years because it is going to take time.”Lately, after spending an hour on anti-genocide protest, he stands with another sign for 30 minutes or so before he goes home. The sign says “Delusion of Hate.” That is because he thinks Japan’s xenophobia and hatred come from delusions. “A mix of victim mentality and inferiority complex, plus delusions inflated by conspiracy theories that don’t even exist.”That is when I realized what he is really fighting is indifference. He went on, “Some might find my style of protests noisy, annoying, or unpleasant. I want them to reject it. I want to get on their nerves, or talk to their hearts. Maybe that is how we can break through the indifference. That is going to take time, like years of time.”"
}
,
{
"title" : "Sanctions are a Tool of Empire",
"author" : "Collis Browne",
"category" : "essays",
"url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/sanctions-are-a-tool-of-empire",
"date" : "2026-01-13 08:35:00 -0500",
"img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/Cover_EIP_Sanctions.jpg",
"excerpt" : "Sanctions & Embargoes only Hurt the People",
"content" : "Sanctions & Embargoes only Hurt the PeopleIn light of the economic collapse and ongoing social and political unrest in Venezuela and Iran, we must examine U.S. economic sanctions and how they contribute to and exacerbate these dynamics.Although framed as something much more innocuous or even righteous, sanctions are a form of economic warfare used to enforce U.S. & Western empire.What Sanctions AreSanctions block a country’s sovereign ability to act freely in a global world. They restrict trade, banking, investment, and access to global markets.Despite the myth of “free markets,” sanctions show how capitalism really works: Markets are only free when they serve power.They are usually installed against nations that show signs of independence from US and Western (capitalist) interests, such as any meaningful socialist policies, nationalizing resources or limiting foreign ownership or resources or property.Although the claim is usually around “punishing” a government for human rights abuses, There are plenty of governments that commit egregious human rights abuses that are never sanctioned because of favorable business policies towards US interests (global western capital), The US is itself guilty of grave human rights abuses both at home and abroad, so cannot claim to have any moral authority, and Many of the abuses are either exaggerated, outright fabricated, or are simply scapegoats to cover the real motives. To be clear: this does not excuse human rights abuses by any government, but sanctions are never the answer: they are never driven by a moral imperative, and are never successful in improving the materials conditions of the people of the countries affected.How Sanctions are UsedUS foreign policy uses sanctions as a key part of a familiar playbook: Claim that a government is a “dictatorship” or “threat” to democracy or security Cut the country off from trade and money Cause shortages, inflation, and unemployment People suffer — food, medicine, fuel become scarce Blame the suffering on the government, not the sanctions Further stir up unrest by covert actions on the ground agitating dissent and violence Often, provide material support for right-wing political opposition that favors US intervention and resource privatizationThe goal is pressure, chaos, and instability.The End GoalSanctions are a foundational step in a long-term campaign to destabilize a country or region by creating enough pain to force one of the following outcomes: Install a pro-U.S. government Enable or justify a coup Pave the way for military interventionAll of these are about resource extraction and unfettered access for multinational and Western corporations.Fact 1: Sanctions Don’t WorkSanctions Don’t Achieve Their Stated Political GoalsSince 1970, nearly 90% of sanctions have failed — meaning they did not force the target government to change its behavior or leadership. Report after report show that sanctions don’t produce freedom, democracy or peace, they produce suffering.Fact 2: Sanctions Punish PeopleSanctions Hurt the People, Not LeadersAcross 32 empirical studies*, sanctions were shown to: Increase poverty Increase inequality Increase mortality Worsen human rights outcomesRegional oligarchs and elites adapt, while ordinary people pay the price.Example: IraqIraq (1990s) Sanctions destroyed water, food, and healthcare systems Hundreds of thousands of civilians — many of them children — died as a direct result Saddam Hussein retained power, up until the eventual US invasionSanctions weakened the population, not the ruler.Example: VenezuelaVenezuela (2010s–present) Oil and banking sanctions collapsed imports and currency Medicine and food shortages surged Tens of thousands of excess deaths Massive emigration as millions fled the countryThe government survived. The people suffered. If anything, the sanctions contributed to the rise of the right-wing opposition against the strong socialist base of support.Example: SyriaSyria (2011–present) Sanctions began early in the conflict and intensified economic collapse They worsened shortages, unemployment, and infrastructure failure Economic destabilization deepened social fragmentation and displacementSanctions did not overthrow the government, but they amplified collapse, suffering, and long-term instability, making recovery and reconstruction nearly impossible.Example: IranIran (since 1979, and especially 2018–present) Sanctions targeted oil exports and global banking access Iran was cut off from foreign currency earnings The rial collapsed; inflation surged sharplySanctions directly restrict access to dollars and euros — forcing rapid currency devaluation, import inflation, and rising prices for basics even when goods are technically “allowed.”Inflation hits civilians first.Sanctions are a Tool of EmpireSanctions are a tool of global capitalist imperialism, and movements against US intervention must include a call against sanctions. They do not bring freedom or democracy. They enrich global financial elites, preserve imperial control, and devastate everyday people — again and again."
}
]
}
