An Intervention by Palestine Action US
“The beginning of every revolution is an exit, an exit
from the social order that power has enshrined in the
name of law, stability, public interest, and the greater
good."

— MARTYR BASSEL AL-ARAJ

“Andit follows that f a thing is not bulding, it is certainly
decaying — that lfe is revolution — and that the world
will die if we don't read and act out ts imperatives

— MARTYR GEORGE JACKSON

It has been 208 days since this most recent and most horrific
chapter of the 75-year US-zionist genocide in Gaza began. Over
40,000 Palestinians have been martyred, but the actual death tolis
likely upward of 100,000. Despite the mobilizations of millions
around the world, we must acknowledge that we have not been able
tosstop the genocide — we have not come even close. Thisisa
failure but not a defeat.It demands we reckon with our errors

and recalculate our strategy to win.

After October 7, we recognized immediately the need for escalatory
resistance to imperialism's escalating violence. Inspired by the
success of Palestine Action UK's campaign, we launched Palestine
Action US, a direct action network targeting Elbit Systems, the
largest zionist weapons company. As new Palestine Action groups
have formed globally, our actions have contributed to divestments
from Elbit, drops in Elbit's profits, the sale of a US Elbit subsidiary,
and the permanent closing of another Elbit factory in the UK.
Through our many trials and errors, we also leared that tactics
used in the UK, which has a very different legal system, could not
simply be copy-pasted into the US context.Instead of solely
targeting Elbit, we have expanded our scope to meet the urgent
task of building capacity for direct action and militancy in the

US anti-imperialist movement.

We make this intervention at a moment when escalation is more
realizable than ever. On April 15, we saw a coordinated yet
decentralized action which drove people across the world to take
direct action against points of production and logistics networks
including ports, bridges, weapons manufacturers, and financial
institutions, targeting the very economic arteries of imperialism.
Then, on April 7, students and other young people launched dozens
of Gaza solidarity encamprments across the US, from Columbia to Cal
Poly, occupying and barricading buildings, establishing liberated
zones, and defeating police invasions. In mere weeks, the anti-
imperialist movement in the Belly of the Beast has advanced to a
level of miltancy not seen in generations. But the genocide is
ongoing and the zionist invasion of Rafah is imminent. We stillhave a
long way to go to break the war machine.

Here are 5 of our reflections:

1. ABOVE ALL ELSE, ESCALATE.

We join in the cals to #EscalatedGaza beyond symbolic action,
because we know power won't move unless we strike fear in the
heart of the ruling class and pose a threat to their reproduction of
capital. As our comrades in Within Our Lifetime wrote, “Enough with
de- escalation trainings; Where are the escalation trainings!” Escalate
from mass rallies to mass blockades of weapons companies; from
encampments to building occupations; from getting kettied by the
police to ketting them back. Let repression breed more resistance.
We wil not disavow any actions taken to escalate the struggle,
including miltant direct actions. Our notion of "safety" in the imperial
core s buit on centuries of corpses, and this liberal framing of
“safetyism" prevents us from escalating and winning, which is our
duty to Palestine and us all. We keep us safe by escalating. Don't
hesitate to take more risk.

g o

2. RESIST REPRESSION AND ABANDON SYMBOLIC ARRESTS.

We regret using this self-sacrificial tactic ourselves at times.

While actions sometimes result in arrests, and those engaged in
serious action ought to prepare for that outcome, it should never

be the *goal* tolose our organizers to the carceral system. The

goal should always be to achieve whatever we set out to achieve,
and then get home safe. Our most successful actions were covert
and decentralized. Form an affinity group or cell with people you
trust, and take action; when confronted by police, learn tactics to
protect yourself and your comrades - barricades, de-arrest,

strategic formations, and community defense (we have compiled
many resources on these tactics at our page @pal_actionUS). As

our comrades at Cal Poly wrote, "The pro-Palestinian

movement must be a movement against the police." We must no
longer be a sea of helpless subjects, begging for crumbs and crying
foul at the bullying of the pigs. We must stop appealing to the
respectability of monsters, to whom we owe nothing.

3. BREAK OPEN THE UNIVERSITY GATES.

To those holding down campus occupations, your first task is to
open the campus to the community and reject the distinction
between students and “outside agitators.” The popular movement
for Palestine is currently based out of the universities, but students
are not the sole leaders, and non-students possess a reservoir of
knowledge and experience to expand the struggle beyond the
campus. We must create our own “popular cradle” of resistance. The
most effective occupations have been where students have strong
alliances with non-students, and where they connect the struggle to
Free Palestine with the struggle against US fascism and Cop Cities
everywhere.

e G

4.DIVERSITY OF TACTICS ONLY WORKS IF WE ARE
BUILDING MORE MILITANCY.

We have always called for a wide ecosystem of tactics, from
boycotts to mass ralles to the sabotage and dismantiing of genocidal
infrastructure. There exists a dialectical relationship between the
underground and aboveground; clandestine actions need to express
the general will of the movement and garner support from its above-
ground organizers. As long as other groups do not interfere, peace
police, or co-opt our militancy, we must build as broad possible unity,
inspired by the Palestinian resistance's concept of "Unity of the
Fields," whereby, despite our differing ideologies, short-term
objectives, and locations, we all can work towards one common goal
We need people doing jail support, media, fundraising, and
community care — but it is time for more of us to step up to the front
line.

et T

5. WE IN THE US ARE NOT EXEMPT FROM RESISTANCE.

Itis insincere to glorify the Palestinian resistance if, at the same time,
we do not raise our own resistance here. The siege on Gaza is a
rehearsal of the future the ruling class has planned for all oppressed
people if we do not resist. When we step into the international
struggle in a substantive way, we reclaim our power and our
humanity; we stop bickering over which futile means wil, or (almost
certainly) won't shame the oppressor into a state of reasonable
concession, and we recognize that buiding an infrastructure of
militancy for the larger struggle against imperiaism and the
establishment of a new world is the only effective route we can take,
and s, in fact, the easier, softer way. Our resistance to the genocidein
Gaza is a piece of that effort, or itis theater. We are not naive enough
to think the revolution will come through “peaceful” means or
spontaneous uprisings without organized miltancy. Nor do we think
that the self-proclaimed vanguard of the "organized” left, the student
bureaucrats and smooth-talkers without an ounce of front-line
experience, are capable of fomenting the kinds of organization
actually required in this moment. The new forms of leadership and
initiative will emerge from those barricaded inside of classroom
buildings, those who carry shields, who are kicking back tear gas
canisters. Rebellious movements must prepare to defend ourselves
from repression during states of siege, and "to outmaneuver,
exhaust demoralize, confuse, and overpower the repressive might of
the state. Those who do not believe this is possible do ot believe
that the revolution s possible."

We know revolution and a liberated Palestine will come within our
lifetimes. We will make sure of it. Palestine Action US isadirectaction
network disrupting and dismantling zionism and US imperialism. Join
us by taking autonomous action. You can submit your actions to
palestineactionus@proton.me
st)

25100-27072 = TGRS
by ATLANTA POLICE-DEPARTMENT JRNS

€G100-:

DRI - 1SPAELI DEFENSE FORcES - J