Trees Not Walls! Call to Action: For Eco-Justice Bloc at MWM & Palestine Solidarity O17 and Beyond ...
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Come all who conscientiously object to the capitalist transformation of Earth into industrial wasteland! In defiance of Walls designed to divide and displace us, on October 17 in Washington DC, before, during and after the Million Worker March, we invite you to join the Eco-Justice/Palestine Solidarity Bloc to participate in a powerful, long-overdue fusion of movements!
ECOLOGICALÂ DESTRUCTIONÂ HURTSÂ WORKERS!
When runaway development and over-exploitation degrades ecosystems, local workers suffer the consequences of ecological destruction as much as any non-human species! Few cases reveal this as starkly as Israel’s construction of a massive, militarized concrete “separation†Wall through the heart of Palestine’s West Bank. Armed with watchtowers, trenches, electronic fences and sensors, and patrol routes, the Wall creates a zig-zagging 700-kilometer-long, 200-meter-wide environmental “dead zone†that obliterates the landscape’s ecological integrity.  The Wall disrupts the hydrology of watersheds, altering surface water flow and increasing erosion; it fragments animal populations, diminishing overall levels of wildlife; and Israeli earthmovers have uprooted hundreds of thousands of olive and fruit trees, “shaving the land†to clear the path for the Wall’s erection …
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The Wall’s primary purpose is to maximize the amount of water and fertile Palestinian farmland on the side annexed to Israeli control, and the number of Palestinians on the other! Annexing over 11 % of the West Bank and cutting tens of thousands of Palestinian families off from their ancestral land and each other, the Wall converts peasants and farm workers into the newly unemployed. This is a late stage of Israel’s ongoing war against Palestine’s economy, which forbids Palestinians from trading products outside the district in which they live, even as Israeli products inundate Palestinian markets. Under siege, the West Bank’s unemployment rate has skyrocketed to over 50% and poverty to over 67%, handing Israeli capitalists an irresistible opportunity for profit …
AND NO COLLABORATION WITH MILITARY OCCUPATION! In October 1991, the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit convened in Washington DC, and ratified 17 Principles of Environmental Justice. Among other Principles, the Summit affirmed that environmental justice “opposes military occupation, repression and exploitation of lands, peoples and cultures.â€Â In 2004, with the environmental racism of Occupation increasingly apparent – trees and wells destroyed, Palestinian watersheds polluted by Israeli settlements discharging untreated waste, relocation of toxic factories (like Geshuri) illegal inside Israel to the West Bank, plus the “scorched earth†pillage of the Wall – and in contrast to so much international silence regarding these violations of a nation’s life support systems, we renew this call for environmental justice! By building an American movement for environmental justice in Palestine, we aim to unite solidarity activists with radical biocentrists who oppose all injury to the Earth, whether it occurs in the name of profit or “security,†organized labor who stand against Israeli abuse of the natural rights of Palestinian workers, and interfaith groups who object to the despoliation of a Land traditionally seen as Holy …..  Because olive workers bear the biggest burden of the latest destructive phase of Israel’s decades-long Occupation, we are calling for a national autumn campaign of solidarity with their 2004 olive harvest. As international civilians converge in the West Bank to help Palestinians defend their right to harvest their fields and groves, we will mobilize solidarity in our own communities! From October 17 until the end of November, Trees Not Walls Solidarity Network will sponsor benefit concerts, each weekend in major East Coast cities, to aid the non-violent struggle of Palestinian olive workers against Apartheid. We want to expand our network of solidarity! We invite individuals and organizations across America to bring the “Trees Not Walls†Tour to a venue near you, or to organize your own benefit event! To participate in this action, email treesnotwalls@riseup.net. And in the meantime … join us October 17 at the Million Worker March to say:  “Rise Up! Resist! Squash the capitalists! No submission, no retreat! Democracy is in the streets!† Trees Not Walls Solidarity Network ♦ treesnotwalls@riseup.net ♦ www.millionworkermarch.org ♦ www.palsolidarity.org ♦ www.dontjustvote.org
AGAINST CAPITALISM, IMPERIALISM AND APARTHEID …
BUILDING A MOVEMENT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE …
WITHÂ AUTUMNÂ SOLIDARITYÂ BEYONDÂ OCTOBER 17!
