Above photo: Demonstrators rally outside of the New York Stock Exchange. Wyatt Souers.
Crowds of thousands take to the streets across the country.
Disrupting centers of power and responding to a call to “Shut It Down for Palestine.”
From Alaska to Florida, people in the US once again took to the streets en masse to demand a permanent ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza and an end US aid to Israel. The Shut It Down for Palestine Coalition, composed of several organizations including the International Peoples’ Assembly, the Palestinian Youth Movement, the ANSWER Coalition, and National Students for Justice in Palestine, called for a day of action on December 8, to continue putting pressure on Israel and the US one week after Israel resumed its genocidal violence against Gaza. This coalition of organizations is bringing together the Palestine solidarity movement to disrupt major centers of power across the country.
Many of the December 8 actions happened simultaneously to the United States vetoing a UN Security Council draft resolution that would have demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
Early in the morning, the demonstration was brought directly outside of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s home in McLean, Virginia. Demonstrators chanted, “Blinken Blinken rise and shine, you’re committing genocide!” Last week, Blinken met with Israel’s war cabinet in occupied Jerusalem, after which he urged Israel to limit civilian casualties. Many suspect that he gave the greenlight for Israel to end its temporary pause in aggression and resume full-scale attacks. The death toll of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza has crossed 17,700.
In New York City, a thousand demonstrators gathered in Foley Square in downtown Manhattan, outside of several major courthouses such as the New York State Supreme Court and the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse. Protesters then marched to New York City Hall, the New York Stock Exchange, and then to Washington Square Park, where the marchers merged with a vigil taking place in honor of slain Palestinian scholar Refaat Alareer.
“We stand here in the political center of New York City,” said Claudia De La Cruz at Foley Square. De La Cruz is a Bronx-born pastor and educator who is running for President of the United States against incumbent Joe Biden. She pointed to the facade of the New York State Supreme Courthouse, which reads, “The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government.”
“They don’t know justice,” she said. “They don’t know solidarity. They don’t know peace. Because war is profitable. And they are completely disconnected from the majority of people in this country who say, we want a ceasefire now.”
In Los Angeles, protesters held a rally in Holmby Park, outside of a private fundraiser held and attended by Joe Biden. Dubbed “Genocide Joe” by the Palestine solidarity movement, Biden has come under fire for furthering the United States’ unequivocal support of Israeli war crimes. Biden himself has always upheld Israel as an imperial project of the US, stating in 1986 that “were there not an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel to protect her interests in the region.”
Amidst Israel’s war on Gaza in 2023, Biden has called into question the official Palestinian death toll, stating that he has “no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.” Biden’s Democratic Party has made numerous efforts in the US Congress to pass massive Israel military aid packages.
Outside of Biden’s fundraiser in Los Angeles, protesters surrounded the cars of attendees of the event. “When [Palestinians] put an end to the Israeli occupation, we must here look upon ourselves, and take it upon our responsibility to put an end to… the world’s worst purveyor of violence, the US empire,” said Desmond Fonseca, of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
In Philadelphia, protesters took over the lobby of the Comcast headquarters, disrupting a holiday light show. On October 13, the telecommunications giant pledged USD 2 million to “humanitarian efforts in Israel and the Middle East.” “We are horrified and deeply saddened by the brutal attack on Israel,” said Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and president Mike Cavanagh at the time.
Demonstrators also rallied outside of corporations sponsoring Israeli genocide in Gaza, such as the Boeing headquarters in Chicago. Outside of the headquarters of weapons contractor Textron in Rhode Island, protesters projected the words “stop bombing children” and “ceasefire now.”
Also in Rhode Island, demonstrators marched from the State House to the office of US Senator Jack Reed. Reed has pushed numerous times to pass massive funding packages for Israel and Ukraine as Israel carries out its genocide. Protesters left fake blood-soaked white rags reminiscent of the wrapped dead bodies seen in the Gaza outside of Reed’s office. Demonstrators chanted “Jack Reed, you cannot hide, we charge you with genocide!”
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, healthcare workers held a vigil honoring slain medical workers in Gaza, and demanded a ceasefire.