Mainers Against Genocide
The Coalition for Palestine pushes Maine to divest from Israel
If you’ve been following the news for the last year, you should already be aware of the massacres in Gaza being committed by Israel. Israeli forces have targeted hospitals, attacked civilians, and reduced the Gaza Strip to ruins.
Although these developments have prompted some Americans to acknowledge Israel’s genocidal ideology, the Democratic and Republican parties are unwilling to break with America’s military support for the country. President Biden armed Israel even as international courts demanded that the country stops its invasion of Rafah in compliance with the UN Genocide Convention. It’s likely that the United States will remain the largest supplier of weapons to Israel under President Trump.
Yet there are places where BDS movement has gradually seen victory in pushing Americans to withdraw their financial support of Israel and increase international pressure in support of Palestine. One of these places is Maine, where the statewide Maine Coalition for Palestine has fiercely protested Israel since October 10th of last year.
The Coalition brings together a broad collection of different groups and individuals — Palestinian rights’ organizations, leftist parties, pacifist groups, student activists and and workers’ groups. Though members vary in background and political ideology, they are unified in their support for Palestine. Coalition members have taken to the streets in public demonstrations all around the state of Maine.
Support for the Palestinian cause has grown over the last year as Israel continued their mass violence in Gaza and the West bank. One organizer told me:
“Immediately after al-Aqsa Flood (I believe on Oct. 10th or 11th), allies of Palestine in Maine - including PSL, Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights and some members from DSA and CPUSA - staged a protest in defense of Palestine. We knew the US and Israel would use Hamas's offensive as an excuse to pursue a brutal war (although some of us, myself included, might have underestimated its extent, breadth, and duration). At the time there were like 12 of us out there protesting. But Israel's genocidal response quickly spurred more to the cause, and so we decided to form a coalition uniting the disparate groups involved. Since then, we've maintained a consistent tempo of protests, political education events, divestment activism, direct action, and other forms of opposition to the current war, and more broadly against Zionism and US imperialism.”
The Coalition for Palestine has seen some political success this fall. Portland, Maine passed a resolution this September to divest from Israel, joining a smattering of cities and universities across the country that have done the same. The small port of Belfast has adopted a similar resolution just two days ago, according to the Coalition Facebook page. It remains to be seen how these resolutions will actually impact the respective economies of Maine and Israel. However supporters of these resolutions see them as important symbolic measures of solitarity with Palestinian people.
The organizer I spoke to stressed solidarity with Palestine as a point of unity: “We keep our work on message and try to avoid too much focus on points that would divide rather than unify the coalition.” Standing up to mass-murder and apartheid has brought together a lot of different people with their own ideological viewpoints and motivations. But in Maine this has worked to the activists’ advantage, as “different groups simultaneously pursue different actions and efforts are divided across a wide array of activity.” These are the structural benefits that come from an ideologically diverse and coalitional left.
The success of the Palestinian rights movement in Maine could indicate a changing tide in New England against Zionism and support for Israel. Maine is only one small state, but there have been protests against Israeli genocide in disparate areas throughout the United States. Massachusetts for example has similar activist leagues in Boston, Worcester, Plymouth, Lowell, and Western Mass. If you oppose Israel’s genocide in Gaza and want to speak out, the Maine Coalition for Palestine may provide a template for finding allies and organizing an effective opposition. Someday we will win, and Palestine will know peace and justice.
If you’d like to get involved with the boycott against Israeli goods, take a look at the official BDS website. Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions worked on Apartheid South Africa — It will work on Israel.