Press release: Rally for Palestine and Yemen in downtown Raleigh. January 14, 3pm.

 

For Immediate Release:

Press Contact:

· Noor Abualhawa, 919-800-1378, noorthawa@gmail.com, Palestinian community member

· Victor Urquiza, 404-662-7614, urquiza.victor09@gmail.com, Party for Socialism and Liberation

· Manzoor Cheema, 919-412-7008, manzooracheema@gmail.com,  Muslims for Social Justice, People’s Power Lab

 

Rally for Palestine! Rally for Yemen!

U.S. Out of the Middle East!

Sunday, January 14, 3 pm

Moore Square, Raleigh, NC

Over ten organizations and community members will gather in Moore Square for an emergency rally to raise their voice against the U.S. backed act of aggression on Yemen  aimed at helping Israel continue its assault on Gaza.

“The U.S. war machine wants to punish Yemen for refusing to allow the waters off their coast to be used to sustain the genocide against Palestinians”, said Noor Abualhawa, a Palestinian community member. “The U.S. and western imperial powers bombing Yemen is a direct violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and an extremely dangerous escalation.” It is clear that the Biden administration’s actions have raised the prospect of a devastating regional war. The Biden administration is threatening to escalate a regional war with this retaliation against Yemen’s principled solidarity with Palestine. 

“56 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. challenged the US war in Vietnam in his famous Beyond Vietnam speech. On this MLK Day weekend, we should follow his legacy and build a stronger anti-imperialism and anti-racism movement”, explains Manzoor Cheema from Muslims for Social Justice and People's Power Lab. “Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, Jews, Christians, African Americans, workers, and people from other backgrounds in Raleigh demand a permanent ceasefire now. We demand the Biden administration and Israel to listen to the people of the world. We will continue to come out until the genocide stops, until Palestine is free!"

International solidarity is key to ending the genocide, to freeing all Palestinian prisoners, to ending the occupation and ultimately winning a free Palestine. "At this critical moment for the Palestinian struggle, the need is urgent for continued mobilizations and direct actions to confront Israeli Zionism in all its forms", said Victor Urquiza from the Party for Socialism and Liberation. "As Israel continues its devastating assault on Gaza and the Palestinian people, we call on all conscience people to fill the streets, disrupt business as usual, and not stop until Palestine is free! Our efforts will only continue and grow stronger until all our demands are met: a permanent ceasefire, lifting the siege on Gaza, and ending U.S. aid to Israel!"

The people of Raleigh will gather to say, “HANDS OFF YEMEN” and  “U.S. OUT OF YEMEN!” We will continue to flood the streets of Raleigh with our unwavering support for the Palestinian people and their ongoing struggle for liberation!

 

Ceasefire Protest in Raleigh on Sunday (December 3) at 3 PM

 

For Immediate Release

 

North Carolinians Protest on Sunday to Demand an Immediate Cease-Fire by Israel!

 

Manzoor Cheema, 919-412-7008. Manzooracheema@gmail.com

Organizer with People’s Power Lab and Muslims for Social Justice

 

Rania Masri: 984-302-1782. Rania.z.masri@gmail.com

Co-Director at NC Environmental Justice Network

 

Protest for Ceasefire at Moore Square (210 Blount Street) in Raleigh.

When: Sunday, December 3. 3-5 pm

 

Since October 7, 2023, the lives of Palestinians, Muslims, and allies have been devastated by Israel's war on Gaza. To date, at least 15,000 in Gaza and the West Bank have been killed by Israel, approximately 40% of whom are children. The Israeli bombing has not spared civilians, doctors, journalists, and hospitals. Emergency relief has been denied, and water/electricity has been cut off. The US-based Center for Constitutional Rights has declared current Israel's war on Gaza as a "genocide."

 

On top of that, there has been a dramatic increase in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in the USA. According to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), there have been 1,283 incidents of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab attacks since October 7.

 

During the current crisis in the Middle East, our elected officials have hugely disappointed and betrayed our people. The US President and the Congress have refused calls for a ceasefire. The majority of the US Congress has censured Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian congress member, for her speech demanding a ceasefire. This is despite the fact that 80% of the Democratic electorate, 56% of Republican voters, and 66% of all voters support a ceasefire (source: Data for Progress).

 

Millions of people around the world and in the USA have protested against Israel's war on Gaza. The current war has exposed Israel's brutal occupation and apartheid regime that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions of people. As a result of the people's movement, the US Congress members have been shifting their position in favor of a ceasefire. While a handful of Congressmembers supported the ceasefire about a month ago, currently, 53 members of Congress call for a ceasefire by Israel's war on Gaza. Many cities across the country have passed ceasefire resolutions, including Detroit (MI), Atlanta (GA), Richmond (CA), Wilmington (DE), Akron (Ohio), and Carrboro, North Carolina.

 

Organizers in the Triangle area of North Carolina will organize a massive rally for ceasefire and Palestine Freedom on Sunday, December 3, at 3pm. This rally and march will take pale at Moore Square (210 Blount Street) in downtown Raleigh. We believe that Palestine is not a Palestinian or Muslim issue but a human rights issue. Jews, Christians, Muslims, atheists, anti-racism, worker rights, women's rights, and people of all backgrounds will join our rally to say "no" to the Israeli war on Gaza. Some of the organizations co-sponsoring our rally include Muslims for Social Justice, North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Refund Raleigh, Muslim Women For, Jewish Voice for Peace - Triangle, Migrant Roots Media, NC Green Party, Democratic Socialists of America, People's Power Lab and other organizations.

 

We demand that Wake County-based congressional representatives Deborah Ross and Wiley Nickel support the call for a permanent ceasefire. We also demand the City of Raleigh to pass a resolution for a ceasefire and ban future police exchanges with Israel. Durham, NC, was the first city in the country to ban such exchanges in 2018. We look forward to working with partners and allies for a permanent ceasefire, ending US military aid to Israel, and ending racism and inequality at home. We believe all of our struggles are interconnected. In the words of Fannie Lou Hamer, “Nobody's free until everybody’s free!”

End Israel's Racist Siege and Genocidal Bombing of Gaza

All out for Palestine! End Israel’s Racist Siege & Genocidal Bombing of Gaza! Demand a ceasefire, an end to the occupation, an end to the apartheid!

Press Contacts:

• Manzoor Cheema

• Rania Masri   

Sunday, October 15, 4-6 pm; Moore Square Park, Raleigh, NC

Palestinian community members, friends, and allies will gather in Moore Square Park to demand an end to the Israeli apartheid regime’s illegal and brutal bombardment of Gaza, an end to the continued colonization and occupation of Palestine, and an end to billions of US taxpayer dollars funding horrific war crimes against the Palestinian people. 

“We are seeing a genocide unfold before our eyes – with the open support of the US President and Congress! The Israeli military proudly boasted that it has dropped 6,000 bombs on the Gaza Strip in just a few days – nearly matching the number of bombs the US dropped on Afghanistan in one year! Need we remember: Afghanistan is 1,800 times larger than the besieged Gaza strip!  More than 2,300 Palestinians, including more than 700 children, have been slaughtered and 700,000 have been displaced,” said Rania Masri. “A children’s hospital had to be evacuated because the Israeli military bombed it with white phosphorus (an illegal chemical weapon). Other hospitals are threatened.  Hospitals - threatened. Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary called progressive congress members who have called for a ceasefire “disgraceful” and “repugnant.” It is genocide that is repugnant!”

Israel’s siege against Gaza did not begin last week—Palestinians have been murdered, brutalized, and displaced since the 1948 Nakba, a catastrophic ethnic cleansing that concretized Israel as a colonial project. Despite facing over 75 years of egregious human rights violations at the hands of Israel and the United States, Palestinians have remained steadfast in their fight for freedom.

The Israeli war on Gaza, and Palestine as a whole, is entirely connected to our struggle for social justice here in the US. “In addition to billions of dollars in military equipment sent to Israel every year, the U.S. also engages in police exchanges where US law enforcement work with Israeli occupation forces to train in tactics of brutalization and oppression. Raleigh’s own police chief, Cassandra Deck-Brown, went on a training program to Israel in 2017, and it is no surprise that Raleigh PD has since murdered Black and brown young people and engaged in extreme racial profiling and brutality," said Manzoor Cheema, a member of Muslims for Social Justice. "We are building a grassroots movement to end oppression against not only Palestinians but also Black, Brown, working class, and all impacted people in the USA since all of our struggles are interconnected. We demand an end to the blockade of Gaza, the Israeli policies of apartheid, and the US using our tax-payer dollars to finance a genocide.” 

The Raleigh-area community will stand unwavering in support of the Palestinian people on Sunday, October 15 and onward. We will mobilize our communities to lock arms with each other and demand an end to the siege on Gaza and all oppressed people all over the world!

Co-Sponsors of Rally:

Party for Socialism and Liberation

Muslims for Social Justice

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Voices for Justice in Palestine

Refund Raleigh

Migrant Roots Media

Workers World Party

Triangle Democratic Socialists of America

People's Power Lab 

North Carolina Green Party 

 

 

Forces of Peace and Justice Respond to KKK

(This article was originally published by Imagine 2050 blog).

Soon after the 2016 election, the Loyal White Knights, a Ku Klux Klan chapter in the rural town Pelham, NC, announced a rally in North Carolina to celebrate Donald Trump’s victory. They decided the victory parade would take place on December 3rd in North Carolina, but did not announce the exact location.

Witness to the increased demonizing and dehumanizing of Muslims, immigrants, women, disabled, working people and other marginalized communities and alarmed by the spike in hate crimes across the country, people throughout North Carolina came together in response to this rally and to protect each other and build their unity.

A coalition of 20 organizations, the Triangle Unity May Day Coalition, organized the anti-KKK rally in Raleigh, NC, held on the same day of the KKK rally.  This action was led by Black, Brown, Muslim, workers and others, most impacted by hatred and bigotry.

                                           Picture by Matthew Lenard

The rally brought together more than 1,000 people on a bitter cold day. Speakers represented such grassroots organizations like Black Workers for Justice, UE Local 150, Muslims for Social Justice, Movement to End Racism and Islamophobia, Fight for $15, Organize 2020, Durham Artists Movement and many others. Allies from Jewish Voice for Peace – Triangle, Carolina Jews for Justice and Triangle SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) also spoke at the rally.

                                                            Picture by Matthew Lenard

This rally rejuvenated peace and justice-loving folks in North Carolina. There was a resolve to build a stronger intersectional movement, especially during the next four years of the Trump administration. Participants agreed that we cannot afford to simply have spontaneous actions in response to a crisis, but need to channel the energy exhibited during the anti-KKK rally into efforts to build an long-term movement.
 

                                           Picture by Matthew Lenard

Picture by Yolanda Carrington

Based on this recognition, a long-term grassroots coalition, called Triangle People’s Assembly, was launched on the following day in Raleigh, NC. Many participants from Saturday’s anti-KKK actions throughout the state attended the People’s Assembly. Participants discussed lessons from the anti-KKK rally and explored future organizing questions.  Several people expressed the need to learn more about anti-Muslim bigotry and how to become effective allies to the impacted communities.

The movement against anti-Muslim bigotry, racism and all forms of oppression will be a long and often an arduous journey. Many hope that the anti-KKK rally and subsequent launch of the Triangle People’s Assembly will provide the support and tools for that journey in North Carolina.  

Community Profile: Margaret Rose Murray

Margaret Rose Murray is considered a mother of the community by many African Americans and Muslims in the Triangle area of North Carolina and beyond.  She moved to North Carolina in the early 60s. Her late husband, Kenneth Murray Muhammad, founded the first mosque in NC, Ar-Razzak Masjid, in Durham, NC. They founded private kindergarten schools, Vital Links, in 1964, that has served a large number of African American community members. These schools have also served as community centers hosting social and community empowerment events. The Southeast branch of Vital Link School also serves as a temporary space for As-Salaam Islamic Center, while the actual mosque is being built at Lord Anson Drive in Raleigh, NC.

Mother Rose Murray has been active on social justice front. She has stood up for worker rights and
opposed racism. She spoke with sanitation workers and union organizers during the 2006 Sanitation Workers Strike in Raleigh, NC. Mother Rose Murray won Self-Determination Award by Black Workers for Justice for her leadership on social justice front.

Mother Rose Murray has a goal to preserve the history of African American community. She has
published a coloring book for children called Traces of Faces and Places (also named for a Radio Show she produced from Shaw University) to highlight African American achievements. This book encompasses generations of African American visionaries, inventors and discoverers from all fields of life.

We are blessed to have a selfless leader like Mother Rose Murray in our community.

Read a Huffington Post article about the Murray family and their contributions for North Carolina community here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/manzoor-cheema/will-ali-unite-a-divided_b_10492588.html

From Mourning to Organizing for Justice

Anti-colonial writer Frantz Fanon exclaimed decades ago, “When we revolt, it's not for a particular culture. We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe!” His prophetic words became a tragic reality for Eric Garner who repeated "I can't breathe" eleven times as he died on July 14, 2014, while in a chokehold by a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer. I can't breathe has become a metaphor for oppressive survival in a racist society.

There was an outrage when images of Alton Sterling being shot multiple times circulated on the media. Sterling was killed while he was held to the ground by Louisiana police officers. This outrage turned into a revolt when, just one day later, a video of fatal shooting of Philando Castile, this time by a Minnesota police officer, circulated on the media. Anti-racism activists mobilized across the country against these killings. However, they were quickly demonized in the wake of the tragic shooting of five police officers in Dallas, TX. Before the dust settled on Dallas tragedy, former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh declared on Twitter, "3 Dallas Cops killed, 7 wounded. This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you." What started as a revolt against police brutality was met with an immediate attempt to criminalize the movement and suffocate dissent. 

Mourning the death of Sterling and Castile, and not allowing the Dallas tragedy dampen the #BlackLivesMatter movement, were major themes during vigils in Raleigh. North Carolina-based Black Workers for Justice, condemned police brutality and institutional racism. They also emphasized the need to raise voice against other oppressions, including Islamophobia. Muslims have been all too familiar when tragic instances are hijacked to de-humanize the entire Muslim community. Black Workers for Justice statement read:

"We must not be deterred from challenging these police killings of our people. Like the mainstream media and government efforts to use the Orlando, FL, massacre to promote Islamophobia, the Dallas, TX, shootings of police will be another attempt to place the blame on the movement for Black liberation highlighted by the slogan Black Lives Matter."

Raleigh has seen police brutality of its own when Black youth Akiel Denkins was killed by a Raleigh police officer on February 29, 2016. His killing led to the establishment of a coalition demanding justice in policing, called Raleigh PACT or Police Accountability Community Taskforce. PACT played a key role in organizing the vigil to create a space for mourning and healing in the wake of murders of Denkins, Sterling, Castile and a Black man Jerry Williams killed in Asheville on July 2, 2016. Denkin's mother, Rolanda Byrd, spoke against police brutality and called for justice during the vigil. "It has taken a tragedy, the five officers that were killed in Dallas, to wake up the conversation on how black families are being treated on a daily basis," Byrd said during her speech.

The fact that Alton Sterling was killed while selling CDs and Eric Garner was killed while selling loose cigarettes has highlighted the oppressive subsistence living conditions for many Black Americans, whose real crime is being Black and poor. During a prayer vigil at As-Salaam Islamic Center in Southeast Raleigh, there was a call for diverting money to Black-owned businesses and banks. South East Raleigh has established a Black and Brown led food co-op, called Fertile Ground, in a predominantly Black neighborhood designated by the local government as a “food desert”. Building indigenous economy and providing healthy food to the marginalized communities are at the core of co-op's mission of grassroots empowerment.

The recent murders of Black people have taken place at a distance, but they are close to the lived experience of many in North Carolina. After mourning, there was a movement in the community to organize for justice.

MSJ Honored at 33rd Annual BWFJ Banquet

Muslims for Social Justice was honored to receive Self-Determination Award at the 33rd Annual MLK Support for Labor Banquet organized by Black Workers for Justice in Raleigh, NC, on April 2nd, 2016. This is the greatest achievement for Muslims for Social Justice. Black Workers for Justice is North Carolina-based Black Liberation organization that is at the fore-front of fighting racism, attacks on workers and other oppressions.

The 33rd Annual MLK Support for Labor Banquet featured a keynote speech by Bree Newsome, Black youth activist who removed Confederate flag from South Carolina capitol building. Activists from the anti-racism, labor union, environmental justice, LGBT rights and many other movements participated in the banquet. Here are pictures from the banquet.

Workers School Organized by Southern Workers Assembly

Muslims for Social Justice members participated in Workers School that was organized by Southern Workers Assembly. Workers and Union Representatives from different states participated in this school. Some of the organizations represented included UE Local 150, Raise Up, Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), Boston School Bus Drivers Union, United Auto Workers and many other organizaitons.

Here are pictures from the school on March 6, 2016.