Massive Madison Protest Called Out Direct, Active US Role In The Grotesque Gaza Genocide

"When I see the elderly getting killed, I see my parents. When I see homes and memories getting destroyed, I see my own home and family."

Photos and poster by Mark Taylor / DeMOCKracy.ink
Free to use.

By Mark L. Taylor
DeMOCKracy.ink (12/11/23)

I headed down to Madison this past Saturday (12/9) to join a rally and march in opposition to the US/Israeli genocide in Gaza. I got there a little early to find only a couple dozen people standing around and wondered if there would be much of a gathering. But as the one o’clock starting time grew near, people arrived from all directions, carrying signs, banners and Palestinian flags. Microphones were plugged in and organizers quickly got everything cranked up and moving.

I had done up a special protest sign dedicated to Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and my Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), who are chummy hand-in-hand compatriots in the US/Israeli genocide … and mutual recipients of large bundles of Israeli Zionist lobby funds, making up the top part of their donors. Funny how the two parties in congress can never come together to provide Americans with anything they need, like affordable universal healthcare, but are glued up and wrapped together into one toxic bubbling blob when it comes to sending off billions in aid and bombs to Israel … whose people, BTW, have universal healthcare.

Throughout the sea of protest signs and banners there were many signs expressing Jewish support of the people of Gaza and calling for ceasefire. One of the speakers was an older Jewish woman who had been named after a child relative killed in the Holocaust. As she concluded her remarks, she and the Muslim American woman leading the rally embraced.

There was a wide diversity of people across all ages showing unity in a call for the immediate end of the murderous assault on the Palestinian people.

Many of the chants called out Pres. “Genocide Joe” Biden and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) for their blank-eyed support for the flood of US money, weapons and intelligence resources, along with diplomatic support and cover for the fascist Zionist Israeli government. Both receive massive funding from Israeli Zionist groups like the Jewish American Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the JStreetPAC. Bankrolled by billionaires and Israeli money, such groups bankroll and prop up corrupt Democrats and Republicans alike, which explains the almost unheard of bipartisan unity we are seeing on funding and arming the genocide.

While most news outlets described the crowd as being in the “hundreds”, my sense is that The Wisconsin State Journal (12/10) story headline, Thousands gather at the Capitol to demand justice for Palestinians was most accurate. From my admittedly limited perspective from various points in the rally and march, it appeared that at least a thousand showed up.

The paper quoted Sileen Alomari, representing Students for Justice in Palestine, a pro-Palestinian group on the UW-Madison campus, noting how the stories on the daily bombing, destruction and murder by Israeli forces in Gaza are personal to her, “When I see videos of children in Gaza being killed, crying, yelling, I see my nephews and nieces. When I see the elderly getting killed, I see my parents. When I see homes and memories getting destroyed, I see my own home and family.

“I’m not with Palestine simply because I’m Arab or Muslim — I’m with Palestine because I’m human.”

The WSJ reported Esty Dinur of the Madison branch of Jewish Voices for Peace saying, “Jewish teachings say that there is nothing more important than to save lives. It is horrifying, for me and many other Jews, to watch Israel using more than the equal of two nuclear bombs on a very small area and taking so many lives. This is against Jewish values.”

Fittingly, the protest occurred in the middle of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, celebrating the end of another occupation.

The rally was organized by a broad coalition of labor, political, activist and peace groups. It had the same energy we saw during the Madison Uprising protests that got so much national attention in 2001.

Taking it to the war profiteers, both corporate & political

The group marched off the Capitol Square and a couple blocks down East Washington Avenue to rally in front of the headquarters of the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce building, to bring attention to state war contractors profiting directly off the murder of innocent civilians, infants and children in Gaza. One such company, Astronautics of Oak Creek, was featured in a powerful handout provided by one of the organizing groups, detailing the company’s direct involvement in — and profiting off — American war crimes and the current genocide. (ACTION ALERT: If you want to contact Astronautics to comment on the immorality of their money making, you can contact them at their website.)

The group then marched to the high-rise, swanky lakeside condo Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) perches in, chanting about her role in mass murder. The narrow street made for a perfect canyon in which the anti-Baldwin and Biden chants echoed, thundered and reverberated. A number of residents peered out windows or came out on their balconies, waving or holding a up a fist of solidarity in support. Literally, the rabble were where they needed to be, at the ruler’s doorstep … and raising hell.

On the way home, I heard a news report on how Biden had the day before sidestepped congress to send off a shipment of almost 14,000 tank shells to the Israeli military, to — no doubt — pound the remaining half of Gaza into bloody rubble .

I cursed his name: Genocide Joe.

*****

State Dept. Official Who Quit Over Gaza, Slams U.S. Weapons Sale & Systemic Israeli Sexual Assault Of Prisoners

This interview includes essential information and context about the Gaza genocide, but especially note Mr. Paul’s comments at the 5:50-minute mark, where he talks about the rape of a young Palestinian boy by Israeli military officers. As with perverse, official US military and CIA agency policy, the sexual abuse of young Palestinians is a special feature and technique of torture and interrogation by Israeli Defense units. In both the US and Israel, sexual torture of captives is a feature, not an unfortunate flaw of American policy and what our governments have become. — Mark Taylor

Democracy Now (12/11/23)

The Biden administration has bypassed Congress to approve an "emergency" sale of over $100 million of tank ammunition to Israel. Congress was notified just hours after the United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a Gaza ceasefire. We get response from Josh Paul, former director of congressional and public affairs for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, which oversees arms transfers to Israel and other nations. Paul resigned from the State Department in October to protest the Biden administration's push to increase arms sales to Israel amid its ongoing siege on Gaza.

*****

Beyond The Headlines” — Israel, Hamas War Crimes EXPLAINED

Don’t you just love how Israel directs people to "safe" zones ... then coldly bombs the hell out of them. The war crimes of Israel are many and because of our active financial, weapons support and diplomatic cover, the United States is actually the biggest war criminal in the world.

This video gives a good overview of international law and what constitutes war crimes, but it ignores the very active role of the United States in Israel’s genocidal policy and activities in Gaza and the West Bank.

Every member of the Biden administration and congress -- and all who work for them -- are guilty of war crimes. Through their silence and support for the genocide, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and my Rep. Michael Gallagher (R-WI) are bipartisan war criminals. Both are well funded by Israeli Zionist political action committees. Their silence is consent. And when it comes to war crimes, silence, especially by those elected to power is complicity, itself a war crime. From Biden on down -- Republican, Democrat or Independent -- if any candidate has played a role in this genocide they are a war criminal.

I, for one, will never vote for a war criminal.

Mark Taylor
DeMOCKracy.ink