Palestinian activists working in the imperial core travel a difficult road – full of betrayals, gaslighting and outright repression. Political struggle truly committed to the liberation principles of the right of return and the right to armed resistance, is neither easily understood nor acknowledged. How many times have such activists been labelled divisive or extremist, how many times has that previously supportive politician suddenly distanced themselves, and how many times has it required the witness of a celebrity or a ”more respectable” source to verify what has been said and documented a hundred times over by Palestinians.
That is why the Fedayeen Football league that came to the West Coast this summer is a welcome break – it combines like-minded activists with community building, and all in a challenge to the policies of big sports and FIFA. Groups in Vancouver and Seattle, both FIFA host cities, have embraced the league.
In Vancouver, the most recent game on July 11 aimed to bring “football back to the people” along with fundraising for the Palestine Sports Network that does programs for kids in refugee camps in Lebanon and Gaza. It brought together a diverse crowd of supporters, young and old, from multiple communities. It had a clear sense of political purpose but also gave attendees that feeling of community that is crucial to building long-term solidarity work.
This was Vancouver’s second event and along with the football games, it featured a literature and merchandise table and a raffle with prizes donated by local businesses and supporters. It was a respite from the heightened police repression that has occurred in the city during the official FIFA hosting, most recently at protests against the visit of Marcos Jr. (not that the Vancouver police need an excuse to go after protestors, especially pro-Palestinian or anti-imperialist ones).
As Lawrence from Vancouver noted: “I see the Fedayeen Football League as not just a good vehicle for this community building and for publicizing the Palestine Sports Network’s campaigns, but as part of the foundation for building a revolutionary youth and people with iron determination and strength to truly break the chains of imperialism from within.”
Andreas from the Seattle area said that they have been doing almost weekly games for 2 months and now faced “Zionist hate articles demanding we aren’t allowed to use parks in the city of Seattle. Describing us as ‘terrorists who glorify violence’, I even received a message from city of Seattle parks and rec on instagram that we should use permits going forward when we advertise events.”
He added: “Football is the most popular sport in the world and we’re reclaiming it. This is why we did the peoples game before the Iran Egypt game.”
And in the New York/New Jersey area, their July 18 “Futbol Final” callout says: “We demand the zionist entity out of FIFA now, and refuse FIFA’s complicity in genocide!”
As Lawrence concluded: “The World Cup has become a circus and a venue for the most ostentatious displays of wealth, power and abundance while so many around the world who love the game are starved, killed, maimed, and dispossessed for the sake of that wealth and power. Taking it back, rather than leaving it to be monopolized by our enemies, is one of the most important tasks our generation must take on.”
Our role as solidarity activists should be to support what the Palestinian resistance groups on the ground have called for, not to advise or rebrand their objectives. To acknowledge that the Palestinians (and most global south struggles) have far more experience and understanding in strategy and tactics in general, and certainly for their own conditions in specific.
Armed struggle is not only legitimate but necessary. That is the reality; it should not only be recognized as a core principle in the Palestinian struggle, but further its pivotal role in keeping that struggle alive should be saluted.
As noted by Hanna Kawas, chair of Canada Palestine Association who came out to the July 11 Fedayeen Football: “Any talk of disarming the resistance, either here in the belly of the beast or back home in Palestine, Lebanon or more recently Iraq, is an act of treason to the sacred cause of liberation, to the people and their struggles.”
Support for armed resistance is the new fault line. Here in the imperial core, our job is to help the solidarity movement understand that Palestinians are not a charity case, that we defend the armed resistance and that the cause of Palestine is championed through principles, not opportunism.
By Marion Kawas
Published in Al Mayadeen English, July 17 Fedayeen Football League | Al Mayadeen English