At this stage of the Palestine solidarity movement, it’s hard to claim that our primary task is still “educating the masses.” A genocide has been live-streamed to the world; even those trying to avoid it on social media can’t escape it on the street. People everywhere know about Palestine. It’s also hard to argue that Zionism persists because people “lack the facts.” Most people aren’t Zionists; many are at least sympathetic to Palestinians—but they feel powerless.
The most common question we hear is: “What can I do?”
There are a thousand answers, and whether they’re concrete and achievable will determine the size and strength of our movement. Our goal should be to help as many people as possible break their silence and get organized—not by shaming them, but by giving them specific ways to act. In short: a strategy of action.
To build a mass movement that breaks the silence and pushes for real liberation of Palestine—beyond the recognition of a Palestinian state—the Palestine solidarity movement is pursuing two main strategies:
Vertical
Work through established structures and state institutions—DGB, IG Metall, ver.di—and parties such as Die Linke to shift their positions on Palestine, push for parliamentary change, and encourage their members to join more revolutionary currents.
Horizontal
Build grassroots organizations and independent worker unions, connect struggles, and invest in community building to mobilize society across issues—treating the Palestinian struggle not as unique, but as part of a shared, collective struggle.
While both strategies differ greatly in method, they are ultimately complementary. A group may focus on one, but its success is tied to the success of others pursuing the other. What matters is having a strategy—and remaining critical of how we implement it, and how others do.
This isn’t competition; it’s how we learn what works and what doesn’t. No group should exist in isolation. Open collaboration is essential. Openness to critique from ourselves and others is crucial.
On Organizing
In the current leftist political landscape, many groups invoke workers’ revolution to justify working through state institutions. The result has been a dilution of the core message of Palestinian liberation in hopes of securing those institutions’ base. With heavy reliance on state channels—and limited engagement with communities—the project reads as reformist, whatever the rhetoric.
On the other hand, some anti-racist groups gatekeep by insisting only those who share the victim’s identity may speak. This blocks the connection of struggles and confines each to a “safe space.” In effect, it fragments society along identity, gender, sexuality, religion, and race—functioning as a counter-productive logic. The result is that the majority remains a majority while the rest remain isolated as minorities, instead of uniting to challenge existing power.
Meanwhile, human-rights and peace-centered groups focus on awareness campaigns, lobbying, and charity—hoping appeals to humanity will suffice to correct those very failings. In the name of “peace,” they often sidestep the roots of the conflict, echoing calls for “coexistence” rather than co-resistance.
On BDS
Within the context of Palestine solidarity movements, BDS is a central organization that provides target lists as well as principles and guidelines. It identifies complicit institutions, companies, and governments—including many that are not consumer-facing (e.g., the arms industry)—and turns them into prioritized targets for organized action. The task is to build leverage that ends complicity, not to reduce the struggle to skipping brands like Coca-Cola. Both horizontal and vertical strategies offer complementary ways to operationalize these targets and escalate pressure.
BDS also supplies a clear compass: anti-normalization, an explicit anti-racist stance, and a call for co-resistance with the oppressed rather than performative “coexistence.” Organized action is what makes goals achievable. BDS provides the targets and principles; coordinated campaigns provide the force to end ties and end complicity.
Reducing BDS to a consumer boycott is harmful to the movement because it obscures the need for a tangible strategy that produces tangible actions and effects. BDS should not be understood as limited to Palestine solidarity alone; its method can extend across struggles. There is significant overlap between complicity in Palestine and complicity elsewhere, further underscoring the connectedness of the struggles.
On Tadamun
Tadamun has emerged as a grassroots, initiative-based, decentralized group. For such a group, a horizontal strategy is the natural fit; it mirrors how Tadamun is organized. Tadamun does not claim a definitive roadmap for Palestinian liberation, but it presents a clear alternative to the dominant currents in the movement.
Tadamun should practice explicit anti-racist organizing that links struggles in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, and beyond, engaging directly with marginalized and racialized communities. This grows the movement horizontally. Apply BDS principles consistently—not only to Palestine—by advancing co-resistance rather than “co-existence.”
With that said, we need to keep questioning ourselves and our movement—what works, what doesn’t, and what we’re aiming for. We should not let Tadamun become a monolith or grow stale. We need active, constructive criticism of our actions, goals, and strategies. If Tadamun is to become a true movement, it must remain adaptable.
Hinterlasse eine Antwort zu BDS: Resistance against Apartheid – tadamun Antwort abbrechen