Pictures from Last Saturday's Protest at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood
In Hollywood a grand celebration of 60 years of Israel's existence was marked at the prestigious Kodak Theater filled with entertainers and celebrities to push the message that Israel’s past and present should be honored. Even Steven Spielberg was invited.
That was the Hollywood fantasy. Outside over 40 demonstrators at the theater made it clear that this was a so-called ‘celebration’ attempting to hide the brutal and genocidal nature of the real history of Israel. “What about the massacres of children killed by Israel,” shouted Mazen Almoukdad, press spokesperson for the event and member of Al-Awda Right to Return Coalition, one of the organizations that sponsored the rally along with the Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid - Southern California, Free Palestine Alliance, International Action Center, National Council of Arab-Americans and the Palestinian American Women’s Association.
Participants included Bev Tang representing the international Filipino social justice organization BAYAN USA; Martha Rojas representing the May Day Unity Coalition, the immigrant rights organization responsible for security at the large May 1st rally; and Don White, member of CISPES-LA.
Speakers at the rally reminded participants going into the Kodak Theater about the role of Israel as the primary agent of U.S. imperialist interests in the region and maintaining an illegal occupation, violating international UN laws and practicing genocide and ethnic cleansing since 1948. One Black man passing by stopped when he heard one of the speakers make the connection between apartheid in South Africa and the struggle against Israeli apartheid. He then joined the rally. With constant chants of “60 Years of Occupation – 60 Years of Apartheid” and “From Iraq to Palestine Occupation is a Crime” ringing up and down Hollywood Boulevard the fantasy Zionists were trying to portray did not go unchallenged, turning into a headache for some participants and a wake-up call for others.
To attend or find out about the upcoming Sixth Annual Al-Awda convention this Friday to Sunday, May 16-18, go to www.al-awda.org.
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