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Why Far-Left Groups Are Planning To Shut Down Black Friday Shopping For Gaza
For those who participate in the traditional Black Friday shopping, you might see pro-Palestinian people trying to prevent you from taking advantage of the deals. How do I know this? It is because a coalition of far-left organizations has declared on social media they will carry out direct actions during one of the busiest shopping days.
“Are you ready to disrupt business as usual? No celebrating while genocide takes place! This Black Friday, Nov 24, people around the world will boycott, disrupt & rally at commercial centers to #ShutItDown4Palestine,” the Act Now to Stop War & End Racism Coalition (ANSWER) posted on X.
Other groups involved in the planning of the nationwide events include the National Students for Justice, The People’s Forum, Palestinian Youth Movement, and Al Awda NY.
The infographic shared the groups says the purpose of the action is to “boycott, disrupt, [and] rally at commercial centers.”
In a video posted to YouTube, organizers explained why they believe disruptions at shopping centers is beneficial to Gaza.
“If we refuse to engage in this, honestly, bloody spectacle that is Black Friday, then we can really hit where it hurts, which is profits…What we’re doing basically through this boycott is sending a message to politicians to the capitalist class to the class of people who basically have interest in preserving the status quo and preserving U.S. imperialism and, by extension, genocide. We’re sending them as message to say that we refuse to go about our lives as usual while a genocide is happening,” said Miriam Osman, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement.
Osman goes on to say Black Friday is a good day to prevent shopping or to make it more inconvenient because the day is used to gage how the U.S. economy is preforming:
“We’re saying that we’re disrupting this economy. We’re distorting this picture of economic health because…we know that economic health is coming at the cost of the millions or billions of people who are living under the thumb of U.S. imperialism around the world.”
Education Director at The People's Forum Layan Sima Fuleihan said they calling for people to rally at commercial centers because “Black Friday is the most profitable day for the U.S. economy and people are understanding now that the U.S. economy is the main funder of Israel…It’s the task of all of us to make sure we do everything in our power to disrupt that flow of profit that is directly feeding the weapons and the military assaults that is massacring tens of thousands of people in Palestine.”
As for the temporary ceasefire between Hamas and Israel to get some of the Israeli hostages back, the groups organizing the “shut it down” events said, “Our fight for liberation transcends any temporary pause or humanitarian concessions. We call on people of conscience everywhere to Shut it Down on November 24 and to continue protesting, planning and implementing direct actions, and drive campaigns focused on our primary demands.”