Hello, comrades and siblings from across the globe. This is a message of support and solidarity from several unified collectives and individuals of ethnically diverse, international socialists and progressives of faith, inspired by the Abrahamic religions to work together for a better world.
Recently the ongoing issue of racist violence and police lynchings has resurfaced in the international public consciousness, sparked by the extrajudicial murders of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, Dreasjon ‘Sean’ Reed in Indianapolis, and Breonna Taylor of Louisville at the hands of white militants and police.
This form of violence has been ongoing since the onset of colonialism and chattel slavery over five hundred years ago. Despite the attempts of the white supremacist ruling class to conceal this issue, public awareness has become more widespread thanks to technology and the efforts of Black activists and their allies to bring attention to this issue.
As socialists and progressives we are called to address the inequities of civilization; as people of faith, we are called to fight for justice, uphold the God-given rights of all peoples, and safeguard the vulnerable. Through slavery, Jim Crow laws, voter suppression, economic inequality, educational inequalities to systemic violence, the white supremacist ruling class has long subjugated Black and Brown people on an international level. Black America has never been treated equitably by ‘White’ European America. In a nation where, according to the Washington Post’s official counter, approximately 1,252 Black people have been shot by police since 1 Jan, 2015, how can any Black person be safe? The anti-Black violence happening in America and throughout the world is inextricably linked to other acts of racist, ethnocentric, and intolerant terrorism committed by white oppressors throughout the world, such as the recent Antisemitic massacres of synagogues in America and Germany, the anti-Muslim attacks on a masjid in New Zealand, the killings and imprisonment of Latin American refugees at the American border, the ongoing disappearings, sexual assaults, and murders of the Indigenous people of the Americas, the Antisemitic police killings in Phoenix, Arizona, the ongoing lethal occupation of Palestine at the hands of the Zionist occupation, the multinational attacks on Kurds, as well as countless other atrocities.
Protesters, taking to the streets in order to promote justice and fight inequality, are also targeted by racist violence. A number of protesters have been intentionally hit by cars and in some cases have died. Police and white militants have also assaulted and killed a number of protesters throughout the United States. In Seattle, the city government instructed police officers to turn off their body cameras to conceal the use of deadly force. As the violence escalates toward Black and Brown people, the politicians and media largely condemn the fight for justice and try to suppress public knowledge of these attacks. President Trump threatened on Twitter, Facebook, and at a public address inside the White House Rose Garden to have protesters killed. The national guard has been activated to suppress the movement for justice, a lethal tactic historically used to further militant and state-sanctioned oppression in the United States and abroad. Support from people throughout the world is needed in order to help save the lives of oppressed people struggling for liberation.
As people of faith, and members of a prophetic revolutionary Jewish, Christian and Muslim movement that spans many ages and all continents, we are inspired by the example of Moses, who organized his people to rise up against the ruling class of slave owners led by Pharaoh. We are inspired by Elijah, who called his people to rise up against the dictator Achav and his ideologues, the prophets of Ba’al. We are inspired by Jesus, who rioted against the commercial elite in the temple, and against the Roman Empire that occupied Palestine. We are inspired by Muhammad who organized his comrades and the oppressed and exploited masses of the Arabian Peninsula to rise up against the power of the ruling Quraishi elite.
Just as the prophets rebelled against the idolatrous law of their age—the worshiping of rulers as gods, the propaganda portraying the hierarchy of society as divinely ordained, the justification of oppression and slavery by calling it the will of the gods—so we too must call out the idolatry of today. The worship of wealth and power, the veneration of banks and stock exchanges, the seemingly almighty status of financial institutions—these are the modern equivalents of the kings and slave lords that the prophets rose up against. And in accordance with their example, we must continue this hallowed Abrahamic tradition, and fight against oppression and injustice in our time and place.
Our creator calls us to fight injustice and inequality, and to protect human life. As socialists and progressives who strive to create a world which protects the inherent rights and freedom bestowed by our creator’s mercy upon us all, we have an obligation to support the fight for justice and liberty for Black and Brown people, in the United States of America, and across the globe. We must do all we can to support and further the struggle for racial justice, until all racialized people are free from all forms of imperialistic, colonial oppression.
We are at our strongest when united in love and in the pursuit of justice. Our prayers, our support, and our solidarity in every way possible are with people of color in America and across the world. Our collectives stand with racialized people in America and throughout the world.
Black Lives Matter!