As part of my commitment to bringing justice-oriented voices from Spain to a broader audience, especially in the context of the ongoing struggle for justice in Palestine, I am providing this English translation of remarks made by journalist Olga Rodriguez at an October 20, 2023 public event held in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Held in Madrid, the event was organized by Anticapitalistas, a socialist organization in Spain that seeks to promote “an eco-socialist and feminist democracy in which society as a whole controls the springs of economic, political and cultural power.” It featured six speakers as well as a poetry and musical performance.

View the full event (in Spanish).

The Palestine solidarity movement in Spain is strong - certainly one of the strongest in Europe - and growing. The country has seen a wide range of solidarity events during the ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza, with organizers and protesters calling urgently for a ceasefire, an end to Israel’s genocidal actions against the Palestinian people, and an end to European complicity in those actions.

Some of the hundreds of people who attended the Palestine solidarity event held at the ECOOO cooperative in Madrid. (Photo: Anticapitalistas)

Text of Olga Rodriguez’s remarks

Thank you for being here.

Yesterday we saw how the European Parliament voted on a resolution that called for a humanitarian corridor, supported Israel’s right to self-defense, respecting international humanitarian law, but without any mention of the systematic violations taking place in recent days in the Gaza Strip.

There was also something striking in the resolution that was taking place since the first day of this massacre in Gaza, and that is that there is no call for a ceasefire. And it was approved. In a way, we can say that what the European Parliament did was approve the continuation of the war. And whoever wants to can look and see who supported it and who didn’t. It seems to me to be a historic vote.

Journalist Olga Rodriguez speaks at the Palestine solidarity event in Madrid. (Photo: Screen capture from the event video.)

At the same time, we see how the United States since the first day has claimed Israel’s right and duty to defend itself, and there has been no condemnation of the Israeli crimes. That’s what is happening these days. When Brazil presents a sensible resolution with a condemnation of the Hamas attacks, calling for peace talks, calling for humanitarian corridors, calling for a ceasefire, the United States votes against it, vetoes it.

We see constantly that there is a double standard. What is said and applied regarding the illegal Russian occupation of Ukraine doesn’t count for Israel. So we see that all the arguments that the West puts forward are really not honest, and that depending on who is the perpetrator, either they count or they don’t count.

This is the context in which we find ourselves in these moments. And it’s a context that takes us back to 2001, when the September 11 attacks happened in the United States. And in the face of those attacks, they decided to begin the so-called war on terror and open the doors to the systematic violation of international humanitarian law with illegal detention, illegal invasions, torture, secret prisons, carrying out more terror. This methodology, and these systematic violations of international humanitarian law, far from improving things, just made things that much worse. In other words, the damage that the war on terror provoked was much greater than the September 11 attacks themselves.

But it’s also that all of this ended up militarizing our minds. Because they are telling us again that the only way to resolve questions of injustice and problems in the world is through the path of war. They are telling us that those frameworks based in international law, in international humanitarian law, in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, and in the culture of peace that we need now more than ever, that the Palestinian people need now more than ever.

And all of that has led to these days where they want the massacre of the Palestinian people to be normalized, for us to treat it as normal. Every day we are seeing how they are killing civilians, and they are committing a crime against humanity through their blockade of humanitarian aid and through their forced internal displacement [of Palestinians in Gaza]. This includes public statements by members of the Israeli government saying, suggesting, or even proposing directly that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians go to the Sinai Desert and build homes starting with tents. Obviously this has reminded the Palestinians of the Nakba of 1948 and the Naksa of 1967.

There is something perverse in the justification of these crimes. And there is still no effort toward peace for Palestine. And this is why we are here today - because we believe in peace, because there must be efforts for peace in Palestine and everywhere in the world. Because what happens in the Middle East, on the other side of the world, has repercussions for us. And we are seeing protests in all of the Arab countries like we haven’t seen since the Arab revolts. They have been sending me messages from the Egyptian border with Gaza, from Rafah, hundreds of young people went there to show their solidarity with the people in Gaza. Today Cairo [the streets were] full of people, Jordan, the West Bank, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon.

But also many Jewish people. The other day Naomi Klein highlighted what could be, in her opinion, the largest demonstration of the Jewish community ever in the United States saying “no in my name, no to this massacre,” calling for a ceasefire, sitting down in the Capitol and saying, “we’re not leaving until Congress approves a call for a ceasefire.” This is very important. Hector’s voice is important, and also the voice of the Jewish population in Israel that says “not in my name” is important, and we need to listen to it. The families that are victims of the Hamas attacks is some cases these days are saying, “the last thing my brother or my father would have wanted is for them to kill even one Palestinian in his name as they are doing now.”

This is the way: the way of peace, the way of protest, the way of civil society mobilizing and saying to those who govern us, “Like this, no. More war, no.” They need to seek peace talks. And human rights, human rights, human rights, human rights for the Palestinian people.

Thank you for being here.

More about Olga Rodriguez

Olga Rodriguez is an award-winning Spanish journalist who currently writes for the digital outlet El Diario. She is a specialist in international information, Middle East, and human rights. Her recent articles include: