New Delhi: Under the umbrella of ‘Indians for Palestine’, a group of concerned citizens on March 7 held a public meeting in Delhi to highlight the voices of Indian workers who have been directly impacted by Israel’s attacks on Gaza.Author and activist Arundhati Roy sent a written message of solidarity which was read out at the meeting. “Racism is of course the keystone of any act of genocide. The rhetoric of the highest officials of the Israeli state has, ever since Israel came into existence, dehumanised Palestinians and likened them to vermin and insects, just like the Nazis once dehumanised Jews. It is as though that evil serum never went away and is now only being recirculated. The “Never” has been excised from that powerful slogan “Never Again”. And we are left only with “Again”,” her note said.Shiv Kumar of the Manesar General Workers’ Union spoke at the event, about the lack of guarantees from the Indian government for the protection of its own workers being sent to Israel and who number in their thousands. He said Indian workers face harsh conditions and are denied their rights. He also alleged that because they were not getting even minimum wages in India, Indian workers were having to resort to go to Israel.Maya John, who teaches at Delhi University, laid out the shared history of India and Palestine in terms of their experience as colonised people. This shared history makes it incumbent on the working people of India to defend Palestinian rights. There is a need today for an international solidarity movement that is free from governmental control, she said.Speakers also criticised the targeting of journalists in Gaza and the difficulties in reporting from there. Journalist Sujata Madhok cited figures from the Committee to Protect Journalists on how 90 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed, 16 injured, 4 missing and 25 arrested by Israeli forces since October 7 last year.Arka Rajpandit of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions expressed solidarity with Palestinian workers. He also pointed out that between 2006 and 2022, Gaza’s GDP had plummeted by 27% and, in recent times, according to the ILO, prices of essential commodities have shot up from 300% to over 2000%.
