Over 100,000 march in the Netherlands in solidarity with Palestine

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The Political Bureau of the New Communist Party of the Netherlands (NCPN) has issued a statement regarding the mass demonstration in solidarity with Palestine that was held in the country on May 18. Over 100,000 people marched:

On Sunday, May 18th, the NCPN participated in the Red Line demonstration along with more than 100,000 people. A record number of individuals took to the streets to oppose the Dutch government's support for Israel's genocidal aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza. A red line stretched through the streets of The Hague, demanding change. This massive mobilisation is not only an act of outrage but a clear rejection of a political system that prioritises imperialist alliances over human lives.

Since 7 October 2023, more than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli state, nearly 70 percent of whom were women and children. In response, working people, students, and others in the Netherlands have taken action: organising marches, occupations, and campaigns to sever institutional ties with Israel. These expressions of popular resistance are not met with dialogue but with repression: police violence, harsh crackdowns at universities, and government silence. Civil political parties and the Schoof government are either openly complicit or have failed to provide serious opposition to the government's support of Israeli aggression. The same civil parties, such as GroenLinks-PvdA, D66, Volt, SP, and others that participated in the demonstration yesterday, have actively contributed to framing the Palestinian movement as antisemitic and undermining the right to protest.

While wages stagnate and social services are eroded, the government continues to increase the military budget and fund imperialist projects. The same leaders who claim there is "no money" for housing, healthcare, or education effortlessly find billions for weapons, war, and support for the Israeli state. This is not merely mismanagement—it is the operational logic of imperialism, where the profits of large monopolies are placed above human needs and lives.

This is a crucial moment. The massive mobilisation shows that the population will not be intimidated and that the working class, in the Netherlands and worldwide, is ready to agitate, organise, and fight against injustice. Our strength lies in our numbers, in our solidarity, and in our commitment to collective struggle. We must not stop. The fight for the liberation of the Palestinian people is part of the broader struggle against imperialism and capitalism. To deepen and strengthen this struggle, we must remain politically aware: learning from history, recognising the systems that exploit us, and building the power to fight back together and ultimately achieve victory in creating a society based on solidarity.

The NCPN remains committed to ending the bloodshed and war crimes against innocent people in the region, to stopping the planned and systematic attacks on the Palestinian population by the Israeli army, to ending the criminal occupation of Palestinian territories by the Israeli state, to dismantling the apartheid regime in Israel, to securing the immediate release of all Palestinian and other political prisoners held in Israeli prisons, and to ensuring the return of all Palestinian refugees to their homes in accordance with UN resolutions. We unwaveringly support the struggle for the recognition of the Palestinian state.

Freedom for the Palestinian people!