PoliTeknik

Dear Sir or Madam,

The Middle East is passing through a new ring of fire. This geography, where many painful wars have been fought, has entered a period in which the Palestinian national struggle for independence has been pushed to the point of life and death. For the first time in history, a nation is being subjected to genocide on live television.

Every anti-war individual, every pro-independence person, on a personal or organised basis, is trying to develop a strategy of resistance to stop the destruction of Palestine, which is embodied in Gaza. The resistance of university students in the USA, protests with wide participation in the metropolises of the world, etc. are in a state of fluctuating but continuous action for this purpose.

Like every individual who refuses to be a bystander, we, too, have thought of an action, and we have thought of launching a “SISTER CITIES OF GAZA’ campaign, the rules of which can only be determined by democratic mass organisations. In this thought process, we exchanged views on the positive effects of such a campaign. At first, we tried to proceed with the example of a sister city initiative between Antiochia on the Orontes (Turkey), which was devastated by the earthquakes of 6 February, and Gaza.

We came up with the following picture:
•The idea of a sister city between Gaza and Antiochia is not an action limited to these two cities, but it represents a starting point.
•The idea of a sister city was quickly welcomed by interested parties in South Africa, Colombia and Turkey.
•The idea of sister cities also applies to countries that do not recognise Palestine, for example Gaza has a sister city in France. This
action would therefore support existing protests in states that condone genocide.
• The sister city practice has the potential to spread all over the world, which could indirectly contribute to the process of recognising Palestine as a state.
• For Antiochia, the idea of a sister city could be a moment of solidarity to stand against (human-induced) destruction, as human rights violations are evident in both cities.
• A Palestine Fraternity Day could be organised jointly with cities that agree to become Sister Cities. A day of action on a global scale.
• Sister City status should go hand in hand with the promotion of a permanent ceasefire and the subsequent protection of the Palestinian nation.

These are first thoughts. The democratic mass organisations that will join the campaign to give direction and ownership will be able to diversify these aims together. It is obvious that there is a situation that should go beyond the classical sister city interaction. Therefore, the dimension of solidarity should be much deeper.

With this letter of invitation, we invite you to the sister city campaign we wish to initiate. An online meeting will be organised to determine the stages of the campaign on a date to be notified to you later. We hope you will respond positively to this initiative.

Sincerely yours,