Azzam Tamimi, a British-Palestinian PhD in Political Science from the University of Westminster, UK, gave a lecture to university students in Gwangju on 18th and Seoul on 22nd in South Korea.
Azzam said, “I saw the photos displayed at the May 18 Democracy Square in Gwangju. I found that human history is repeating itself, that the struggle between justice and injustice, between death and resistance, is repeating itself”.
He began by explaining how Israel was founded. He pointed out that the Zionists thought that having a state for the Jews would make them safe, but the direction of the Zionists became extreme, and Palestine became a conflict zone.
“The West is trying to give the impression that the Palestinian issue is between Muslims and Jews, that it’s between Muslims and Jews, that they should divide the land into two states, and that’s the two-state solution,” he said, criticizing that “the people who came up with Zionism weren’t even Jewish, it was created by atheists to justify colonization.
He also emphasized that “the issue of Zionism in Palestine is not a question of how to divide the territory,” but “racism, division by God-given rights,” and “what Palestinians and their supporters want is to end Zionism, which serves imperialism.
One student asked, “I wonder how the new people who were born and raised in Gaza are living and thinking?” Azzam replied, “The Palestinian demand for liberation has never weakened, it has only gotten stronger. This is because every parent teaches their children about what happened in Palestine and those who were victimized continue to be victimized.”
“I think that if you are Islamic, you have to fight together, but I think we have to go beyond that,” he said, “It’s a fight against racism and imperialism. This is why university students in Europe and the US are occupying campuses and struggling against authorities,” he said.
Another student said, “South Korea is effectively colonized and subjected to American-style censorship. We want to ask how we can resist this,” said another student.
In response, Azzam said, “The US is no one’s ally or friend. American politics is anti-people and hopeless. There are US military bases all over the world. There are 65 in the Arab world alone,” he said. “The US was driven out of Afghanistan, Vietnam, and the Taliban,” he emphasized.
“Today’s struggle is very global. It’s not controlled by any particular capital, it’s a global struggle of the people,” he said, adding, “What’s important is that we are together, that we are connected,” and “We have different perspectives on discrimination against oppressed people, but we agree on something. Whether you are Muslim, Buddhist, socialist, or whatever, we must fight together for the values of humanity,” he emphasized.
The students responded to Mr. Azzam’s passionate speech with a round of applause. Immediately after the lecture, the students held up banner and slogans with “FREE PALESTINE” and chanted together.
