Transnational solidarity campaign with Lebanon
The last gathering should have been held in Lebanon, but due to Israel’s aggression, it was changed to Marseille a few months before. We wanted to do something to support comrades from Lebanon who should have been with us and had worked hard to help establish the network and the gathering, but instead stayed at home to support their communities through the war.
Starting from November 2024, just one month after the end of the gathering, we started organizing from Canada to Chile, passing by France and Mexico, a transnational solidarity campaign that took place in 13 different locations. Through this initiative, we wanted to continue to link our struggles and battles but also to test our strength and our collective capacity of action as a nascent mutual aid network. We coordinated demonstrations, screenings, discussions, meals, workshops and fundraisers with our comrades in Lebanon. We got together to listen to their stories, better understand the situation there and spread the word about the diversity of their methods of resistance; food sovereignty, urban shelters, emergency kitchens or media work to counteract Israeli propaganda and respond to the neoliberal corrupt government.
Through this campaign, we realised that what happens on the other side of the world affects and transforms us. This first action has also shown us that our material strength is already considerable. In barely a month of organizing, we have raised 8000 euros, a sum which will hopefully support the struggles of our comrades in Lebanon (Buzuruna Juzuruna, Hostel Beyrouth and Beit Aam). As the network develops its organisational structure and strengthens its operational capacities, future campaigns can have much more impact. Better pool our resources and our needs, and help each other at a grassroots level and across borders, guided by the conviction, stronger than ever, that only the peoples save the peoples.
We recommend this podcast from The Fire These Times if you are interested in knowing more about mutual aid initiatives in Lebanon: