Women theworld over suffer the daily impact of the global market, of chess games playedwith our lives by the rich and powerful over who has access to political powerand resources, of military economies, and of the criminalization and otherviolences inflicted on those who stand in the way of power and profit.

The Zioniststate of Israel participates in all of these violences.  The impact on women, children and families ofbuilding an exclusive, Jewish state in Palestine takes so many forms:

Palestinianwomen visiting, defending and supporting there sons, brothers, fathers, and uncleswho are the 60 percent of Palestinian men who end up as political prisoners atsome point in their lives.  Women whomaintain the Palestinian culture that Zionism tries so hard to destroy. Womenwho confront Israeli soldiers on a daily basis who are attempting to take theirland, their houses, their families. Women who rebuild life after Israel's assault on Gaza.

Meanwhile,Israeli families are being imbued with, implementing and inheriting nationalistmessages of racism, fear and hate, and spreading around the world is the Islamophobicdiscrimination and targeting that Zionism promotes and encourages.

In all of ourmovements for justice across the globe, including the incredible bursts of hopeand possibility spreading across North Africa and Southwest Asia now, women,queers and trans people, and moreso those of color, make movement happen.  We, all in our own and specific ways, understandso viscerally the impact of bigotry, chauvinism and racism that fuel andjustify the creation of haves and have nots. This understanding has always given us the motivation, courage andstrength to survive and resist, and to not be interested in the kind of powerthat is used against us, but to be the foundation of the mass movements thatare the power behind our collective liberation.