The Call for a World without Walls

(Credits: Stop the Wall archive.)

“There is no word for wall in our language. We’ve asked our elders. We have searched. There is no word for wall because there shouldn’t be walls.”

Verlon M. Jose, Tohono O’odham tribal vice chairperson. The Tohono O’odham people’s land is divided by the US/Mexico border.

From Israel’s apartheid Wall on Palestinian land to the US Wall of Shame on indigenous land at the border with Mexico – almost 70 walls across all continents are today ripping through people’s lives and lands as they fortify often unilaterally defined borders or limits of state control. They cause thousands of deaths every year and destroy means of livelihoods and hope for many more. They are monuments of expulsion, exclusion, oppression, discrimination and exploitation.

In 2002 Israel started building its up to 8-meter high and over 700km long Wall on Palestinian occupied land as an integral part of its policy to confiscate over 60% of the West Bank and imprison the Palestinian people on not more than 13% of their historical homeland. This adds to its wall surrounding and completely isolating the Palestinian Gaza Strip since 1994. Palestinians have never stopped resisting these illegal Walls and the continuous expulsion of their people from their land and in 2003 called for November 9 – the day the Berlin Wall fell – as International Day against Israel’s apartheid Wall.

Today it is time we unite against the global proliferation of walls – we call for November 9 as Global Day of Action for a World without Walls.

Israel has been central in promoting this new global era of walls and the US has risen to back it up: From India, to Saudi Arabia, to Turkey, Western Sahara and Europe, today, the number of walls designed to forcibly define and seal borders has almost tripled over the last two decades. These walls bar the right to freedom of movement and self-determination. They have become are cornerstones in a world where wars, militarisation and exclusion are to substitute justice, freedom and equality.

Walls have not only risen to fortify borders of state control but demarcate the boundaries between the rich, the powerful, the socially acceptable and the ‘other’. They increasingly dominate our cities and societies. Tens of thousands linger as prisoners of conscience or under illegal and inhumane conditions behind prison walls. Visible and invisible walls, as is the case of the blockade of Cuba, aim to bar us from attaining economic, political, social and environmental justice.

Where they do not outright promote these walls, governments de facto condone their existence, while a veritable industry of walls literally makes a killing out of all of this. Selling their ideology, methodology and technology corporations team up in arms fairs, biddings and seminars to profit from the construction of these walls.

As people affected by these walls and as movements that pose justice, freedom and equality as our tools to resolve the problems of this planet, we join the call for the 9th of November as a Global Day of Action for a World without Walls.

We will unite in mobilisation to:

• Raise awareness about the devastating effect of the increasing dominance of walls in our world and our lives
• Create solidarity and links among the people affected by the walls and movements fighting the walls
• Demand an immediate end to the walls that expel, exclude, oppress, discriminate and exploit
• Resist and defund those that profit from the walls

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Signatories:

From Palestine:

Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall)

Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC)

Palestinian Consultative Staff for Developing NGOs (25 civil society organizations)

Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON)

Palestinian General Union for Charitable society (PGCUS) (400 civil society organizations)

Palestinian Land Defense Coalition (11 civil society organizations)

Palestinian Non Governmental Institute PNIN (37 civil society organizations)

Palestinian Non Governmental organizations Network (132 civil society organizations)

The Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem

The National and Islamic Forces in the West Bank (the coordination body of Palestinian political parties)

Addameer – Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association

Al-Amal Association for Childhood and Development

Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ)

Arab Agronomists Association

Arab Center for Agricultural Development (ACAD)

Arab Women Union Society – Nablus

Association for Farmers’ Rights and for the Preservation of the Environment

Association Jadayel – Palestinian Center for Culture, Arts and creativity

Burj Al-LuqLuq Social Center Society

Defense for Children DCI – Palestine

First Sareyyet Ramallah

Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute (HDIP)

Huriyyat – Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights

Ibrahimiya kindergarten

Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center

Land Research Center

MA’AN Development Center

Mother school

MUSAWA – Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession

Ni’lin Society for Development and Community Work

Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy

Palestine Youth Forum

Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC )

Palestinian Counseling Center

Palestinian Family Protection

Palestinian Farmers Society-Tulkarem

Palestinian Farmers’ Union (PFU)

Palestinian Federation of New Unions

Palestinian Hydrology Group

Palestinian Postal services workers union (PPSWU)

Palestinian Women Development Center

Palestinian Working Women’s Society for Development (PWWSD)

Palestinian Youth Union

Popular Art Center

Popular Council to Protect the Jordan Valley

Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC)

Save the Jordan Valley Campaign

SAWA women organization

Union Of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC)

Women Center for Legal Aid and Consulting (WCLAC)

Women’s Studies Centre (WSC)

Youth Development Association

Youth Against Settlements

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From Mexico:

Coordinadora de Solidaridad con Palestina – Corsopal (Coordination in Solidarity with Palestine)

Asamblea de los Pueblos en Defensa del Territorio, la Educación Pública, Laica, Gratuita y los Derechos Humanos (Assembly of the Peoples in Defense of the Territory, Public, Secular and Free Education and Human Rights)
Asamblea Permanente de los Pueblos de Morelos (Permanent Assembly of the Peoples of Morelos)
Bases Magisteriales (Teachers Collective) de Tabasco, Sección XXIX de Tabasco
Bases Magisteriales Democráticas (Democratic Teachers Collective) de Quintana Roo, Sección XXV de Q. Roo
Caja Popular de Ahorro (Popular Savings Bank) “Emiliano Zapata”
Centro de Atención en Derechos Humanos a la Mujer y el Menor Indígena (CADHMMI) (Center for Human Rights Care for Women and Indigenous Minors)
Centro Regional Indígena en Derechos Humanos “Ñuu-Savi” (CERIDH) (Indigenous Regional Center on Human Rights)
Coalición de Jubilados y Pensionados “Elpidio Domínguez Castro”; Talleres
Coalición de los Pueblos Indígenas de Valles Centrales (COPIVAC) (Coalition of the Indigenous Peoples of the Central Valleys)
Coalición Nacional de Cooperativas y Empresas Sociales (CONACyES) (National Coalition of Cooperatives and Social Enterprises)
Colectivo de Estudios (Study Collective) “Ricardo Flores Magón”
Comité de Defensa Ciudadana (CODECI-MNPP) (Citizen Defense Committee)
Comité Ejecutivo Nacional Democrático del Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación en Lucha (CEND del SNTE en Lucha) (National Democratic Executive Committee of the National Union of Education Workers in Struggle)
Comité Estatal Democrático, Sección XXXII y LVI de Veracruz; Sección XXXVI del Valle de México; Consejo Nacional de Sistematización; Escuelas Integrales de Educación Básica de Michoacán; Colectivo Pedagógico “Francisco Javier Acuña Hernández”
Community of Nezahualcoyotl Municipality – Estado de México Comunitarios del Municipio de Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México
Congreso Nacional de Bases, Movimiento del Magisterio Democrático Nacional (National Popular Congress, Movement of the National Democratic Teachers): Sección III de Baja California Sur; Sección V de Campeche; Sección X de la Ciudad de México; Sección XIII y XLV de Guanajuato; Sección XIV de Guerrero; Sección XV de Hidalgo; Movimiento Magisterial Jalisciense, Secciones XVI y XLVII de Jalisco; Sección XVIII de Michoacán; Movimiento Magisterial de Bases, Sección XIX de Morelos; Consejo Democrático Magisterial Poblano, Secciones XXIII y LI de Puebla
Consejo de Defensa de los Derechos del Pueblo (CODEP-MNPP) (Council for the Defense of People’s Rights)
Contingentes del Comité Ejecutivo Nacional Democrático del SNTE en Lucha (CEND SNTE en Lucha) (Contingents of the National Democratic Executive Committee of the SNTE in Struggle)
Coordinación de Comunidades Indígenas de la Sierra Sur (COCISS) (Coordination of Indigenous Communities of the Sierra Sur)
Coordinator of United Neighborhoods from Salina Cruz (CCU)
Council of Interdisciplinary Organizations Bounded for Oxaca (COIVO-MNPP)
Federation Brazon: Estado de Mexico, Queretaro, Morales, Veracruz, Guerrero and Mexico City – Barzón Federación: Estado de México, Querétaro, Morelos, Veracruz, Guerrero y Distrito Federal
Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra en San Salvador Atenco (FPDT-Atenco) (Front of Peoples in Defense of the Land in San Salvador Atenco)
Instituto Mexicano de Desarrollo Comunitario (IMDEC), Mexican Institute of Community Development
Movimiento de Unidad Social por un Gobierno del Pueblo (MUSOC-GP) (Movement of Social Unity for a People’s Government, Michoacán)
Movimiento del Magisterio Democrático Nacional (Movement of the National Democratic Teachers)
Movimiento Magisterial de Bases (Grassroots Teachers Movement) de Querétaro, Sección XXIV de Querétaro
Movimiento Nacional del Poder Popular (MNPP) (National Movement of Popular Power)
Movimiento Nacional del Poder Popular Zacatecas (MNPP – Zacatecas) (National Movement of Popular Power – Zacatecas)
Organización de los Pueblos Indígenas de la Cuenca (OPIC) (Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Cuenca)
Organización de los Pueblos Indígenas del Bajo Mixe (OPI) (Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of Bajo Mixe)
Organización Nacional del Poder Popular (ONPP) (National Organization of People’s Power)
Organización Nacional del Poder Popular de Morelos (ONPP-MORELOS) (National Organization of People’s Power – Morelos)
Organización Nacional del Poder Popular del D. F. (National Organization of Popular Power of the district of Mexico City)
Otros Mundos A.C./Amigos de la Tierra México
Promotora del Poder Popular de Michoacán (Promoter of the Popular Power of Michoacán)
Trabajadores del Colegio de Bachilleres de Tabasco (Workers of the Bachilleres de Tabasco high school)

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International signatures:

Academic committee against LawTrain @Leuven (Belgium)

AFSC (United States)

AFM Local 1000 (United States)

Al-Jisr: The bridge between Japan and Palestine (Japan)

Alternative Law Forum (India)

Aman Biradari (India)

American Humanist Association (United States)

Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights (United States)

Amigos de la Tierra de América Latina y el Caribe -ATALC

Anglican Church of Korea (South Korea)

Anthropologists for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions (United States)

Asian College of Journalism  (India)

Association Belgo-Palestinienne – prov. Luxembourg (Belgium)

Association France Palestine Solidarité (France)

Association France Palestine Solidarité Nîmes (France)

Association d’amitié franco-vietnamienne (France)

AssoPacePalestina (Italy)

ATTAC España (Spanish State)

ATTAC (France)

Australian Friends of Palestine Association (Australia)

BACBI (Belgian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel) (Belgium)

Barricades (Belgium)

BDS Berlin (Germany)

BDS Colombia

BDS France 

BDS Madrid (Spanish State)

BDS Malaysia

BDS Nederland

BDS Paris (France)

BDS Switzerland

BDS Quebec Coalition (Canada)

Bkswrites (United States)

Biomystic Institute (United States)

Birmingham Interfaith Human Rights Committee (United States)

Brighton & Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign (United Kingdom)

BolandFarm

Bolivarian Agrarian and Community Movement from Venezuela

Campagne BDS France – Montpellier (France)

Caravana Abriendo Fronteras (Opening the Borders) (Spanish State)

CEBRAPAZ – Centro Brasileiro de Solidariedade aos Povos e Luta pela Paz (Brazil)

Centro Brasileiro de Solidariedade aos Povos e Luta pela Paz-Paraná (Brazil)

Centro de Amigos para la Paz / Red de Solidaridad con Palestina (Costa Rica)

Centro Memorial Martin Luther King (Cuba)

CineGRI (Brazil)

Chelsea Area One World One Family (United States)

Chico Palestine Action Group (United States)

Cleveland Chapter INA (United States)

Coalición para los derechos de los presos (United States)

Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine – Sydney (Australia)

CODEPINK (United States)

CoherentSystems (United States)

Colectivo antimilitarista Mambrú de Zaragoza (Spanish State)

Collectif Judéo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine (France)

Collectif Palestine 12- Millau (France)

Comisión Ecuménica de Derechos Humanos (Ecuador)

Comisión Multisectorial del Uruguay (Multisector Commission) (Uruguay)

Comitê Brasileiro em Defesa dos Direitos dos Povos Ocupados (Brazil)

Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient (Luxemburg)

Confederación Nacional de Organizaciones Campesinas, Indígenas y Negras (FENOCIN) de

Ecuador (National Confederation of Peasant, Indigenous and Black Organizations) (Ecuador)

Collectif Judéo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine (France)

Confederación Sindical Única De Trabajadores Campesinos de Bolivia (CSUTCB) (Trade Union

Confederation of Peasant Workers of Bolivia)

Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) (South Africa)

Coordinadora Andalucía con Palestina (Coordination Andalucia with Palestine): platform of a dozen Palestine solidarity organizations in Andalucia (Spanish State)

Correspondents Diplomatiqe (United Kingdom)

Corriente Revolucionaria Bolívar y Zamora de Venezuela (Revolutionary Tendency Bolívar and Zamora) (Venezuela)

Crisci (Italy)

Christian Church (DOC) (United States)

Cultura è Libertà, una campagna per la Palestina (Italy)

CUT-Brasil (Brazil)

Days of Palestine (United States)

Deya (Canada)

Democratic Socialists of America, Boulder, CO (United States)

Donne in Nero Italia (Italy)

Donne in Nero di Torino (Italy)

Échanges et Solidarité (France)

Eileen fleming.org (United States)

Ensemble (France)

EVRY Palestine (France)

Fagforbundet (Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees) (Norway)

FASE Brasil (Brazil)

Finca La Muda Lavandula y Bayas (Spain)

Femmes en Noir Lyon (France)

Frauen in Schwarz – Wien (Austria)

France- Amérique Latine (France)

Frances Beal Society (United States)

Freedom to Thrive (United States)

Frente de Luta Amazonica por Defensores Direitos Humanos (Brazil)

Friends of Sabeel – North America

Friends of Palestine Wisconsin (United States)

Fundación para la Cooperación APY – Solidaridad en Acción (Spanish State)

Global Justice Alliance (United States)

Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (United States)

Grassroots International (United States)

Grupo Antimilitarista de Carabanchel (Spain)

Holy Apostles Episcopal Church, St. Paul, MN (United States)

IDFM radio (France)

IJAN (United States)

Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign – Derry Branch (Ireland)

Indian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (InCACBI) (India)

Institut tunisien des relations internationales (Tunisia)

IWW upstate NY, James Connolly GMB (United States)

Jews for Palestinian Right of Return (United States)

Jews for Justice for Palestinians (United Kingdom)

Jewish Voice for Peace (United States)

Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue-Group Munich (Germany)

Just World Educational (United States)

JVP Westchester (United States)

Kairós Palestina Brasil (Brazil)

KFF (Sweden)

La Via Campesina (International)

Labor for Palestine (United States)

Lantern Bearers

Las Cruces CIVIC (Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement, United States)

Le Mouvement de la Paix (France)

Legal Centre Lesbos (Greece)

LeNove studi e ricerche sociali (Italy)

LOD (France)

Los Angeles County Democratic Party (United States)

LNC, LLC (United States)

Marquette UU Congregation

Milieu-infocentrum (Belgium)

MidEast: JustPeace

Middle East Crisis (United States)

Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens – MAB (Brazil)

Movimento pelos direitos do povo palestino e pela paz no médio oriente – MPPM (Portugal)

Movimiento de Mujeres Palestinas Alkarama (Spain)

MRAP – Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples (France)

Nebraskans for Peace (United States)

Nederlands Palestina Komitee (Netherlands)

Network Against Islamophobia (United States)

New Zealand Palestine Solidarity Network (New Zealand)

Non Violent Peaceforce (United States)

NorCal Friends of Sabeel (United States)

North American Climate,Conservation and Environment (United States)

Observatory of Human Rights of the People (International)

Observatoire de l’Enfermement des Etrangers (France)

Ocean Tree Books (United States)

OR/ID United Methodist Holy Land Task Force (United States)

Organic Girl Productions (Australia)

Pax Christi (Canada)

Palestina Solidariteit (Belgium)

Palestine Israel Working Group (United States)

Palestine Solidarity Committee (India)

Palestine Solidarity Campaign South Africa

Palestine subcommittee of the National Lawyers Guild (United States)

Palestinian and Jewish Unity (Canada)

Palestinian Rights Committee (United States)

PNHPWW (United States)

Portland Network Against Racism and Islamophobia (United States)

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship (United States)

PSC  Thailand

PSC (United Kingdom)

Quaker (New Zealand)

Red de Colectivos La Araña Feminista (Feminist Network ‘ The Spider) (Venezuela)

Red de Integración Orgánica – Rio – Por la Defensa de la Madre Tierra y los Derechos Humanos de Guatemala (Network of Organic Integration – RIO – for the defense of Mother Earth and Human Rights) (Guatemala)

Ontario Humanist Society (Canada)

OvertActs.com (United States)

RESCOP (solidarity network against the occupation of Palestine): a platform of some 50 organizations tat work to build solidarity with the Palestinian cause (Spanish State)

REDES-Amigos de la Tierra Uruguay

Renewed HOPE (United States)

Right to Migrate Institute

Rumbo a Gaza (Spain)

Sacramento Area Peace Action (United States)

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (International)

Sanctuary Hill Farms (United States)

SBIA (United States)

Scholars Without Borders (United States)

SOA Watch – Observatory for the Closure of the School of Americas (United States)

Sodepaz – Pachakuti (Spanish State)

Solidarity International (Germany)

SOS Art (United States)

South West Action Group for Social Justice (United States)

St. Louis Jewish Voice for Peace (United States)

St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church (United States)

St Paul’s Church Beaconsfield (Australia)

Stichting Diensten en Onderzoek Centrum Palestina (DocP)

Students for Justice in Palestine (Stony Brook University, United States)

Sumar Plegats (Catalunya)

Tadamon! Montréal (Canada)

Tierra y Libertad por Wallmapu (France)

The Association of Norwegian NGOs for Palestine (Norway)

The Hampton Institute : A working Class think tank (United States)

Trade Union Friends of Palestine (Ireland)

Transnational Institute – TNI (International)

Tucuman por Palestina (Argentina)

UCC Church (United States)

UJFP (France)

Unite (United Kingdom)

Union juive française pour la paix (UJFP, France)

US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (United States)

Vancouver for Peace (United States)

Veterans For Peace (United States)

Victoria Coalition against Israeli apartheid (Canada)

Voices for Justice in Palestine (United States)

War on Want (United Kingdom)

WESPAC (United States)

Women In Black Seattle (United States)

Worcester Palestine Friendship (United Kingdom)

WSA (United States)

WILPF-Des Moines (France)

WriteWords Press (United States)

Yorkshire Friends of Sabeel (United States)

Zawaya, Bay Resistance, No Migra (United States)

Zbu organisation (France)

ZEPA (Slovenia)

Zoroastrian Association (United States)

9/11 Truth Action Project (United States)