Middle East

Urgent Letter from the Palestine Solidarity Group of National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), India, to the Emergency Conference of States on Gaza, Bogotá, Colombia

19/07/2025

Jul 17, 2025

We, the undersigned, representing the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) of India, an umbrella coalition of hundreds of grassroots people’s movements across India, extend our solidarity and urgent support to this historic gathering in Bogotá. As representatives of India’s grassroots movements fighting for justice, human rights, and dignity, we stand unequivocally with the Palestinian people in their struggle against genocide, apartheid and occupation.

The Barbarism of Our Times:

The world witnesses today an unprecedented display of barbarism that shocks the conscience of humanity. Israel’s systematic decimation of Gaza, with over 58,000 Palestinians killed according to official counts, though independent studies suggest the actual toll may be as high as 109,000 to 3,77,000 dead and missing since October 2023, represents not merely military aggression but a calculated campaign of extermination- a live streamed and ongoing genocide. The fundamentally barbaric nature of targeting women, children, hospitals, schools, refugee camps, and civilian infrastructure reveals the objective of this assault to be erasing Palestinians as a people and the systematic destruction of Gaza’s entire social fabric.

This impunity has been enabled by decades of protection from imperial powers, especially the United States, allowing Israel to operate above international law with complete disregard for human life. Israel’s unimpeded genocide including killing of aid workers and forcing UNRWA out of Gaza, the deliberate starvation of children, the bombing of evacuation routes, the weaponisation of aid through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – all these criminal violations of humanitarian law expose the weaknesses in these systems which have been left at the mercy of a polarised global order that has been shielding Israel from accountability. We find courage as we note this emergency conference resisting such hijacking of international humanitarian law systems.

The Collapse of International Order

We stand at a crossroads where the very foundations of international law are crumbling before our eyes. The International Court of Justice’s provisional measures have been brazenly ignored, UN Security Council resolutions vetoed repeatedly, and international humanitarian law systematically violated.

The tragedy unfolding in Gaza is not an isolated incident – it follows a disturbing pattern that has persisted since the Second World War. From Cambodia to the Balkans, from Rwanda to ongoing conflicts in places like Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir, the international community has repeatedly failed to prevent mass atrocities. Rather than transcending the brutal power dynamics of ancient kingdoms, we have witnessed the exposure of how international relations, presented as enablers of justice and peace, are increasingly serving the interests of feudal geopolitics – powerful states operate through proxy forces, weaker peoples are sacrificed for strategic advantage, and the principle of “might makes right” has never truly been replaced by the rule of law. We are forced to see it as such.

The international law institutions created in the aftermath of the two world wars as well as to secure the newly established sovereignty of nations emerging from colonial rule too often become mere sleeping pills – offering the illusion of justice while atrocities unfold before our eyes, serving as diversions from the urgent action that justice demands. This failure in Gaza represents a fundamental test of whether humanity can evolve beyond these power dynamics or remain trapped in cycles of domination where justice becomes a privilege of the powerful rather than a universal right.

The Systemic Nature of Oppression

The Palestinian struggle reflects broader historical patterns of oppression that many of our nations have experienced. Israel’s settler-colonial project mirrors the same systems of displacement, exploitation, and dehumanization that have been used to subjugate peoples across the Global South for centuries. Like the feudal lords of old who claimed divine right to rule over their subjects, today’s imperial powers invoke concepts of security and civilization to justify the most barbaric acts.

Contemporary imperialism has evolved beyond mere economic domination to the active enablement of genocide through military aid, diplomatic cover, and economic support. The provision of weapons and protection of Israeli war crimes and genocide represent imperialism in its most naked form. The billions of dollars in military aid, the corporate profits from weapons sales, and the geopolitical advantages gained from regional instability all serve to maintain structures of domination that prioritize power and profit over human dignity.

The Voice of the Indian People

While our government’s current stance may not fully reflect our nation’s historic solidarity with liberation movements, we want to make it clear that the people of India stand with Palestine. Our freedom struggle against colonialism taught us to recognize and oppose all forms of oppression and occupation, and the voices of millions who march in solidarity with Gaza cannot be silenced by temporary political calculations.

Understanding these connections is crucial for building the solidarity necessary to challenge not just Israeli genocide and apartheid, but the broader systems that enable such crimes to persist with impunity. The international institutions created to transcend ancient patterns of domination have instead become tools to legitimize them.

We commend the Hague Group for its leadership in organizing this emergency conference, and call on the participating states to respond to this moment with courage, decisiveness, and unity in protecting and implementing international law. As President Gustavo Petro remarked, “What we see in Gaza is the rehearsal of the future”. The people of the world have been on the streets, calling their governments to take concrete action to end this genocide. It is upon these governments now, notable of whom have gathered in Bogota, to show where they stand. What you do now is how history will remember you.

Our Urgent Demands