On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, ALIGN calls for a permanent ceasefire to end the genocide against the Palestinian people.
The first step toward lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis is an immediate ceasefire and support for humanitarian aid to civilians bearing the brunt of the violence. As Dr. King said, “It is not enough to say ‘We must not wage war.’ It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but the positive affirmation of peace.”
ALIGN’s commitment to climate justice extends to the rejection of rampant militarism that destroys our planet. We are witnessing a harrowing climate catastrophe of polluting emissions, suffocating Gazan air, land, and the infrastructure that feeds its people. In what was already the hottest year on record, where the climate crisis is devastating working class Black, brown, and immigrant communities from Maui to Harlem, our government is funding the assault on Gaza instead of investing in sustainable improvements to our nation’s crumbling infrastructure and the planet. This is a moral travesty and a betrayal of Dr. King’s vision of peace and justice.
Today, we join the growing chorus of the labor and climate movement who say ceasefire, now and forever.