November 1, 2023
The Texas Progressive Caucus’ (TXPC) mission is to build and strengthen the Texas Democratic Party. As many Texas Democrats discuss the current situation in the Middle East, as well as the many other locations around the world where people are facing violence and occupation, the TXPC issues the following statement:
Regardless of where we come from or how we worship, every family wants to be happy, healthy, and free to live our lives. All of us want peace, justice, and the right to self-determination. This applies to all who call Earth home.
The Middle East is spiraling toward an ever-more destructive path that will kill many innocents, including children. Acts of revenge do not create peace. They do not find justice. Nor do they ensure self-determination for anyone.
Revenge is not justice, and justice is not revenge. Killing innocent people never sets anyone free. The killing of innocents is not only morally wrong and a war crime as defined by the Geneva Convention, but it also continues the cycle of violence.
We want peace in the Middle East, but we recognize there can be no real peace without true justice. Not just peace for the short term, as this cycle of violence has been going on for generations.
We want justice in the Middle East, but we recognize there can never be true justice without self-determination for all people. We are against all forms of apartheid, denying communities the right to self-government or real economic opportunity, and turning entire cities into “open-air prisons.” We are against all forms of hatred.
War anywhere is a threat to peace everywhere. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Oppression anywhere is a threat to freedom everywhere.
Only acts of justice and dignity can achieve lasting peace. The Nuremberg Trials and Marshall Plan returned justice and rebuilt Europe so its people could live with dignity and peace, while the proto-organizations that would one day lead to the European Union were the political solutions to ensure, at least within the Eurozone, a permanent peace. Similar trials, reconstruction plans, and political solutions will be needed to achieve peace, justice, and self-determination for all the people who call the Middle East, and all other locations, home.
The TXPC is on the side of peace, justice, and self-determination for all. We are not here to achieve these things for one group over another but to do our part in this generational effort of lifting all people of this world up until we’re all equals under the warmth of the sun and the eyes of the stars. We are on the side of our collective higher calling.
As such, the TXPC urges the Biden Administration to call for a ceasefire, allow for humanitarian aid to enter, and break the cycle of violence. We humbly ask all Texas Democrats to please avoid the pitfalls of turning this into an internal culture war and to remember that our goals, hopes, and dreams of leaving a better world for all of our children can only be achieved when we come together — whether we’re Jewish, Muslim, Christian, any other creed, or none, from down the street or across the globe.
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