The upcoming Masar Badil conference in São Paulo (March 28–31, 2026) stands as a deliberate and audacious escalation in the Palestinian diaspora’s political struggle. In the words of founding member Khaled Barakat, it represents a“qualitative leap”into open political confrontation. By choosing Brazil — a country marked by deep Zionist economic, military-security, and evangelical penetration alongside vibrant leftist and anti-imperialist traditions — the organizers transform potential vulnerabilities intostrategic advantages.
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This choice capitalizes on theheightened global solidarity momentumfollowing October 7, thepowerful symbolism of Land Day(commemorated around March 30), and Latin America’s enduring history ofresistance to settler-colonialism, foreign intervention, and imperialism.
In a podcast interview on Alkarama-Palestina’s YouTube channel, Samidoun coordinator Ruwaa al-Saghir (São Paulo) — joined by Khaled Barakat (Beirut) and Jaldia Abubakra (Madrid) — explained how the continent is currently witnessing asharp rise in far-right forces, looming presidential elections, and the entrenched presence of Israeli-linked defense and surveillance firms,facial-recognition systems, and evangelical networks that extend into poor neighborhoods. Rather than shying away from these realities, the conference deliberately enters this terrain toexpose Zionist infiltration, name the shared enemy, and assert that Zionism and imperialism are inseparable.
What makes the event truly bold is its refusal to treat Latin America as a mere backdrop for distant solidarity. As al-Saghir describes it, the conference offers a chance torestore the voice of the Global South— to forge aliving bridgebetween the Palestinian struggle and the ongoing fights of Brazilian, Argentine, Chilean, and Venezuelan peoples, drawing onfive centuries of shared colonial dispossession, indigenous resistance, and anti-imperialist memory. In a region still scarred by the memory of military coups and facing renewed U.S. threats against Venezuela, convening such an event is itself an act ofpolitical defiance, turning the diaspora from a passive support base into anactive frontline.
Masar Badil actively conductsmultilingual outreachto expand its reach, especially among younger diaspora generations who may not speak Arabic fluently. The movement draws strength from itsproven networks— Samidoun for prisoner solidarity, Alkarama for women’s organizing, and various youth structures — which have mobilizedhundreds of events, protests, and webinars since 2021.
Ideologically, Masar Badil offersuncompromising clarity. It rejects the Oslo framework, the Palestinian Authority’s security coordination with the occupier, and the mainstream two-state paradigm, instead positioning Palestine as thevanguard of a global anti-imperialist struggle. This stance draws in activists disillusioned with moderate or institutionalized approaches, offering aradical alternative.
As Khaled Barakat reminded listeners, the October 7 operation and the genocidal response that followed have imposednew prioritieson every Palestinian current: the urgent, practical work ofstopping the slaughter,flooding the streets, universities, and unions, and raising slogans once considered marginal —“Long live October 7,” “Long live the armed resistance,” “From the river to the sea.”The São Paulo conference carries this shift forward by calling openly forpopular rebellionagainst a Palestinian Authority that coordinates security with the occupier, marginalizes the resistance, and imposes recognition of Israel as a condition for political belonging.
This embrace of October 7, however, creates astrategic tension: how to defend the principled right toarmed struggle— a right affirmed in international law and repeatedly recognized by UN General Assembly resolutions, yet systematically criminalized by Israel and the United States as “terrorism” — while building thebroadest possible internationalist coalitionsneeded to confront genocide and imperialism. For many potential allies on the global left, or among those horrified by the destruction in Gaza, unequivocal celebration of the attack can appear deeply challenging, not because armed resistance is inherently illegitimate, but because decades of Israeli and U.S. propaganda have successfully framed any endorsement of Palestinian military action as moral transgression.
Source: Global Research
