Act decisively to halt 'ongoing genocide' in Gaza: NAPM's urgent letter to Bogotá delegates

By A Representative 

Marking its 30th year of transformative grassroots work, the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), India, has issued an urgent letter to delegates of the Emergency Conference of States on Gaza in Bogotá, Colombia, calling for immediate and decisive action to halt what it describes as the “ongoing genocide” in Gaza.

The letter, signed by over 40 grassroots leaders and representatives from across India, aligns with the Hague Group’s initiative and condemns what NAPM terms the "barbarism of our times" — Israel’s military offensive in Gaza which, according to the letter, has killed over 58,000 Palestinians by official estimates, with independent studies citing death and disappearance figures ranging between 109,000 and 377,000 since October 2023.

“Israel’s war on Gaza is a live-streamed extermination campaign that systematically targets hospitals, schools, refugee camps and civilians,” the statement declares, accusing Israel of violating humanitarian norms with the support of powerful nations, particularly the United States. The letter highlights the alleged deliberate starvation of children, forced closure of UNRWA operations, and weaponisation of aid.

NAPM underscores the collapse of the international legal order, pointing to the repeated vetoing of UN resolutions and Israel’s defiance of the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures. “The world is watching the unraveling of the very promises that followed World War II — the hope of peace, accountability and international cooperation,” the alliance writes.

Drawing parallels between Palestine and historical oppressions across the Global South, NAPM critiques modern-day imperialism, which it claims manifests through military aid, corporate profiteering and strategic manipulation of international forums. “The Israeli occupation is a settler-colonial project enabled by global powers and must be opposed like all past forms of colonialism,” the letter says.

While acknowledging that the Indian government has not taken a strong position in favour of Palestinian rights, the letter affirms that “the people of India stand with Palestine,” referencing India’s own anti-colonial legacy and popular movements in solidarity with Gaza.

Calling the Bogotá conference a moment of global reckoning, NAPM has called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza and unrestricted humanitarian access, establishment of international civilian protection mechanisms, enforcement of ICJ and ICC mandates and formation of a special tribunal for Gaza, comprehensive sanctions on Israel until it complies with international law, and strengthened Global South cooperation along with support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Signatories include well-known activists such as Arundhati Dhuru from Uttar Pradesh, Prafulla Samantara from Odisha, Meera Sanghamitra from Telangana, Anjali Bharadwaj from Delhi, Soumya Dutta from the National Alliance for Climate and Ecological Justice, and Adv. Shalini Gera from Chhattisgarh, among others representing a wide cross-section of grassroots and people’s movements.

“The eyes of history are upon this gathering,” the letter concludes. “Future generations will judge whether we stood with the oppressed or remained silent in the face of genocide.”