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A campaign to rejoin the Jewish history of resistance to genocide with those currently struggling for survival, self-determination, emancipation and liberation

The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network’s Remembrance Campaign aims to challenge the presentation of the Nazi Genocide in which the history of the decimation of Jews is disconnected from the millions of other victims who perished in the same war, even in the same camps. It also challenges the exceptionalizing, falsifying and exploiting of this memory in an effort to justify and dismiss the colonization, ethnic cleansing and apartheid in Palestine.  Such exceptionalizing, along with the violence committed by a sanctified Israel in the name of all Jews, isolates the Jewish experiences of racism, displacement and mass murder, and separates Europe’s history of Jewish persecution from other peoples’ experiences with-and struggles against-persecution, racism and genocide. In opposition to this separatism, for us the history of the Nazi genocide demands that we never stand aside as any people faces such violence. And, far from an exception, the racism, sadism and dehumanization that facilitated the Nazi genocide, and governments’ collaboration with it, has long roots in Europe’s history of imperial conquest, slavery, genocide and Christian supremacy.

Our September 2010 bulletin is available here for mailing or downloading.

On 24 September, theFBI subjectedabout a dozen anti-war and international solidarity activists to raids of theirhomes, subpoenas and searches in Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan.  Activists in California, Wisconsinand North Carolinawere also harassed. Theseraids on activist communities should be deeply troubling to all social justiceactivists, whether their work is focused within the U.S. or internationally.

The InternationalJewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) joins the chorus of international condemnationof the US government attemptto silence people in the UnitedStates who act for human dignity and justiceand who speak out against war and occupation.  

Thefollowing is a list of the 19 planned protests that we have heard of so far,and the list is growing. Please participate in the one nearest you, or if thereis not one in your city, organize one and let us know at iacenter@iacenter.orgso we can publicize it and add it to the list. Please be in touch with the Minnesota Anti-War Committee – www.antiwarcommittee.org .

IJAN has a new version of our syllabus for study groups available!

IJAN salutes the organizers, participants and attendees ofthe Second Haifa Conference For the Return of the Palestinian Refugees and forthe Democratic Secular State in Historic Palestine, which took place with greatsuccess 28-30 May 2010. IJAN was honored to be present and be a part of thatinspiring and historical moment and share with the other participants the senseof the Conference’s ground breaking relevance.  The second Conference built on the success ofthe first conference, which took place in 2008, and was widely welcomed amongpolitical and social activists and militants that resist Zionism from within(in the part of Palestine that was occupied since 1948), Arab and Jew, as wellas on a wider Palestinian, Arab and International level.  

Abnaa elBalad, the initiator of the processthat led to the First Haifa conference, also convened the preparatory committeefor the second. The conference attracted delegations from all over theworld-noteworthy was the significant presence of representatives from Brazil,Venezuela and India, as well as several members from the German Die Linke party.  The conference brought together importantPalestinian voices, including Jamal Juma’, Omar Barghouti, Haidar Eid ( throughvideoconferencing), Mohammad Kana’ane,  Ghada Karmi, and many others, aswell as the voices of the small but important contingent of Israeli Jews whoreject Zionism and colonialism. The Conference took place against thebackground of the worsening persecution of Palestinians in Israel and theincreasingly unhinged behavior of Israel’s security forces. Ameer Makhoul, Directorof Ittijah, had just been arrested of fictitious "espionage" charges ( he isstill in prison), and days after the conference ended the Israeli Navy raidedthe peaceful Gaza flotilla and murdered nine Turkish human rights activists.

Against this backdrop, the Second Haifa Conferencerepresents one of the most important efforts to move beyond the repeatedfailures and dead ends of the different partition plans for Palestine, not onlyat the level of utopian ideas and visions but through laying the ground for areal political movement that can transform the politics of the region.

In May, there were somediscussions about the detention and trial of three alleged anti-Zionistactivists from small left wing political parties in Argentina that were accusedof incitement against the Jewish community. In solidarity with them, were-published a 2009 letter signed by many Human Rights and IJAN activists wherethese arrests had been strongly questioned as an attempt to criminalizeanti-Zionist activities in Argentina.  http://judiosantisionistasargentina.blogspot.com/2010/05/carta-abierta-al-inadi-y-al-pueblo.html .

Theevents of this case until June 2009 are documented here: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10615.shtml .Meanwhile, all but one of the arrested activists were absolved andreleased from prison after few months (see for instance http://radiotrinchera.org/noticias/argentina-triunfo-antisionista-absolucion-de-ruben-saboulard-video/rt/  and http://argentina.indymedia.org/news/2010/07/742461.php). 

 TheFederation of Jewish Organizations (DAIA) has published a report on"Anti-semitism" in Argentina which encourages the criminalization of anti-Zionistevents. The report can be found here: www.daia.org.ar/Site2009/ces/PDF/informe_antisem_2008.pdf .

From Jewish immigrant labor organizers in NewYork City, to revolutionaries in Europe and LatinAmerica, to the Black Panthers – many organizations have usedstudy as an integral part of building movements.  The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network(IJAN) hopes to builds on these legacies, using political education to informour anti-Zionist and Palestinesolidarity work.  It is with this visionthat we are developing our Study to Action program. 

In Fall 2007, IJAN hosted six study groups around the United States,using a syllabus developed by the IJAZ Network activists Ora Wise, HaleyPollack, and Ryvka Bar Zohar.  Participants in Los Angeles, the SanFrancisco Bay Area, Miami, New York, Detroit and Philadelphia came together toexplore the history of Zionism and the development of Palestinian resistance,as well as histories of Jewish resistance that have been erased byZionism.  

Through political education, we are working to build aframework for a shared understanding of imperialism, colonialism, and Zionism,and locate our work within different political ideologies, tendencies, andmovements, and within a history of anti-Zionist and anti-imperialist struggleand strategy.   We will use study to informour campaigns and tactics and assess our context, conditions, and strategicrole.  We hope that through this processwe will build relationships within the network, and deepen our strategy andpractice as we support our personal transformation and emotional divestmentfrom Zionism.

This is an ongoing project and is part of our plans forbroader political education and leadership development programming. Theseinclude:

Ongoing MemberDevelopment

• Organizing workshops and institutes
• Mentor/ Buddy system for support and development of members who are new to activism
• Boycott, Divestment and Sanction Institute
• Delegations to Palestine
• Develop training to develop member facilitation, discussion and presentation skills  

Public Education

• Develop and offer "Unlearning Zionism" workshops
• Make our "Emerging anti-Zionist Discourse & Movement" presentation available
• Identify other trainings and workshops needed
• Develop conference workshop and presentation modules

Educational Materialsand Media

• Identify and create potential position pieces/ educational materials
• Develop capacity to write articles for submission and posting
• Partner with cultural network on developing popular educational tools
• Partner with academic network on educational materials, writing, editorials and possible on-line journal
• Develop an interactive website that will support the self-organization and collaboration of study groups

These are some of ourideas; please share yours with us at study@ijsn.net.

International Jewish anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)STUDY GROUP SYLLABUS This is an evolution of the curriculum that was usedby study groups in 2007-2008. The intention this syllabus is to build ananalysis of the historic and current ideologies, conditions and realities ofZionism and imperialism and resistance to both. The curriculum has beenreorganized to develop this analysis, offer tools … 2008 Revised Syllabus

From Jewish immigrant labor organizers in NewYork City, to revolutionaries in Europe and LatinAmerica, to the Black Panthers – many organizations have usedstudy as an integral part of building movements.  The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network(IJAN) hopes to builds on these legacies, using political education to informour anti-Zionist and Palestinesolidarity work.  It is with this visionthat we are developing our Study to Action program. 

IJAN’s Political Education and Leadership Development workgroup is in the process of revising the syllabus that was piloted during our2007-2008 study groups, offering more political analysis, multimedia andcurricular tools, as well as tools for facilitators and study grouporganizers.   To access the outline of therevised syllabus, click here.We welcome your input and ideas for study materials and curricular tools.

In Fall 2007, IJAN hosted six study groups around the United States,using a syllabus developed by the IJAZ Network activists Ora Wise, HaleyPollack, and Ryvka bar Zohar.  Participants in Los Angeles, the SanFrancisco Bay Area, Miami, New York, Detroit and Philadelphia came together toexplore the history of Zionism and the development of Palestinian resistance,as well as histories of Jewish resistance that have been erased byZionism.  To access the2007 syllabus click here .

Through political education, we are working to build aframework for a shared understanding of imperialism, colonialism, and Zionism,and locate our work within different political ideologies, tendencies, andmovements, and within a history of anti-Zionist and anti-imperialist struggleand strategy.   We will use study to informour campaigns and tactics and assess our context, conditions, and strategicrole.  We hope that through this processwe will build relationships within the network, and deepen our strategy andpractice as we support our personal transformation and emotional divestmentfrom Zionism.

For support in organizing a study group in your region,email support.study@ijsn.com.

This is an ongoing project. If you would like to start or join a study groupin your area, click here tocontact us.