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This IJAN presentation was Presented at the First Forum for Solidarity with Arab revolutions on a panel about the challenges to Zionism posed by theArab revolutions and uprisings. 

We are here to discuss theArab-Zionist conflict in the context of the Arab revolutions. The Arabrevolutions are the most salient challenge to Zionism after the Palestinianstruggle itself.  Our work in support ofPalestine is transformed by the revolutions here because everyone knows that ifit’s Egypt today, its Palestine tomorrow. It validates and gives power to our work in the important sense thatpublic opinion in the West, of the region in general and Palestine inparticular, shaped by corporate media, is no longer dominated by the threat ofterrorism, but is filled with irrefutable images of people fighting fordemocracy – a fight that is incompatible with the existence of a Zionist,colonial state in the region.

I will first discuss brieflyhow we are challenging Zionism in a more general sense, and from our specificlocation as Jews, some of whom are Arab, but the majority of whom are not andwho live in the West.  Then I will speakdirectly to the implications of the Arab revolutions for this struggle. 

Our challenge to Zionism

For us, as it does for thepopular movements in the region here, our work against imperialism has at thecenter our solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation. Because weunderstand the challenge to Zionism as an anti-imperialist struggle, we mustchallenge the role that Zionism plays in the region as an agent of imperialismand as a military stronghold for the West. Then, stemming from there, our workrevolves around solidarity with those most impacted by Zionism in the countriesin which we organize – Arab, Southwest Asian, and Muslim communities who arearrested and held without trial for fabricated charges of material aid toterrorists and subjected to racist attacks in their home and on the street.

It is withgratitude, respect, hope and inspiration that the International JewishAnti-Zionist Network is participating in this First Forum for Solidarity with Arabrevolutions. 

IJAN is aninternational network of Jews who are uncompromisingly committed to humanemancipation. To this end we focus on the struggle for the liberation of thePalestinian people and land. We are committed to ending Israel apartheid andcolonization and to the right of return of Palestinian refugees. 

Beginning withthe struggle to dismantle Zionism and confront Islamophobia, we participate inlocal and international movements against all forms of racism, exploitation,and militarism, and for economic, political, social, cultural and environmentalrights. We organize as an international network that is active across theUnited States, the UK, Canada, Argentina, India, France, Switzerland, Spain,the Netherlands, and in Israel itself.

We haveappreciation and deep gratitude for the risks taken in so great a challenge toimperialism and Zionism. The most effective way for people in the coreimperialist countries to act in solidarity and defend the Arab revolutions isto extend them to Europe and to the US. The crisis that has been the catalystfor revolution in the region is global.

Because academic, cultural and commercial boycotts, divestments and sanctions of Israel:

• are being called for by Palestinian civil society in response to the occupation and colonization of their land,
• are a moral tool of non-violent, peaceful response to more than sixty years of Israeli colonialism, and,
• rightfully place accountability on Israeli institutions (and their allies and partners) that use business, cultural, and academic ties to white-wash Israel’s responsibility for continuing crimes against humanity,

The undersigned organizations and individuals stand firm in our support of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) initiatives against Israel until it meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law.

 

The Chicago Chapter continues to work locally with theCommittee Against Political Repression and nationally with the Committee to Stop FBI Repression to supportthe 23 Midwest activists who have been subpoenaed and targeted by the FBI fordoing Palestine and Colombia solidarity organizing.  As new developments happen rapidly, pleasesign the Pledgeto Resist FBI Repression.  Stayinformed of emergency response plans in your area and check stopfbi.netto keep up to date on the case.  Here aresome of the major developments in the case:

So far seven members of the House of Representatives (JanShakowsky, Keith Ellison, Luis Gutierrez, Danny Davis, Jim McDermott, JohnConyers, and David Price) and Richard Durbin (Sen. IL) have sent letters ofconcern to Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama.  Please contact your legislator and urge themto send a letter as well.

A recent victory in the case was achieved when, after aflood of phone calls from supporters nation-wide, TCFbank unfroze the bank accounts of the Abudayyeh family after having frozenthem shortly before Mother’s Day.  Movingforward we will need to keep the pressure up. Additionally, several documentswere left behind by officers raiding Mick Kelley’s home providingadditional information about the McCarthy-esque tactics of the FBI.  Just last week the FBI and LA policeraided the home of Carlos Montes, a co-founder of the Brown Berets.

Finally in order to continue this vital legal work, thecommittee needs to keep raising funds for legal and other expenses.  Please contribute online at: http://www.stopfbi.net/donate or writea check to the National Lawyers Guild with CHICAGO FBI CASE in the memoline.  Please mail checks to:

 

NationalLawyers Guild

113University Place, 8th Floor

New York, NY 10003

The ChicagoChapter continues to work with the PalestineSolidarity Group (PSG) to build a BDS campaign targeting municipal tiesbetween Chicago and Israel.  Specifically,the campaign is focused around ending Chicago’s Sister City relationship withPetach Tikva in Israel, a relationship that promotes business ties and offerslegitimacy.  One particularly egregiousexample of Petach Tikva’s complicity in human rights violations is the PetachTikva prison.  The prison is an Israelidetention center where Palestinian prisoners are held, including the prominentPalestinian activist Ameer Makhoul.  Weintend to expand the size of the campaign and apply pressure to the SisterCities committee as well as the Chicago City Council as the first step in whatwill hopefully become a campaign targeting other municipal ties that Chicagohas with Israel.

Checkout the following videos from the campaign: "Academy Awards Ceremony for the Arts and Sciences of Military Occupation" and a satirical Public Service Anouncement, "Chicago and Petach Tikva: Never Better Sisters."  Also check out the PSG organized flashmob on Palestinian Land Day imploring Chicagoans to take up BDS.

Chicago’s chapter of the International Jewish Anti-ZionistNetwork (Chicago IJAN) is running an anti-Zionist study group! Folks who were involved in the last studygroup are encouraged to return, and new folks are invitedto join.

The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) hopes to buildon legacies of study groups using political education to inform our anti-Zionist andPalestine solidarity work.

Though organized by a Jewish-identified collective, the study group is open to everyone, and thematerials are not Jewish-specific.

We will be exploring four topics, with three sessionsdevoted to each topic.  Participants are encouraged to commit to coming toall three sessions of a particular topic, but need not commit to the full 12sessions/4 topics.

The four topics are:

* History of Zionism

* Palestinian History and Resistance

* South African Apartheid and the BDS Movement

* Arabs in America and Islamophobia 

Participants are expected to read or engage with media for1-2 hours a week outside of meeting times. Group memberswill take turns facilitating. The reading group materialwill include academic articles, poetry, creative nonfiction, film, and artwork.

For a syllabus or to find out about attending the biweeklystudy group, please contact us at chicago@ijsn.net(We are completing the first section, focused on the History of Zionism; thenext installment focusing on Palestinian Resistance is slated to begin Mondayevening, June 6^th).

The Chicago Chapter has been working on building locally.In the past few months we have developed two new workshops with the intention of bringing them to college campuses and other organizations.

One workshop lays out what Jewish anti-Zionism is and articulates how we view the importance of anti-Zionism from a Jewish perspective as vital in the struggle for Palestinian liberation. The workshop examines Zionist ideology and history, and works to extract theidea of Zionism from Judaism. The workshop also offers an analysis of why it is important and useful to organize as a Jewish group focusing onthe way that Zionism involuntarily implicates Jews in its colonial project. IJAN Chicago was invited to present this workshop for the Middle Eastern Students Association at Loyola University and it was verywell received.

The second workshop focuses on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The workshop historicizes the movement and grounds it in the rights-based frame of the 2005 call from Palestinian civil society (much of the analysis was drawn from Omar Barghuti’s book BDS: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights).Additionally, the workshop encourages participants to identify and collectively unpack some of the more common arguments against BDS. It also gives participants an opportunity to analyze the strengths and challenges of various campaigns and works to identify what a good local target might look like as well as what a strong campaign would include.

If you would like more information on either of these workshops or are interested in having us present one of them for your group, please contact us at chicago@ijsn.net.

This letter invites environmental justice organizations to learn more about and get involved in the Stop the JNF campaign.  It also has links to the eBook Greenwashing Apartheid: The Jewish National Fund’s Environmental Cover Up and to the campaign’s Plant-a-Tree in Palestine Project.

The 2011 Haggadah is ready, just in time!

On January 29, 2011, the Never Again tour visited the Rutgers campus in New Jersey. Prior to the event, hate blogger Pamela Geller and Zionist pundit David Horowitz put out a call for demonstrations. Rutgers Hillel, with support from the local Jewish Federation, called for protest of the event. They objected to the humanitarian message of the event – Never Again for Anyone, including Palestinians.

They were threatened by the clear voices of criticism of Israel by Auschwitz survivor Hajo Meyer and holocaust refugee Hedy Epstein. Both condemned the exploitation of the holocaust by Israel and Zionist to justify the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Not able to reasonably argue with the universal message of our common rights and dignity, protesters looked for a technical issue on which to challenge the event.

A week prior to the event Rutgers changed the contract over to one of the national sponsors, American Muslims for Palestine. In doing so two things happened: the room cost went up to $1200 (more than all of the other venues put together) and sponsors were able to charge for the event. The additional cost of the room and the cost of additional security necessary due to the call for protest resulted in a decision to charge a minimum admission fee of $5.

The video below shows the organizers of the protest offering for Rutgers Hillel to reimburse those who pay the $5 to attend the event. Contrary to claims that Jews were not allowed into the event, the video shows that anyone was allowed in if they were willing to pay the admission fee. Of course, Jews organized the tour, attended the event and were on the platform, including two Jewish survivors of the holocaust as well as the co-coordinator of IJAN.