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Deconstructing Zionism Workshop Dispels Myths for LA Jews

IJAN-LA held a 4-part workshop series in October and November of 2009 to educate LA Jews about the history of Zionism, Palestinian resistance, and the reality of current struggle.

Sixteen people attended this work geared specifically for Jews who self-identify as anti-Zionist or are "questioning" Zionism and want to learn more. Three out of the four workshops were 3-hour sessions with readings assigned to participants for each. Each session included one section of a historical timeline of the Palestine-Zionist conflict from 1880's to the present. They also included presentations and discussions on "Basic Principles of Zionism", "The Jewish and Palestinian National Questions" and "Historic and Contemporary Resistance to Zionism." This last segment highlighted tendencies and dynamics in the long history of Palestinian resistance to Zionism as well as contemporary Palestine solidarity organizing and the role of Jews within this movement (emphasizing IJAN's understanding of the role of Jews.) For the fourth "session" of the workshop, we attended the BDS-LA-organized Omar Barghouti speaking engagement at Loyola Law School, which gave participants a very cogent argument for boycott, divestment, and sanctions as a core strategy for challenging Zionism and Israeli apartheid in the world at the moment.

Omar Barghouti Packs House to Launch LA "Thirst for Justice Campaign"

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Palestinian Human Rights Activist Omar Barghouti addressed a standing-room only crowd as he condemned Israel's basic denial of Palestinians' right to water and renewed the call for an international campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israeli apartheid. The event at Loyola Law School in LA's Pico Union neighborhood formally launched the "Thirsting for Justice" campaign, which attempts to redress the question of water rights in Palestine by taking aim at an agreement between the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Israel water technology company called Kinrot. Barghouti spoke at length about Palestinian access to water, citing a just-released Amnesty International report. He also made a strong case why people in Los Angeles and around the US who stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people must take up the boycott/divestment/sanctions movement (BDS) as a central piece of their work.

The event was organized by BDS-LA, a new grassroots coalition dedicated to building the movement for boycott, domestic and sanctions in LA and co-founded in June, 2009 by IJAN-LA, the LA Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, and the Campaign to End Israel Apartheid-Southern California. BDS-LA developed the Thirsting for Justice campaign after discovering a preliminary agreement between the city's water department and the Israel water company -- an agreement directly linked to a trip of Los Angeles political leaders to Israel to promote relations between Los Angeles and Israel. BDS-LA members argue that Los Angeles should not be doing business with companies directly linked to Israeli apartheid. The campaign calls on the city to dispense with any plan to carry forward the preliminary agreement and to commit not to engage in any further business collaboration with Israel around water issues.

Hajo Meyer in the Huffington Post: 'An Ethical Tradition Betrayed'

I was 20 years old when Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet army 55 years ago. This occurred just in time because 10 months imprisonment in Auschwitz-Gleiwitz-1 had weakened me considerably. One needed a hell of a lot of luck in order to survive that long under the circumstances in that camp.

Two important components of luck were on my side. First, during my first years as a refugee kid in the Netherlands I had learned to be a locksmith. So during the very strong winter of '44-'45 I worked in the warmth of a factory. Second, I had acquired a very good and completely trustworthy friend, called Jos. We helped each other as much as possible. The two of us did indeed survive.

Another aspect of my friendship with Jos was that in spite of -- or better, due to -- the extremely high number of people per square foot in such a camp, one felt extremely lonely. Because of our friendship, mutual help and absolute mutual trust we were not lonely. This was vital to our psychological survival.

Psychological survival is at least as important as physical survival. In fact, the Nazi concentration camps were their attempt to dehumanize us Jews. If a prisoner became part of the oppression system by being Kapo, the dehumanization would be successful. Obviously, the non-Jewish members of the oppression system were also no longer fully human. I realized there that anybody from a dominating group who tries to dehumanize people from a minority group, can only do so if by education, indoctrination and propaganda he has already been dehumanized himself, independent of the uniform he wears.

It is a deep tragedy that in Israel this is not what one concludes from the experiences in Auschwitz. To the contrary, Auschwitz is elevated there into a new religion.