The ORGANIZER Newspaper

December 26, 2023

www.socialistorganizer.org

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IN THIS ISSUE:

• “A Dangerous Amalgam” (Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism) – by Daniel Gluckstein

•  Worldwide Drive to Silence Pro-Palestinian Voices — by The Editors

• Some Thoughts About Zionism, Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism – by Daniel Gluckstein

•  IWC Newsletter No. 245: An Appeal by Activists from U.S. Black and Labor Organizations – Call for Union Leadership to Demand an End to Military Aid to Israel

• REPORT: Paris December 18, 2023 Forum on: “What Democratic Solution in Palestine?”

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“A Dangerous Amalgam”

(Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism)

The atmosphere in Western “democracies” is nauseating.

Two Republican members of the House of Representatives submitted and won approval of H.Res. 894, which declares that “anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.”

Everywhere, the aim is to equate anti-Zionism (the ideology and political current behind the State of Israel) and anti-Semitism (the racist hatred of Jews). In so doing, Jews the world over are identified with the State of Israel, and thus today with Netanyahu … which can only fuel anti-Semitism.

This amalgam has gone so far that Jerrold Nadler, a Democratic Member of Congress from New York – that is, a member of a party that has always supported Zionism – protested publicly that H.Res. 894 is “both intellectually unsound and factually inaccurate. … [T]he authors, if they knew anything at all about Jewish history and culture, would know that Jewish anti-Zionism was and is expressly NOT anti-Semitic.” [See accompanying article on Anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.]

Nadler is merely pointing out a historical fact: Prior to the Nazi extermination of the Jews, virtually all currents of the Jewish labor movement in Europe defined themselves as “Jewish anti-Zionist.”

But truth and history don’t matter to imperialist governments. They need to criminalize speech and actions in solidarity with the Palestinian people, denouncing them – in defiance of reality – as “anti-Semitic.” Beyond that, they need to form a united front in defense of the imperialist order established by the UN vote on November 29, 1947, which imposed the partition of Palestine, i.e., its artificial division into a “Jewish state” and an “Arab state” … which never came into being. This partition is at the root of today’s tragedy.

Let us salute the 1,800 writers and artists in the United States who, in a text titled “A Dangerous Amalgam,” recently expressed their “disavowal of the widespread idea that any criticism of Israel is intrinsically anti-Semitic.”

“Israel and its defenders,” they argue, “have long used this rhetoric to keep Israel from being held to account, to justify the multi-billion-dollar payments made by the United States to the Israeli army, to conceal the deadly reality of occupation, and to deny Palestinian sovereignty.

“Today, this insidious gagging of freedom of expression is being used to justify Israeli bombardments in Gaza and to silence criticism from the international community.

“We condemn the recent attacks on civilians, both Israeli and Palestinian … , we are outraged to see the fight against anti-Semitism being weaponized to commit war crimes with openly genocidal intent.”

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Worldwide Drive to Silence Pro-Palestinian Voices

In an effort to silence pro-Palestinian voices and pro-Palestinian activism, a group of 16 French senators, the majority of whom are members of The Republicans (LR) political party, submitted a bill on November 3 to make anti-Zionism a criminal felony.

The bill defines anti-Zionism as “a form of anti-Semitism” and makes anti-Zionism and criticism of the state of Israel punishable by law. Denial of the State of Israel’s right to exist would be made a “criminal offense,” with one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.

The latter formulation would target all proponents of a one-State solution in Palestine — that is, a solution that calls for the dismantling of the Apartheid, theocratic Jewish State and its replacement with a Democratic and Secular Palestine, where peoples of all religious and ethnic origins can live together with equal rights, without any form of discrimination.

[For more information about (1) the history and aims of the Zionist movement since its inception in 1901, and (2) the origin and scope of the call for a Democratic and Secular Palestine, go to Ralph Schoenman’s “Hidden History of Zionism”: http://takingaimnow.com/hhz/index.htm.]

This draft law has become a topic of heated debate across France at a time when there has been a surge of anti-Semitic attacks, including the desecration of nearly 100 graves with swastikas at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France.

Daniel Gluckstein, editor of Tribune des Travailleurs / Workers Tribune, the weekly newspaper of the Democratic Independent Workers Party of France (POID) — now recently renamed Parti des Travailleurs, or Workers Party – wrote the commentary below in the POID newsweekly.

Tribune des Travailleurs, which has been an outspoken critic of the growing rightwing attacks against workers and youth of Muslim origin across France, published a statement by the national secretaries of the POID which reads as follows:

“The workers’ movement has always condemned and fought against anti-Semitism, just as it has combatted all speech and all actions aimed at discriminating, ostracizing, repressing or persecuting individuals or groups on the basis of their religion, origin, nationality, skin color, sexual orientation, or lifestyle.

“In keeping with this tradition, the Democratic Independent Workers Party condemns the anti-Semitic acts that have increased in recent weeks; they are part and parcel of a dangerous trend that threatens democracy in all its aspects.”

Following is an article by Daniel Gluckstein regarding the proposed law equating anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. — The Editors

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Some Thoughts About Zionism, Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism

By Daniel Gluckstein

(The following article is reprinted from Tribune des Travailleurs / Workers Tribune. The translation is by The Organizer Newspaper.)

The political project called “Zionism” was born at the end of the 19th century. Anti-Zionism is almost as old. As early as 1901, the Bund — the Jewish Social Democratic Party, which was the majority current among the Jewish masses oppressed by the czarist empire — “became anti-Zionist,” to the point of declaring: “Whether in economic organizations (mutual aid societies) or political organizations (Bundist sections), Zionists must not be admitted” [1].

Up until the mass extermination of the Jews by the Nazis, Zionism constituted a minority current within the Jewish working class of Eastern Europe. Anti-Zionism dominated overwhelmingly; the majority Bund and communist organizations aimed to ensure that the Jewish masses’ aspirations for equality and political and social emancipation should prevail where they lived [2].

This is the historical reality: Born among the Jewish populations of Eastern Europe and their workers’ organizations, anti-Zionism can hardly be accused of anti-Semitism. Need we recall that the vast majority of these Jewish communities in Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania were exterminated by the Nazis!

After the Second World War, it was by a joint decision of Stalin and the British, U.S. and French imperialist powers that the State of Israel was created, not primarily as a response to the extermination of the Jews, but first and foremost as an instrument of imperialism’s policy in the region. Since its creation, this State has pursued the logic of Zionism, expelling Palestinians from their lands and depriving them of all their rights, starting with the right of return.

For decades, Zionists have spoken about the escalation of anti-Semitism (real or supposed, depending on the case) in an attempt to convince Jews around the world to return to their so-called homeland. Here lies the obvious failure of Zionism: Despite the propaganda deployed, and whatever their sympathy for the State of Israel, the fact is that the vast majority of Jews and people of Jewish origin throughout the world have chosen to remain in the countries where they lived, and not to migrate to Israel.

Mainly Jewish in its origin, anti-Zionism has been, since 1947, the rallying point of the Palestinian people, who are confronted with injustice, discrimination, and persecution. It has been the rallying cry of all who identify throughout the world with the Palestinian cause.

Some people hide their anti-Semitism under an alleged anti-Zionism out of fear of falling under the blows of the Gayssot Law [3]. There is nothing new about such a stance. Any expression of anti-Semitism, whatever its camouflage, must be fought and condemned [4].

This, however, cannot justify the speech delivered by President Emmanuel Macron [5] on February 20, 2019, in which he dared to declare: “Anti-Zionism is one of the modern forms of anti-Semitism.”

Those who would deny Israel’s right to exist, Macron continued, are simply exhibiting “the most basic hatred of Jews.” By announcing a law punishing anti-Zionism as a form of anti-Semitism, Macron is guilty of historical revisionism, totalitarian drift and incitement to anti-Semitism.

He is guilty of historical revisionism for the reasons indicated above: Born among the Jewish masses in reaction to Zionism, anti-Zionism cannot be equated with anti-Semitism. Totalitarian drift: The Republic recognizes the freedom of thought of all its citizens, a freedom seriously undermined by the prohibition to say that the State of Israel is a discriminatory project (restriction of freedoms that goes hand in hand with police repression against demonstrators, including the new law restricting the right to demonstrate).

It is also a de-facto incitement to anti-Semitism. If this bill were to pass, the French people of Jewish origin would be forced to show solidarity with the State of Israel, since their fate would be inseparable from it!

With all due respect to Mr. Macron, many of our fellow citizens, whether of Jewish or non-Jewish origin, reject any solidarity with a State based on discrimination; they demand, in Palestine as in France, equal rights for all, regardless of origin, religion or language. Many of them also demand, together with the Palestinian people, the right to the land and to the nation from which the Palestinians have been driven; they are demanding the right of return.

Dr. Rony Brauman, former president of Médecins sans frontières [Doctors Without Borders], speaking “as a Jew and a French citizen,” stated the following on February 22: “The two populations live de-facto in a single state, under the same authority, but one has all the rights, the other has none. I think that the dismantling of this Apartheid system is on the agenda.“

Whether Mr. Macron and others like it or not, it is the right of everyone, whether or not of Jewish origin, to fight for “the dismantling of this Apartheid system. It is a call for freedom, equality, justice and peace among all peoples.

Endnotes

[1] Henri Minczeles, General History of the Bund: A Jewish Revolutionary Movement, 1995.

[2] “Where we live, where our country is” proclaims an election poster of the Bund in 1926.

[3] This shows in passing the limits of the attempt to prohibit racism or anti-Semitism by law. … But that’s another debate.

[4] See the POID press release published in the previous issue of La Tribune des travailleurs.

[5] Speech delivered by Macron at the Crif dinner on February 20.

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INTERNATIONAL WORKERS COMMITTEE (IWC)

Newsletter No. 245 – December 22, 2023

An Appeal by Activists from U.S. Black and Labor Organizations

CALL FOR UNION LEADERSHIP TO DEMAND AN END TO MILITARY AID TO ISRAEL

PRESENTATION

Demonstrations are continuing around the world in solidarity with the Palestinian people. On December 17, more than 50,000 workers and young people marched in Brussels (Belgium).

In the United States, on December 15, hundreds of U.S. Jews blocked the bridges and motorways of eight cities (Seattle, Los Angeles, Portland, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Chicago) to protest against the U.S. administration’s support for the massacre in Gaza.

From the United States, we also have received an appeal issued by the Labor Fightback Network and signed by dozens of activists, trade union leaders and Black activists, calling for an immediate end to all US military and financial aid to Israel. [See Appeal and Endorsement coupon below.]

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CALL FOR UNION LEADERSHIP TO DEMAND 

AN END TO MILITARY AID TO ISRAEL

SIGN-ON APPEAL: Please Endorse Today!

Every day, every hour, every minute that passes, hundreds of tons of bombs are dropped on the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Children, women, and men are murdered, buried, and mutilated by bombs “MADE IN the USA.”

It is a fact recognized by all military specialists: The Israeli army does not have stocks of bombs and artillery shells. If U.S. arms’ deliveries were to be halted, the Israeli army would be forced to stop its bombings in less than two days.

For two months, hundreds of thousands of young people, workers, and union activists across the United States have taken to the streets to demand “END ALL AID TO APARTHEID ISRAEL!” Most notably, tens of thousands of Jewish activists have declared loudly that the genocide being perpetrated against the people in Gaza is “NOT IN OUR NAME!”

We, the undersigned trade unionists, labor activists, community activists, and militants in the Black Liberation Movement state clearly:

It is the responsibility of the leaders of the trade union organizations at the national, state, and local levels to demand:  

END ALL U.S. MILITARY AND FINANCIAL AID TO ISRAEL NOW!

• It is their responsibility, now, without delay, to mobilize their members to refuse to load cargo ships and planes with weapons earmarked for Israel, following in the footsteps of the ILWU, which decades ago blocked all ships with South African cargo, thus helping to bring down the hated Apartheid regime in South Africa. Most recently, it would mean following the example of dockworkers in Belgium and other countries who refused to load military cargo destined to Israel.

• It is their responsibility to call for action now: Not a single weapon, not a single U.S.-made bomb, must be delivered to Israel!

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SIGN-ON COUPON

NAME

UNION/ORGANIZATION (list if for id. only)

CITY

STATE

(fill out and send to alanbenjamin2013@gmail.com)

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INITIAL ENDORSERS

(all titles and organizations listed for id. only)

Katharine Harer

Past President/Organizer AFT 1493,

San Mateo Community College Fed of Teachers

San Rafael, CA

Clarence Thomas 

Past Secretary Treasurer (retired)

International Longshore and Warehouse Union

Local 10 

San Francisco, CA 

Alan Benjamin

Past Exec. Bd member,

San Francisco Labor Council

retired OPEIU Local 29

New York, NY

Don Bryant

President

Cleveland Peace Action

Cleveland, OH

Mya Shone

Editorial Board

The Organizer Newspaper

Vllejo, CA

Donna Dewitt

Past president

South Carolina AFL-CIO

Charleston, CA

Nnamdi Lumumba

Organizer

Ujima People’s Progress Party

Baltimore, MD

Sandy Eaton

Chair Emeritus

Legislative Council

National Nurses United

Quincy, MA

Ruth Ibarra

Board Member 

NorCal Resist

Sacramento, CA

Clifford D. Conner

Author,

People’s History of Science

antiwar activist

New York, NY

Jim Lafferty

Executive Director Emeritus

National Lawyers Guild, L.A.

A host of the public affairs radio shows, 

Law and Disorder and The Lawyers Guild Show

Los Angeles, CA


David Keil
Member, State Committee
Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts
Natick, MA
 

Desirée Rojas

Labor and Community Organizer 

LCLAA Member

Sacramento, CA

Mark Burrows

Retired former Delegate

 SMART-TD 1433

Railroad Workers United

Chicago, IL

Millie Phillips

Member, LCIP Steering Committee

Member CWA 9415

Oakland, CA

 

Jerry Levinsky

Amherst, MA Coordinating Committee,

Educators for A Democratic Union,

Mass Teachers Association Board Member,

Education Committee, Western Mass

David Walters

BEW 1245, retired

Pacifica, CA

Dan Kaplan

Executive Secretary, retired

AFT Local 1493

San Mateo, CA

Timothy Stinson

Socialist Organizer

Albany, Oregon

Connie White

Continuations Committee member

Labor and Community for an Independent Party

Long Beach, CA

Coral Wheeler

Member, California Faculty Association

Azusa, CA

Wadi’h Halabi

Labor activist,

former resident of Gaza

National Writers Union/UAW 891

FRANCE

Paris, December 18, 2023

A Forum on: “What Democratic Solution in Palestine?”

(reprinted from IWC Newsletter No. 245)

On Monday, December 18, in Paris, the first meeting of endorsers of the ODSI appeal came together to organize the fight for a democratic solution in Palestine. In early December the One Democratic State Initiative was issued to support the 14,000 Palestinians who addressed “their Jewish allies” fighting against genocide in Gaza.

Over 1,200 activists, leaders and personalities from 36 countries signed the appeal in support of the initiative, including 599 from France; 72 workers, young people, union and political activists and artists who signed the appeal met for this discussion.

Introducing the debate, Naji El Khatib, a Palestinian activist with the One Democratic State Initiative, responded to the objection: “Is this the time to talk about the future of Palestine, while barbarism reigns in Gaza?” Naji replied: Precisely because what is happening exposes the colonial nature of Zionism and all its murderous consequences, it must lead to reflection on the future of Palestine, namely “the transformation of the State of Israel into a secular and democratic Palestinian State.“

Richard Wagman, Honorary President of the French Jewish Union for Peace (UJFP), stressed the importance of the protests – albeit minority – by Israeli Jews against the massacre in Gaza, quoting Gideon Levy in the daily Haaretz that October 7th “is the product of Israeli arrogance”.

Dominique Ferré, for La Tribune des travailleurs, recalled that, from the partition of Palestine voted by the UN in 1947 to the Oslo Accords (1993), there is one constant feature: “None of the ‘solutions’ that have been put forward and imposed in Palestine for more than 75 years has proceeded from the will of the inhabitants of Palestine.” And yet, “there can be no democratic solution without recognition of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.“

Unable to attend, Azzédine Taïbi, mayor of Stains (Seine Saint-Denis), sent a message stating that political leaders, including Macron, having “shown their inability to open up a new political perspective, only the peoples, the labor movement and revolutionaries are capable of putting popular and citizen pressure on the ground.“

After a discussion with the participants, the initiators of this meeting agreed to follow up and broaden the campaign.

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