Metro

Fringe Leftists Blast Israel

Jewish Anti-Zionists and Palestinian groups seek to influence U.S. Social Forum.

Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News

H

istorically, Jews are overrepre-
sented in progressive causes, so
it's no surprise they are likely
to be overrepresented at the U.S. Social
Forum being held June 22-26 in Detroit.
What is surprising is that the largest
organized Jewish presence will be that of
Jewish anti-Zionists.
"The 2010 U.S. Assembly of Jews:
Confronting Racism & Israeli Apartheid"
will be held in Detroit just prior to the
Social Forum. The four-day Assembly is
expected to draw 150-200 self-identified
anti-Zionist Jews from across the country.
According to its website, the Assembly,
running June 19-22, intends to "gather
together as anti-Zionist Jewish activists
committed to social justice and to chal-
lenging racism, colonialism and imperial-
ism — first and foremost, by contribut-
ing to efforts to overcome Zionism and
decolonize Palestine."
Following their Assembly, Jewish anti-
Zionist activists will do their best —
through workshops, networking and being
a visible presence — to engage in their
agenda the hundreds of groups attending
the U.S. Social Forum.
The San Francisco area-based
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
(IJAN), a major force behind the Assembly,
also is represented on the U.S. Social
Forum national planning committee as is
the U.S. Palestinian Community Network,
another group committed to, as posted on
its website, "ending Zionist occupation and
colonization of Palestine."
The U.S. Palestinian Community
Network has a goal of "making Palestine
a part of all social justice movements." It
lists 70 workshops comprising a "Palestine
track' at the U.S. Social Forum. It will host
a four-day Palestinian Tent, sponsor six
four-hour "People's Movement Assemblies"
and present Palestinian speakers at the
Forum's plenary panel. Additionally, col-
lege students will hold the first national
conference of Students for Justice in
Palestine, concurrent with the Forum.
Arab Detroit was recently added as a
sponsor of the "Palestine track" along with
IJAN, the U.S. Palestinian Community
Network, Electronic Intifada, Mondowiess,
Israel Occupation Archive and the
Common Counsel Foundation.
The U.S. Social Forum is a regional

2010 U.S. ASSEMBLY OF JEWS

CONFRONTING RACISM & ISRAELI APARTHEID

The Assembly's poster adds anti-Zionist slogans to this 1909 photo of Jewish anti-

child labor activists in New York.

conference — spawned by the World
Social Forum — described on the USSF
website as gathering "the world's workers,
peasants, youth, women and oppressed
peoples to construct a counter-vision to
the economic and political elites of the
World Economic Forum held annually in
Davos, Switzerland:' Detroit is the second
American city to host the U.S. Social
Forum; the first was Atlanta in 1997.
More than 15,000 participants/activists
are expected in Detroit under the slogan,
"Another World is Possible. Another U.S. is
Necessary!" The more than 1,200 sessions
will include both mainstream and radical
issues and approaches, with an emphasis
on nontraditional thinking and action.

The Anti Zionist Backdrop

dition of Jewish radical activism focused
on social justice and equality for all peo-
ple. The poster for the Assembly expresses
this by placing anti-Zionist slogans across
the chests of young women in a 1909
photo of Jewish anti-child labor activists
in New York.
"We are fighting Zionism's appropria-

"We are
fighting
Zionism's
appropriation
of our identity."

-

The Jewish anti-Zionist movement sees
itself as carrying on a long and proud tra-

tion of our identity:' affirms Emily Katz
Kishawi, an IJAN leader who will be corn-
ing from California for the Assembly. "It's
a way of asserting our own humanity in
the face of what Zionism has done to the
Jewish experience of freedom. Over the
course of history, where Jews have been
oppressed, challenged, where a Holocaust
has been committed against us, the
[appropriate] response is not an ideology
of exclusion and dispossession of others:'
But the struggle for Jewish identity is
part of a larger political goal — and Katz
Kishawi is clear about it.
"We oppose Zionism in the sense of impe-
rialism and colonialism, and current U.S.
state policy, and the Israeli role in advancing
imperialism and colonialism," she said.
Ending colonialism and imperialism
are major themes of the Assembly and the
larger U.S. Social Forum. A June 3 "Open
Letter" posted on the Assembly website
describes why opposing Zionism is an
important part of this larger struggle and,
ultimately, good for the Jews:
"IJAN and the Assembly stand firmly
against Zionism — the exclusionary
colonial ideas, policies and practice that
privilege Jews above, and at the expense
of, Palestinian people the letter states. "By
extension, we reject the Jewish nationalism
that underlies Zionism, a nationalism that
erases diverse Jewish histories and cham-
pions safety in separation, isolation and
domination of others. We believe that true
safety and long-term freedom can only be
found in the emancipation of all people'
But in contrast to the Jews who must
wait for "the emancipation of all people
Katz Kishawi believes Palestinian emanci-
pation can come sooner because it is not
part of imperialism and colonialism, but a
way of defeating it.
Israel's own history and claims to land
and statehood are not particularly rel-
evant, she said, because, even if accepted,
Israel is still primarily a tool of greater,
evil powers. Sort of like the Iranian con-
struct that Israel is the "Little Satan" and
the United States is the "Big Satan."

Jewish Dispossession?

Asked about the actions of groups like
Hamas and Hezbollah, which don't much
care about the Jewish legacy and whose
religious beliefs and political manifestos
are rife with anti-Semitism, Katz Kishawi

- Emily Katz Kishawi,

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Fringe Leftists on page 22

June 17 • 2010

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