Zionism is Racism—50 years since UN Resolution

A review of the meeting by Steve Halpern 

A few days ago, I attended a meeting titled Zionism is Racism—50 years since UN Resolution 3379 sponsored by the Unitarian Society of Germantown in Philadelphia. This meeting protested the unimaginable Israeli organized genocide against the Palestinian people.  

About 200 people came to fill the church for the meeting. There were four important speeches. These were by Noura Erakat, a Palestinian attorney and professor in the Department of Africana Studies at Rutgers University, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, a professor of African American studies at Princeton University, Emmala Gelman, the director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism, and Arun Kundnani, a member of Philadelphia Parents for Palestine. 

Many groups co-sponsored this event. Those groups set up tables we all could view after the formal meeting. Food was served, but the ample amount of prepared food ran out because of the large number of attendees. 

I was glad I attended the meeting for a few reasons. While I’ve been reading a lot about the Zionist organized genocide in Gaza, I learned many things from the speakers. This meeting was organized to allow the speakers to give extended presentations so those who attended would be better prepared to advance the demand of Ceasefire Now and support for Palestinian liberation. The theme of the meeting was “Zionism is Racism—50 years since UN Resolution 3379.” The speakers gave the long history to underscore the argument. It was encouraging to see all the people who came out to support the movement in some way. However, I felt there was also a limitation to the meeting.

The dictatorship of Donald J. Trump

When I attended school, my teachers argued that we not only live in a “democracy”, but that the United States is the “greatest democracy in the history of the world.” When we look at the facts, it becomes clear that this country was never a genuine democracy. 

The government has always made it their top priority to support the interests of the most affluent people who live here. So, I believe we live in a plutocracy or a nation where the government serves the interests of the wealthy. We can also say that this has been a brutally ruthless dictatorship. 

Donald Trump has removed the democratic veneer that hid this dictatorship. Now we can say that the United States government is about doing basically whatever Donald Trump wants. The Democratic Party and the courts have shown that they have no serious interest in challenging Trump’s dictates. 

This meeting and many others demonstrate that there are large numbers of people who disapprove of Trump’s dictates. Around the world there have been continuous demonstrations of hundreds of thousands who are enraged by the crimes of the Israeli government in the Middle East.

I have attended many Ceasefire Now demonstrations in Philadelphia, Washington DC, and New York City. During the initial months of the genocide hundreds of thousands of people attended these demonstrations. However, while large demonstrations continue erupt in other countries, currently the demonstrations here are smaller and sporadically organized.

Today many people who are demanding an end to the genocide are not convinced that large demonstrations are fundamentally important. They see how there have been large actions and the genocide continues. As a result, there are several groups organizing small actions. So, my question is: Are demonstrations the most effective way to protest Israeli organized genocide?

A short history of the mass movements in the United States

First, we can look at history to see how demonstrations were effective. During the 1930s the labor movement erupted with the formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. At that time workers found it difficult to feed and house a family on the wages they received. There was a reluctance to protest these conditions because of the huge numbers of workers who were unemployed. 

Then in San Francisco, California, Toledo, Ohio, and Minneapolis, Minnesota workers went on strikes that won real gains. The success of those strikes came about because of mass determined support from working class communities. That movement continued and established the beginnings of what was once a powerful labor movement in this country.

A few months after the lynching of Emmet Till, Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Because of the Jim Crow laws, the police arrested Parks for her act of defiance. The Black community responded to the arrest of Parks with a boycott of the busses in Montgomery. That boycott lasted for over a year. Other mass actions followed for several years. Then in the mid 1960s the federal government passed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. Those laws as well as the changing consciousness made possible by the civil rights movement effectively did away with Jim Crow segregation.

Women needed two waves of protests to win many of the rights they have today. The first wave of feminism won the right for women to vote. President Woodrow Wilson was adamantly opposed to this right and ordered the arrest of suffragettes who demanded the right to vote in front of the White House. In prison the suffragettes went on a hunger strike. Prison guards responded by inserting a tube into the throat of the leader Alice Paul to force-feed her. This was how women won the right to vote in this country.

Before the 1970s most women were not allowed to wear pants at work. They were not allowed to have a credit card or purchase birth control if they weren’t married. Abortion was against the law and many women lost their lives or were mutilated because of injuries sustained in back alley illegal abortions. 

Then a mass movement erupted that changed the consciousness in this country. Clearly much more needs to be done so women and Black people will have full equality. However, when we look the environment before the movements for Black and women’s rights there have been significant changes.

Few people protested the war the United States organized against Korea in 1950. In the early stages of the war against Vietnam, few people protested. Then as people began to see the horror of that war on television, and saw young people drafted to fight in that war, many asked the question: Why the war was happening? 

As a result, the demonstrations against the war became larger. However, the unimaginable horror of the war continued, and some people argued that the movement needed to have a different strategy. This strategy called for deliberately breaking the law in order to make spectacular statements that might draw more attention.

The news media went along with this strategy and consistently publicized demonstrations that broke the law where people were arrested. The media gave little coverage to the much larger demonstrations that were legal. (We should keep in mind that the armed forces of the government murdered several people who legally demonstrated against the war.)

The anti-war movement responded to this situation by forming national coalitions that held conferences where the different strategies were discussed and debated. Those conferences didn’t oppose the actions that violated the law. However, the majority of the attendees at those conferences voted to organize legal demonstrations. Those actions would be defended by trained participants who were assigned to be marshals. Fred Halstead reported on this history in his book Out Now. 

While it took several years for the war against Vietnam to end, Eventually, about 80% of the population in this country opposed the war. President Lyndon Bains Johnson refused to run for reelection because of the anti-war movement. President Richard Nixon was booted out of office because of the changing atmosphere in this country caused by the anti-war movement. However, we should make no mistake, the primary reason the armed forces of this country left Vietnam was because of the national liberation movement in that country.

Ceasefire Now

When we look at the contrast between the consistent mass demonstrations in other countries to the Ceasefire Now movement here, I believe we can learn something. On the one hand, there is an international mass sentiment that is willing and able to protest the unimaginable genocide that continues to be inflicted on the Palestinian people. However, while huge actions are taking place in other countries, here the initially large actions have tapered down to smaller and sporadic demonstrations. 

This is in no way due to an unwillingness to protest against the genocide. In my opinion, the main reason why larger actions aren’t happening is because of a lack of appreciation for how large demonstrations are the most effective way to advance the movement. So, what needs to happen?

Just as in the movement that protested the war against Vietnam, we need a national coalition that is in solidarity with Palestinian liberation. There was a recent conference in Detroit where people came together to discuss solidarity. However, from what I can tell, no mass actions are being organized. If mass demonstrations are planned, I see no publicity for those actions. What does this state of affairs tell us?

At the Zionism is Racism meeting many groups summarized their actions. In my opinion, all those groups need to make it their top priority to come together and organize more educationals, mass meetings, and national demonstrations.

We’ve seen how there is little opposition within the government to Donald Trump’s dictates with respect to Palestine, deportations, the termination of federal employees, the right to freedom of speech, as well as the right to an education free of government censorship. 

The history of this country gives us a clear message. Since the courts and the Democratic Party aren’t making a serious attempt to stop Trump’s dictates. Therefore, all the people who want the genocide to stop and support Palestinian liberation need to find ways to come together. We have the potential to make a difference. Why engage in many small actions when we can come together week after week and build towards the largest demonstrations this country has ever seen?