Demonstrations are being held here in New York and across the United States today against Israel’s defensive military operation in Gaza. It may be that the protests attract those who are unaffiliated but who nonetheless are seized by the desire to “do something;” in which case, beware of who you march with.
ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism - clever, eh?), the organization behind the protests, is a coalition of ultraleftist sects. If you have even slight reservations about the Cuban regime, for example, you risk attracting the ire of one of those constituents, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). “The Cuban socialist revolution - led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara - still lives on, inspiring millions worldwide,” the PSL declares. Not for them the stoic observations of the brilliant Cuban dissident blogger, Yoani Sánchez: “Between the symbolic price of a pound of rationed rice, and the enormous ’slice’ of our salaries taken by those who govern us, we are more the givers than the receivers of subsidies. Eradicating them should be our slogan, not theirs.”
If you are in favor of a two-state solution, don’t tell the Free Palestine Alliance (FPA), another ANSWER constituent. Their view? “A Secular Democratic State is a Just and Historical Imperative: The FPA regards the establishment of a democratic secular state on all of historic Palestine that would end all forms of Apartheid, colonial power structures, racial & religious segregation, as a just, inevitable, and realistic imperative, and will work towards this strategic goal.”
Likewise, if you are unimpressed with the notion that “Zionism” is not simply a form of nationalism, but a global pest, keep schtum around the FPA. “The Struggle against Zionism is Primary: The struggle against Zionist colonialism is the responsibility of all justice seeking people, primarily the Arab people, equally as it is the responsibility of the Palestinian people,” they decree. Meanwhile, I’m wondering whether the frequent capitalization in these statements is just bad grammar, or whether it’s their way of telling us they are really, really serious.
Historically, ANSWER has worked closely with the International Action Center (IAC) of former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who has served as lawyer to such genocidal beasts as Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein. Visit the IAC website and you can read a paean of praise to a country that really is one big gulag - North Korea.
Two useful idiots (in the classic sense of that term) who travelled to Pyongyang on behalf of the IAC had this to say: “The group saw a video entitled ‘Korea’s Answer,’ which chronicles all the attempts by the DPRK to use dialog to prevent another war with the U.S. It shows how the Bush administration has worked against the process of peaceful reunification and has attempted to starve the North Korean people into submission.”
You often hear the phrase “totalitarian left.” Sometimes it’s used unfairly. In the case of ANSWER and its cohorts, it’s spot on. March with them and you march with the tyrants.
UPDATE: Read the excellent Terry Glavin on why “the problem is worse than mere verbiage.”
Oy veh–hard to believe, I’m kind of lost for a publishable word to describe these ehm, groups…
Agreed, Terry’s post is very good.
The pondlife who demonstrated here in England were screaming “death to Israel” “al Akhbar” and prostrating themselves on the ground.
The demonstrations of A.N.S.W.E.R. and other ‘peace’ groups, brings the war in Israel and Jihadi conflict all over the world right to my own front door. Among the left wing folks on the streets this week characterizing Israel as the oppressor and Palestinians as victims, are many of my colleagues at work and acquaintances from my life.
It is mind-boggling, if not mind-shattering, to know that the same people in my circle of fairly close interactions, are, this week, marching in the streets, supporting organizations and cultures that seek not only to eliminate Israel but also seek the elimination of every Jew on the face of the earth (or, if we are lucky, the dimi-ization of Jews and other infidels.)’ The big news just a few years ago was the discovery of maps of the Mideast that did not include Israel. The bigger discovery by the public has yet to be made with the map that includes only the worldwide Umma with countries considered ‘infidels,’ conquered, converted or eliminated.
I doubt if anyone of my circle of acquaintances believes they are marching to support my own, or my family’s Daniel Pearl style butchery by Palestinians or the Islamists that have supplied them with weapons tunneled into Gaza. I am, however, absolutely convinced that these marches and protests are a clear and unequivocal support, not only for what my circle of friends and acquaintances believe to be the ‘human rights’ of Palestinians, who are seen as the helpless victims of the “Israeli siege,” but also for the eventual ‘return’ to the world Umma, wherein me and my family are either ritually slaughtered or are forced to live as semi-citizens under a totalitarian religious rule.
Unfortunately, what I also strongly believe, and what my circle of colleagues and acquaintances choose to ignore, is that their heads and families will most certainly be next, as the illusion that if “Israel goes away,’ the ‘conflict’ will go away, is just that, an illusion. Once Israel is off the map, the next map redrawing will be missing London, Paris, New York and so on. The only solution to the ‘conflict’ will be the eventual rule of Islamist tyranny and the elimination of the infidels, Jew and non-Jew alike.
The other evening, I had the privilege of speaking with a German Jew, a woman in her 80’s or 90’s who clearly recounted how, while in her 20’s, she ’saw the signs’ at the beginning of Hitler’s rise to power. Her awareness that evil was rising and that things were going to get worse brought her to act by leaving the country and migrating to the United States.
I asked this lovely lady a question that has nagged at me for most of my life - why did most Jews stay in Germany? Didn’t these Jews, and their friends and acquaintances who loved them, realize what was going on? The woman gazed downward through intensely clear eyes, thought for a moment, and then said “everyone was sleeping.”
My deepest wish for the New Year is that we all wake up before it’s too late because this time, the threat is as real as it was before, except this time, it’s worldwide, with no safe haven left to escape.
Zach
didn’t ANSWER and IAC have some kind of split?
If you search youtube for a “cast lead” - you’ll see a lot of anti Israel videos.
We decided to collect all available video truth about “Cast lead” in one place:
http://castlead.tv
Send your links to the video-truth-news about Cast Lead to castlead4@gmail.com and we will place these videos on the site.
Thank you
Israel did not exist before 1948. Today Israel dominates the Levant. Therefore, by definition, Israel has been the most successful aggressor in the Levant during this time period.
This is acceptable to most people in the United States for at least two reasons that you may not have considered.
First, Jews are the ancient holy ones of Christianity, the dominant religion of the United States. The Christian messiah is listed in the Christian Bible as being a Jew. In fact, most of the characters in the Christian Bible are listed as being Jews. Christians often consider Jews to have been “chosen” by the Christian deity and to be therefore infallible. This is also a convenient fit with with the forgein policy of the United States.
Second, by being the successful aggressor since 1948, and in the process overwhelming and displacing the previous (or “native”) population, Israel has earned the admiration of many people in the United States. That is, after all, how the people of the United States came to dominate the area of North America presently called the “United States”.