Members of IJAN attended the Left Forum in New York andpresented two workshops. On Saturday IJAN members presented on theinternational Stop the Jewish National Fund Campaign featuring participationfrom the U.S. and Canada. On Sunday, IJAN presented with Al Awda – NY, the NationalLawyers Guild – NY, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Malcolm XGrassroots Movement on Israel’s Worldwide Role in Repression.
Posts Tagged: US
The United States IJAN chapter has members across the country, from the West Coast to the Midwest to New England. We focus on issues and campaigns that are specific to our context, while remaining in close conversation and consultation with international partners and points of reference. Within the US, we work closely with a variety of organizations and networks within, or in solidarity with, the Palestinian liberation movement, as well as those who are struggling against racism, colonialism, class rule, and state violence more broadly within the US, but who understand the importance of the Palestinian struggle to all of our movements.
Stop the JNF Campaign Growing in the U.S.
Category: Stop the Jewish National Fund Campaign, Uncategorized ,The Campaign to Stop the JNF is growing in participation,visibility, and momentum. This spring, Jonah Aline Daniel represented the Stopthe JNF campaign in many cities across the Midwest and East coast of the United States to bring areport back from the Plant-a-Tree in Palestine delegation. The tour was a success indrawing crowds of various sizes, recruiting new campaign activists andprompting many helpful questions to further the strategic development of theCampaign.
At each event most people signed postcards bombardingthe IRS with demands to revoke the charity status of the JNF. Many peoplesigned up to stay in contact with the campaign moving forward. There was muchinterest in increasing knowledge about the JNF across environmental movements andin a legal campaign against the JNF. Here is the Stop the JNF Campaign presentation thatwas used on the tour and is available for use by Stop the JNF activists.
The Stop the JNF Campaign created this shortvideo as an introduction to the true purpose of the JewishNational Fund. It was screened at every location on the Report Back Tour and isavailable to share with all of your networks.
Additionally, the Stop the JNF Campaign was invited to submit adocumentary film this fall about the Jewish National Fund and theresistance to it at the Zochrot Film Festival, Nakba and Return, in Tel Aviv.This film will be made available to Campaign activists to use in our educationwork and to expose the historical and ongoing role of the JNF in thecolonization of Palestine.
IJAN Attends Big Mountain/Black Mesa Gathering to Build Joint Struggle with Din
Category: Uncategorized ,ThisJune, two IJAN U.S. organizers attended a gathering held at Big Mountain/Black Mesa that focused ondecolonization. Big Mountain/Black Mesa is a portion of the ancestralhomeland of the Diné (Navajo) people who since the 1970’s havebeen resisting relocation by Peabody Coal and the U.S. Government overcoal extraction.
Thegathering, organized by Black Mesa Indigenous Supportin collaboration with the community of resisters on Black Mesa,sought to lay groundwork for joint struggle by bringing together organizationsworking on the front lines of anti-colonial struggles, as well as alliedorganizations.
S.F. Bay View: Stand Behind Striking Prisoners from Palestine to California
Category: Uncategorized ,by IJAN http://sfbayview.com/2013/stand-behind-striking-prisoners-from-palestine-to-california/ From Palestine to California, prisoners are organizing to end torture in prison and prison as a form of repression of popular movements and poor communities of color. Members of IJAN have been following and supporting the organizing of California prisoners, who are prepared to go on indefinite hunger strike starting July 8… Read more »
Community Seders Honor Legacies of Resistance
Category: Uncategorized ,This year, several large community Seders (a ritual meal in observance of the Passover holiday) were held using the IJAN Liberation Haggadah (a program for Seder). Many other people held smaller gatherings in their homes using this resource. Passover is traditionallya celebration of the Exodus story, and the IJAN Liberation Haggadah draws on themes that grapple with the concept of liberation as presentedin religious text as well as secular traditions that celebrate the human commitment to liberating ourselves.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, approximately 200 people attended a Seder which raised money for IJAN and the Stop the JNF Campaign. Hamilton, Ontario, had two Seders, with a total of about 90 people in attendance. In Atlanta, about a dozen people attended a Seder in an IJAN member’s home.
These Seders were a part of the cultural work of de-linking Zionism and Judaism/Jewish identity. Consistent with the project of rejecting Jewish isolationism, all Seders were well attended by people who are not Jewish. Said one participant in the Hamilton Seder, "Theenvironment, the mix of people and the atmosphere were moving and inspiring." A participant in the Atlanta Seder reported, "It was an intimate space, and people really opened up. We talked about how to confront power. We laughed and sang and studied together. We parted witha prayer and a challenge, "Next year, may Palestine be free."
Letter to SF Pride in Support of Bradley Manning
Category: Uncategorized ,We urge you tore-instate Bradley Manning as Grand Marshall for this year’s Pride march. As anetwork of Jewish people committed to the end of all occupations and war and tohuman emancipation for all people – particularly those most impacted byoppression and repression – we commend Manning’s actions.
As a network committedto the historic struggles of queer and transgender people, we also askthe Board to remember the lives and courage of the fierce transgender men andwomen, the queens and dykes, many of whom were also people of color, who hadthe courage to stand up against the repression and violence against their communitiesby the police. This led up to theStonewall uprisings in 1969, a significant foundation for the LGBTTQ movementand what Pride itself is built on.
We reject theunfounded claim that Manning’s actions endangered soldiers’ lives. We remindthe Board that from 2003 to 2012, an estimated 180,000 Iraqis died as a resultof combat and an estimated 650,000 Iraqis died of war- and sanction-relatedcauses. More than 4,800 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since 2003. Certainlyamongst all of those killed in Iraq as a result of the aggression of the U.S.and its allies, many were queer.
Upper Midwest Screening of Where Should the Birds Fly
Category: Uncategorized ,OnMay 12, 2013 the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network of the Twin Cities(IJAN-TC), along with several other community and solidarity organizations organizeda film showing of Where Should the Birds Fly and brought Fida Qishta to Minneapolis for a discussion.
Stop the Criminalization of the Black Liberation Movement
Category: Backlash Defense, NEWS & OPINIONS, Uncategorized ,IJAN joins with theNational Lawyers Guild, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and National Conferenceof Black Lawyers in rejecting the U.S. government’sattempt to smear Assata Shakur as a "terrorist." The outrageous FBI designationof Shakur as a "most wanted terrorist" further lays bare the blatantpoliticization of the term.
San Francisco Will Not Tolerate Islamophobia and Racism
Category: Backlash Defense, Uncategorized ,
A Community Speak Out and Forum was held in response to Pamela Geller’s racist ad campaign, carried on SanFrancisco municipal buses this summer. The event was hosted by theCouncil on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA), Asian Law Caucus (ALC), ArabResource & Organizing Center (AROC), and Arab Cultural & CommunityCenter (ACCC).
This community forum was intended as a space for Arabs,Muslims, and their allies to express their concerns to city officials,including the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, about the harm which hasresulted from the Geller ads and to send the message that the community willnot tolerate Islamophobia and racism. The event was standing roomonly, and those in the audience included members of municipal institutions(e.g. the Municipal Transit Authority Board, San Francisco Board ofSupervisors, San Francisco Department of Public Health) and community members,groups and organizations, such as Students for Justice in Palestine, PeopleOrganized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) and the National Lawyers Guild. Speakersincluded Dr. Hatem Bazian, Zahra Billoo, Dr. Rabab Abdulhabi, and HusamEl-Qoulaq, as well as a MUNI bus driver who refused to drive his bus with thisad on it, Arab youth, and leaders of grassroots organizations.
IJAN was asked to speak at the event and below is the text of our statement
IJAN Statement of Support for Idle No More
Category: NEWS & OPINIONS, Uncategorized ,"There is no mystery why Canada acts almost blindly without critique or question in support of the State of Israel’s colonial policies in Palestine: Canada and Israel’s policies are marching in lock step because both Canada and Israel are colonial states."
-Robert Lovelace Address to Amnesty International, Toronto, November 01, 2011
The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) supports Idle No More in its struggle for indigenous sovereignty and environmental protection. IJAN is an international network of Jews who reject the premise that our own histories of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing justify the forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. We are uncompromisingly committed to struggles for human emancipation, of which the liberation of all colonized people and land is an indispensable part. We understand the destruction of indigenous people, land and ways of life as a threat to the survival of all people, living things and the planet. We extend solidarity and continue our fight against colonization in the lands that we live and in Palestine.
Please also see the excellent statement: "Palestinians in Solidarity with Idle No More and Indigenous Rights"
