ISO attacks SWP re anti-Zionism & BDS

[Jay Rothermel]

ISO attacks SWP re anti-Zionism & BDS

http://socialistworker.org/2009/04/08/slander-on-our-movement
"Pederson and the SWP need to get a grip. Rather than using half-truths
and lies to slander other socialists and pro-Palestine activists (when
we finally have some real momentum going!), they should take up some of
the real questions facing the movement. And then they should decide
which side they're on: the oppressor or the oppressed?"

Funnily enough, this ISO article was written by Lichi D'Amelio, who had
recently been referred to in the SWP's newspaper the Militant:

"....At a February 10 panel discussion at Hunter College in New York,
ISO leader Lichi D'Amelio appealed to students not to buy hummus
produced by the company Sabra. After stating that the company gives
money to the Israeli military, she also asserted that the
chick-pea-based dip "is not even Jewish, but an Arab food." "
(http://www.themilitant.com/2009/7313/731336.html


In all fairness: ISO on class character of Israel:
http://www.isreview.org/issues/23/class_character_israel.shtml

My own letter to the Militant appears here: http://www.themilitant.com/2009/7314/731435.html

The Militant's response, here: http://www.themilitant.com/2009/7314/731436.html



Comradely,

Jay Rothermel
Cleveland Ohio

[PoWR]

D'Amelio compares students in the U.S. trying to get their universities to stop doing business with companies that do business with/in Israel to South African dock workers hot cargoing materials to and from Israel, when in reality those are two very different things.

She also argues for "sanctions" against Israel. So she's saying we should appeal to bourgeois states to punish Israel.

This is all a part of her "revolutionary course forward."

I guess that's a main differences between being a "solidarity activist" and a communist.


After stating that the company gives money to the Israeli military, she also asserted that the chick-pea-based dip "is not even Jewish, but an Arab food."

Others at the meeting have verified this statement. Is D'Amelio or the ISO going to address this? Or is this an acceptable part of their kind of "anti-Zionism"?

The SWP has a point in that a number of "anti-Zionist activists" are promoting anti-Semitism. What do you expect when they're jumping over each other to embrace (and appologize for) Hezbollah? They also have a point in saying that Apartheid was a specific system that existed in a specific time and place and that using the term against Israel basically amounts to turning it into a general slur (like "fascism" being used against every Republic President in the U.S. for the last few decades by certain liberals and leftists).

And supporters of Israel do try to paint every criticism of the country as anti-Semitism. That's a known fact. But so what? Does that mean that there really is no anti-Semitism among the "anti-Zionist activists" in the U.S. and elsewhere?

[KC]

Wow, that ISO article is really sad. D'Amelio addresses absolutely none of the points raised by Pederson, and instead decides to appeal to sectism to attack the SWP.

D'Amelio's line, though, really isn't that surprising, considering the ISO's position on "anti-imperialist" movements, which basically amounts to them bowing down to any group fighting against Israel or the United States. Such black and white thinking is bound to lead to perspectives like D'Amelio's.

Granted, SWP's position is pretty shitty as well, which you rightfully criticized in your letter.