Demonstrators at the first World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa in 2001.

 

The United Against Racism Coalition, an allied call to end the US boycott of the World Conference Against Racism and for genuine justice for Palestine, issued an open letter to the Obama Administration urging United States participation in the upcoming United Nations Durban Review of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR), to be held in Geneva, Switzerland April 20 - 24.

The United Against Racism coalition consists of a broad range of individuals and organizations concerned with the application of civil and human rights protections for immigrants and the communities of Arab, Indigenous, Jewish, African, and Latin descent within the US. The open letter calls on President Obama to apply his campaign themes of hope, change and renewed international diplomacy to this global forum to address issues of racial injustice domestically and internationally.

This letter reflects a growing coalition of grassroots Palestinian, immigrant and indigenous rights, and racial and economic justice organizations who are committed to building a united struggle against racism at home and abroad.

Please add your individual signatures and organizational endorsements to this letter by clicking here: http://www.unitedagainstracism.net/

We can then also include you and your organization as this effort continues to build.

Yours,

United Against Racism Coalition, adhoc coordinating committee:

Cindy Wiesner, national organizer, Grassroots Global Justice
Darryl Johnson, staff, American Friends Service Committee
Gabriel Camacho, staff, American Friends Service Committee
Jaime Veve, organizer, NYC Transit Workers Union
Kali Akuno, national organizer, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
Mariana Viturro, co-director, St. Peter's Housing Committee
Merrie Najimy, staff American-Arab anti-Discrimination Committee
Monadel Herzallah, national organizer, USPCN
Monamie Maulik, staff, Desis Rising Up & Moving
Nadeen Elshorafa, member, Arab Resource and Organizing Center
Noura Erakat, national coordinating committee member, USPCN
Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi-AMED, professor, San Francisco State University
Sara Kershnar, international organizer, IJAN
Tammy Luu Bang, organizer, Labor Community Strategy Center

 (read more...)

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 15, 2009

 

SAN FRANCISCO – A group of nine activists – Palestinian, anti-Zionist Jewish, and immigrant rights activists – blocked the entrance of the Israeli Consulate beginning at 8:30am today, in nonviolent protest of Israeli apartheid and its current attacks on Gaza.  The activists chained themselves together using handcuffs and locks, locked the doors to the building, and were joined by a diverse rally of over 40 supporters.  The action was organized jointly by local Palestinians and Jews in support of: an immediate ceasefire; the opening of land, sea, and air borders to allow in emergency supplies; and an end to US financial and political support for Israel.

“For the past sixty years, Israel has tried to eliminate the Palestinian people by forcing them out of their homes and off their lands, starving them, and killing them,” said Maria Poblet, an immigrants’ rights organizer.  “The recent blockades and attacks in Gaza are not an exception, but a brutal reminder that killing civilians is a regular part of Israeli strategy.”   

Linked arm in arm, Bay Area Jews, Palestinians and social-justice activists aim to increase pressure on Israel and its supporters in the face of the 21-day siege on Gaza and the growing humanitarian crisis.   All nine activists were arrested after about two hours, charged with trespassing, and allowed to leave.  This action is one in a series that has moved from Toronto, to New York, to Los Angeles.

Organizers assert that the current situation in Gaza is not a conflict between two peoples of equivalent capacities, nor is Israel’s motive self-defense. “For the past year and a half, Israel has enacted strangling sanctions under the guise of targeting Hamas, collectively starving the entire population of food, water, medicine, and other vital resources,” stated Monadel Herzallah of the United States Palestinian Community Network. “The recent air and ground strikes are another brutal blow to Gazans who are already trapped in a concentration camp of despair and growing poverty.”

Activists also spoke out against the US pledge of more than $3 billion each year in unrestricted aid to Israel.  “Israel’s use of US aid and military equipment violates our own laws.  We can choose to uphold US and international laws, or ignore them as we are now doing at the peril of our conscience and our place among all of humanity,” said Nadeen Elshorafa of the General Union of Palestinian Students.

Organizer Sara Kershnar of the International Jewish anti-Zionist Network summed up the sentiment: “Today, as Palestinians, Jews, and our united allies, we make our position clear: we are on one side, the side of justice; Israel, an apartheid state, is on the other.”

Press Coverage (so far):

• San Francisco Chronicle
• ABC 7 / KGO-TV (video)
• KCBS (audio)
• KTVU
• KCBS
• CBS 5 / KPIX-TV (raw video)
• CBS 5
• IndyMedia  (and here) (and here) (and here)
• MondoWeiss
• Democracy Now! Headlines
• KPFA Living Room
• 3Arabawy
• Jews Sans Frontieres
• Monthly Review
• Community Labor News
• The Muslim News (UK)
• SFist
• Dream Not of Today
• Media Mouse
• Pirate Cat Radio

 

 

More photos available here.

Stay tuned for media coverage and video.

For more information about IJAN in the bay area, contact bay. .

 (read more...)

 

 

Early this morning, Jewish activists in a historic first in Los Angeles, chained themselves to the entrance of the Israeli Consulate and blocked the driveway to the parking structure, blocking all traffic in and out of the building.  "We sent a clear message to the world that LA Jews are part of the global majority in opposition to the Israeli siege of Gaza,"  said Lenny Potash a 72-year old protester who was cuffed to eight other activists, blocking the driveway to the consulate.  The activists were joined by 50 other supporters and who chanted "LA Jews say, End the Siege of Gaza" and  "Not in Our Name! We will Not be Silent!"  Protesters also held up signs reading "Israeli Consulate: Closed for War Crimes."

"We succeeded today in letting Jews and other Americans of conscience know that it is safe to speak out against the policies of the Israeli government and that the Israeli lobby does not speak for everyone," said Robin Ellis, a Registered Nurse who also risked arrest to block the consulate entrance. "We are committed to escalating non-violent activities in the future to end the siege and win justice for Palestinians," Ellis said.

The group of activists were an  ad-hoc, multi-generational group of LA Jewish residents, including members of the recently founded International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.  They shared a commitment to ending the  Israeli siege on Gaza and an end to Israeli apartheid. The demonstration will kick off a wave of demonstrations across the United States uniting Palestinians, Jewish people, and other Americans outraged by the siege.

"We are shocked and outraged at Israeli's latest act of violent aggression against the Palestinian people. Killing over 950 people, including 250 women and children, bombing schools and mosques and then calling it self-defense—that is the worst kind of hypocrisy. It also amounts to war crimes," said Hannah Howard, a local member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. "We shut down the Israeli consulate today because as Jewish people we cannot allow business as usual while violence is being done in our name."

Action participants  also spoke out against the US government's unconditional support for Israel's siege and its ongoing war against the Palestinian people. "While US-funded F16's rain down bombs on the people of Gaza, our elected officials locally and nationally offer unqualified support." said Marsha Steinberg, a retired union representative. "Our government must stop sending billions of dollars in military and economic aid to the Israeli war machine," Goldberg said. In the coming week, concerned Americans from all backgrounds will call on the new Presidential administration to make a 180 degree change in policy.

 

A short video produced by members of IJAN:

Click here for raw and edited video footage and photographs.

Press Coverage so far:

• Huffington Post
• LA Times
• KTLA
• KCAL / CBS 2
• ABC 7
• Fox 11
• The Jewish Journal
• KFWB
• KFI AM
• KPFK (start listening around 45min)
• People's Daily Online (China)
• China View
• Trend News

For background information on the situation in Gaza, click here: 

 (read more...)

In response to the call for escalating actions against Israel's attacks on Gaza, the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network are collaborating in the United States.

If you are in the United States and would like to participate, contact information is below.

Internationally, IJAN encourages the creation of similar calls to action.

The U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) are calling for joint action.

Israel's horrifying attacks on Gaza come at the close of the Bush regime and at the onset of the Obama administration. Congress has declared the attacks an act of self-defense by Israel. Nothing can be more untrue as the death toll of Palestinians creeps to 800 and the injured to more than 3,000.

The need for escalating coordinated action against racist US policies here and abroad coincides with the potential for change that Obama's presidency represents.

Palestinians and anti-Zionist Jews are calling for joint action. We are raising our united voices of outrage and grief against 60 years of occupation and ethnic cleansing. We are taking collective action in solidarity with and as part of more than 60 years of Palestinian struggle.

We are also co-organizing forums to assert Palestinian and anti-Zionist Jewish narratives and visions of liberation united with grassroots movements for racial justice and immigrant and indigenous rights.

Join us in taking another step toward a united front against racism!

1. Organize and participate in Palestinian/Jewish anti-Zionist joint actions with immigrant, indigenous and people of color communities
2. Organize and participate in forums, teach-ins and workshops to assert Palestinian and anti-Zionist Jewish narratives in joint struggle
3. Organize joint flyering at and messaging for protests
4. Organize delegations to local representatives and pass local resolutions
5. Tell us about it: email us at the contact information below

For more information or to participate, please contact us:

USPCN email:

IJAN email:

 (read more...)

Three days of action took place in San Francisco this week, in response to Israel's bombing of the Gaza strip.  On Sunday December 28th, there was an emergency protest at Powell and Market that lasted for a couple hours.  About 200 people came with noisemakers, banners, signs and Palestinian flags.  Palestinian families joined the protest, and speakers were mostly young Palestinians speaking about the events in Gaza-two women performed spoken-word poetry.  The organizations that gathered that day included AROC, HOMEYS, IJAN, and Palestinian student groups, who also promoted the following day's rally.  Sara Kershnar from IJAN spoke out against the Zionist logic behind the bombing, saying, "they took the Jewish holiday Hanukah, a holiday of resistance, and turned it into a massacre of civillians."

On Monday evening, December 29th, a candlelight vigil took place at Market and Montgomery Streets in downtown San Francisco, outside Senator Diane Feinstein's office.  The vigil turned into spontaneous direct actions as hundreds of protesters blocked the streets and shut down rush hour traffic through downtown San Francisco, blocking the intersection for about two hours.  Protesters linked arms in the streets, chanting, "Free, Free, Palestine!  Stop Bombing Gaza!"   IJAN had a collective presence at the action: we participated in civil disobedience, shutting down the street, and supported the young Palestinian protesters who took the lead in actions.  Finally, the crowd formed a spontaneous march through downtown, passing through Union Square's busy streets of holiday shoppers, where there were more speak-outs.  The night culminated in a die-in on Market Street. The event was co-sponsored by Direct Action to Stop the War; the Middle East Children's Alliance; Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism; SF Women in Black; Break the Silence Mural Project; Global Exchange; International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network; San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper; Beacon Presbyterian Fellowship; Jewish Voice for Peace - Bay Area; and the American Friends Service Committee SF Office.

On Tuesday, December 30th, protesters gathered in front of the Israeli consulate, where police tried to contain the crowd on the sidewalk next to the building, while directing Zionist demonstrators to the opposite side of the street.  However, the pro-Israeli group of about 50 was quickly overwhelmed by hundreds of boisterous pro-Palestinian demonstrators, who spilled out onto every sidewalk, finally pushing across police lines and entering into the streets.  The group chanted and danced in the street for about an hour, blocking the intersection of Montgomery and Sansome, and then mobilized for a march through downtown on Market Street, through Civic Center and into the Tenderloin.  The march was several blocks long, with perhaps 2000 people participating.  The demonstration was part of a national Day of Action called by the ANSWER Coalition, Muslim American Society Freedom, Free Palestine Alliance, National Council of Arab Americans, and Al-Awda, International Palestine Right to Return Coalition.  (read more...)

*Tuesday, December 30 @ 10 am - 5pm @ Sen. Klobuchar's office (1200
Washington Ave. S.) & @ Rep. Ellison's office (2100 Plymouth Ave. N.) in
Minneapolis*

*1pm press conference at Sen Klobuchar's office*

Join this* National Day of Action *to show solidarity with the Palestinian
people in Gaza and to demand an immediate end to the murderous attacks
carried out by the Israeli military against the people of Gaza.  There will
be a press conference at 1pm at Sen. Klobuchar's office.  These
demonstrations are organized locally by WAMM - Women Against Military
Madness, Coalition For Palestinian Rights, International Jewish anti-Zionist
Network Twin Cities (IJAN TC), Green Party of Minnesota.

For more info go to:
http://www.twincities.indymedia.org/2008/dec/protest-israeli-actions-gaza-tuesday

Statement from the International anti-Zionist Network Twin Cities (IJAN-TC)
"As of this writing, Israel's massacre of Palestinians in occupied Gaza has
killed nearly 300, and injured hundreds more - mostly civilians - since
Saturday, December 26th. Over a thousand tons of bombs have been dropped on
one of the most densely populated places in the world. "Operation Cast
Lead", coming after an 18-month siege on the Gaza Strip that created
electricity and water shortages and cut means for producing basics such as
daily bread, has exacerbated the humanitarian catastrophe faced by Gaza's
1.5 million residents.

Israel carried out these recent attacks with F16 fighter jets and missiles
provided by U.S. tax dollars. The state of Minnesota is especially invested
in Israel, holding Israeli bonds, while Governor Pawlenty is meeting with
Israeli trade representatives to further the Minnesota-Israeli economic
partnership. In light of this economic alliance and the moral responsibility
that comes along, we demand Governor Pawlenty cut our trade and investment
ties with Israel instead of financing this humanitarian crisis.

As Jews in the Twin Cities, we stand with the world majority in the call to
immediately end Israel's current and devastating aggression in Gaza, for
Israel to be held accountable for it's actions, and for our fellow
Minnesotans and specifically Jews to join us. As Jews of conscience it is
our responsibility to decry these atrocities done in our name."

 

On Sunday, December 28,2008, at 7:00 P.M. we held a vigil in solidarity with the people of Gaza.  Over 200 people, Muslims, Jews & Christians attended.  This vigil, called on short notice, earlier today, was organized by the St. Louis Instead of War Coalition & St. Louis Women in Black.

On November 13, 2008, three Palestinian students at the University of California, Berkeley were attacked by members of the Zionist Freedom Alliance, an off-campus organization participating in an "Israeli Liberation Week" concert organized by the student group Tikvah.  These students hung two Palestinian flags off the balcony of a nearby building to protest the message of the event.  According to testimony, three members of ZFA approached the dissenting students, physically assaulting them and invoking ethnic slurs.  When the campus police arrived, they failed to charge all of the attacking students (only one was issued a citation), and subjected the victims of the attack to humiliation and harrassment.  The administration and media have largely portrayed the incident as a "clash" or "conflict" between two groups of students, rather than addressing it as an assault.  More information is available from IndyBay, the Daily Californian (note strong bias), and Dina Omar's statement.  

The Bay Area chapter of IJAN wrote an open letter to support the students who were attacked and to contextualize the violence within the structural violence of Zionism, racism, and colonialism.  

Other Palestine-solidarity and anti-racist organizations are invited to sign onto the letter -- please email for more information.  The full text of the letter is below.

 (read more...)

On Thursday, October 2nd, Bay Area members of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) gathered for a press conference and rally to announce IJAN's launch with a reading of the founding Charter.  The event was held in front of the East Bay Jewish Community Federation Building to confront and expose the role of Zionist institutions in perpetuating atrocities committed against Palestinian people.  (read more...)

 (read more...)

A remarkable international panel broke new ground in the San Francisco Bay Area, Wednesday, July 30, 2008.   (read more...)

In response to Israel 's 60th anniversary celebrations, 20 Jewish activists were arrested, demonstrating Jewish opposition to Israel 's 60-year-old policy of dispossession, and highlighting the often-silenced struggle of Palestinian refugees. For over two hours, 20 Jewish activists disrupted San Francisco 's anniversary event, bunkering against the main atrium of the Jewish Community Center (JCC). In conjunction, over fifty Jewish and Palestinian supporters held a rally outside the center to call attention to ongoing Israeli policy of apartheid against the Palestinian population. With banners reading, "Jews in Solidarity with 60+ years of Palestinian Resistance," activists declared anniversary, "No Time to Celebrate."  (read more...)