Past Work

In the last two years, the IJAZ Network, formerly the International Jewish Solidarity Network (IJSN), worked in the United States and internationally on developing the politics, principles, strategy, vision, role and relationships needed to build the foundation for a truly international network of anti-Zionist Jews. While this was largely an internal building process, there were several ways in which the International Jewish Solidarity Network participated in on the ground in response to important current events and opportunities. These included:

• In Fall of 2006, IJSN called for a national anti-Zionist Jewish response to the attacks on Gaza and Lebanon. The 10-days of Jewish Solidarity with Gaza and Lebanon campaign resulted in actions five cities across the United States and gathered over 1100 signatures on a petition that was printed in the New York Times.

• IJSN was one of the lead organizers of the Palestine Solidarity track at the first US Social Forum, held in Atlanta, Georgia from June 27 through July 1, 2007. The track included 18 workshops. We offered two of these-"Emerging anti-Zionist Jewish Discourse & Movement Building," and "Unlearning Zionism." In addition, IJSN co-organized a Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction institute three-days prior to the Social Forum and a Palestine Tent in which cultural, political, educational and social events were held. Through these efforts, Palestine remained central to this historic event.

• Last year, IJSN hosted six study groups around the United States. Participants in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Miami, New York, Detroit and Philadelphia came together with like-minded individuals to explore concepts, histories and politics -- pushing and challenging each other to reach new insights and creative organizing strategies. This ‘study into action' process informs our activism. The study group curriculum will continue to evolve. This is an ongoing project. If you would like to start or join a study group in your area, click here. (link to study groups)

• Activists involved at the time in IJSN seeded No Time to Celebrate as an independent anti-Zionist call-for-action, IJSN participants were part of organizing Nakba events and actions in different parts of the United States. In the San Francisco Bay Area, 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." Read on...(link to articles on other sites)

• International Resistance to Zionism: Leading up to our first international meeting in July 2008, IJSN held forums in London, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. These events were very well received, with 120, 100 and 40 attendees respectively. Read and view photos from the forum in San Francisco. Listen to radio broadcasts from Los Angeles (links).

• Mizrahim and Jews of Color Discussion: On Sunday, July 27th, 2008, two IJSN participants hosted a Mizrahi and Jew of Color event in San Francisco, CA that was attended by about 20 Mizrahi, JOC, and allied participants. The speaker panel was composed of Reuven Abarjel, Arab Jewish co-founder of Israel's Black Pantherparty and activist working in Mizrahi, prison and anti-occupation struggles and Marcelle Edery, Arab Jewish feminist activist and organizer of theSingle Mother's Tent tosecure rights for single Jewish and Palestinian women in Israel. Both were in town for the first IJSN international meeting.
  
  Reuven and Marcelle screened informational filmsabout Jews of Mizrahi descent and the structural racism they encounter within the state of Israel, especially highlighted in the cases of Iraqi children being "treated" for ringworm with radiation. The ensuing discussion treated thequestions of the potential for joint Palestinian and Mizrahi struggles, connections to racism against Jews of Color in the U.S. and the implications for local organizing and strategy.

• The historic Popular Conference for Palestinians in the US was held August 8-10, 2008. IJSN participated in the organizing of a Solidarity workshop exploring a redefining of solidarity toward a vision of joint struggles between the Palestinian struggle for liberation and the struggles of oppressed peoples within the United States. A proposal was adopted at the Conference's Town Hall for moving this vision forward with strategic cross-movement discussions over the next several years in preparation for bringing this conversation to the US Social Forum 2010.
  
  Represented on the committee and in the workshop were organizers central to the Palestine Solidarity Committee active in the 80's, as well as activists from labor and mass-based organizing efforts from around the country. To see more about the conference, go to http://www.palestineconference.org/