Los Angeles, CA: Report Back from Action Against AIPAC

It’s become common for bootlicking militarists to smear any sympathy for Palestinians as anti-Semitic. This vile method of silencing dissent is finally starting to be exposed for the racist bullshit that it truly is. This past weekend, I joined a crowd of other young Jewish people in marching through swanky Beverly Hills to the LA office of AIPAC. For years, wealthy right wingers have claimed to represent all American Jews in unflinching support for Israel and its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

The group that organized the action is called If Not Now, and was formed in the wake of Israel’s 2014 assault on Gaza, euphemistically called Operation Protective Edge, in which 72 Israelis and over 2,000 Palestinians were killed. The group has grown rapidly ever since. It’s common even for young Jews who dare to express grief at the senseless slaughter of Palestinians to be accused of being “self-hating.” Many of us have felt driven out of our own community for expressing our humanitarian impulses.

The contradictions in believing that Jewish freedom can only come at the expense of Palestinian freedom comes out in bizarre ways. In the right-wing Jewish narrative, the only way for Jews not to be oppressed is for us to become oppressors. This incredibly short-sighted mindset has become depressingly pervasive.

As an anarchist-communist, I came into If Not Now hesitantly. I was afraid that expressing my real views would mean getting driven out or isolated, just like many of these young American Jews felt driven out of Jewish spaces by right-wingers. I have not yet been subjected to this ironic fate, and have in fact found that there is a lot of eagerness on the part of other young Jews to rediscover the radical legacy of our people. The wealthy militarists of AIPAC exerting influence in Jewish spaces want to continue being a “model minority” within the white supremacist establishment. It’s increasingly obvious that this amounts to throwing a lot of people under the bus AND that it won’t save us from facing anti-Semitic hate.

The basic message of If Not Now is that Jewish liberation can only exist when all people are free. Participating in If Not Now has allowed us to overcome a lot of alienation. As young Jews, we are fed up with letting a bunch of rich, racist snobs claim to speak for us.

I have a few takeaways to share from our LA action. Number one: singing is great and clearly better than chanting. It takes a little more planning and effort to learn the words, but it really pays off, and changes the whole feel of a march for the better. Song sheets were handed out, and we circled up and started to sing before we began to march, giving everyone a chance to learn the words. Song has a profound ability to connect and motivate people that chanting just does not. Singing through the streets drew people to us in a way that was really inspiring to see. We easily drowned out the slave patrol on the loud speaker telling us to get on the sidewalk.

That brings me to my second point, which is that it’s important to notice when marshals are taking orders from police, and disobey accordingly. A marshal’s role should be outward-facing, one of protecting the demonstration, not an inward-facing role of infantilizing and exerting control over fellow demonstrators. Both of these conflicting roles were on display. At first marshals were active in blocking traffic to let the march pass. One of the most interesting parts of the action was when the marshals started trying to get us on the sidewalk, in accordance with police orders. There were hardly any cars on these residential streets, but that didn’t stop half the crowd from uncritically obeying and getting on the sidewalk for a few minutes. Thankfully, the other half of the demonstration noticed what was going on and chose to stay in the street until we reached a busy thoroughfare.

The third lesson is to hold one’s agenda firmly but gently, without re-shaping one’s own values to simply fit what is popular or acceptable. Making other people listen to your views while dismissing theirs is not a way to win comrades. We all have a lot of toxic values to unlearn and this is still very true of self-identified anarchists – as some of us know all too well. If we’re ever going to win this thing, anarchists need to be able to go into non-revolutionary spaces and be willing to treat others sympathetically and respectfully. Sincere discussion with anarchists is what made me see past the negative stereotypes and embrace my own inner desire for true freedom. We can leave the obnoxious preaching to the state-socialists and others.

It is unfortunate that many still continue to believe Jewish freedom must involve a Jewish state. States do not ensure freedom, they steal it away and then selectively give small slices of it back to ensure compliance and discourage solidarity. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to critically examine past struggles. There has never been a government that wasn’t patriarchal and violent towards the people it claimed to protect. The occupation of Palestine is a striking example, but every government carries out occupation against its subjects to some extent.

If Not Now is in alliance with Movimiento Cosecha and the Movement for Black Lives. Many of us also look forward to connecting more with young Muslims as both our communities are targeted by the right. If not now isn’t a perfect movement free from internal strife or contradictions, but for young Jews like myself who are used to an uneasy silence about the occupation being the norm, it’s a hugely positive development. The movement strikes at a deep truth, which is that competing for freedom only ensures that nobody gets any. Freedom must be pursued and defended together, with friends. Many have yet to make the connection between this consciousness and the need to smash the state, but hey, none of us was born with an understanding of structural oppression.

One day, either before or after total ecological breakdown, people will live once again without the terrorism of banks, borders, and prisons. That is my promised land. Here’s to the no state solution.

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