The Right to Migrate and the Right to Stay at Home

February 2, 2025Events, Real Utopia, Reflections on Current Events, talks, Talksactivism, political economy, Racial Justice, Social MovementsPeter Bohmer

by Peter Bohmer. February 1st,

ZNET Forum, Immigrant Solidarity with Avi Chomsky, Zafiro Patiño, me!

Immigrant Justice by Peter Bohmer

I will address how to build immigrant justice, including the right to migrate and right to stay at home while challenging and changing the strong anti-immigrant sentiments of ½ the population in the United States. This anti-immigrant ideology and agenda are a central part of the right-wing agenda, not only in the U.S. but much of Europe, Australia, Canada and in many countries in the global south such as Argentina, Mexico, Colombia and South Africa. It is acquiesced to by centrist parties such as the Democrats here, Macron in France and the Christian Democrats in Germany. An example at home is the horrific Laken Riley bill that was just signed into law by Trump, with the vote of 46 Democrats in the House and 12 Democrats in the Senate. This bill supports immediate detention by the Department of Homeland Security for undocumented immigrants being charged, not even convicted, for minor property crimes such as shoplifting and burglary. It empowers State Attorney Generals to sue federal government if an unauthorized immigrant has been charged with a crime in their state. The Democratic Party controlled Senate had opposed this bill in the last session. This is part of the fear mongering about immigrant crime, although a recent National Immigration of Justice study (nij.ojp.org) of Texas found undocumented immigrants were arrested at less than ½ the rate of U.S. born citizens…

Sy Khan Presente!

January 22, 2025Palestine, talksfriends, obituary personalPeter Bohmer

Talk at Sayad Khan’s funeral!

by Peter Bohmer, January 17, 2025, Los Angeles.

Sayad Khan (Sy) was my close friend who lit up every room he was in. We have been close friends since he moved to Olympia in 2009, one year after his wife, Savvina, whom he loved so much and was so proud of, and who loved him so deeply. He brought LA to Olympia and Olympia to LA. In his last few days, Sy could hear us tell him how important he was to us and occasionally grip our hands or rub our cheek. The ICU at the hospital said he had more visitors, family and friends than anyone ever had before.

I remember Sy spending Christmas day with us at our Olympia home, three weeks ago. My four kids, one of whom is here today, my two grandchildren and my brother adored his kindness, his interest in them, his sense of humor and his liveliness. We watched the Lakers play Golden State and he teased me like he often did about switching from a Laker fan to the Warriors.

I worked closely with Sy in the Palestine Action of South Sound (PASS) where he took the lead in raising tens of thousands of dollars for the children of Gaza and helped organize many of our demonstrations and events and was a magnetic emcee. He was emotionally, intellectually, personally and tirelessly involved in supporting the Palestinian people and against the U.S. support for Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza. His ability to talk to people with different views and respectfully educate them was impressive. Sy was an active member of the Islamic Center of Olympia and played a major role in connecting its members to the movement for justice and peace in Palestine. We took part in the weekly Free Palestine vigils in downtown Olympia. Working together made us even closer. I have lost a brother.

He mc’ed and dj’ed many events for many community groups and gatherings and was in constant demand. Sy was on the board and an active and valued member of the Rachel Corrie Foundation, named for Rachel Corrie. Rachel was a young Olympia resident murdered by the Israeli military in Gaza in 2003 while peacefully trying to stop a home demolition. Sy was a close friend of her parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie.

Sy was active in and a leader in many communities. He did a weekly radio show on KAOS with music from the South Asian diaspora and participated in a lively and beautifully dressed South Asian dance troupe. He worked at Sandy Flats, where he helped manage the 24 apartments for formerly homeless people and of course, interacted in a profound and humane way with all the tenants and staff. Sayed connected these diverse subcultures and made every person he interacted with feel special. They were all special to him.

Sy was the rock and center of his large extended family, a totally devoted and loving son of his mother, Rahil Khan, his wife, Savvina Chowdhury, his son Muhammad Khan, and his brother, Sage Khan.

Sy positively affected so many people. He was charismatic, kind, and caring, who brought out the best in all of us, a leader in the best sense of the word.

Sy, I miss you so much and will always miss you. You will never be forgotten. You live on in the memory of all of us.

Sy Khan Presente!

My Talk at People’s March, January 18, 2025, Economic Justice and Liberation

January 22, 2025Economics for Everyone, Events, talksactivism, political economy, Racial Justice, Social Movements, Trumpism, U.S. SocietyPeter Bohmer

Talk at People’s March, January 18, 2025

Text of talk! Link above!

Economic Justice and Liberation!

by Peter Bohmer

at the People’s March, January 18, 2025! Olympia, Washington

Thank you for attending this well attended rally. It is a very dangerous period where our actions are necessary to stop the march towards mass deportations, a climate catastrophe and a dictatorship. It is the most dangerous period since I have been alive. We can make a difference by resisting by all means necessary!

We live in a world of gross income and wealth inequality in Washington State, U.S. and globally. In the U.S., the top 1% own 12 times more than the bottom 50% of the population. The top 1% of the world’s population own more than the bottom 95%.

Let me briefly discuss a few major problems, their causes and what is to be done.

In addition to the major issues already mentioned by our presenters– the climate crisis, attacks on immigrants and the serious threat of mass deportations, mass incarceration, and racial oppression-and by the speakers who will speak at the State Capital on resisting the campaign against trans people and against the criminalization of abortion and reproductive justice, I want to add.

Quality and affordable housing are a basic human right. The rise in rent and the price of housing have far outstripped the increases in money wages for the last 25 years. The growing homelessness is an indictment of our capitalist system, not of the unhoused. We need rent control and more social and public housing.

The broken Health Care system! Luigi Mangione, the accused shooter of United Health Care CEO, and the subsequent widespread support for Mangioni shows the anger at a system where many millions cannot afford quality health care and/or are denied health care by a for-profit insurance system. According to the Trump Administration playbook, Project 2025, they intend to further cut Medicaid, the health care system for low-income people and end subsidies for working class people and families. Let us stop cutbacks while demanding quality and free health care, including dental, vision, hearing, and alternative medicine for all including undocumented, and the incarcerated, paid for by taxes on high income households and corporations

Most U.S workers have faced stagnant wages for 40 years. Also, for the most part,

alienating jobs and increasing debt-medical, student and consumer debt to try to maintain their standard of living in the face of rising prices. Let us organize to cancel these debts, to raise wages and benefits.

Inflation, the rise in prices, will increase caused by Trump’s increasing to 25% or more tariffs on goods from Mexico, China and Canada. Mass deportations of farmworkers will decrease the supply of food and raise its price.

What is the fundamental cause of these problems?

Capitalism!

Capitalism is an oppressive system based on production for profit not need. Where the capital is owned by a small number for people, while the great majorly, the working class has to work for them and are exploited by the capitalists. Where there is super exploitation of Black and other workers of color, of immigrants and women. Capitalism expands and destroys internally and externally; it is a global capitalist system where the natural environment is a resource to make profits of. The wealth and power is increasingly controlled by finance capital and the Amazons, Metas, Apple and Musks of the world.

Let is not take capitalism as a given. An alternative is necessary and desirable.

So, what do we do, as we face the Trumpist Administration? They are a government by and for the 1%. We should combine:

Defend what we have—in terms of civil rights and civil liberties, social security, public education, and environmental protection. Yet the status quo is insufficient. The Biden administration has been militarist and imperialist, as has been the Democratic Party. They are a supporter and participant in the genocide of Gaza.
Reforms—Besides what I have already mentioned, let us support at the workplace and in policy and campaigns, the right to organize unions, especially social movement unions. Where these social movement unions are in solidarity with all workers and their needs on and off the job, and work in solidarity with other social movements such as immigrant justice, environmental and reproductive justice, Palestine and global solidarity and Black liberation, and organizing the unorganized.

Reforms within capitalism are always limited. If we raise the minimum to a livable wage or raise taxes on corporations, they may not invest at home, capital flight or capital strike. Capitalism is based on inequality and profits for a few where we are told always strive for more, that individualism is human nature. Revolution is necessary for humanity and nature. Tear it Down, Build it UP!

We need to combine reforms that improve people’s lives and raise consciousness and to build social movements and organizations that organize to end capitalism, to build a participatory socialism. Where production is based on need, the end of corporations and production for profit, where individuals, communities and workplace develop participatory planning, a participatory socialism where there is an end to poverty, global solidarity, meaningful work, that in democratic planning considers seven generations in the future, where racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression are effectively challenged and no longer intrinsic. Equity on a local, national and global scale!

The Democratic party has failed the working class of the United States and threatens war with China.

I suggest we put at the center of our campaigns demands that if won, would meet some major needs and empowerment of the working class, most of the working people of the United States. This includes taxing the wealthy and other economic issues I have mentioned. We also need to develop a program which I call principled unity which means not only a campaign for economic justice, defined narrowly but also combining this with the movements and issues being raised today.

Otherwise, we fall into a neoliberal agenda and politics.

Let us do and make central, popular education, where we talk and listen respectfully to those who are not yet part of our movements. To revolutionize this society, means a majority supports our vision.

We need to build three levels of organization and two coalitions.

1. An underground to fight fascists, white supremacists and white nationalists, and Christian nationalists—to protect and defend immigrants, Palestinians and other activists, and others under attack. For this underground level only, security culture is necessary.
2. Coalition of all organizations and individuals who support all the demands of this march. We are millions nationally, we are a force, let us not underestimate ourselves. But we are insufficient to fight the growing authoritarian threat. I call this a Progressive Coalition. This is what is happening today with the 1000 of you here in Olympia. It needs to be ongoing and growing and coordinated nationally.

This Progressive coalition also needs to actively participate in and if necessary, create what I call a United Front Against Fascism. This was the name of a 1969 Black Panther Party conference in Oakland. This large united front coalition or popular front is necessary to protect civil liberties and civil rights and further peace but may not agree with us on all the issues, e.g., self-determination for Palestine and the end of the Israeli occupation, or Trans liberation or immigrant justice but they are necessary to defeat the Project 2025 agenda. Within this broader grouping, the progressive coalition should be able to continue its full program and demands and not be suppressed, while not demanding full agreement by all members and groups in this broad united front against fascism.

Finally, we need to act now and not wait and not allow the incoming administration to gradually carry out mass deportations and end immigration, or gradually end Medicaid, where these actions becomes normalized step by step.

Join us today at the Festival of Resistance right after our People’s March to the State Capitol and short rally there and then gather at 906 Columbia St. SW for food, to further discuss these issues and next steps.

Le us march through downtown Olympia in unity and strongly behind the large Banner of the People’s March to the Capital steps. A strong presence in the streets, is one important aspect of fighting isolation and resignation and cynicism and building an inclusive community.

What better way to celebrate Martin Luther King than continuing his struggle for civil and human rights, economic and racial justice and peace!

Power to the People and the People’s March.

Syria, Past, Present and Possibilities

December 20, 2024Events, Palestine, Reflections on Current Events, talks, Talks, WritingsMiddle East, political economyPeter Bohmer

Talk on Syria at Palestine Action of South Sound (PASS) Educational

by Peter Bohmer, peterbohmer@gmail.com

December 16, 2024 (slightly updated. December 24, 2024)

Syria talk.

In addition to the link above, the text follows!

In examining Syria today, it is important to begin with the needs, desires, concerns possibilities of the Syrian people, especially the popular classes, women and ethnic and religious groups that have been discriminated against, with the Syrian people as subject at the center of our understanding. Geopolitics matters; Syria’s role in the world and the Middle East is important and should not be disregarded but it should not be the main frame, not at the center of our analysis of recent events.

Brief outline of Syrian history!

1. French colonialism—Syria, part of Ottoman empire, became a French colony after WWI. French colony until end of WWII, independence movement. Syria won independence in 1946 when France withdrew.

2. Demographics—population, 22.5 million, before civil war: 6 million external refugees, majority in Turkey; 7 million are internally displaced.

Ethnicity-Arabs are by far the largest group, Kurds-10%; Turkmen-4%.

Religion—Sunni Muslim–74%

Shia Muslim—10-12 %, mainly Alawites. Assad family, most of Shia in Syria are Alawite

Christian—10%

Druze, 3%

Slightly over 50% of Syria is urban, 40% plus rural. Syria today is very poor country

Government –Ba’ath Party, Nationalist, called itself socialist; initially, mainly public owned industries, similar party in Iraq—although major split. Pan Arab. Ba’ath Party ruled Syria from 1963 until December 7, 2024. Assads, father and son, top down and military dominated but social programs, secular

More women’s rights than many countries in the Middle East,

1967 war—Israel seized Golan Heights,

Syria, Egypt and Jordan lost 1967 war to Israel. Besides Israel occupying West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, it also occupied 2/3 of Golan Heights. Israel annexed this part of Golan Heights in 1981 and occupied the rest after December 7^th, 2024. Israel has also announced it will double number of Jew settlers and indefinitely maintain an illegal military occupation there. Israel annexation of Golan Heights, recognized during 1^st Trump administration, U.S. only country to do so.

Assads, Hafez and Bashar

Hafez al-Assad, military leader and leader of Ba’ath Party seized power in 1971—increasingly centralized power under his authoritarian rule—Leaders of military, security increasingly Alawite, a branch of Shia Muslim. Move away from nationalization towards mixed economy. Improvements of standard of living, social programs in 1970’s and early 1990’s; but problem with growing enough food; growing food insecurity. Much higher income in Syria than today. Aligned with Soviet Union until its collapse.

Increasing opposition to Hafez al-Assad led government both by democratic and progressive groups and by Moslem Brotherhood. Assad government killed hundreds in Homs in 1981 who were anti dictatorship; and tens of thousands of civilians in Hama in 1982 in uprising there, led by Muslim Brotherhood. Increasing imprisonment, torture of all opposition. In 1991, Syria supported US and Kuwait in war against Iraq, the Gulf War. Hafez al-Assad died in 2000.

Followed by son, Bashar al-Assad, neo-liberal, cutback in social programs—increasingly brutal; allied with Russia, although worked with U.S. after 9/11/2001 in torturing people captured by US, extraordinary rendition. Nominally Ba’ath Party but like his dad increasingly one person rule.

6. 2011 mass protests in Syria, part of Arab Spring. Major and inspiring and popular uprising, non-violent in 2011, including direct democracy in many places—see the book Burning Country by Robin Yasmin-Khattab and Leila Al-Shami. Non-sectarian, inclusive of all ethnicities, religions. Call for end of dictatorship and for end of Assad regime.

Uprising met by torture and repression and mass imprisonment of youths as young as 13 by the Syrian State. Some similarities to popular uprising in Egypt. Bashar al-Assad reasserted control. Aimed to crush all opposition by murderous violence.

7. 2011-2012 murderous repression. In response, increasingly armed resistance, growing involvement of other countries—Turkey, UAE, Saudi Arabia in supporting armed rebellion and financing Jihadist groups. Assad government almost fell. Growth of Al Qaeda, and later ISIS in Syria.

Beginning 2013, increasing military involvement of Iran and especially Hezbollah in support of Bashar al-Assad and brutal attacks on all opposition, Jihadist, Islamist and secular. Assad government had lost legitimacy and control of a lot of territory even with the military support of Iran and Hezbollah.

2015—Russia began major bombing of Syria, major use of barrel bombs. Syrian military use of poison gas, ordered by al-Assad in opposition cities, (many not Jihadist led), many near Damascus.

Millions of Syrians fled Syria—as I already mentioned and even more internal refuges, many to Idlib, northwest Syria, that was controlled by Nusra Front that broke from Al Qaeda in 2016.

8. 2015-2024-Assad rule by force and terror, declining food availability.

Economic situation, Major continuing decline in output and income, destruction of infrastructure, major decline of oil production.

US and Russia collaborated in major attacks, mainly mass bombing in Syria on ISIS controlled areas in Syria, major fighting against ISIS by Kurdish led group, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in alliance with U.S. They defeated ISIS. Rojava has been autonomous, uneasy agreement with Assad.

2017—I worked with Syrian refugees in Thessaloniki in northern Greece. They arrived by crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey where they had migrated to. Many Syrians died en route. They hoped to eventually migrate to western Europe and each week for about 10 weeks in winter, 2017, I taught about a different country where they might emigrate to. My Syrian students were about ¾ Arab and ¼ Kurdish. Many had fled Syria for a combination of economic reasons and the war; others because of repression of the government, I remember in a class in Thessaloniki in January 2017, telling the Syrian refugees about solidarity in U.S. with Syrians and with other Muslim countries by protesters blocking Kennedy and SeaTac airports; some of the Syrians cried in their feelings of appreciation for those in the U.S. who took a stand against the Muslim ban.

Hundreds of thousands were killed in Syria between 2011 and 2024, the majority, civilians by the regime and its backers: disappearances, systematic torture and murder in prisons—worst and infamous, Sednaya in Damascus. Continual support of Assad government by Hezbollah, and Russia and Iran.

Many Palestinian refugees in Syria, about 450,000. Support by Assad regime for Gaza and Palestine in words but not in deeds. However, Syria has been an important conduit for military aid from Iran to Hezbollah which has been used in defending Lebanon and fighting Israel in solidarity with Gaza. This is unlikely to continue in the present.

Rojava, also called, Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), majority Kurdish, autonomous since 2012. Kurds are in Iran, Syria, Iraq and Turkey, a people without a country. Almost 5 million people live in Rojava. Governing group is political party, PYD (Democratic Union Party) with substantial local rule and power. The PYD is closely allied with PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), Kurdish left political party in Turkey. In Rojava, support for women’s equality, cooperatives, for the most part, democratic, influenced by ideas of Murray Bookchin and Ocalan—imprisoned leader of PKK, ecosocialist Turkey wants to destroy Rojava and PYD. U.S. has supported Rojava against threat of full-scale Turkish invasion. U.S. has 2000 troops in and near Rojava, and works closely with Syrian Defense Force (SDF), the main military force of Rojava, training and arming them. SDF fought and fights ISIS effectively. YPJ (Women’s Protection Units) is women’s militia, YPG is People’s Protection Units, militia defending Rojava and connected to governing party the PYD. They all deserve critical support. Mainly inclusive of Syrian Arabs, and other groups in Syria such as Yazidis. Much support for Rojava in Olympia.

Present—Beginning in late November 2024, major offensive against Assad regime, first seizing of Aleppo, 2 million people, second biggest city in Syria, beautiful and old, and then Hama and Homs. Syrian military collapsed, stopped fighting and fled as did Bashar al-Assad from Damascus, December 7 or 8^th. Main group from north and leader of forces overthrowing Assad regime is HTS (Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham) led by Ahmed al-Shaara (previously Abu-Mohammad Julani). They have controlled Idlib Province since 2016—authoritarian and Islamist, Sunni, but claim to no longer discriminate against Shia Muslims, Christians and Kurds. Repression in Idlib under their rule but not on level of Assad. Taxed population heavily. HTS and al-Shaara on US and EU terrorist list. Some support from Turkey although not under Turkish control; unlikely support from U.S. and Israel until now. Let us not claim this unless real evidence.

Other main groups—Syrian National Army (SNA), used to be called Free Syrian Army—Turkish backed and armed—uneasy alliance with HTS. With Turkish support and involvement, they have been attacking Rojava and seized at least one city, Manbij. SNA is authoritarian, repressive against population. Also renewed Turkish attacks against Rojava, although Turkey agreed to a cease fire with U.S. on Tuesday, December 10, 2024.

More hopeful are groups, south of Damascus in Druze majority area such as Suwayda, and with local forces in Daraa—some links to popular uprising of 2011. Involved in liberation and fall of Damascus to anti-Assad forces on December 6-8, 2024

Concluding Comments!

Without the support of Russia and Russian military, and Iran, and Hezbollah fighters, the Assad regime quickly collapsed. Syrian military fled, little fighting. Shows how Assad regime had little legitimacy and ruled because of foreign support and force.

Since December 7, 2024, massive bombing by Israel, most since 1967 and 1973 wars with Israel. Some ongoing bombing by Israel on Syria before December 7, 2024, but not on this current scale. Israel has seized land, invasion of Golan Heights and murderous and daily bombing, mainly military targets throughout Syria—total violation of Syrian sovereignty. Israel says reason is fear of anti-Israel government, now or in future. Israel’s real reason io further dominance of the region. It is immoral and illegal. HTS has made statements against massive Israeli bombing. Let us strongly oppose Israel bombing and occupation of Syria as we continue to challenge Israeli murderous aggression against Lebanon, Iran, Yemen and the West Bank of Palestine and its genocidal war against Gaza.

Popular support for overthrow of Assad is overwhelming. I have been moved and cried reading about the opening of the prisons and the release of tens of thousands of political prisoners, like at Sednaya—many with signs of torture and emaciated but alive. This reminded me of survivors of concentration camps. Some of worst prisons in world. Celebrations in the streets in most of the country, less in Alawite areas where Assad still has support.

Russia has two military bases in Syria-not clear whether they will remain.

Rojava area dependent on US military for survival, 2000 U.S. troops. They are needed for Rojava to maintain autonomy against Turkish military invasion and growing SNA attacks. SDF (mainly Kurdish) are imprisoning 9000 ISIS prisoners and also 20,000 members of their families. ISIS still exists in Syria, mainly in NE Syria, near Rojava, which is near Syrian oilfields. This is part of reason for U.S. military presence—not clear whether U.S. military will continue to be there with Trump administration. It is a dangerous situation for Rojava and especially, Kurdish population in Syria.

Ahmed al-Shaara, the leader of HTS, has promised a civilian and inclusive government with elections. The UN has offered to send peacekeepers and support a government that supports women’s rights, religious and ethnic minorities and human rights. I support that. Likely outcome from the top is another authoritarian government with new enemies, bad for women, Alawites, Rojava, workers, Christians, students. HTS and al-Shaara claim they favor Islamic rule but say they are not Jihadist; that they are nationalists with no interests beyond Syria and will not favor Sunnis over other groups. We shall see! Turkey military is in Syria, and likely to play a major and imperialist role.

Danger of break up or partition of Syria into many areas, controlled by different repressive and authoritarian groups (although not authoritarian in Rojava) and continued mass poverty, Syria has experienced continued economic decline and lack of food, education, health care. Need for economic recovery and growth in a united Syria that is one country, although with autonomy in Rojava.

Hope for future of Syria is the mass outpouring in the streets all over the country, growth of civil society, of fundamental change from below. Growth of popular grass roots organization and movements and unions and new political parties remerging. Syrian history has been rich in these movements. There will be more of an opening than under the Assad dictatorships and hope that from the bottom up a democratic and progressive Syria will emerge. Not that likely but more possible than in the last 11 years. An opening right now.

A democratic and progressive Syria would be pro-Palestinian because Syrian people are, and likely to strongly support Gaza and the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.

Let us demand right of Syrian refugees to stay in Turkey, European Union, U.S., Canada and other countries.

Let us here in the U.S. act in solidarity with popular movements in Syria and against Turkish domination and intervention in Kurdish areas and all of Syria. Support economic and humanitarian aid to Syria through aid that is not conditional on neoliberal reforms or alliance with Turkey, the U.S. or the Gulf States, rather by the UN and non-neoliberal organization! Need for economic reconstruction including the infrastructure of Syria which has been largely destroyed by 13 years of war. Probably in short run best if US troops stay until Turkish threat is reduced and then withdrawal of all foreign troops, Turkish, U.S., Russian and other.

References: Burning Country by Robin Yasmin-Khattab and Leila Al-Shami, excellent on 2011.

See interviews of 1) Joseph Daher and 2) Gilbert Achar on New Politics website, Newpol.org

Mourn and Organize

November 22, 2024Reflections on Current Events, talks, Talks, Writingsactivism, electoral-politics, political economy, Repression, Social MovementsPeter Bohmer

by Peter Bohmer, November 22, 2024

https//znetwork.org/znetarticle/mourn-and-organize/

Trump’s victory is a serious loss for most people in the United States and globally. I disagreed before the election and now, that it didn’t matter who won the Presidential election. Let us mourn and grieve but not give up. Elections matter and this one certainly does but being political means building and gaining power, being active to further what you believe in, much more than voting or supporting a candidate.

I don’t know if any campaign would have caused a Kamala Harris victory. However, her pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian positions, her pro fracking and promoting more oil and gas production by the U.S., and especially her promotion of neoliberal economic policies and not promoting raising the minimum wage, or making unionizing easier or advocating for universal, quality and affordable health care for all was wrong morally and tactically (to win). ..(see link above)

Palestine Can Win!

May 14, 2024Economics for Everyone, Events, Palestine, Reflections on Current Events, talksactivism, Palestine, political economy, Repression, Social Movements, U.S. SocietyPeter Bohmer

Expanded version of my talk at May 4th, 2024 demonstration in Olympia in solidarity with Palestine

by Peter Bohmer, May 14th, 2024; member of Palestine Action of South Sound

I am reminded in May, 2024 of the global movement of 1968. The US war against Vietnam was raging. There were powerful movements across the globe calling for immediate withdrawal of the US from Vietnam and in many cases in solidarity with the National Liberation Front (NLF) and the North Vietnam Army fighting against the US and the South Vietnamese Army.

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, April 4, 1968. There were major uprisings in many cities following his assassination, mainly in Black communities. Social movements increasingly linked the Vietnam War and US imperialism to racial and other oppressions in the U.S. It is important for us to do that now.

1968 was the year of the Columbia University student occupation that demanded the end of the university’s complicity with the Vietnam war and that Columbia not buy up land in Harlem to build a gym for Columbia University, displacing residents. Black students did a simultaneous occupation. There was serious repression at Columbia; 700 were arrested and many more were beaten by the New York Police Department. There was a subsequent occupation there, later in the spring of 1968. The repression furthered resistance at Columbia and beyond and increased the popularity of this movement among students. …

Palestine talk from May 4, 2024 demo, Olympia

Video of February 21, 2024 Forum, “Jewish Perspectives on the Israel War on Gaza”

February 24, 2024Economics for Everyone, Events, personal, Reflections on Current Events, talks, Talks, Videosactivism, Palestine, political economy, U.S. SocietyPeter Bohmer

Different perspectives -Rabbis David Basior and Seth Goldstein, Evergreen faculty, Nancy Koppleman and me (Peter Bohmer) at The Evergreen State College.

https://evergreen.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=629dcb9d-785c-4212-8627-b120001bd99a

A Jewish anti-Zionist Perspective on Palestine, Revised and Updated!

January 16, 2024Economics for Everyone, personal, Reflections on Current Events, Writingsactivism, Palestine, personal, Social MovementsPeter Bohmer

Jewish anti-Zionism revised.

A Jewish anti-Zionist Perspective on Palestine!

by Peter Bohmer, Economics for Everyone

January 16, 2024

My background causes me to support the Palestinian struggle against the Israeli occupation of Palestine including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Since 1967, I have actively opposed the U.S. military aid and ideological support for Israel, and in solidarity with Palestine.

I mourn the deaths of 26,000 people murdered in southern Israel and Gaza over the last three weeks (as of January 15, 2024), 1200 in Israel, mainly by Hamas and over 24,000 Palestinians in Gaza and 350 Palestinians in the West Bank by the Israeli military and settlers. More than 20 Palestinians have been killed for one Israeli.

My parents grew up in Vienna, Austria. The German military and Nazis were welcomed by much of the Austrian population when they invaded in spring 1938. Germany immediately annexed Austria. My dad was 22 when he was incarcerated in Vienna by the Austrian Nazis and frequently beaten. According to Nazi records, he was imprisoned for being “political” and Jewish. He was released after four months. My parents escaped a few days later to France.

My parents wanted to leave Europe because they expected an imminent Nazi invasion of France. They were denied visas to Australia and Canada because of these countries’ antisemitic immigration policies. After a few rejections, my parents were admitted to the U.S. in June 1939. My grandfather and at least four other relatives were gassed to death in concentration camps.

Antisemitism, as anti-Jewishness, has been prevalent all over Europe and to a lesser but real extent in the U.S. It continues today although less systemic. Many Jewish people as a response have seen their liberation and fair treatment as integrally connected with the liberation of all people, e.g., Karl Marx, Rosa Luxemburg, the many socialist Jews, in the civil rights and anti-apartheid movement and in the Palestine Solidarity movement.

Because of this history of oppression, I grew up believing Jewish people would not oppress others. I was naïve. A majority of Jewish people in Israel and around the world support a Jewish dominated state. A Jewish state where Palestinians are systematically displaced from their land and are treated less than equal within the Israeli state formed in 1948; and less than human on the land Israel seized in 1967: the West Bank Gaza, and East Jerusalem. When you take someone’s land or enslave them, as what also happened in the U.S., there is a strong tendency for the dominant group to justify it.

In addition, Zionism means the right of return for anyone around the world who is Jewish while hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and their millions of descendants who were expelled from Israel’s 1948 created borders are not allowed to return. Most of the population of Gaza are Palestinians forced out of Israel in 1948 and their children and grandchildren. A Jewish dominated State where Palestinians have lived for millennia is Jewish supremacy.

I am anti-Zionist which is fundamentally different from being ani-Jewish. The Netanyahu led Israeli government, many leaders of the Republican and Democratic Party and some Jewish groups in the U.S. try to undermine criticisms of Israel and support for Palestinian self-determination and justice by calling criticism of Israel, antisemitic.

Some criticisms of Israel are motivated by hatred of Jews, e.g., white supremacist groups in the US, and we should never ally with them in opposing the Israeli occupation.

Zionism means a Jewish State where the laws, educational system and major institutions favor Jewish people, and that Palestinians are second class citizens or non-citizens. Don’t allow Zionists to define you as antisemitic because you are Anti-Zionist.

Apologists for Israel claim that the focus on Israel’s human rights violations of Palestinians is antisemitic because there are other countries that commit as bad or worse violations than Israel, e.g., Saudi Arabia. My response is that this is not antisemitic; it is important that Israel be strongly criticized. Rather than lessening our condemnation of Israel, let us increase our denunciations of other violators. In addition, no country today is a worse violator than Israel. “The number of people facing possible starvation in the Gaza Strip in the coming weeks is the largest share of a population at risk of famine identified anywhere since a United Nations-affiliated panel created the current global food-insecurity assessment 20 years ago (Stephanie Nolen, New York Times, January 12, 2024). According to Robert Mape, a military historian, “Gaza is one of the most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history” (Julia Frankel, Associated Press, January 11, 2024).

It is urgent that we in the U.S. oppose the ongoing and growing Islamophobia and racism towards Palestinians and the repression of pro-Palestinian voices in our government, universities, and mass media. Let us support all those whose jobs are being threatened because they are speaking up.

It is not an exaggeration to call the Israeli occupation, apartheid; and Gaza an open-air prison that has become a concentration camp. Violence and displacement by Israeli settlers and the IDF of Palestinians have also increased in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as has the blockade of Gaza even before October 7^th. Groups such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the U.N. Secretary General, and the Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem use these terms although we seldom find them in the mainstream media or by U.S. politicians.

This does not justify the killing of Israeli civilians in southern Israel but let us understand history did not begin with what happened on Saturday, October 7^th but with British colonialism and the 1948 Nakba (forced removal of Palestinians) and Israeli occupation of the rest of Palestine after the 1967 war. Moreover, Israel’s revenge, mass murder, starvation and collective punishment of Palestinians including the 16-year blockade of Gaza is a war crime that is wrong and will not bring security to Jews.

All Israeli governments, Labor, Likud, Netanyahu, and the recent mass Israeli social movement that had opposed the Netanyahu government’s increasing authoritarianism towards the Jewish population, are rejectionist. This means they do not accept Palestinians as equals, nor Palestinian self-determination, neither in the past nor present.

Whether it’s one state or a real independent two state solution, it must center economic and political justice and equality for all, especially but not limited to Palestinians. This includes the right of Palestinians to return to inside the 1948 borders that Israel imposed. I believe most Palestinian groups, including Hamas would accept this (see, Hamas Contained by Tareq Baconi).

Since 1967, the U.S. has unconditionally supported the illegal, immoral occupation of the West Bank, the annexation of East Jerusalem, and made more than a dozen vetoes in the UN security council of resolutions critical of Israel. The U.S. has since October 7^th, vetoed UN resolutions calling for a cease fire and negotiations. The U.S. provides $3.8 billion dollars of military aid annually and has committed to continue this through 2029. Biden has proposed an additional $14 billion of military aid to Israel, and there is little opposition in Congress. His administration is also sending additional weapons without even getting congressional approval.

Rather than supporting a cease fire now and negotiations, the Biden administration is also sending Israel military advisers, and given Israel carte blanche to continue its invasion of Gaza and commit the murders of tens of thousands and further ethnic cleansing. The Biden administration has carried out the bombing in Yemen of Ansar Allah (the Houthis) on January 11^th and 12^th. The Houthis have been attacking ships going to and from Israel and will stop attacking them when Israel stops attacking Gaza. It has become an Israel and U.S. war against Palestine and its allies.

The more we actively support the end of the Israeli occupation and U.S. support for Israel, the more we have the right to criticize the Hamas killings and taking of more than 200 hostages. The hostages should be freed but so should the ten thousand Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

I differ from the few groups and individuals who justify the October 7^th murder of Israeli civilians by the Hamas led attack. They claim because the Palestinian struggle is anti-colonial and for self-determination all actions are justified. The killing of Israeli civilians, especially those and their descendants who fled the Nazi control of Europe is wrong. Many of them were not granted permission to immigrate to Great Britain, the U.S., Canada, Australia and other countries because of antisemitism and had no place else to go but Palestine. This does not justify the forced displacement of Palestinians but makes Israel somewhat different from other settler colonialists.

I am critical of those who ignore or even worse, support the mass killing by Israel in Gaza, directly by massive bombing and the ongoing military invasion. But also, indirectly by blocking most food, water, electricity, fuel and medical supplies from getting in. To defend Israel’s genocidal policies by calling it self-defense is horrendous. The Israeli starvation of the population in Gaza, the forced displacement of 90% of its population and the resulting spread of contagious diseases and the destruction of hospitals will cause far more deaths this year of Palestinians than even the bombing and shootings. It is an Israeli war on the people of Gaza, not only Hamas.

On Thursday, January 12^th, South Africa presented its strong case charging Israeli with genocide against Gaza to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). South Africa documented in great detail the various elements needed to make the legal case that Israel’s policy was genocidal, i.e., 1) Israel’s intent to destroy a group of people; and 2) Physical acts that carried out this intention. The ICJ is likely to make a finding soon that there is a real possibility of genocide and therefore, Israel must end its war against Gaza until the full case is heard. This ruling won’t get Israel to begin a cease fire but can help to strengthen our movements to work towards this end. For the full text, see Jewish Voice for Peace. Also see the Center for Constitutional Rights, a major U.S. law organization, providing legal analysis of Israel’s genocidal polices in Gaza and U.S. complicity.

Israel claims a Zionist State is the only security for Jews around the world. Long run security cannot be based on the oppression and domination of another people. People will rise up. Israel is developing formal relations with and recognition by some of the conservative Arab states in the Abraham Accords. That will not further security in the long run, as the population in Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, etc. strongly support the Palestinian struggle.

The Hamas attack of October 7^th shows the limits of this immoral strategy of Israel. Even if Israel destroys Hamas, oppression breeds resistance and Israel will eventually be defeated. Moreover, this security state strategy moves Israelis further to the right.

For moral and political reasons, the security of Jewish people and Palestinian people requires the end of the Israeli occupation, the end of U.S. support for Israel, and justice for all Palestinians.

The goal of a Palestinian socialist organization, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, DFLP, is, “a people’s democratic Palestine, where Arabs and Jews live without discrimination, a state without classes and national oppression, which allows Jews and Arabs to develop their national culture together”.

A global movement in support of a permanent cease fire now and ending the Israeli siege of Gaza is growing rapidly. There were coordinated protests all over the world with this demand on January 13^th, 2024. In the United States 400,000 protested in Washington DC on this date and in addition calling for the end of U.S. military aid to Israel. In Olympia, many hundreds marched in spite of the cold weather. Very hopeful is the growing social movement against the Israel war on Gaza and U.S. complicity and in support of Palestine self-determination. Contact me to get involved in the Olympia area if you are not already, peterbohmer@gmail.com.

Let us get involved and do what we can in the streets, in letters to newspapers, by pressuring politicians to oppose U.S. military aid to Israel including proposed increases, and for ending U.S. support for Israeli aggression. Israel could not continue its war on Palestinians without U.S. government military support. Expose and challenge US corporations like Boeing, Raytheon, and Lockheed-Martin that have profited from the sale of billions of dollars of weapons to Israel, paid by our taxes. Support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement against Israel.

Educate yourselves, friends, family, workplace and community about the colonization and ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Speak up! It’s our responsibility to do what we can to change U.S. policy so that it is more in line with popular sentiment all over the world including majority U.S. support for a cease fire now. A minimal demand is for an immediate cease fire, an end to the Israeli siege of Gaza and no increase in U.S. military aid to Israel.

I often hear that Palestine-Israel is too complicated to take a position on, or there is no solution because Israelis and Palestinians are equally victims. An insightful response in a talk at Evergreen by Khader Hamide, a leading Palestinian activist who the U.S unsuccessfully tried to deport, “Palestinians are losing their land, and their lives and Israelis are losing their humanity.”

A common slogan among Jewish people and Israeli leaders is “Never Again”, which they usually restrict to Jewish people. The holocaust against Jewish people is horrendous but so is the holocaust against African people, Native and indigenous people, and others. Let us mean by “Never Again” for All People. That is both the moral and strategic position.

Thank You!