SWP campaign in Oakland joins protests against attacks on Israel – The Militant

[....]  The slander that Israel carries out genocide is bandied about freely by cease-fire proponents. In fact, Hamas plants its soldiers and weapons in hospitals, schools and densely populated neighborhoods, guaranteeing civilian casualties, while Israel’s military urges civilians to evacuate before attacking.

 

 

“The word genocide is used against Israel,” Robert Bonham countered. “I would ask you to read the Hamas charter and Israel’s declaration of independence” to see who calls for genocide.

“Hamas invaded Israel unprovoked and carried out a pogrom,” SWP member Jeff Powers said. “Who’s responsible for the civilian deaths? It’s Hamas. It will be a victory for all if Hamas is defeated.”

Barbara Schick also blamed Hamas for the violence. “Since 2005 there have been at least six cease-fires, all broken by Hamas,” she said. Another cease-fire now would only allow Hamas to regain strength for further attacks. “Both Palestinians and Israelis, Jewish and Arab citizens alike, deserve a chance to determine their destiny without interference from Hamas.”

“There’s nothing about the Oct. 7 attack that has anything to do with saving the Palestinian people,” retired union machinist and SWP campaign supporter Raúl Gonzalez said. “There are no freedom fighters in Hamas. Its foundational documents call for driving all Jews out of Israel, as do Iran’s rulers.”

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SWP campaign in Oakland joins protests against attacks on Israel – The Militant

The Hamas pogrom of 10-7 (and the Israeli response) has blown the lid off an antisemitic volcano.

There is now unfolding, which few souls alive today have seen or experienced, a massive explosion of antisemitic rage directed against the 15 million Jews who make up zero-point two percent (0.2%) of the world’s population. Many of these represent the offspring of those who survived the Holocaust by fleeing Poland and other parts of eastern Europe before, during and after the rise and fall of Nazism, for lands abroad, including Palestine.

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 https://theunionofworkers.wordpress.com/2024/01/06/the-hamas-pogrom-of-10-7-and-the-just-israeli-response-has-blown-the-lid-off-an-antisemitic-volcano/

Defend Israel’s right to exist! Join fight against Jew-hatred – The Militant

Defend Israel’s right to exist! Join fight against Jew-hatred – The Militant

‘Jewish Question’ by Abram Leon is ‘truly important’ – The Militant

Following Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre of Jews in Israel, Pathfinder Press volunteers in the United States and Canada launched a special three-week campaign to get orders from bookstores and libraries for The Jewish Question: A Marxist Interpretation by Abram Leon. The book explains how in the age of imperialism, Jews become a special target by the ruling capitalist class to try to salvage their system in its death agony. And why only the working class organizing to overthrow capitalism can open the door to putting an end to Jew-hatred.

The results show both the need and the widespread interest in such a book today as discussion and debate on antisemitism rage across the world. Bookstore buyers and librarians placed 59 orders, purchasing at least 118 copies. Pathfinder volunteers estimate that they spoke with 177 buyers and librarians.

Those discussions included introducing The Low Point of Labor Resistance Is Behind Us: The Socialist Workers Party Looks Forward by SWP leaders Jack Barnes, Mary-Alice Waters and Steve Clark, a companion book to The Jewish Question. During the course of the campaign, 12 orders were received for this book, putting 44 more copies on bookstore and library shelves. The effort also led to orders for other Pathfinder titles.

This is what Pathfinder salespeople call “shoe leather” work. Susie Berman from Toronto reported that on a regional trip she was part of “all four booksellers responded right away. Three bought The Jewish Question. Two also got The Low Point of Labor Resistance Is Behind Us. One bookseller told us that he and his wife, who is Jewish, have been discussing this issue a lot at home. She had family members slaughtered in the Hamas pogrom. He ordered both books two days later. Not bad for Day One of our campaign effort.”

A college librarian in Washington state had a similar response: “Thank you! I will have our acquisitions specialist order this book. Truly important right now.”

Two recent bookstore orders from Washington, D.C., and San Francisco included multiple copies of The Jewish Question, The Low Point of Labor Resistance Is Behind Us, and quite a few other Pathfinder titles. Both stores, for example, ordered 50 Years of Covert Operations in the US: Washington’s Political Police and the Working Class. The San Francisco order included the two titles in Spanish and French.

Based on these successes, volunteers are now preparing for Black History Month in February. Many Pathfinder titles, like Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power by Barnes, help readers deepen their understanding of the central place of the Black struggle in the U.S.

‘Jewish Question’ by Abram Leon is ‘truly important’ – The Militant

SWP: Defend unions, Ukraine, Israel! Chart a working-class road forward – The Militant

[....] On Dec. 12, Margaret Trowe, SWP candidate for U.S. Congress from California’s District 12, and campaign supporters attended a Berkeley City Council meeting of hundreds considering a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.

“Over 50 supporters of Israel’s right to exist protested the loud and disruptive campaign by opponents of Israel at the meeting,” reported campaign supporter Carole Lesnick. The pro-Hamas forces had disrupted the last two council meetings.

Participants were only granted one minute to speak. When Trowe began by saying, “I wish to speak against a cease-fire resolution,” opponents tried to shout her down, Lesnick told the Militant. But they failed.

“The Oct. 7 massacre initiated by Iran and Hamas demands a decisive response from working people and unions around the world,” Trowe said.

“The pogrom had one objective — to kill and take hostage as many Jews as possible, with the goal of eliminating Israel and Jews in the Middle East and beyond,” she said. “The fight against Jew-hatred is a life-and-death question. Israel was born out of necessity after the Holocaust when Washington turned away boatloads of Jews.

“A cease-fire is handing over a victory to Hamas,” she said, as jeers and catcalls continued. “A victory against Hamas will be a victory for working people who are Palestinian, Jewish and others around the world.”

As Trowe returned to her seat, she was greeted with cheers and handshakes by supporters of Israel’s right to exist.

Berkeley resident Tania Schweig told the meeting her sons have been harassed while wearing their yarmulkes. “Since Oct. 7, I feel increasing fear around being a Jew,” she testified. “On my morning walks I see signs and graffiti calling Jewish people Nazis and ‘Jesus killers.’”

The council failed to pass any resolution....

SWP: Defend unions, Ukraine, Israel! Chart a working-class road forward – The Militant

Jewish groups in Cuba defend Israel, denounce Hamas pogrom – The Militant

Jewish groups in Cuba defend Israel, denounce Hamas pogrom – The Militant

What was the Holocaust? – The Militant

The over 1,200 Jews slaughtered in the Oct. 7 Tehran-backed Hamas pogrom against Jews in Israel was the largest number of Jews killed in a single day since the Nazi Holocaust in the second imperialist world war. Some 3,000 more were wounded and over 240 kidnapped and dragged back to Gaza to have their lives dangled as trade bait.

The Oct. 7 pogrom by the Hamas killers showed their determination to follow the same path as the Nazis. Their slogan — chanted by middle-class radicals in the U.S. and worldwide — is “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” They mean, “Palestine will be free of Jews.” It is a call today to implement Hitler’s “Final Solution” to the Jewish question in the Middle East....

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What was the Holocaust? – The Militant