I seen a piece of writing the other day and it described Zionism as a ‘liberation movement’ for Jewish people. There is a few things about that notion which puzzles me, namely the following.

I am going to jump right in and say that a true liberation movement for Jewish people would be one in which the end result does not oppress others and one which does not appeal to sectional interests.

A cornerstone of any genuine liberation movement is the right to self-determination. Self-determination is the right to determine oneself and the right to to determine one’s own destiny. It is also the right to determine one’s ethnic definition and so on. Zionism does not afford Jewish people that right. Zionism, as a political ideology, has a very rigid and closed notion of what being Jewish is. Zionism aims to impose its destiny, aspiration and definition upon the Jewish people, regardless of the right of choice and the right to participate.

A genuine liberation movement for Jewish people would be one which aims for the defence of Jewish people everywhere, including those in the diaspora. Zionism increasingly pours scorn on the diaspora and, as Theodor Herzl (founder of the Zionist movement) proclaimed that it is basically pointless to fight antisemitism in the lands where Jewish people live (that would be the lands outside of Palestine). Zionism does not aim for the protection of Jews everywhere, especially the diaspora. It aims to cop out and, advertently or inadvertently, aid the antisemites in removing Jews from lands outside of Palestine (Europe, the Americas, etc.). A genuine liberation movement would not do this. A genuine liberation movement for Jews would protect Jews EVERYWHERE. A genuine liberation movement would fight antisemitism WHEREVER it rears its head, not just cop out and say ‘move to Israel‘ (as if fighting antisemitism is as easy as that).

A genuine liberation movement aims to defeat and expel an oppressor, not to become it. Nor does it come from outside, it comes from within. An example of that would be the Irish republican socialist movement. That movement, a genuine liberation movement, comes from within Ireland (the oppressed) aimed at expelling an already existing external and internal enemy (the Irish Free State and the British state). An equivalent to Zionism would be in South Africa with the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB). The AWB claims to be a liberation movement but it is in fact an outside force. If it were a genuine liberation movement it would be fighting against itself. Zionism planted itself onto a land as an outside force not as a liberator from within fighting against and already existing adversary e.g. a state, an opposing military or police force, etc.

Zionism traditionally has ignored antisemitism in favour of pushing some pipe dream on both Jewish people and non-Jewish Palestinians. Antisemitism in Britain, France, Russia, the U.S.A., etc. does not matter because Zionism is the saviour and the Jewish people should ignore instances of antisemitism in favour of moving to Israel and striving to build and maintain an Israeli state (Occupied Palestine). This is not a principle of any genuine liberation movement. A genuine liberation movement fights where it stands and most Jews do not stand in Israel.

Discrimination against Jewish people does not happen in Occupied Palestine (otherwise known as Israel) unless you are an Ethiopian Jew, a Sephardi Jew, Kaifeng Jew, Cochin Jew or a Mizrahi Jew (in these cases the perpetrators of such discrimination are in fact some other Jews, usually of the far-right Zionist variety. Genuine liberation movement for Jews anyone?). For the most part discrimination against Jewish people happens outside of Occupied Palestine and should be dealt with in the places where it does exist. Zionism willfully ignores this very real fact.

On the issue of class, Zionism is a cross-class movement. In fact it is very much in favour of a ruling class. On this basis alone Zionism can not represent any working class Jew whether inside or outside of Occupied Palestine.

Zionism despises the plurality of real Jewish life and of Jewish people everywhere. A genuine liberation movement for Jewish people would value it.

Zionism and antisemitism are mutually self-reinforcing. This is would not happen with a genuine liberation movement for Jewish people.

When all of this is considered, can Zionism be classed as any sort of genuine liberation movement? I think not nor would any person with a sound disposition.

Free Palestine! Fuck Antisemitism! For genuine liberation! For a class based fight against antisemitism and all other racism! For socialism!

Just heard that National Action have been proscribed. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that National Action should not have been proscribed.

The following is a very quick and rough explanation as to why I think this.

Why do I think this? Well because bans are ineffective and it sets a dangerous precedent for the state to ban us, socialist groups that is. It also makes National Action seem worse than they were. They were fucking awful, beyond contempt, but they were no Al-Qaeda type organisation. This notion will feed their egos and boost their popularity among the social inadequates which support them. It will make them seem like martyrs.

All they will now need to do is reform under another name and change their logo.Maybe a structural change too like many of the fascist groups in Germany such as AKK and the more localised kameradschaften (like permanent nazi affinity groups basically).

We already had them on the back foot nationally, we had prevented them from operating in the open, for the most part anyway.

The state never acts against the fascists and popular right with good intentions and it is ALWAYS window dressing. There is ALWAYS an ulterior motive where the state is concerned. It should be up to us as working class people to defeat National Action, not the state.

The BBC said “By banning an extreme right-wing organisation for the first time, the authorities hope to both tackle the group itself and also eliminate a source of ideological inspiration.” The “authorities” i.e. the state and the status quo are the main problem here because they provide the social and economic conditions which makes the streets and other areas fertile grounds for groups like National Action. Get rid of those conditions and the fascists are dealt a massive blow. Except that the state has no interest in getting rid of the fascists, it benefits from the fascists and populist right so has more to gain by seeing them exist. Nor does the state have any interests in getting rid of said social and economic interests either because they benefit even more from that. This is why this ‘ban’ is only window dressing and this is why only we, as working class people, can, should and could defeat National Action.

This banning of National Action is at best a token gesture, to make it superficially look like they actually care and are against the fascists.

Well National Action scum, I bet it was fun for you all getting kicking after kicking and incurring humiliation after humiliation but I suppose we will see you in your new guise soon.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38293314

The relationship between antisemitism and Zionism is a contentious one. For those with a bit of common sense, without vested interests and who have had even a cursory look at what Zionism and antisemitism actually are, the line is clear. Whilst it is true that antisemitism can be falsely masked as anti-Zionism, anti-Zionism is in reality anything but antisemitic. Where the line is crossed, that is nothing but an abuse of anti-Zionism, an abuse we as anti-Zionists should be vigilant about.

One area of this issue which has not been explored (to my knowledge at least) is the hypothesis that Zionism is in fact antisemitic on the basis that it represents a kind of destruction of Jewish culture and heritage. It is a bold statement to claim that Zionism works towards that end, whether intentionally or otherwise but that is one of the end results of Zionism.

Such a bold claim deserves clarity. Jewish heritage and culture, since the beginnings of the diaspora more than 2,000 years ago, has developed on a multi-ethnic and multi-regional basis. Whilst it is true that all Jews share a certain level of common experience, a common origin and genetics (with the exception of Jews who have converted in). Jewish culture, heritage and ethnicity have developed in the diaspora in diversity. There are languages such as Yiddish, most commonly spoken by Ashkenazi Jews, Ladino, most commonly spoken by Sephardi Jews and so on. There are ethnic groups such as the Mizrahim, Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Ethiopian Jews; Jews of mixed ethnicity, those converting in, etc. All sharing a common culture and heritage but all ultimately developing unique cultures and customs which make up the mosaic of Jewish life. This is the essence of Jewish life, diversity and that diversity IS Jewish heritage. Jewish heritage has NEVER ultimately been tied to any particular land. This leads us onto Zionism.

Putting it very simply and bluntly, Zionism is a nationalist concept which homogenises and sanitises Jewish culture and heritage with the intended result of pinning it to a land. That land being the state of Israel.

No longer Jewish culture but Hebrew culture, no longer Jews but Israelis. That is the Zionist and Israeli state mantra.

For centuries many people have tried relentlessly to wipe Jews and Jewish culture off the map, to relegate Jews and Jewish culture to a footnote in history. But to subvert it and to sanitise it amounts to the same thing, does it not? It absolutely does. Whether the intentions are different I can not say but what it amounts to is the same, the wiping out of Jewish culture and heritage into this neat package of “Israeli” and “Hebrew”. “Israeli” and “Hebrew” is not Jewish and Jewish culture. Of course Jews are Hebrews but now Zionism creates the conditions whereby it tries to speak for Jews. Zionism intends to be the international and ideological face of Jewry to the point of where Jews are no longer Jews (in all of the diversity the label entails) as the false Zionist/Israeli state narrative ends up creating.

It is absolutely absurd to try and fix all of that diversity and thousands of years of heritage to a single label and land. Jews are basically told that “you belong to Israel whether you fucking like it or not”. As untrue as this is (most Jews around the world have no connection with Israel), that is the end result and expressed intention of the Israeli state.

Zionism is a forced assimilation and homogenisation, under the auspices of the state of Israel, of Jewish people and heritage. This flies smack in the face of who Jewish people actually are and what Jewish culture, history and heritage actually is. Because of this end result, it can only be classed as ethnocide.

This is why Zionism and the state of Israel is antisemitic. The ethnocide of Jewish people/heritage/culture is antisemitic, by definition of the term. This is a bold statement, that much is true but what else can this ethnocide be classed as?

Zionism, along with nazism and clerical fascism such as that of Iran, Daesh, etc. is the enemy of Jewish heritage and culture as it attempts to destroy what they actually are.

It is within the interests of Jewish people the world over and within the interests of Jewish heritage and culture as it REALLY is, to see the back of Zionism. Aside from this, it is the decent thing to do due to the horrors Israel and Zionism inflict upon the people of Gaza, the West Bank and Palestinians in occupied Palestine (commonly known as “Israel”). This is in addition to the treatment Jewish dissenters within occupied Palestine receive at the hands of the Israeli state as well as Zionist groups particularly of the Kahanist variety.