Letters: Communists and the fight against Gaza genocide

Let’s Fight for Communism, Not “BDS” here ♦ It is genocide in Gaza, and the US government plays an essential role ♦

Let’s Fight for Communism, Not “BDS

“How ya doin’?”
“Fine,” I once said. Not anymore.
I answer, “How is anyone doing right now?” Everyone understands. We are outraged and heartsick about the Zionist genocide in Gaza. About the racist Gestapo kidnappings here.
Our shared activism keeps us going. Almost two years of weekly Gaza protests, and now months of anti-Migra rallies and patrols, have forged real communities.
I’ve given Red Flag to almost everyone I’ve met. Most – usually fifty or more – take the new issue when I see them or get it electronically. A few have given money. A few have met with us.
“Red Flag talks about real things,” said one.
“I am grateful to have people in my life who don’t think communism is insane,” said another.
But even good friends have real disagreements. Many still think that lobbying “electeds” is their only chance to be effective. Even though they lack confidence in both parties.
One group, for example, campaigns for the city to divest its pension funds from companies most complicit in the Gaza genocide (Boeing, Caterpillar, Chevron). This is “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions” (BDS). As comrades in India said last year, this strategy is intended to weaken the Israeli capitalists. But the Zionist regime is not as strong as it seems.
A core group here has struggled to meet with city council members. Usually at least forty of us show up at council meetings. A dozen speak for the two minutes or one minute or thirty seconds they are allowed.
After months of this, something may happen at the next pension board meeting. It’s not clear what. Over a year ago, the same group pressured this city council into passing a “Ceasefire” resolution. The final resolution expressed more concern for Israeli hostages than for dead and bombed-out Gaza civilians. Then the Zionists used a “Ceasefire” to step up their attacks on the West Bank.
I have talked some – not enough – about what a revolutionary communist strategy would look like, in contrast to BDS.
I say that the best help we could give the masses in occupied Palestine would be to overthrow US imperialism. That won’t happen tomorrow. But BDS won’t save anyone’s life tomorrow either. The small steps we need today are those that will build to communist revolution. Not more calls to politicians bought by Zionist lobbyists.
I try to model how we can talk to many people around us – especially workers and soldiers – connecting the genocide in Gaza to the oppression they themselves experience.
We link ICE (Migra) with the Israeli “Defense” Forces that help train them. Both connect with attacks on workers’ standard of living. With fascist attacks on everything from science to our trans siblings. All these assaults come from the same capitalist system. That can become the basis for a mass communist revolution to “free Palestine” and liberate workers everywhere.
BDS won’t do that. We need more activists to write for and circulate Red Flag. To join ICWP and become the ones who do it. Shared communist activism will keep us going. And change the world.
—Comrade in California (USA)

It is genocide in Gaza, and the US government plays an essential role

Lies come in many forms. One of the biggest lies comes from the Israeli and US governments. They defend their savagery in Gaza with the claim that accusations of genocide are false, and their critics are anti-Semitic bigots.
The basis for this lie, believed by fewer and fewer people, relies on the disputed definition of anti-Semitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA):
“Antisemitism is hatred toward Jews because they are Jews and is directed toward the Jewish religion and Jews individually or collectively. More recently, antisemitism has been manifested in the demonization of the State of Israel.
“Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for ‘why things go wrong.’ It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms, and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits. (It may also be manifested on people mistaken as Jews, or on non-Jews seen as sympathetic to Jews.)”
The problems with this definition of anti-Semitism are obvious:
* Some liberal Jewish groups, such as Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, are labeled as anti-Semitic.
* Opposition to apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide is attributed to anti-Jewish bigotry, not principled opposition to the deliberate murder of Palestinians by Israel through starvation and US-supplied weapons.
* A majority of the American Jewish community, numbering between 5 to 7 million people, now believe Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The IHRA definition of anti-Semitism ignores Israel and the United States for deliberately slaughtering Palestinians. But the consensus among genocide scholars and human rights organizations is that Israel, with full US government support, is engaged in genocide in Gaza.
Unfortunately, both major US political parties — Democrats under President Joe Biden and Republicans under President Donald Trump — play an essential role in the extermination of Gazan Palestinians. Without US weapons, intelligence sharing, and diplomatic support, endless Israeli attacks in Gaza would not be possible. Furthermore, less than one-third of the US public now supports its government’s policy of supplying Israel weapons and diplomatic support, a substantial drop from October 2023, when the current Gaza conflict began.
An open question is, therefore, how much longer will both major US political parties ignore their supporters.
—Long-time anti-Zionist comrade

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