Thursday, February 23rd
8pm
Columbia University
Hamilton Hall, Room 309
Join the Barnard Columbia Socialists for our weekly branch meeting! We will be discussing two articles: “The Hidden History of Zionism” by Annie Levin and “Fighting the Anti-BDS Backlash” by Wael Elasady. Recommended further reading: “What’s Behind the Rise of BDS?” by Sherry Wolf.
Following the election of Donald Trump, the connections between the racist project of the American far right and Israeli apartheid are more clear than ever. In this moment of resistance to Trump, any movement for social justice must take on the question of the liberation of Palestine.
The international socialist tradition was built on the principle that, in the words of Russian Revolutionary V.I. Lenin, “The interests of the working class and of its struggle against capitalism demand complete solidarity [with] the workers of all nations.” This has meant that our tradition stands unequivocally for the right of oppressed nations to self-determination–from indigenous claims to sovereignty at Standing Rock, to the Kurdish struggle for independence from discriminatory regimes, to the struggle of the Palestinian people against Israeli settler-colonialism.
This discussion- happening with Columbia University Apartheid Divest’s Israeli Apartheid Week scheduled right around the corner- will prepare to defend the Palestinian people on a campus where Palestine solidarity activists have been assaulted, anti-Apartheid professors have been targeted in years-long witch hunts, and where speech critical of Israel more generally has been consistently repressed in what Palestine Legal has dubbed “the Palestine exception to free speech.”
What does justice actually look like in Palestine? Is occupation and ethnic cleansing the answer to anti-Semitism? What are the immediate next steps in supporting the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom? All are welcome to come discuss these questions and more!