Some members of Congress are trying to criminalize support for the campaign to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel for its occupation of Palestinian territories.
The U.S.’s new premiere left-wing organization, however, is moving the other way, undaunted by the threat of legislation against the BDS movement, as it is known.
The Democratic Socialists of America, which gathered this weekend in Chicago for its biennial convention, passed a resolution on Saturday to endorse the BDS movement. The vote in favor was so overwhelming, with so few dissenters — more than 90 percent supported the resolution — that no formal tally was taken. It marked the first time in the group’s 35-year history that it has taken a position on the issue.
FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA PALESTINE WILL BE FREE @DemSocialists pic.twitter.com/F7IBFPHTLr
— harrington slayer ? (@kid_mao) August 5, 2017
“I expected it to pass, but it did surprise me how overwhelming the support was,” said Rawan Tayoon, a Palestinian DSA activist from Los Angeles. Tayoon helped draft the resolution as part of a group that began its work in the spring.
Another drafter, Benjamin Balthaser, a Jewish Voice for Peace-Chicago member, who joined the DSA last year, said it was especially important for people from the Jewish community to make their voices heard on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “The Israeli government says it represents all Jews in the world,” Balthaser, who is Jewish, told The Intercept. “And I think it’s very important for the Jewish community to say, ‘We don’t feel represented by an apartheid government. We don’t feel represented by a military occupation.'”
Passing a pro-BDS resolution puts the group at odds with a national political figure whose avowedly democratic socialist presidential campaign helped DSA grow to 25,000 members over the past year: Vermont’s independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. Earlier this year, Sanders was asked by Al Jazeera’s Dena Takruri about whether he supported the BDS movement. While he offered implied criticism of unconditional military aid to Israel, he also told Takruri that he does not support the boycott movement.
“People will do what they want to do, but I think our job as a nation is to do everything humanly possible to bring Israel and the Palestinians and the entire Middle East to the degree that we can together. But no, I’m not a supporter of that,” Sanders said. “What must be done is that the United States of America is to have a Middle East policy which is even-handed, which does not simply supply endless amounts of money, of military support to Israel, but which treats both sides with respect and dignity and does our best to bring them to the table.”
Despite Sanders’s hesitancy, support for BDS in the U.S. is growing rapidly, particularly on college campuses and among faith organizations.
Top photo: Attendees react during the Democratic Socialists Convention at UIC in on Aug 4, 2017.
Is the anti-defamation league monitoring ths thread, or have they got dirt on Zaid now?!!
And anyways- has anyone noticed how the Anti-Defamation League spying scandal of 1993 was swept under the rug-and how now, the DHS acts as a proxy for Abe Foxman’s racist tribal diatribes, and word policing?
And that not uncohencidentally, the NSA routes all of our data to Israel?
https://psmag.com/news/kings-garbage-76228
One must wonder exactly what dirt the ADLhas on Law Enforcement Intelligence Units-LEIU’s are that other group o scandalous domestic spying racketeers.
http://projectcensored.org/6-americas-secret-police-network/
To know who rules over you, find out who you cannot criticize. (paraphrase of Voltaire’s famous quote)
Maybe it’s me, but I have trouble trusting the commitment to democracy of someone sporting Anarchy hand tattoos…
So, you have a problem with people taking responsibility for themselves and their actions? Or are you just another ignorant idiot who makes comments but has no idea what he’s talking about?
Insane. Is the US still a free country? Tough question. Criminalizing opposition to criminal policy, or any policy, doesn’t sound like it, but I’ve been gone 11 years.
The DSA are not “the US’ new premiere left-wing organization”: they are an old fake-socialist organization that is avowedly pro-capitalist and reformist – and they aren’t even an actual political party. They are still what they always have been: the social-democratic left haunch of the Democratic Party Donkey. And they even have prominent Democrats like Dolores Huerta and Cornel West as and even ex-CIA agent Gloria Steinem is an honorary member. They are State Department “Socialists” – phony as a three-dollar bill. See: iwpchi.wordpress.com/2017/08/06/dsa-dem-party-yes-pro-us-yes-soc-no/ – Independent Workers Party of Chicago
As a member of DSA I can say those criticisms are rather stale and un-comradely these days.
” …they are an old fake-socialist organization that is avowedly pro-capitalist and reformist”
I would not fault you for missing the entire convention chanting “ANTICAPITALISTA” at one point, but that is a thing that happened. However that is the tip of the iceberg. It should be noted that 80% for the organization’s membership joined in the last 24 months. Not only that, but the vast majority of that new membership is radically more militant and to the left of the DSA of even 3 yrs ago. Not only that, but membership in the org now has a marked radicalization effect. Many of my local chapter comrades have shifted considerably to the left (think an-coms) in a matter of months, myself included. Many of those were former Sanders supporters. While a formal break with the Democrat party is not ready for primetime yet, the newly elected National Political Committee wants to totally break with the Michael Harrington “left wing of the Dems” strategy. We have nowhere near the resources to form a new party. Furthermore, as the Labor Party and Green Party amply demonstrate, 3rd party ballot line access is a fool’s game setup by the bourgeois parties. First, we must organize for working class power, which is where 90%+ of local chapters efforts are going anyways.
“And they even have prominent Democrats like Dolores Huerta and Cornel West as and even ex-CIA agent Gloria Steinem is an honorary member.”
Our delegates voted this weekend to eliminate honorary chairs and memberships. So unless any of those people are paying dues, they no longer have any official standing in DSA. I wager we (and my chapter) would have vast agreement about Huerta’s problematic anti-communism and Steinem’s generally being a reactionary ghoul (and CIA informant). Cornel West is OK, he’s gotta pay dues like the rest of us and be a good member of his local.
The bottom line is that for much of the new rank-and-file, we don’t really give much of a rip about the electoral sphere. We’re too busy making inroads with organized labor or organizing our workplaces ourselves, planning Black Panthers style direct aid programs, or Marxist political education programs, or direct action for universal healthcare. When locals do engage in races, it’s overwhelmingly municipal level where most races are officially non-partisan, or only competitive in one party. See khalid kamau for instance.
The bottom line is that there are several lifetime’s worth of work to do to build a world without capitalism, and we’d love to struggle beside you as comrades. We’re a whole new org. Don’t dismiss us before you get to know us.
[Snaps]
Sanders is a democrat who tells everybody that he is Not a democrat
even after he ran to be the head of the democrats.
That is typical of democrats because they are really republicans who insist
that they are not republicans.
He ran and damn near won, would have if the “Democrats” had not decided democracy in the primaries was a “political promise only, not enforceable in law”. He ran as a Dem because he wanted to win, not make a statement. It is near impossible for a third party candidate to win the presidency.
Anyone who still believes that Sanders was something more than a
democrat operative whose real purpose was to lead his followers
into a dead end trap for the benefit of warmongering corporate predators
like Hillary Clinton
is just another willfully ignorant fool.
There were numerous occasions where Sanders could have
focused on the democrats and Clinton’s blatant corruption and put
an end to their lies and deceitful campaign, but he instead
protected them from being held criminally responsible.
He’s a fake who now pretends AGAIN that he is an independent.
Sanders helped to prevent any change while he pretended to doing
the opposite – just like a typical democrat.
Why would the Democrats have Sanders “lead his followers into a dead end trap”? If they wanted Clinton, which they clearly did, all they had to do was to let her run against the sorry Democratic field. Having Sanders challenge her from the left served no purpose for them.
Sanders is about as far as I could go to hold my nose and vote for someone. However, just because we want someone who’s better on international issues doesn’t mean that Sanders is a phony or is a Democrat in Independent clothing. Your desires are clouding your judgment here.
Anybody who is against BDS is a racist who supports the enslavement and murder of Palestinians.
As usual, the pro-BDS position consists of name-calling instead of an actual position. Wake me when you have an idea.
And then there are those like Tom who can surmise the entire issue into this.
You have not travelled far?
I am not a racist and shouldn’t even have to say that. I abhor what’s happening to the Palestinians at the hands of the Zionists. The whole state of Israel was a put-up job and the continual war they’ve waged against Palestine is evil. Once in a while a Palestinian takes out an Israelite and it’s sold as big, bad Palestine attacking Israel–it’s the other way around. I hate lies and God hates liars. I do not accept what my government/media parrots and expects me to believe because their agenda has been the cabal’s. With so much wrong in this country/government, it will take some time to restore the rule of law and folks who care about our Constitution and actually wish to protect, preserve and defend it.
Then why do you oppose BDS? This is the best hope that the Palestinians have. Boycotting is how we brought down apartheid in South Africa.
More Judaismophobia from the Intercept
So, ALL people must be Zionists or else they must be afraid of jews.
That is just like the thinking used by Nazis.
…and We All would best served if We Remember ~Those who control the questions, also control the answers~ Clark, your parallel of Zionists and Nazis brings to Consciousness the deeper realities of the religious uses of Mirror Reversal… which is How a positive reality is reversed and used by the negative factor. We see this in How the beautiful religious terms of “Live” and “Lived” are reversed into “evil” or “devil”. Let Us All take the time to see these roots, along with the fruits of Wisdom. In our household, we say “By their Roots and Fruits, Ye shall know them.”
There is no devil.
@Dez
More Zionist drivel from a supporter of fascistic/racist Israel.
It is sad to see a people become what they most fear, but it wasn’t yesterday.
What nobody wants to address is that the problems in the me are a direct result of their Muslim religion. It is not flexible to handle the needs of human society as a transformational whole.
If you do not fit or obey you are literally beheaded or stoned.
Deny that?
And you do not Muslim church shop– death is the penalty of any distancing or conversion.
Now, is that what you all bdsers want to support?
Do you not notice what they do to EACH other of their own?
There are 23 countries to live in the me.
i can say been there and done that. You cannot.
You are wrong on the Hebrew language being prime or of consequence. People can not support bds for many other reasons.
What I am saying is the bds support views are superficial! They really do not know the underside of what they are talking about.
So carry on. I will take your counsel of better tending to my keyboard peace out!-)
Speaking as an American of Irish Catholic heritage who had the good fortune to live for five years in the Arab world, I can assure other posters that you have spewed forth utter racist/Islamophobic drivel.
Given the vast amount of easily available facts, how anyone can support fascistic/racist, illegal, belligerent, illegal occupier and expansionist Israel is utterly beyond me.
GET EDUCATED!!!
Kudos to all of those who support BDS against Israel, the evil spawn of racist Zionism and Judaism’s modern Golden Calf.
That is how it is. You may not have seen it, but that is what exists. That is how life is in the Muslim world unless you are exceptionally wealthy. Some international communities are superficially more liberal but at the bottom, when the choices have to be made, behaviors and things allowed elsewhere are not tolerated. These are facts. Yea, you do not get a lot of pictures and a lot of press on it. The Electronic Intifada glosses well.
This is well documented.
That is the way it is. My dissenters here are not Muslims.
Get educated yourself– why do Mohamed and Romans invade Jerusalem? Is not the world big enough for everyone? As Texans say ” youall go back home, now.”
Educated? Wikipedia for ease, in nearly four and half thousand years, Jerusalem was destroyed twice, besieged x23, attacked x 52, captured and recaptured x 44 times. Try that at your home?
I do not much care about one nation or another, and agree Israel does bad things– so do we and everyone else, but there is an imbalance, an obsession that fixates some on Israel. That is the question.
Not sure about the Bible refs on zion, judaism, golden calf are of any importance?
The rants of Roch below are perhaps explained by Roch being a person whose native language is not English, and whose computer has an extremely poor English spell checker. Were he merely an extremely uneducated English speaker, the nature of his grammatical and spelling errors would differ. I’m just speculating, but given the tone of his posts, my guess is that his first language is Hebrew.
That may be all true.
Perhaps your mind does not comprehend that you cannot give human rights over to those who Supreme Deity does not allow human rights is probably not going to fix the problem.
It will bring that mindset into your home, your life. What do you not understand about that?
There is not one Muslim country which is good on human rights: with that kind of population, do you think they are going to respect your and your children’s human rights?
Please tell me you meant whose, not who, Supreme Diety etc….
Big difference. One is murderous, the other just racist.
On the other hand, they could be merely the rantings of a damaged mind. Evidence suggests that is a more plausible explanation (I’m quite used to communicating with people for whom English is a second, third, eighth language, and occasionally had to communicate with those who didn’t have any English language capabilities. Mangled syntax, misused words and phrases, reluctance to admit that they’d heard gibberish instead of words they could understand, I never have seen those as evidence of a lack of intelligence, but what flows out of Roch shines through just as clearly as when it is expressed by those who mother tongue is English.)
Indeed, the quality of his ideas reveal the quality of his mind. Whenever someone generalizes, saying all people of a particular ethnicity, or religion, or profession, are the same, it reveals profound limitations.
The thrust of my post was to suggest that a hasbra association.
Inter alia, I am wondering about your statement about BDS enjoying increasing support among faith organizations. Would someone kindly list at least two faith organizations that have recently come out in support of BDS?
Where I live, the dominant religions are southern protestant by nature. You know, the kinds that believe that when all the Jews return to Israel it will bring the end of the world or the second coming, both portrayed as somehow being good things. They are decidedly not pro-BDS. So my own sample may be biased.
The establishment political parties in America continue to stand on the wrong side of history.
In a broad sense, their commitment to a neo-liberal, elite-centric ideology continues to fuel the demise of humanity; wealth concentration into fewer and fewer hands, the loss of influence over their government by the general public, the rise of the surveillance state (anyone feel safer..?), etc.
And of course as illustrated by the BDS issue, like animals, they instinctively fawn over power and privilege.
Congratulation to the DSA for a principled, humanistic and courageous stand on BDS.
And while it is disappointing that Mr. Sanders has not joined in, perhaps, like both Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton “evolving” and finally arriving on gay marriage, he will evolve too. We shall see.
I suppose in the larger scheme of things it doesn’t matter why BO and HRC evolved but I suspect it had more to do with the politics (read: votes) rather than their consciences. Just more triangulation from soulless pols.
The amount of legislative action directed toward the BDS movement is indicative of it’s progress…it’s a real threat to the hardliners.
Yes, that was certainly my impression with Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton. Once the public opinion tide had turned they joined in. Of course, better than dragging their feet further but not exactly leading.
We’ll see what happens with Mr. Sanders. He did snub AIPAC which was considered anathema. I would like to hear his reasoning regarding BDS.
The power to boycott is the one inherent power that people hold. If anything, this should be, perhaps in effect is, an inalienable right. Being able to boycott those that abuse us is inherent. After all, if we buy from a business, for example, that is abusing us, our support is what enables them to continue their abuse. That’s one reason why for-profit monopolies are bad (no choice).
Perhaps America will live up to its ideals and refuse to be manipulated by narrow interest.
It’s certainly true that South Africa adamantly insisted that it was not engaged in apartheid right up until it collapsed. Opposing BDS by insisting that Israel is the victim of some sort of outside smear campaign rather than of its own actions is more of the same.
As you indicated, BDS seems to be striking a nerve. Good.
I am pretty sure that Bernie supported BDS duing the primary. I remember that in one debate he stated that he supported it. I am going to call his office and see what’s up..
Thank you. I would not be at all surprised. He certainly snubbed AIPAC during the primaries when obeisance was expected of all the candidates. To contrast, at her meeting with AIPAC (“no daylight between us”), Mrs. Clinton seemed to be trying to make Mr. Netanyahu an informal member of her cabinet.
Sanders is simply not progressive on international or on war/peace issues. He’s not as bad as the insane war mongers like Clinton, Obama, Bush, probably Trump, etc, but you’re being delusional if you think he’ll “evolve” to oppose Israeli suppression of Palestinians. He approaches this issue with an attitude of false equivalence, and anything that flows from that will be grossly unfair to Palestinians.
Thinking that Sanders will get better on this issue is like thinking that Obama will become progressive. Those hopes are strictly based on what you want, not on reality.
It would be nice if you could amend or make an addition to the article to point out that DSA isn’t the only left-wing party or organization to endorse the BDS movement. The US Green Party has endorsed BDS since 2005, since the BDS movement first came into being.
http://www.gp.org/democracy_2016#demForeignPolicy
Which is why I will never join either party. They, you, and most of the commenters here do not understand that the aim of the BDS movement is the destruction of Israel and the Jews. That is the meaning of “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea.” It means an area devoid of Jews (and Christians too). You’d also know this if you checked out the written aims of the PLO, the PA, Hamas and Fatah.
DSA is not a party, it’s an organization.
Glad to see the DSA train keeps moving in the Left direction and getting more recognition!
“new premiere left-wing organization”???
New maybe.
Please keep in mind that the Green Party has been around since 1984, has elected 130+ office holders in 18 states, has advocated for BDS since the concept was formulated and has advocated for a balanced policy in the Middle East since before most “progressives” were born, and has approximately 10 X the membership of Democratic Socialists.
Nothing against the DSs, I’m personally in favor of all of their policies that I currently know about.
But when a journalist uses a phrase like the “new premiere left-wing organization” which has no way of being quantified, you know you are reading a biased piece of editorial, not reporting.
“New” maybe.
But not “premiere left-wing organization.” Not by any stretch. That appellation belongs solely to Green Party USA.
But dsa is a political party. It’s an organization. Plus, I’m dsa and vote green. U can be both.
I meant is NOT a political party. It’s an organization.
respectfully, that addresses none of the points raised by ccrider27.
In other news, Nelson Mandela’s son is urging the South African government to join the BDS Israel movement to give reality to his father’s stand against the other Apartheid regime.
i’m happy that the DSA is doing its part. and i’m pleased at their increased activity and attention.
but what exactly makes it “The U.S.’s new premiere left-wing organization?”
And then the crime rate Wilber so significantly reduced as men can legally beat their wives and other women, rape will no longer exist, heft from women will n longer exist either, no more DUIs by inebriated driver, no bars, no liquor, no movies, no theaters no rodeos, only men attending football and soccer games, etc etc… looking forward to Bds. Women have no right to divorce men. Women profited from working at husbands call. Looking forward to this!
Roch, you’re off your meds dude.
You are making no sense whatsoever.
Absolutely not. You have not lived in the me. That is the way it is.
Look it up. You have no idea at all what you are talking about.
There are two men waiting in the hallway with a smart and snug-fitting white jacket that I’m sure you’ll take a liking to.
Roch’s claim is that Sharia is coming for you. He wasn’t so explicit in this post, but in every other post, he mentions that sharia is coming to kill you.
So basically what he’s saying is, if you have BDS, sharia will come for you and kill you.
Y s, that is the sharia alternative you are supporting– public maiming, beheading and stoning for those who get out of line.
Like what else do you think is out there?
Your life will not be the same.
Every nation that keeps another prisoner has world’s of excuses for it. Roch is simply articulating Israel’s.
Well auto spell kicks in and upgrade some wording! Muslims are not allowed to drink alcohol. There are no public toilets for women except in airports and large international venues. It is fully l gal to beat a disobeying spouse. Only men are allowed to initiate a divorce, not women.
Men and women cannot associate in public– no theatres, women eat in restaurants in restricted ‘family areas’. That is what bds buys you more of. Women not allowed to drive in Saudi.
Any Moro.ite questions?
You mean just like in the US 60 years ago?
Why is Israel such a supporter of Saudi Arabia? Why are they allies? Why is the USA an ally of the Saudi and Gulf States?
Your propaganda “list of horrors” falls flat in the face of the close working relationship between the US, Israel and the Arab monarchies.
Moreover, what about the behavior of Orthodox Jewish men? It is very similar to Muslim men’s behavior. Ditto for the Christian Right.
People who live in glass houses should not throw stones….
Can you name the countries where this is legal? I mean other than Israel’s Gulf allies?
BDS is the first step backward disempowering women to the 6th century. He’ll even the Hebrew midwives had more autonomy!
Enjoy!!
Love how you think that the US/EU created and sustained Saud regime is more representative of the region than, oh, say, Lebanon (home, it turns out, to the actual ‘original population’ of Israel, the Canaanites)
Well the Saudi have Mecca and Medina, nobody disagrees with them and their control. Things do get diluted somewhat, but at the end of day, that is the standard bar– there is no such thing as a moderate Muslim. Moderate Muslim is a caption to to hide the reality. The reality is the public square execution.
“College campuses..” all the female graduates will have to hire male drivers bc they cannot drive themselves– that will hire up all unemployed males in no time; there will be no public female restrooms, no dressing rooms, a tremendous stylish industry of black designer body bags and veils will be overbite created. Male medical personnel not able to work on females unaccompanied by a male relative! Even at the cost of a fatality! An occasional honor killing?
The list continues….
Your anti semitic hate speech should be banned from this site. Yes, Muslim’s are Semitic people.
Bds ” is growing among faith organizations” as a tool for Xians to try to convert Jews to their dead religion. Also muslims can convert the Jews. Then we can all end up as Muslims– like the saudis and Yemenis, as if you get to choose?
no one cares about how your imaginary spaghetti monster has 2 more tentacles than someone else’s imaginary spaghetti monster.