Daniel Sieradski/My last word on Israel/Palestine at OWS

The now deleted blog post from Daniel Sieradski quoted by Electric Intifada referencing "demographic suicide".

• Original URL: http://mobius1ski.tumblr.com/post/12738599879/my-last-word-on-israel-palestine-at-ows
• Archived copy

My last word on Israel/Palestine at OWS

A lot of hay has been made of, well, me, over the last week due to my inquiry into the origins of the OWS Freedom Waves tweet and its subsequent deletion by the OWS media team. 
I would first like to reiterate that I did not request the tweets deletion. As Will from the OWS PR working group told Mondoweiss, The tweet was erased because there was discussion about how it was not appropriate to address this issue on these large public social media accounts until we had agreement from the group on our exact stance on these kinds of international conflicts. 
I was not a part of that discussion, as I am not a member of the media working group.
I would also like to say that it was not my intent nor desire to see the tweet deleted, nor to hurt Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims or anyone else who feel kinship with this movement and who felt betrayed by the tweets deletion.
Nonetheless, it has been written repeatedly that the tweet was deleted at my urging, which could not be further from the truth. It is, however, true that I have at times been frustrated with the actions of some Palestinian solidarity activists at Occupy Wall Street.
So, lets just recap, shall we? 
Michael Letwin of Labor for Palestine tried to get the head of a major labor union thrown off the OWS labor working group because he is a Zionist, calling him a defender of apartheid (despite the fact that he is a vocal opponent of the Israeli occupation). Likewise, Andy Pollack of al-Awda threw a fit in public and on various OWS listservs after a speaker from the Israeli tent protests spoke, threatening to take his ball and go home if Zionist racists were allowed to be a part of the movement.
In other words, some Palestinian solidarity activists have actively tried to exclude Zionists from participating in OWS and to make anti-Zionism a litmus test for joining the movement.
Existence is Resistance, a Palestinian solidarity group, held a Kuffeya Day event at OWS — which is three blocks from the World Trade Center — calling for clemency for convicted armed militants (ie., terrorists) that they advertised using the image of the infamous airplane hijacker Leila Khaled.
In other words, some Palestinian solidarity activist held an event that could have had severe negative impacts on OWSs public image by associating the movement with support for terrorism.
Finally, a Palestinian solidarity activist on the media working group put out a statement over Twitter of solidarity with Gaza Freedom Waves without authorization from the General Assembly or the media working group.
In other words, some Palestinian solidarity activists are making statements on behalf of the movement without authorization or ratification from the General Assembly. 
All I wanted, in inquiring about the tweet, was to know whether the GA had taken a position on the issue, because I had not been present at that evenings assembly. After spending two weeks aggressively fighting off charges in the press that OWS was a bastion of antisemitism, and working around the clock to address and successfully defeat those claims, I was concerned that I would then have to spend the next two weeks doing the same with the charge that OWS is anti-Israel. Its not that I personally oppose Freedom Waves — I generally support most nonviolent efforts to resist the occupation. Its that I am concerned about the movements ability to attract more moderate supporters who may not share that view.
Because I dared take issue with the above actions, fearing that they could have negative consequences for the viability of the movement as whole, I have been accused of being a racist who is against Palestinian rights, who is trying to delete Palestinians from history and who wishes to exclude their voices from the protest.
Never mind talking about why any of the above actions by Palestinian solidarity activists are problematic or unfair to the OWS community. Never mind that I have repeatedly taken my lumps standing up in defense of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation over the last decade. As far as Ali Abunimah and Richard Silverstein are now concerned: Dan Sieradski doesnt think Israel is obligated to commit demographic suicide by reabsorbing Palestinian refugees and is therefore an interminable racist and a fake progressive.
Or maybe — just maybe — some Palestinian solidarity activists behave inappropriately and then others go ballistic when anyone dares take issue with their behavior, using the specter of racism to silence any criticism of their actions. 
Sounds familiar, doesnt it?
I havent sought the exclusion of Palestinians nor Palestinian solidarity activists from the movement. Quite the contrary. I made two suggestions: Choose Palestinian solidarity actions which will not serve the propaganda aims of the movements opponents. And get buy-in from the community on the ground before you take action that could be interpreted as being done in the movements name. 
Clearly, I am a big old Abe Foxman using the bludgeon of censorship to silence legitimate resistance to the Israeli occupation. And clearly, this has everything to do with my position on Palestinian refugees.
Or maybe — just maybe — some people are behaving in genuinely problematic ways and Im allowed to and need to speak up about it if were going to build a movement that is inclusive and welcoming of everyone.
Obviously, Im a racist.

Sunday, November 13, 2011