#Black Power and Palestine

[unsolicited-opinions]

On recent far-left attacks on the Anti-Defamation League

Before we start:

- I think the ADL is wrong about Musk's salutes.

- I think the ADL's Israel advocacy sometimes comes into conflict with their mission in the diaspora. I think their methodologies for data collection and reporting need improvement.

- I think that the ADL is flawed, imperfect and does much more good than harm.

---

Christopher Hitchens put into words what academics used to live by:

"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence".

The burden of proof is on those making the claim, and the claims of droptheadl.org aren't supported with primary sources or evidence.

For example:

To support its claims about the ADL and SNCC, droptheadl.org offers a link, presenting it as a citation.

This is a link to a Google Books entry. There's no actual text, no citation, no chapter, no page, just the claim that somewhere in this 300-page book exists proof of the ADL denouncing SNCC as racist.

However, that's not in the book. Chapter two talks about this incident in detail, so I read it.

In reaponse to a SNCC newsletter (this is what a primary source looks like!) containing many factual errors about Israel,

...Morris Abram, president of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), summed up their outrage: “Anti-Semitism is anti-Semitism whether it comes from the Ku Klux Klan or from extremist Negro groups

[For those who haven't studied the era: at this point, "Negro" was still the word which the black community preferred. The transition to widespread identification as 'black' got going in the 60s and finished in the 70s. The use of the word 'Negro' here is not a slur. I state this in advance because I know how the illiberal left weilds its willful ignorance]

...

Abram was also careful to echo what the ADL had said: that SNCC’s article put it in the same anti-Israeli trench as the Arab world and the Soviet Union.

That's verifiably, unquestionably true. That's the position SNCC took, because that's where they got their information.

Droptheadl.org lied. This book doesn't say what they claim it says, which is why they didn't quote it or offer a specific citation. Why let facts get in the way of the narrative which makes them feel good about themselves?

The book, which I recommend reading, isn't about the ADL. It's a scholarly examination of the relationships between the wars the Arab world launched on Israel and the US Civil Rights Movement. This requires much discussion of the impact on the complex relationships between black communities and Jewish communities in the US in the context of their views on Israel and Palestine.

It's fascinating. Here's another excerpt illustrating why many Jews saw SNCC as taking an antisemitic turn:

One day in May of 1967, [Stokely] Carmichael and [H. Rap] Brown were in Alabama chatting with Donald Jelinek, a lawyer who worked with SNCC.

Jelinek, who was Jewish, expressed his positive feelings about Israel and his concerns about the Jewish state’s situation in that tension-filled month as war clouds were on the horizon in the Middle East.

“So it was a shock to me,” Jelinek later recounted, “when my SNCC friends mildly indicated support for the Arabs.” Mildly stated or not, their sentiments prompted Jelinek to reply, “But they may wipe out and destroy Israel.”

Carmichael adroitly changed the subject with some humor, and the men began laughing.

Jelinek thereafter overheard Brown quietly singing to himself, “arms for the Arabs, sneakers for the Jews.” When Jelinek asked him what that song meant, an embarrassed Brown explained that he had learned the song as a student in Louisiana. It implied that the Israelis would need sneakers (tennis shoes) to run from the Arabs, who were armed with weapons from abroad.

My qualms with this, my disappointment in and disagreement with both Carmichael and Brown doesn't make me a racist. It doesn't make the AJC or the ADL racist and it doesn't make Jelinek, the Jewish lawyer working with SNCC, a racist or a poor ally.

Zionism is the belief that Jews should have self-determination in their homeland.

Nazism was the belief that racially superior Aryans own the world, should be organized through fascist methods, and that the genocide of the Jewish people was explicitly required because they were the source of all evil and the obstacle to progress.

These are not the same. Suggesting they are the same, as Carmichael did, is morally and intellectually bankrupt. Pointing this out doesn't make me a racist. It makes me literate.

I still own a copy of Carmichael's book, Black Power. Carmichael (who later changed his name to Kwame Ture) was a complex person. Like every other historical figure, he was neither a saint nor a demon.

I can admire a lot about the Black Panthers without falsely claiming that nothing they ever did or said was troubling, poorly reasoned, or bigoted. The world is more complex than that.

There are no saints. Learn this important truth and use it to guide your understanding of the world around you. There are no saints.

Gandhi, for instance, was a great leader for Indian self-rule and a visionary of nonviolent protest. He was also a racist as a young man who said black people "...are troublesome, very dirty and live like animals." Read about his work in South Africa. He was also really weird about sex and slept naked with his grand niece, which we rightly recognize today as sexual abuse. He wasn't a saint or a demon, he was a person.

People are complex and flawed. If you want to understand people, history, and movements, wrap your head around this as keep it with you: People and their movements are complex and flawed.

But the depth of reasoning I see from the illiberal left is "ADL criticized SNCC, so they're Nazis."

No, child. The world is much, much more complex than that. Why did you go to college if you weren't going to learn anything there?

My 14yo is right. US leftists (not liberals, leftists) are allergic to nuance and discard the facts contradicting any narrative which makes them feel good about themselves.

Selah

Deep breath in, slow breath out.

The book is really delves into some of the factors contributing to the deteriorating relationship at the time between Jewish Americans and Black Americans. It points to this essay by James Baldwin, titled "Negroes Are Anti-Semitic Because They're Anti-White." I urge you to read it, it is a fascinating artifact of its time and place.

And this:

Jews had long advocated for black liberation by, for example, playing a role in the foundation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. Jewish support for blacks was well known; as early as February of 1942, the American Jewish Committee published a study titled “Jewish Contribution to Negro Welfare.” Having experienced the sting of anti-Semitism, many Jews believed they were fighting in the same trench against discrimination alongside African Americans. When the civil rights struggle grew to become a mass movement in the 1950s and early 1960s, Jewish moral and financial support was crucial, and Jews were disproportionately well-represented among those whites who lent their support to the cause. Jewish financial contributions to civil rights groups were also significant. Jews even were the subject of criticism from some southern whites for the high-profile role they played in helping blacks win their freedom. All this compounded a sense of betrayal by SNCC that was felt by many Jewish Americans.

It should not be surprising or taken as racist that Jews objected to SNCC's advocacy against Israel's existence and I maintain that any call for Israel to be destroyed is innately, inarguably antisemitic. No other nation endures calls for its destruction. Just the Jewish one.

There was unquestionably tension between SNCC and the entire spectrum of non-black Americans who supported SNCC when SNCC ejected non-black members. From our perspective, decades removed, I can understand both why SNCC members narrowly voted for this AND why non-black members of SNCC were hurt and disillusioned. All of those perspectives were (and are) valid.

When I was an undergrad studying African American Political Thought, we discussed these tensions head-on, using primary sources, and evaluated them dispassionately.

We concluded that there are no villains in this story. SNCC got a bunch of facts wrong about Israel, their staunch Jewish allies were profoundly disappointed, saw hypocrisy in SNCC's position, and said so.

I think that far left Americans overlaid their feelings about a domestic struggle on a foreign one where they don't fit...and then discarded the facts and the complexity which got in the way of a satisfying narrative which made them feel like the good guys instead of forcing them to grapple with an uncomfortably complex reality.

I think that's what the illiberal left still does. It doesn't like complexity, it doesn't like academic rigor, it likes stories it can tell itself about its moral purity and discards facts, complexity, or rigor which threaten their view of themselves as saviors.

The world is complex. People are complex. Movements are complex. Organizations are complex. History is complex. Justice is complex.

The ADL isn't perfect, its leaders haven't been and are not saints or tzadikim, but the good they do for all Americans radically outweighs their failings and I'm going to keep supporting them while yelling at them to do better.

If you're an ADL hater and have any actual evidence and primary sources on racism from the ADL, I really want to see it, because this weak sauce from droptheadl.org doesn't make the case the illiberal left thinks it makes. And they'd know that if they had learned anything in college about how scholarship works and how arguments are constructed.

The illiberal left perhaps forgets how the ADL responded when Trump called for requiring American Muslims to register.

“If one day Muslim Americans will be forced to register their identities, then that is the day that this proud Jew will register as a Muslim. ”

- ADL chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt

[largemuscle69]

BOOK 22: Black Power and Palestine by Michael Fischbach

On my quest to read more about the historical movements for Palestinian liberation, I stumbled across this lovely book. I was completely unaware prior of how the Black Power movement in the 60s stated clearly their common cause with Palestine, and how their actions brought pro-Palestine sentiment into mainstream American politics. A well-written, thoughtful book that portrayed the diversity of thought within the United States surrounding Palestine at the time, and what Black Power and other major civil rights leaders had to say. Truly illuminating and I would definitely read if you're looking to learn more about histories that present-day US leaders would rather you forget.

[describe-things]

[ID: Two black and white photos of Kwame Ture/Stokely Carmichael, a young Black man, saying into a microphone with a sardonic expression, "In order for non-violence to work, your opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none, has none." End ID.]

[robotpussy]

RIP Benjamin Zephaniah (15th April 1958 – 7th December 2023)

Dub poet, novelist, lyricist and playwright, Dr. Benjamin Zephaniah paved the way for so many black british writers with his pen. His work focussed on racism within the UK and colonialism.

It is so cliche to start talking about somebody's work once they pass away but I would like to do so anyway:

"Too Black Too Strong" (2001) - Poems that address the struggles of black Britain that, compared to his works before, are much more forceful. Some of the poems featured in this were written when he was working with Michael Mansfield QC and other Tooks barristers on the Stephen Lawrence case. (Available on The Anarchist Library)

"Propa Propaganda" (1996) - His second collection of poetry that continues to surround around the themes of anti-colonialism, racism and anti-establishment features some of his most famous works such as "I Have a Scheme", "The Angry Black Poet" and "White Comedy"

"Rasta Time in Palestine" (1990) - a travelogue and a collection of poetry he wrote while visiting occupied Palestinian territories. (Available on Internet Archive). Zephaniah was an avid supporter of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and attended demonstrations calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. The photo above is of Zephaniah at a London Protest in 2010.

[the-last-hipopotamovolador]

Okey a lot of fucking disgusting stuff are happening all around the world. The genocide of palestinians, the new anti queer law in russia, the congo situation and god knows how many other fucking disgusting inhumane shit is happening in so many places right now.

LISTEN i know that even for people like me who arent victims of any of these situations everything can be so overwhelming right now, and that we may feel hopless and we just dont wanna do anything anymore because everything seems pointless.

BUT FOR THE LOVE OF WHATEVER YOU BELIVE DO NOT BACK THE FUCK DOWN!

Like me, so many other people of the world (even if we belong to a "minority" and for that suffer daily discrimination) we are lucky enought to be ALLOWED to exist because for fucking coincidence we live in places where our goverments or/and the international powers allow us to just fucking be alive.

But there are so many people who the only thing tthey did was being born and for that the goverments decide that they should not exist.

If you were born in palestina to Israel and most of the world you arent fucking allowed to be alive.

If you are queer and were born in russia your fucking goverment says that you are not allowed to be alive.

If you are black in congo you are not allowed to be alive.

If you are native, for most of the goverments in the america continent you are not allowed to be alive.

And if you are a person with vulva/ you are a woman you are not allowed to be alive in most of the fucking world.

And so, so, so many more examples could be add because in this fucking sick world just being ALLOWED to be alive is a privilege.

So PLEASE I BEG YOU, IF YOU ARE IN A POSITION WERE YOUR MERE EXISTENCE IS ALLOWED (even for the dislike of some people) PLEASE, EVEN IF IT HURTS JUST RAGE, SPEAK THE FUCK UP! DONT BE QUIET!

If there are ambassadors of Israel in your country or/and from any other country that prohibits the existence of people, go and RAGE! GO AND DEMAND A CHANGE!.

If YOUR COUNTRY is in ANY way supporting the fact that some groups have the power to decide whether or not some people should be allowed to exist GO AND SCREAM AND SHOUT AND FUKING RAGE.

We have the previlege of being allowed to exist, is our human obligation to speak and shout for those who doesnt have that privilege and arent heared.

[evil-cats]

Unknown activist, Weinstein Hall protests, New York University, Oct. 5, 1970. Photo by Diana Davies.

[rubbishraven]

source

[alwaysbewoke]

being anti-genocide is not allowed on meta

like i said before, i don't mess with shaun king like that, but that being said, many things about one thing can be true at the same time. it is very clear that there is a wave of censorship happening across social media against pro-palestinian content in favor of israeli propaganda. so whether or not you like shaun or not, it is very clear what is happening and why. there is clearly a genocide happening in gaza that is being perpetuated by colonizing power. a genocide against an indigenous population for land, resources, and power. basically the same thing america did to the natives here. had it not been for people like shaun king (flawed as he may be), many people would not be aware of the heinous acts of israel against the palestinian people right now. so even as someone who is not a shaun king fan, i am not so myopic in my view of things to not realize that he served a positive purpose when it comes to the israeli genocide of palestinians.

on a much larger scale, whenever a platform or a power attacks someone popular, one of the goals is to send a message to everyone else that they are not safe and that they should back off. it's like a football coach picking on and cursing out their hall of fame quarterback. when everyone else who isn't as popular or powerful sees that on the team, they immediately realize that they must fall in line or worse can happen to them. that's the goal of banning shaun king from ig. however as a black man who understands how connected all oppressive systems are, we cannot slow down. may i remind all my brothers and sisters that israel is where police forces like the nypd go and train in abusive violent tactics, which they then come back to america and overwhelmingly exercise on black and brown bodies. so if you think this does not affect you, you are sadly and deeply mistaken. additionally, this kind of censorship is going to spread. if we don't fight back, it won't be long before you will be arrested for speaking out against israel. this is what israel wants, and they have the money and political power to make it happen. you can either sit back and let it happen or you can fight back. however, make no mistake, it's coming, and this is the first major blow that the enemy has struck in their offensive against our free speech.

[tryingonametaphor]

it sucks that today’s election results are going to have unfair repercussions all across the world. especially when it comes to climate change action.

[sandyisswag]

Save our little girl

My little girl is 7 months old and she is suffering from malnutrition, no milk, no pampers, everything is unavailable in Gaza because of the war, please help us save my little girl

My Compaign link

https://gofund.me/1400c60c

Please help us by donate & Reblog to save our little son

LET’S SAVE OMAR AND HIS LITTLE GIRL!!

Omar’s baby girl is 7 months old and she’s suffering from malnutrition due to the genocide in Gaza

Please donate to his gofundme link to help him and his daughter to evacuate Gaza safely and if you’re unable to donate please boost and reblog his posts and share his story

I used popular hashtags to reach as many people as possible

FREE PALESTINE!!!🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

[hussyknee]

Al-Ajaweed Band is a group made up of Black/Afro-Palestinians from the Baq'a Refugee Camp in Jordan. They’re known for being some of the best at dabka!

(linked because the tunnel of quote tweets has more dance videos)

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Please give their page the views they deserve.

[reasoningdaily]

Hello 🙋🏻‍♀️,

I am Amira, a young girl from Gaza, living under difficult conditions after the war destroyed our home and I lost my job😥. I support my family and my sick mother, but I am in desperate need of help to continue my journey and survive this ordeal 💔.

I kindly ask for your support, whether through sharing or donating, to ease the burden on my family and help me achieve my dream of a better future🙏🙏.

okay Amira since you are asking us to share something, here's what we're sharing. hope this gives you the ability to see where we are comin from

and just in case you haven't heard ,

You See Amira. we have our eyes on the news and we think you should focus on that as well. IT'S YOUR HOMELAND - ACT LIKE IT

We have out own war ongoing, and we don't see any of your support so learn from our history - and apply that pressure where you need

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE,

FREE THE LAND

[rowlet-man-spam]

Articles that have helped me further understand the Palestinian genocide:

Somehow, I missed that Israel killed hundreds of people in the West Bank just 11 days before the October 7 attacks.

I also failed to look into Nakbar. 750 000 people were cleansed in 1948-49 to make way for Israel.

and a quote from Abu Ali I liked:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/48664822

Above, there is an essay analysing James Baldwin's changing stance on the Israeli occupation. It was mind-blowing and is a must read (as well as the other article by The Maple).

the following are quotes and ideas that stuck with me:

- pg 4 - "...there is a tremendous gap between a Jew from Russia or France or England or Australia and a Jew but lately arrived from the desert."

- pg13-14 "he saw Israel as a Western invention and a symbol of the West, a symbol of the colonial and imperial status quo. Palestine thus became its antithesis, representing the colonised peoples of the Third World."

- "And, of course, any real commitment to Black freedom in this country would have the effect of reordering all our priorities, and altering all our commitments, so that, for horrendous example, we would be support Black freedom fighters in South Africa and Angola, and would not be allied with Portugal, would be closer to Cuba than we are to Spain, would be supporting the Arab nations instead of Israel would never have felt compelled to follow the French into South-east Asia

- pg 15 "but the state of Israel was not created for the salvation of the Jews; it was created for the salvation of Western interests. this is what is becoming clear ... The Palestinians have been paying for the British colonial policy of "Divide and Rule" and for Europe's guilty Christian conscience for more than thirty years"

it's late. I'll fix the messiness of this post tmr lmao

edit: I said 750 000 Palestinians were killed. this is false. they were ethnically cleansed

[thievessaintlaurxnt]

Protest art. 💖✊🏾🖌🇨🇩🇸🇩📲🗣👥👥👥

Save the JPEG. Convert it to PDF. Print it at your local print shop. Print it at your local library. Print it at work. Print it at school.

Copy it free hand.

No credit needed.

Making more soon for Sudan & The Uyghurs in China. Stay tuned. Follow for more.

[woobosco]

• BOSCO SOULJA •

My’Kel for W.B.

• Design set by @woobosco

• 1 of 1 Designs by @woobosco

• Photography by @woobosco

• Photo edits by @woobosco

• Paintings on design set by @woobosco

• Model IG - @mykelange1o

•

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[madamepestilence]

The Class Solidarity Flag

Alternate name: Class Consciousness Flag Credits: - Conglomerate flag: Myself - Colours: 1871 Paris Commune (Red), 1917 October Revolution (Red, Yellow), Spanish Civil War (socialist) Republicans (Red, Black), USSR (Red, Yellow) - Crossed arms: Sándor Pinczehelyi, "Hammer and Sickle" - Fist stylization: Black power fist - Yellow star: USSR, various socialist and communist groups - Book outline: Adobe Stock photos Image description: A black flag with a 1 to 2 ratio. In the centre are two red crossed fists at the wrists in solidarity, with an inverted, yellow, five-point star at the wrist junction. Above the crossed fists is an open red book.

Symbolism breakdown: In basic symbolism, the black and red colours represent Communism, liberation, and leftist ideology. The black may also be used to represent Anarchism.

This flag also uses the colour red and crossed fists to represent solidarity between different oppressed classes (e.g. black people, lower class workers, queer people, trans people, disabled people, etc.), and also uses the colour black to represent the sacrifices of people fighting for class liberation.

The star is used to represent humanity's solidarity under the Sun/Sol, as well as Polaris/The North Star, extending the scope of solidarity beyond nationalism to a full human scale.

The open book is used to represent the importance of education, especially in law, to help liberate oppressed classes.

This flag is intended to be flown above or beside other flags of oppressed classes (e.g. pride flags, the black power flag, the Communist flag, the Palestine flag, etc.), but may be flown alone to express solidarity or in times of class struggle.