Editorial Note: Readers can write in to respond to any of our articles for publication in our Letters section, for consideration please submit to marxistunitynyc@gmail.com. This piece is written by an individual Marxist Unity member and may not reflect the views of the caucus as a whole.
For a year, the people of Gaza and the West Bank have been subject to a genocidal campaign, unparalleled even when viewed against the background of the depraved history of Zionist terrorism. It is the endgame in which the State of Israel intends to destroy an entire people and launch a crusade for permanent regional dominance and to clear “living-space” out of neighboring nations. The US ruling class has its hand in every aspect of the situation, and fighting against this policy is an integral part of class struggle in this country as well as every other. Committing DSA to anti-zionism is of existential importance both practically and ideologically. “For an Anti-Zionist NYC-DSA” is a necessary place to begin.
US planes are used to turn apartments, schools, and hospitals to dust. US bombs are leaving the mangled remains of children, patients, parents, doctors, teachers and others strewn across ruins. US bullets are lodged in the skulls of infants, sprayed indiscriminately from the guns of cackling fascist butchers. US investment funds the drones that scope out the resistance, and programs which time bombings to catch fighters in their family homes. US tax money directly subsidizes the cost of their campaigns, so they can keep their population in maximum comfort while it deprives Palestinians of everything. It is US influence which keeps neighboring states compliant while reinforcements for atrocities are laundered through their territories, and it is becoming more likely that US sailors and soldiers will soon directly fight for them.
Even from a narrow nationalist perspective, the struggle of the Palestinian people is our own, We bear responsibility for it, and their blood is on our hands as long as we do not stop “our” government from aiding and abetting these crimes while being well positioned to do so. Yet we are socialists, and we reject the imperial nationalism of this country, and the entire capitalist regime governing it which does not authentically represent the people.
From a historical point of view, this country was also founded as a settler garrison, with a mythology of divine favor, claiming to transform a dark wilderness into a pinnacle of civilization,“making a desert bloom.” The real secret to prosperity was and isn’t divine blessing, it is always imperial investment, stolen land, and the brutal exploitation of a racial underclass and new immigrants, along with whoever else is unlucky enough to fall behind in the market for labor-power. What the US is supporting abroad is a new version of itself. While we try to reclaim the land we live on for the indigenous peoples, the workers and oppressed, we are witnessing abroad another Seminole War, Plains War or Nat Turner’s rebellion which deserves the same unconditional support we retroactively place on those events. We know what it looks like when the colonizers win, and we have a chance to make sure it doesn't happen again.
We are socialists because we believe in the freedom and dignity of all, in real democracy. While the working class must liberate itself by overturning capitalism and building a new society, it doesn’t fight alone. The capitalist system keeps itself alive, and attempts to buy social stability “at home” by enslaving other nations, by oppressing and destroying “surplus populations” as it conquers new markets and more thoroughly exploits them. No people passively accepts death or enslavement.
What the US capitalists put into Zionism, they also get back with a handsome return. Monetarily, investments in the genocidal Israeli project are lucrative for weapons companies and the tech sector. Israeli “start-ups” are often intertwined with the military, and swell the coffers of Wall Street. In addition to that, the Palestinians are a captive population for “field testing” of weapons and technologies. The Israeli military has free reign to test strategies of counter-insurgency, police repression and surveillance which state forces of this country are eager to bring back home. The NYPD offers regular training retreats hosted by the IDF. From their actions we can infer the intended targets.
Gaza is the future of black, indigenous and immigrant communities first, and the rest of the people next, as systemic crisis intensifies and heightened class struggle follows. Harris or Trump, it is our future. The resistance to Israel’s oppression, regardless of their ideological leadership, are our natural comrades in struggle. It isn’t possible, necessary or desirable to endorse the path of every bullet they fire in order to recognize that fact. They are fighting the Wall Street parasites who feed on our crushed dreams and futures, the thugs who train the police to better kill and maim our families, friends and comrades, and to take away our freedom and privacy with high-tech surveillance. The Palestinian resistance are better friends to US workers than anyone on TV or in Congress.
It is the job of the socialist movement to explain to the working class of this country the truth of what is taking place, connecting it to imperialism around the world and the need to fight it. We have to explain how doing so is necessary for the struggle to achieve real democracy, healthcare, education and dignity for labor in this country. Palestine’s victory will be our victory, and their defeat will be our defeat. Our vision as socialists allows us to really bring these causes together into one movement for human liberation. As the largest socialist organization, and the only one equipped to build a mass movement, the responsibility particularly falls on our shoulders in DSA.
As it stands, we have not consistently done our job. Protests and small-group direct actions have been nonstop for a year, and yet bombs, bullets and money continue to flow. The capitalist media has done nothing but demonize Palestinans, and promote only greater ignorance about the history of Israel and Zionism. The ruling class has begun to criminalize protest and speech against Israeli colonialism, in a precedent which threatens all democratic rights. Meanwhile, supposedly socialist elected officials failed to defend activists and counter these narratives. Electoral opportunism and unexamined chauvinism have led some in our organization to capitulate on this issue, and in doing so capitulating to the class enemy.
The move to unendorse AOC nationally is a welcome corrective, and more remains to be done. The Anti-Zionist resolution is an opportunity not just to win back our allies in struggle and strengthen practical work, but also a matter of rescuing the honor of socialism. No matter how many doors we knock, if we can’t confront our ruling class’ crimes, we do not have any reason to exist.
It seems to me that most of the arguments against “For an Anti-Zionist NYC-DSA” understate its importance, or seem to dance around the issues of substance. The idea that it will lead to purges doesn’t follow from the text. Members with substantial disagreements with DSA are already liable for expulsion according to our constitution, and this only explicitly affirms support for Israeli colonialism as a form of substantial disagreement. The actual process of expulsion is not made easier or altered in any way. It is better to assume good faith from comrades, and in that sentiment I invite those opposed to read the text again closer. However, it is hard to avoid the suspicion that there is some difference of principle regarding what constitutes substantial disagreement with the organization, which is being left unsaid, maybe out of shame.
The idea that we’re caving to an outside force and losing political independence through the resolution is laughable. In fact, it’s capitulation to Zionism and therefore to US imperialism that threatens our political independence. It’s the latter which controls nearly all the wealth of society, the major parties and the media. We are constantly under the pressure of the ruling class, and without a disciplined party creating a counter-influence, our comrades in office and their campaigns are especially vulnerable. The results are there for all to see. In comparison, the demand by fellow anti-imperialists to be more principled in our opposition can only be welcome.
As radical workers in the belly of a past imperial beast once defiantly sang, “Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer, we’ll keep the red flag flying here!”