French Anarchists on Israel-Palestine
Jul 8 2006 06:52
The French Anarchist Federation have asked for us (the AF) to circulate this statement:
Quote:
The francophone Anarchist Federation denounces and condemns the latest military attacks currently underway in Palestine and in the occupied territories following the kidnapping of a young Franco-Israeli soldier.It is once again the civilian population, directly affected, who is paying with its blood, living conditions, and freedom for the conflict between two nationalist, capitalist, military, and religious logics in the ongoing war between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
It is indeed Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, voted to power by taking advantage of the corruption and discredit in Yasser Arafat’s Fatah party and the decay of the PLO, who are manipulating the anger and frustration of the majority of Palestinians by transforming the struggle against colonial oppression into a religious fight and an apogee of anti-Semitism.
Israeli governments have always sought out this religious conflict and as such encouraged the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in order to legitimate their colonial policies of domination and ethnic apartheid to the West.
As anarchists we know that States separate peoples by erecting borders. Just as creating the State of Israel did not settle anything in this region or for the exiled Jewish peoples, themselves in a desperate situation in another era, the creation of a real Palestinian State cannot satisfy us. Indeed, how would a more formal State help Palestinians? What would this State do? Maintain the status quo with increasing Islamic influence and leave social struggle aside on the pretext that Israel is the enemy. What about social emancipation? Where is the social and economic equality in all this? The hatred between peoples barricaded behind the barbed wire borders of their respective states would crystallise around “national” groups (a vague, misleading, and interclassist concept) if even more borders are drawn up.
We propose anarchist federalism, fundamentally egalitarian and adapted to a Middle East composed of a mosaic of peoples, favouring the free association and federation on egalitarian bases of the individuals and groups of individuals making up this federalism.
Redistribution of wealth and generalised self-production are indispensable in this region as elsewhere, where there are rich and poor people, and States vying for access to the sea, water, fertile lands, and oil.
An alternative is possible in the Middle-East if both Israeli and Palestinian peoples reject the artificial barriers which separate and oppose them in order to unite against their common enemies, political, economic, religious, and military power to together build the bases of a society which guarantees peace and harmony.
The existence of collectives made up of Palestinian and Israeli individuals, for example struggling together against the Wall or supporting military deserters and opponents, proves once again that that which unites us, mutual aid and solidarity, is stronger than that which divides us.
The francophone Anarchist Federation calls all forces in the social movement and all individuals who hold justice, peace, and freedom dear to protest by all means possible for the intolerable situation faced by workers, civilians, women, men, and children in this region of the world to be put to an end as quickly as possible.
Fédération anarchiste, 05/07/06
It's also available in French at http://www.iaf-ifa.org/News/palestine/communique_july_fr.htm
Jul 9 2006 18:15
#2
Quote:
...wants the Palestinians to understand that the landlord has gone crazy.
Thats a very strange quote! 
Jul 9 2006 20:55
#3
Yep, and fairly accurate too.
Jul 10 2006 01:08
#4
knightrose wrote:
The French Anarchist Federation have asked for us (the AF) to circulate this statement:Quote:
The francophone Anarchist Federation denounces and condemns the latest military attacks currently underway in Palestine and in the occupied territories following the kidnapping of a young Franco-Israeli soldier.It is once again the civilian population, directly affected, who is paying with its blood, living conditions, and freedom for the conflict between two nationalist, capitalist, military, and religious logics in the ongoing war between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
It is indeed Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, voted to power by taking advantage of the corruption and discredit in Yasser Arafat’s Fatah party and the decay of the PLO, who are manipulating the anger and frustration of the majority of Palestinians by transforming the struggle against colonial oppression into a religious fight and an apogee of anti-Semitism.
Israeli governments have always sought out this religious conflict and as such encouraged the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in order to legitimate their colonial policies of domination and ethnic apartheid to the West.
As anarchists we know that States separate peoples by erecting borders. Just as creating the State of Israel did not settle anything in this region or for the exiled Jewish peoples, themselves in a desperate situation in another era, the creation of a real Palestinian State cannot satisfy us. Indeed, how would a more formal State help Palestinians? What would this State do? Maintain the status quo with increasing Islamic influence and leave social struggle aside on the pretext that Israel is the enemy. What about social emancipation? Where is the social and economic equality in all this? The hatred between peoples barricaded behind the barbed wire borders of their respective states would crystallise around “national” groups (a vague, misleading, and interclassist concept) if even more borders are drawn up.
We propose anarchist federalism, fundamentally egalitarian and adapted to a Middle East composed of a mosaic of peoples, favouring the free association and federation on egalitarian bases of the individuals and groups of individuals making up this federalism.
Redistribution of wealth and generalised self-production are indispensable in this region as elsewhere, where there are rich and poor people, and States vying for access to the sea, water, fertile lands, and oil.
An alternative is possible in the Middle-East if both Israeli and Palestinian peoples reject the artificial barriers which separate and oppose them in order to unite against their common enemies, political, economic, religious, and military power to together build the bases of a society which guarantees peace and harmony.
The existence of collectives made up of Palestinian and Israeli individuals, for example struggling together against the Wall or supporting military deserters and opponents, proves once again that that which unites us, mutual aid and solidarity, is stronger than that which divides us.
The francophone Anarchist Federation calls all forces in the social movement and all individuals who hold justice, peace, and freedom dear to protest by all means possible for the intolerable situation faced by workers, civilians, women, men, and children in this region of the world to be put to an end as quickly as possible.
Fédération anarchiste, 05/07/06
It's also available in French at http://www.iaf-ifa.org/News/palestine/communique_july_fr.htm
i agree with everything in that (unsurprisingly!) apart from the main point, the one-state solution. I think it might be worth talking to some israeli anarchists, part of the pal-israeli collectives against the wall, about the demand for a 2 state solution. Using the anti wall movement as an example of the new stateless society the french AF want to see is flawed in that these collectives are predominantly made up of people who want a 2 state solution.
Alternatively what the F AF are saying is a 'no state solution' which means the solution to the conflict is world revolution. Which it is, in the long run, but right now... Not really a hot ticket.
its an interesting discussion, and definitely not one restricted to anarchists, note the split through trot groups who go one way or the other (though often through explicit and nationalistic support for palestine, rather than a united country).
Jul 10 2006 20:41
#5
A quick note Tacks. All we can doi is argue for working class solidarity. It's not our role to support one state, two states or however many. There are enough on the other side doing that without our help!
I read the French statement as being a no-state one.
Jul 13 2006 18:44
#6
i see.
in practice this means what? Ignore the IDF and try and organise at your workplace?
If you are against the occupation, the troops have to leave a crtain tract of land to go to another. That makes countries, that means states.
wonder what chomsky, Said* and the Israeli anarchists say about it.
*not an anarchist, but essential on this issue.
Jul 14 2006 07:47
#7
Said wouldn't have alot to say about it as he's dead - www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1049931,00.html
Quote:
If you are against the occupation, the troops have to leave a crtain tract of land to go to another. That makes countries, that means states.
That doesn't add up to an excuse for taking sides where none are worth taking. There are anarchists and others in the region who do stuff such as delivering food and water to neighbourhoods during the curfews that can last several days (dangerous - people have occasionally been shot doing it) and organise clandestine anti-military sessions providing info on how to avoid Israeli military service, get out of the army etc.
Jul 14 2006 11:16
#8
One of the characteristics concerning the current outbreak of warfare between Israel and the others is the confirmation of the ICC's analysis concerning decomposition underlining the breakdown of international relations, the expression of imperialism's ultimate decline into each for themselves (the breaksown of any "stable" blocs) and the complete irrationality of war today outside of civil war betwee the bourgeoisie and proletariat. What's also underlined is the growing weakness of the USA in relation to the Middle East (and elsewhere) which will only make it strike out even more, worsening the situation overall and contributing to even greater instability and wars.
Jul 14 2006 13:15
#9
thanks for that.
Jul 14 2006 13:37
#10
pingtiao wrote:
thanks for that.
Would you like some water with that?
Jul 14 2006 16:48
#11
or a bong?
Jul 16 2006 00:45
#12
Too much hatred on both sides for a one state solution. Two states for now. People forget quickly. Give some time to heal, let trade start etc.
Jul 16 2006 07:51
#13
Tacks, surely the Israeli anarchists are involved in real solidarity work? It's better we support them than line up with the nationalist fantasies of the left.
Meetings I've been to in Manchester have suggested that there is scope for work between Palestinians and Israelis and in fact it goes on. (only two meetings, I'm afraid - one by a comrade in Anarchists Against the Wall, the other by a couple of Palestinian activists).
I'm afraid, though, that we have to ask what solidarity work we can practically do. Other than bland posturing, it often amounts to little. Making grand statements amounts to little and frankly aren't worth compromising our principles for. However, if there's something practical we can do, I'm up for it. Expressing solidarity with people being bombed and starved doesn't require supporting one or two states.
Jul 16 2006 15:27
#14
Ret Marut wrote:
Said wouldn't have alot to say about it as he's dead - www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1049931,00.html
its a turn of phrase mate. I meant what he's written.
Jul 16 2006 15:42
#15
knightrose wrote:
Tacks, surely the Israeli anarchists are involved in real solidarity work? It's better we support them than line up with the nationalist fantasies of the left.
exactly my point: nationalist fantasies like 'historic palestine' etc.
Supporting a 2 states solution... actually fuck that, accepting a two state solution as the only way to halt the israeli R/C's imperial desire and that further spread of doomsday islam in the middle east.
knightrose wrote:
Meetings I've been to in Manchester have suggested that there is scope for work between Palestinians and Israelis and in fact it goes on. (only two meetings, I'm afraid - one by a comrade in Anarchists Against the Wall, the other by a couple of Palestinian activists).I'm afraid, though, that we have to ask what solidarity work we can practically do. Other than bland posturing, it often amounts to little. Making grand statements amounts to little and frankly aren't worth compromising our principles for. However, if there's something practical we can do, I'm up for it. Expressing solidarity with people being bombed and starved doesn't require supporting one or two states.
I accept that, but what is 'expressing solidarity' if not a a grand gesture in itself?
I understand it does compromise principles cmrd, and i'm not sure that i am sure, either. Its need debate. Don't think that i am statist, nationalist, or particularly confused on this issue - i am aware of that israeli and palestininas work together, and have a first hand knowledge doing 'something practical' 
Jul 16 2006 16:35
#16
I know that "expressing solidarity" sounds pretty crap. There are times I get so angry about what's happening there that i just want to do something. The trouble is that i can find little to do that would actually make a difference. So I put the Anarchists Against the Wall stuff on the af-north website. We've been on a couple of demos in Manchester. Attended a couple of meetings. But what else can we do.
In the end, all we can rerally do is struggle against capital and the state here. After all, they're the same bastards who are supporting the israeli state and supporting the creation of a palestinian ghetto.
Jul 16 2006 19:11
#17
Actually, and here's a subversive point, Israel is not only a puppet of the west, but they are in the wrong, on all counts.
Firstly, the 'allies' after WWII setup Israel for the jewish people after the holocaust. On muslim land, now the rulers of the land at the time were fairly happy with the Nazi's practises, and looking back on history they could even have been accused as welcoming them into their homes, but anyway, thats a long debate.
Israel was armed by the west, which is why you'll see, again going back in history, that Israels militray muscle (rifles, tanks, jets and missiles) were identical to the U.S up until 1980 at the least, even today there are similarities. So Israel expanded it's territory rapidly, crushing the muslim neighbourhoods under their borrowed heel during the 60's (off the top of my head.) can you blame Palestine for wanting it's land back? And can you blame ordinary Muslims for hating Israel?
Obviously, it's a situation that needs a serious negotiation, and isn't helped by Bush repeating his maniacal jargon, at the G8.
But sadly the only intervention here will be directed against Lebanon and the Palestinians, and probably by another coalition occupation of their lands.
Actually when the Israeli's repeat that thousands of rockets have been launched into their country, I'll tell you that no one was killed, not because they were bad shots. But because home-made rockets, launched on tripods, aren't anti-personell, they're designed to cause damage to structures, usually to blow through a roof or something, which is why they're great at immobilizing tanks, but useless for milling a crowd of troopers.
I must say though, it doesn't help the pro-semites when the world sees a jewish army killing children.
If this was manipulated by Tehran, then they planned it perfectly, and if it's a western ploy, then they messed up yet again. Clearly Israel has wanted to strike at it's enemies for a while, and a show of force usually intimidates the enemy, but what have we learnt over the decades? It usually doesn't.
If someone could find out where I could get hold of a palestinian scarf, (checkered) i'd be gratefull and offer them a genuine box of cornflakes for their trouble.
Jul 16 2006 20:45
#18
Tacks wrote:
Supporting a 2 states solution... actually fuck that, accepting a two state solution as the only way to halt the israeli R/C's imperial desire and that further spread of doomsday islam in the middle east.
So it's true! You've joined the AWL 
What's the point of accepting a 2-state solution? There's no chance of a Palestinian state -- Israel wouldn't even let the Hamas government finish their negotiations to recognise Israel.
The Israeli political/military elite is 'unitalteral disengagement' from the palestinian territories. Hence any Palestinian 'state' will be created only by a victorious Israel after it has smashed all Palestinian resistance, esp Hamas. And so any such 'state' would immediately cause more misery and be the target of future Palestinian/israeli protests.
So for me, believing that, there seems to be no point in calling for an imaginary equitable 2-state solution. No more point than 'calling' for a nice Labour government or a TUC-led general strike, etc.
Do you think that there's a strong enough desire for a 2-state solution among the Israeli pol/mil elite as to allow a viable Palestinian state? You thik that 'left' and 'dove' israeli generals and politicians will triumph - the kind of people who created the talks last year in Geneva?
Jul 16 2006 21:07
#19
I think Lazlo makes a very good point - just look at what was offered at Camp David as a Palestinian state - little more than a giant ghetto under Israeli control. And that was the Israeli governmwent going much further than its ever been willing to go before or since.
So, really, I think a 2-state solution is far less of a possibility than a no-state solution is, so there's just no point supporting it as a temporary measure to reduce the violence.
Jul 16 2006 21:25
#20
davethemagicweasel wrote:
So, really, I think a 2-state solution is far less of a possibility than a no-state solution is, so there's just no point supporting it as a temporary measure to reduce the violence.
Sure - why bother supporting temp measures rather than simply aiding the Israeli/palestinian peace movements?
Whatever happens in the legalistic world the power of social movements and an organised israeli/palestinian working class is the only thing that can deal with any kind of state.
Jul 16 2006 21:56
#21
A couple of library texts on the history of the topic people might find interesting;
http://libcom.org/library/brownshirts-of-zionism-barnatan
http://libcom.org/library/rebellion-palestine-le-brise-glace
Jul 17 2006 01:13
#22
Couple of quick points to correct some stuff phoenixd7 wrote, coz I don't have the time to write more:
Quote:
that Israels militray muscle (rifles, tanks, jets and missiles) were identical to the U.S up until 1980 at the least
Not the whole way - for a good chunk of the time pre the early 1970's, Israel got most of it's weapons from (Soviet puppet) Czechoslovakia, because the US was more interested in supporting Egypt & Saudi Arabia at the time. As much as I dislike him, Chomsky probably has the best work on that point 
Quote:
I'll tell you that no one was killed
You'd be wrong there. Although, of course, the proportion of missiles to deaths is tiny compared to Israel's attacks.
Quote:
If someone could find out where I could get hold of a palestinian scarf
You should check on the net before buying, as different colours and patterns on keffiyeh's are meant to convey support for different factions in Palestinian politics
Jul 17 2006 11:09
#23
There's loads of Palestinians living in Haifa, so bombing it doesn't make sense even if you're a raging anti-semite 
Fucking nobs.
How depressing.
Jul 17 2006 11:15
#24
Hi
<Stupid post deleted>
Love
LR
Jul 17 2006 11:16
#25
magnifico wrote:
There's loads of Palestinians living in Haifa, so bombing it doesn't make sense even if you're a raging anti-semite
Yeah but its its still Israel to them isnt it...
Jul 17 2006 11:21
#26
Hi
Both armed groups have a vested interest in exacerbating conflict. I see no end until one side is wiped out, but neither can afford that to happen for it would remove the justification for their own existence.
Love
LR
Jul 17 2006 18:37
#27
Lazlo_Woodbine wrote:
davethemagicweasel wrote:
So, really, I think a 2-state solution is far less of a possibility than a no-state solution is, so there's just no point supporting it as a temporary measure to reduce the violence.Sure - why bother supporting temp measures rather than simply aiding the Israeli/palestinian peace movements?
Whatever happens in the legalistic world the power of social movements and an organised israeli/palestinian working class is the only thing that can deal with any kind of state.
i see what you mean a bit better now.
Jul 19 2006 19:43
#28
Asher wrote:
Couple of quick points to correct some stuff phoenixd7 wrote, coz I don't have the time to write more:Quote:
that Israels militray muscle (rifles, tanks, jets and missiles) were identical to the U.S up until 1980 at the leastNot the whole way - for a good chunk of the time pre the early 1970's, Israel got most of it's weapons from (Soviet puppet) Czechoslovakia, because the US was more interested in supporting Egypt & Saudi Arabia at the time. As much as I dislike him, Chomsky probably has the best work on that point
Quote:
I'll tell you that no one was killedYou'd be wrong there. Although, of course, the proportion of missiles to deaths is tiny compared to Israel's attacks.
Quote:
If someone could find out where I could get hold of a palestinian scarfYou should check on the net before buying, as different colours and patterns on keffiyeh's are meant to convey support for different factions in Palestinian politics :)
Actually Israel was buying mostly French and Soviet arms till the six day war. They then switched to the US for some weapons, but were manufacturing a good portion of there own (with South African money and Israeli Tech).
After the Camp David accords with Sadat, Israel agreed to cut it's weapons industry back to almost nothing in exchange for massive US funds that would in turn be mostly used to buy American Arms. (the rest was used for transport and training)
Kissenger I am sure was paid handsomely by some arms dealers for that deal. Egypt was also given money to buy US weapons.
Jul 20 2006 14:56
#29
Thanks for that Ash+Looney, although Israel got it's first arms from the U.S, and logic would conclude they built on that. I can't see Israel buying from the Soviets, but we've learnt, I can be wrong at times...
Still no luck finding the scarf, but i'll keep on looking. The cornflakes haven't yet been awarded.
Jul 20 2006 15:26
#30
phoenixd7 wrote:
Still no luck finding the scarf, but i'll keep on looking. The cornflakes haven't yet been awarded.
type in "palestinian scarf"
You will get loads.
On a related note, here's a couple of pieces on the topic that I've written lately.
The first is from my blog, Anarchia.
The second is a feature I wrote for Aotearoa Indymedia, which is now also featured on Global Indymedia.