SO CAL MDS : THE "NEW" MIDDLE EAST : LA IMC

The Emma Goldman Chapter of the Movement for a Democratic Society
(MDS) in So Cal has released the following statement calling for
resistance to the US/Israeli war on the people of the Middle East .

Please forward widely and consider endorsing our Statement .

We also would like to be in communication with pro-Palestinian and other resistance organizations all over the US, in the Occupied Territories, Lebanon and Iraq with a view to building an international movement against the "new" Middle East . We need to share our learnings, strategies and actions with each other.

In solidarity,

LARRY LAMBERT
So Cal MDS

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EMMA GOLDMAN CHAPTER : SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MOVEMENT FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY
STATEMENT ON THE "NEW MIDDLE EAST "

August 3, 2006

The Emma Goldman Chapter of Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) in Southern California realizes that we are at a critical juncture in history : the US and its client state of Israel are pushing for an ever expanding war against all Arabs by invading, bombing and
blockading Southern Lebanon. The Zionist military machine - paid for and supplied by the US -- is incessantly bombing civilians and social infrastructure in Southern Lebanon and Gaza under the justification of "self defense."

However, for the first time in many years, the Israeli military
machine seems to have met its match. The Islamic Resistance Movement
(AKA: Hamas) in Gaza and the Hizbullah in Lebanon have refused to be
victims and instead mounted an effective challenge to US - Israeli
imperial expansion. Furthermore, they have done this without the aid or assistance of the corrupt US client states of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian Authority ( Fatah ) or the puppet Maliki government of Iraq. It is crucial that we not only stand but fight in solidarity with oppressed peoples in the Middle East using all means available to us including, but not limited to boycotts, divestiture, and blockades of weapon shipments to Israel.

Of course, the Anglo-American-Zionist imperial powers justify their slaughter and savagery by branding Hamas , Hizbullah and all other popular, mass-based resistance movements as "terrorist" organizations. We declare, however, that labelling these groups as terrorist is a demagogic attempt to pacify and disempower mass resistance movements and mislead global opinion. We believe that the people of Palestine, Gaza, Southern Lebanon and Iraq are being systematically killed under a the thinly veiled guise of bestowing "freedom" and "democracy" on the Middle East. We believe that the US and Israel are waging a war against all Arab peoples and that it is our duty to expose and resist this war through direct action, education and dialogue.

As a radical resistance movement affiliated with the newly re-
formed Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), it is the considered
position of the Emma Goldman Chapter of Movement for a Democratic Society (Southern California Region) that the war against Arab people being waged by Anglo-American-Israeli imperialism in Palestine, Lebanon, Gaza, the Occupied Territories and Iraq is not about promoting "freedom" and "democracy" nor is it a war against terrorism. This war is rather a brutal war of terror directed against all Arabs (Christians, Sunnis, Shias) to kill their hopes and dreams for liberation, freedom and unity. The US/Israeli war is not a war against "terrorism" but a war of terror against the aspirations of the entire people of the Middle East in all countries who have hopes for a future free from foreign invasion, occupation, domination, exploitation and torture. Specifically, the US/Israeli war is a war of terror directed against mass-based, popular resistance movements such as - but not limited to - Hamas, Hizbullah and the authentic popularly supported resistance groups and formations in Iraq who are fighting for control over their own destinies and self-determination.

It is our position that groups such as Hamas and Hizbullah are
deeply rooted popular resistance movements that have developed as a
response to American / Zionist attack, invasion or occupation of the West Bank and Gaza for almost 40 years and in Southern Lebanon from 1978-2000. Both have won large electoral victories and provided social services to their people, as well as protecting their people from attack. In Lebanon, the Shia comprise approximately 60% of the population but are forced to live in the lower levels of the economy. In Gaza, approximately 67% of the people live in poverty everyday growing more severe due to the illegal Zionist blockade. Like other popular resistance movements in the invaded/occupied Middle East, Hamas and Hizbullah are deeply rooted social and political movements of the most oppressed.

Both Hamas and Hizbullah are self-defined political resistance movements. Hizbollah was formed in 1982 AFTER the illegal Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon and successfully defeated and drove Israel out of Southern Lebanon in the 1990s. In doing so, Hizbullah was only exercising the right recognized by international law of an invaded, occupied people to defend themselves by whatever means necessary. Currently, Hizbullah enjoys the allegiance/support of the majority of Shia in Lebanon and its support is growing among non-Shia Lebanese who see it as the only defense against a Zionist onslaught that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Therefore, we do not believe that Hizbullah, Hamas and other mass based resistance movements are "illegal" militias or "terrorists".

US and Israeli governments repeatedly attempt to illegally occupy and
pacify those struggling for autonomy by indiscriminately killing
civilians, destroying infrastructure and conducting invasions and
occupations. Israel illegally occupies the West Bank, Gaza, Arab
East Jerusalem, Golan and the Sheba Farms just like the US has
illegally invaded, occupied and attempted to pacify Iraq. Israel illegally holds over 10,000 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners who were kidnapped from their homes, thrown in prisons and denied all legal recourse. Long before Hamas and Hizbullah existed, Zionist ethnic cleansing, collective punishment, land stealing and military actions resulted in making refugees out of 2/3 of the 9 million Palestinians.

Anglo-American-Israeli imperialists, however, have no problem with
committing illegal acts since their wars are justified by racism
that says Arab = terrorist, Muslim=jihadi, Islamism = Fundamentalism. We agree with the position of Hizbullah and Hamas that Zionism is racist in its essence, ideology and deadly practice of segregation, discrimination, exclusion and genocide ("Palestinians are beasts walking on two legs" -- Menachin Begin, 1982 speech to the Knesset) and that Israel is a colonial and occupying state that justifies its imperialism by claiming that "God" gave all of Palestine and the land from the Nile to the Euphrates to the Jews. The Zionist stance towards Palestinians is "a land without a people, a people without a land". Israel also practices segregation and discrimination against other Jews within Israel
such as those from Africa who are discriminated against and
forced into the bottom of the Zionist class system. Even Reform and
Conservative Judaism are not accorded legal recognition in Israel.

The Emma Goldman Chapter of MDS recognizes that unity of struggle
is the way for all Arab people to win liberation and victory in Lebanon, Iraq and the Occupied Territories. We support this unity and recognize that the real divide in the world and within states is not between Sunnis and Shia, Arabs and non-Arabs, Christians and Jews, Muslims and Jews, Christians and Muslims but the real divide is between the oppressed and the oppressors. We support a new internationalism founded on unity and solidarity with popular, mass-based resistance movements such as Hamas and Hizbullah struggling against those who oppress us all.

We call for individual members and chapters of SDS/MDS in Southern
California to organize or participate in divestment, boycott and
sanction activities against Israel.

Furthermore, we urge individual members and chapters of SDS/MDS
in Southern California to seriously organize and engage in action
(as opposed to resolutions) that will impede the imperialist machine.
To name just a few possibilities : anti-recruitment campaigns against
campus military recruiters ; action around US military contractors
(e.g., Lockeed Martin, Allied Signal, Raytheon ) who sell weapons to
Israel ; opposing US fundamentalist Christian Zionists ; port truckers and dockworkers refusing to transport or unload Israeli imports ; civil disobedience against ships, trains and trucks transporting military material ; affinity group actions to "fuck things up" before, during and after war escalations, invasions and occupations ; working with the Palestinian Solidarity Movement in the US ; providing sanctuary to soldiers who refuse, resist or desert military service both in Israel and the US; supporting/defending Arab Americans and immigrants of any provenance who are being arrested and harassed by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security ; refusing to cooperate with the US war of terror and the national security state ; supporting Anarchists Against the Wall, the International Solidarity Movement and military refuseniks and deserters within Israel.

ENDORSERS
Name of other Organizations:

Queers for Peace and Justice
Mad Rosa Affinity Group