Poor attendence mars Sacramento AIPAC protest

You are picketing a sacred cow, namely AIPAC, an outfit that claims to represent the Jewish community, although it in fact simply represents the capitalist class, behind the cloak of the religious Jewish community, while AIPAC in facts promotes policies that can only harm the Jewish community. The Zionists, including AIPAC, also can make it impossible for people to find jobs if they know one is opposed to them and needs to be hired by them. I can remember when demonstrating for peace and civil rights in the 1950s meant we were lucky to have 20 people, and it is not so long ago, namely about 10 years ago, that we were lucky to have 20 people picket AIPAC in the San Francisco Bay Area. All protests start small, and 20 is a good beginning. Considering Sacramento is 85 miles from the San Francisco Bay Area where the Left is stronger, it is even more remarkable. Of couse, you should always try to grow, but do not be ashamed. We can now say that even in towns outside the major metropolitan areas, namely in Sacramento, 20 people showed up to picket the collaborators with Nazi USA, namely AIPAC. Congratulations and keep fighting!

20 was not a start, it seemed like a finish. Last year there were 70 people! Where was everybody? Where were the Percys? Where were the real signs. All that people had were the usual mush. When will Sacramento get serious about AIPAC and Zionism like we were last year.

70 is also a small number and it is vacation time. As to AIPAC and Zionism, they cannot be the main focus of any peace movement. The reason wars exist is due to the profit motive which means we must eliminate capitalism which only a serious labor movement can do. Even if you had 1,000 picketing these Zionist parties, nothing would change. It would simply make us all feel better that there are people willing to point to one sector of the mouthpieces of the capitalist class as being warmongers when they claim to be for peace. However, that does not change anything. And even if AIPAC did not exist, we would still have the war machine. Now that the protest is over, it is time to focus on the 2008 election. Both the Democratic and Republican Parties are staunchly pro-Israel at all levels of office. The religious Jewish community, of which AIPAC is a major part, votes 70% Democrat. The only 2 parties to support the Palestinian liberation struggle are Peace & Freedom Party and the Green Party. To achieve peace in the Middle East, we must have a socialst secular Palestine and a socialist secular Middle East. For that, we need an international labor movement capable of putting an end to capitalism.
Here is the Peace & Freedom party statement on Palestine:
http://peaceandfreedom.org/content/view/80/79/

Here is the California Green Party's platform on Peace & Nonviolence:
http://www.cagreens.org/platform/platform_peace.shtml#foreign

And for those who need more information on the collaboration of the Zionists with Nazi Germany, just as they collaborate today with Nazi USA, see:

Zionism in the Age of Dictators by Lenni Brenner at
http://www.marxists.de/middleast/brenner/

The Iron Wall by Lenni Brenner at
http://www.marxists.de/middleast/ironwall/

The Hidden History of Zionism by Ralph Schoenman at
http://www.marxists.de/middleast/schoenman/

http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/

51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration with the Nazis edited by Lenni Brenner
(2002) Barricade Books, New Jersey, ISBN 1-56980-235-1

The Transfer Agreement by Edwin Black
(1984, 2001) Carroll & Graf, NY, ISBN 0-7867-0841-7

The Third Reich and the Palestine Question by Francis Nicosia
(1985) University of Texas Press, ISBN 0-292-72731-3

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2006/04/155235_comment.php#155371

And speaking of collaboration, remember Hajj Amin al Husseini, who was given bureaucratic authority and a large budget by the British when they made him Mufti of Jerusalem in 1920, after Hajj Amin demonstrated that he could organize large-scale terrorist attacks against innocent Jews in British Mandate ‘Palestine.’ He used this power to organize another terrorist riot in 1921 (after which the British expanded his budget and bureaucratic authority), and then a much larger attack in 1929, followed by an even bigger attack in 1936-37 (this last one was called the ‘Arab Revolt’ and was organized with weapons provided by the Nazis). Each time, Hajj Amin’s attacks were against civilians, and they included, for example, such things as torturing Jewish children to death. In 1941 Hajj Amin met Hitler in Berlin. Hitler promised to conquer the Middle East and exterminate all the Jews living there, after which Hajj Amin would be installed as the local leader. Hajj Amin, for his part, immediately became one of the supreme leaders of the Final Solution in Europe, organizing large SS divisions in Bosnia composed of tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslim volunteers who carried out large-scale exterminations of Serbs, Jews, and Roma (gypsies) in Yugoslavia. He also played an important role in getting hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews sent to Auschwitz, and in speeding up the operation of the death camps. Yasser Arafat proudly explained to his Arab audiences that Hajj Amin was his mentor and hero.
]
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2006/03/151186_comment.php#155369

Yes, the Mufti was a collaborator with the Fascists, but the Zionists were many times worst in their overt, fraternal cooperation with Hitler and Mussolini. In fact, I would argue that the Holocaust couldn't have happened if the Zionists hadn't cooperated with Hitler. Zionism is essentially a Jewish version of Nazism. You should read "Hidden History of Zionism" by Ralph Schoenmann that documents the origins of Zionism and its collaborations with fascism, as well as the works of James Petras and other scholars.

The Haganah and Irgun worked with the Gestapo to get Jews out of Germany to go to Palestine. In fact, Menachim Begin and other Zionist leaders openly admired Hitler and Mussolini and looked at these countries as their models for a "Jewish state." Begin actually was the leader of the Zionist fascist group in Italy. He was so enamored of Hitler that he got permission from Mussolini for his followers to wear brown shirts, like those Hitler's followers wore, rather than the black shirts the Italian fascists wore.

The Zionist collaboration with Hitler didn't end when the "final solution" started and the crematoria began burning bodies. As late as 1944, the Zionist leadership turned down a Hungarian religious leader who wanted to get the Zionists to accept Hungarian Jews as refugees so they wouldn't be killed in the concentration camps. However, rather than help, the Zionists accepted a very small number of the Jews and let the rest be slaughtered.

Auschwitz, Dachau, Treblinka and Buchenwald could not have happened without the treacherous collaboration of the Zionist leadership with the Nazis. Compared to the major role that the Zionists played in sending millions of Jews to their death, the Mufti, as horrible as his collaboration with the Fascists was, only played a very small role.

When protestors at rallies and marches put a Swatstika right next to an Israel flag or a star of David on a sign or banner, they are accurately portraying the historical and philosophical links between Nazism and Zionism.

http://www.sfvoiceforisrael.org/gallery/v/sacramento+AIPAC++counterprotest/?g2_navId=x443d18ca

Dear ^,

I assume that reads as "Pfc"? I guess "chevron" is another possibilty but for me that word has negative connotations, where Pfc just brings up unhappy memories;)

Anyway, kudos for recommending all those excellent books. I'd like to add a cpl of my favorites: "American Jewish Organizations and Israel" by Lee O'Brien, and "The Transformation of Palestine" by Ibrahim Abu-Lughod.

Right now I'm reading Grant F Smith's "Foreign Agents", all about how these Zionist scofflaws have for decades been trampling laws passed by the US Congress while the "Justice" (sic) department & every AG since Ike have looked the other way.

Walt & Mearsheimer's bestselling "The Israel Lobby", like Jimmy Carter's "Apartheid" book, and CounterPunch articles by Kathy & Bill Christison, are very valuable for the documented corroboration they provide to what Jeff Blankfort and Jas Petras have been saying for years. Petras most notably in his "Power of Israel in the United States", (Clarity Press Atlanta 2006). Visit JP's webpage at >petras.lahaine.org to read his articles on the M-E, Latin America & imperialism in general, free gratis. His 2007 "Rulers & Ruled in the US Empire" sheds a lot of light on the current split in the ruling class over the Israel Lobby push to attack Iran.

Yes I too was very disappointed by the light turnout at the Radisson. I especially missed all the Pearcy's flags. I did bring some pretty lively signs, Cecilia; set up a few at my book table. Yes, there were a cpl flaming Swastikas of David in the stack, but one of the Palestinian guys took one look & buried them again, saying he didn't want to start a fight. Where was Ward Churchill when we needed him:)

Well you cant win a mall everytime, so on to the next focus: realize the hold the Zionist Power Configuration has on not just Republicans, not just mainline Democrats, but also on most of these so-called "progressive" democrats like those in the PDA... and also on the bulk of the "Demogreen", David Cobb-Anybodybuttbush fans in the GP.

BTW I just now hit the link posted above to the GP foreign policy page; did not see the word Israel, Palestine, or AIPAC anywhere. My take is the ISO has so much clout now in the GP that all we can expect from the Greens is more Soft Zionism of the Steve Zunes/M. Plitnik variety.

Of course with Cynthia McKinney in the mix, the GP may turn out to be the main parade this time around. But I'm not holding my breath.

Thanks for your comments, Cecilia, I'll look fwd to meeting you soon, maybe at Luna's on the 8th, after the 16/J vigil? Or come to the vigil? I promise to have some "lively & colorful" signs: you can help yourself:)