I am a Jewish neighbor and a longtime constituent of Scott Wiener’s and a professor at UCSF. There has been pressure to stay quiet or risk losing my academic job if I advocate for peace or call out Israel’s genocide. I felt fear when Scott Wiener targeted a UCSF tenured professor, the Sonoma State President, and other protestors in San Francisco. I grieve that my lack of bravery contributed in a small way to the Biden and Trump administrations’ actions and the medical community’s failure to stand in solidarity with Palestinian and Lebanese doctors and healthcare workers.
I was glad to see Wiener’s stances evolve and change; does he regret his prior statements? Will he make teshuvah?
For your conversation with Scott Wiener important points to raise:
1) How did his longstanding tense relationship with the leftist half of the LGBTQ community in San Francisco play into this protest? He knows centrist politicians aren’t welcome, why did he attend the trans march and then why did he work with anti-trans news orgs ranging from the New York Times to CBS and frame this as a trans march story? There were arrests at a trans march party, why hasn’t he said anything against these arrests or in defense of the trans community? Hasn’t his national campaign about this incident been harmful to the trans community? Some queer Jews have left Sha’ar Zahav (the historically LGBTQ congregation) for more pro peace congregations such as Or Shalom and Kehilla. Has he engaged with this community and understood why they feel unwelcome and disappointed in the relatively pro-Israel stances of Sha’ar Zahav?
2) If he has changed his opinion on our country’s relationship to the Israeli military and now believes Israel has been committing a genocide, will he apologize for vilifying ceasefire activists and speak against antisemitism directed against activists in general? What about starting by engaging with Jewish ceasefire activists? Will he work with Dean Preston, Hilary Ronen, Aaron Peskin (prominent pro peace San Francisco Jewish local politicians, all recent city supervisors), will he work with Standing Together US, Bay Area Jews for Justice, If Not Now, or JVP? If he isn’t open to working in solidarity will he criticize attacks on the Jewish progressive community such as calling us kapos, antisemitic or self-hating Jews? Jewish faculty and trainees at UCSF have been investigated, disciplined and doxxed for antiwar statements.
3) Most importantly, will he apologize and make repairs for contributing to Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism? Does he understand the critique and fear expressed by his former campaign manager Nadia Rahman? Will he apologize for vilifying Arab and Islamic organizations working for free speech? Will he work with AROC or CAIR? Will he work with Palestinian and Lebanese constituents? https://nadiarahman.medium.com/november-2024-election-endorsements-san-francisco-215ca7e45bb9
4) What does he think about academic freedom for K-12 teachers, state and university professors? For example, is it wrong for teachers in a high school social studies class to use his video describing Israel’s actions as a genocide in courses? Could a teacher be investigated based on AB 715 (his K-12 censorship bill) for this action? If UCSF has “advancing health worldwide” as a slogan is it wrong for student protestors to say “ceasefire now” or “stop bombing hospitals”?
5)Does Scott Wiener think false charges of antisemitism do harm? Daniel Lurie (our mayor and a Scott Wiener ally) had a recent scandal where he criticized DSA protestors for being antisemitic at a rally for chanting “Tax the Jews” but it was revealed that it was one ranting woman not part of the DSA (the woman was well known to the community and quickly removed by DSA protestors). Lurie said this shows “the left” is antisemitic. Wiener opposes the billionaire tax. Can we call to tax the rich without Wiener accusing us of antisemitism?
6) Nancy Pelosi has been consistently and famously protested for her pro war and pro Israeli govt policies. Wiener is asking us to send him to congress, will he be open to the same protests or will he use antisemitism to deflect them?
I think it would be helpful to have a conversation about the harm from false charges of antisemitism. I was hoping to provide San Francisco context for Peter Beinart’s interview. Often we hear stories from other parts of the country that are decontextualized or misrepresented.
Fully agree, especially since Peter and other liberals like Pod Save boys defended Wiener when they don’t realize how two-faced and untrustworthy Wiener has been. He wants all us allies to stand up for LGBTQ rights but it’s always “now is not the time” for Palestinians. That’s bullshit. And super crazy that UCSF has targeted so many frontline health workers just to preserve the FEELINGS of old, Jewish patients. Like all of us need to care that someone wore a watermelon pin on their clothes…! Everyone needs to know the ridiculousness that even liberal SF has been subjected to - we can’t say “stop killing children” but some old lady can report a clothing accessory she doesn’t like. Yep. The backlash against Wiener was a long time coming because people in SF can see he cares more about climbing than about principles of human rights and that he has become a tool of the Billionaires which includes the hardcore Zionists who make $$ from weapons. After all, championing housing is also about $$ that is mostly made by large developers and construction companies like all of Trump’s crowd. So while more housing is important, it’s not like Wiener has ever had to face making truly difficult decisions. In getting attacked by a more progressive wing of the LGBTQ community, he could have responded differently if he really wanted to represent all of us. But instead, he just focused on his own victimhood. We are a diverse community. How can any of us trust that he will stand up for our human dignity if Palestinians are just an after thought? Like they deserve rights only after 10k more have been killed, raped, tortured…? That is what Wiener represents.
I'd like Peter to ask Congressional hopeful Scott Wiener how he responds to people who say things like, if the Capitol crumbled to the ground, the *one* thing that would remain would be Congress's commitment to aid for Israel.
After hearing Wiener's answer, Peter could then reveal that it was Nancy Pelosi, whom he seeks to replace, who put it in just those terms. This was at the end of 2018, just before she became House Speaker for the second time:
And also, why Wiener promoted AB 715, which enacts into law the appointment of a California "Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator", when the state has *no* Prevention Coordinator for Anti-anything-else. If he says that there are plans to have similar ones for other groups, then that's a cop-out, because the fact is that he's giving "Antisemitism Prevention" the *first* priority instead of acting in concert with representatives of other groups, including any that are more numerous in his own district than Jews are. Doesn't this "antisemitism first" priority *promote* antisemitism? Especially when you consider how Jews as a group are hardly downtrodden by any measure in this state but are well known to have been among the most successful people in whatever economic sectors have been hot here such as tech, Hollywood, even the Gold Rush.
Activist and author Winona LaDuke connected many dots on a Facebook post from 2012. Winona is the daughter of Sun Bear, Anishinaabe, and Betty Bernstein, Jewish European:
“…euro-americans in the United States can’t talk about Gaza, because we can’t talk about Israel. Because we can’t talk about the fact that the world is not suffering from a Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but that the world is suffering from the fact that Europe has never been able to deal with it’s ‘Jewish Question’ without some sort of intense barbarity and horror from the Inquisition to the Holocaust. And that Europe, in particular ‘Great’ Britain, the masters of divide an conquer ‘solved’ the problem by supporting the radical, terrorist, extremist Zionists and their mad plan to resettle the ‘homeland.’ We can’t talk about Israel because we can’t talk about Wounded Knee. Because we can’t talk about Sand Creek or Carlisle ‘Boarding School.’ Because we can’t talk about forced sterilization or small pox blankets or Kit Carson and his scorched earth policy in the Southwest. Because we have Andrew Jackson on our twenty dollar bill. Because we are one huge settlement on stolen land. We can’t talk about Israel because we are Israel.”
In 2023 on the day after Thanksgiving I participated in a shellmound to shellmound March from Berkeley to Emeryville, California. As I was carrying a large Palestinian flag one of the leaders of the march wearing a AIM jacket says to me “you get up here in front, this is about your people too”. As the descendant of the some of the first Europeans to colonize parts of this country the man didn't know how right he was
My daughter had California history as a 4th grader. When I asked he what she had learned about native Californians, she said they were taught there was many tribes before the Spanish but most died off after from disease. That was interesting as I had recommended reading Benjamin Madley’s “An American Genocide” to her teacher at the beginning of the year about the state sponsored genocide of native communities during the gold rush. But with Wiener supported bills like ab715 no sensible public school teacher is going to say genocide except for the Holocaust.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced”. James Baldwin
Maybe, Peter, you can ask Scott Wiener with his suppose new sympathies for the plight of Palestinians why he still has not attended any pro Palestine events.
Last year at MECA’s Ride for Palestine in Berkeley, Rashida Tlaib was there and spoke. But none of my local representatives, not Raphael Mandleman, not Scott Wiener, not Nancy Pelosi nor either of my senators. If fact I am unaware of any of them attending ANY pro Palestine events, much less an event run and organizeed by Arab Americans. We might have to wait a bit longer for that to happen, maybe when hell freezes over.
I wear a button that says Never Again For Anyone, and one that says Never Again BY Anyone.
Never Again For Anyone was the title of the talks by the late Hajo Meier, a Holocaust survivor who did a speaking tour some years ago. No Toronto synagogue or mainstream Jewish org would let him speak there. He spoke at the left wing Winchevsky Centre and at Quaker House.
We should also name the specific Jewish leaders, like Elie Wiesel, who stood up against other global genocides, while continually ignoring Israeli crimes against Palestinians.
I am a little puzzled by your main idea, though. You say that the United States has never had a "never again" moment with regard to its enslavement of Africans and their descendants and its genocide of Native Americans (I realize that there's overlap between "enslavement" and "genocide"). And I wholeheartedly agree: we need one. Several!
But I think of "never again," especially in the case of Jewish reaction to the Shoah, as being the cry of the victims, not the resolve of the perpetrators. Do perpetrators who are nation-states usually do this? Canada has tried with regard to its First Nations population, with perhaps some success. I think Germany is leaps and bounds ahead of the United States in confronting the reality of its past, but even that, I'm sure, has been imperfect.
Indeed, I think some of what's going on in Israel today stems from the inability or unwillingness of some Jews/Israelis to see themselves in the role of the perpetrator. "Never again" continues to mean "We will never again allow ourselves to be victims of a genocide *against us.* That may actually fan the flames of their resolve to maintain a Jewish-majority state with unequal rights for those who are not Jewish, by whatever means.
Okay, here's what I think: "Never again" means never again. It's especially easy to carry out "Never again" when you're in the role of potential perpetrator. All you have to do is not perpetrate. Easy-peasy. As a victim or an ally, it's much more difficult. You have to stop scary, powerful people you might have no control over. As the potential perp, you only have to stop yourself.
In one of the last times I was in DC, I visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and thought that it's journey from beginning of slavery in 1619, including Jim Crow, the lynchings, Emmet Till, through to the civil rights movement, was very powerfully portrayed. It reminded me very much of how I felt spending 6 hours in Johannesburg's Apartheid Museum dedicated to Nelson Mandela. There is also a difference between the Holocaust Museum in DC and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. The Holocaust Museum has a statement by President Jimmy Carter on the wall of the entrance saying that Never Again relates to all people, not only the Jews in the Nazi period. That doesn't exist at Yad Vashem. No question that Never Again for Israelis and Jews has to include an honest reckoning with the Nakba in 1948, and also with the destruction of Gaza. But an honest reckoning with the 1948 Nakba has to also include a reckoning with the fact that the Palestinians and the entire Arab side rejected the 1947 UN Resolution 181, the Partition Plan, that was accepted by the majority of the international community at the time. If the Arab side had accepted the resolution it would have prevented the Nakba. That doesn't absolve the Israeli side, but it is a factor in the historical calculation.
I guess if more native Americans just gave up their land and went willingly to reservations we wouldn't have had to kill so many. Just a factor in the historical calculation.
"If the Arab side had accepted the resolution it would have prevented the Nakba."
That resolution was effectively *designed* as a poison pill for the non-Jewish majority in Palestine. It never had their buy-in. But even if representatives of the majority of the people in Palestine had accepted the resolution, the preponderance of the evidence convinces me that the Nakba would still have happened.
Growing up in the 1960s and 70s, we were taught a lot about the lessons of the Holocaust, including by many Jewish teachers. It had a big impact on my values and belief in *universal* human rights.
Somewhere along the way, I got the impression (or maybe I assumed) that "Never Again" was meant to be universal. Then I noticed Israel being silent on atrocities in Cambodia and elsewhere. The Sabra and Shatila massacres. Other. And now this.
Taken together, it's hard to experience all this as anything but betrayal of the values and lessons we were taught. Maybe I am not the only one feeling this.
I was a part of the grassroots campaign during the 70s/80s to win redress/reparations for member of the Japanese and Japanese American community who were forcibly removed and indefinitely incarcerated on the basis of race/ethnic-national ancestry and denied due process by the U.S. government during WWII.
Although one of the principles of unity for my organization was to "overturn the legal basis for the concentration camps", and although various organizations and individuals have done a lot of work over decades to do that -- rescinding racist proclamations and executive orders and court cases -- I was deeply moved when I discovered that, almost 20 years later, the United Nations had adopted a definition of reparations from the Global Movement for Reparations that declared, among other things, that cessation and non-repetition of the oppressive action was an integral part of true and effective reparations.
I am angry that we were not able to guarantee that the U.S. government would not be able to do to others that which it had done to us. Declaring a public apology as well as individual monetary compensation to survivors, and rightfully attributing those policies to "wartime hysteria, racial prejudice, and a failure of political leadership" was not enough to stop the scapegoating of Arab Americans and Muslim Americans in the wake of the attack on the WTC, was not enough to stop the Muslim Ban, and was not enough to stop the sweeping apprehension of Latino, Asian, and Black immigrants and their detention without due process under the trump regime.
Anyway, to make a long story short, when we Japanese Americans say Never Again, we mean NEVER AGAIN TO ANYBODY. The formerly incarcerated, when rising up after 35 years of repression and erasure of our history, tasked us, their children, with the mission to "make sure it doesn't happen to anybody else!" And we say "Never Again is Now" because we think that today and right now is a good time to shake off complacency and put whatever muscle and elbow grease we have to the task of defending other people.
There are a number of multi-racial Japanese Americans who are also descended from WWII Holocaust survivors and who demand that Never Again means to defend EVERYBODY against oppression, and this very obviously includes Palestinians.
I think it must be a soul deadening requirement to have to say Never Again and then blind yourself to some instances of oppression.
Not only does the US not have monuments to victims of slavery and genocide, but we continue to glorify the perpetrators. The US Capitol dome is filled with racist depictions of indigenous people that justify their oppression as part of the natural course of American history.
I've been listening to an excellent podcast series by Rebecca Nagle, a Cherokee writer and journalist called “First America.” The most recent episode happens to be about the lack of acknowledgement and accountability. She talks about George Washington’s directive to Major General John Sullivan to inflict atrocities. The letter says he the goal is “total destruction and devastation” on indigenous settlements and to take prisoners of “every age and sex.” I'm in my 40s and had never heard of this before.
I hope, when State Sen Wiener joins you, you press him on why despite his supposed recognition of the genocide, he continues to push legislation targeting public school faculty for teaching content critical of Israel, why he attacks bds and anti-Zionism as antisemitic, and why he he has never apologized for his harassment of the nurse mentioned in comments above. To recognize the genocide but vilify someone who says she feels uncomfortable around an IDF soldier is really rich.
Nazi Republicans Spitting On The Constitution: White Power Politics
July 4th on the 250th anniversary marked the continued racist division. This time however instead of a physical Civil War, it’s a battle in the collective mind of the nation about who belongs and who doesn’t. Now it’s the CNPP(Christian Nationalist Ped Party) who says that not all men and women are created equal and that the country needs to go back to pre Civil war years where slavery was ok.
Our country is based on the rule of law. WE the People demand that our government uphold the rule of law and the foundational principle that all men and women are created equal. Executive orders to get rid of DEI and to abolish integration by government contractors done in the first weeks of the Nazi Republican occupation tell the story of a developing Confederacy and the eugenics philosophy that there are humans that are superior and deserve power.
Nazi Republican Congressional legislators turn a blind eye to this racist lawless conduct by a traitorous hateful racist misogynistic president supported by the partisan black robbed hacks that are called jurists on the Supreme Court. Regardless no one should give these Nazi Republicans any leeway because they are ALL complicit in the lawlessness and racist behavior. They took oaths to the Constitution but they’re spitting on that oath.
WE the People’s DNA demand WE fight tyrants. The Declaration of Independence was actually an indictment of a tyrant, at the time King George III. Now the tyrants of today, like those in WWII, are the Nazi Republicans. WE lose every fight WE don’t fight. So get angry and get ready to fight for all men and women are equal.
I am a Jewish neighbor and a longtime constituent of Scott Wiener’s and a professor at UCSF. There has been pressure to stay quiet or risk losing my academic job if I advocate for peace or call out Israel’s genocide. I felt fear when Scott Wiener targeted a UCSF tenured professor, the Sonoma State President, and other protestors in San Francisco. I grieve that my lack of bravery contributed in a small way to the Biden and Trump administrations’ actions and the medical community’s failure to stand in solidarity with Palestinian and Lebanese doctors and healthcare workers.
I was glad to see Wiener’s stances evolve and change; does he regret his prior statements? Will he make teshuvah?
For your conversation with Scott Wiener important points to raise:
1) How did his longstanding tense relationship with the leftist half of the LGBTQ community in San Francisco play into this protest? He knows centrist politicians aren’t welcome, why did he attend the trans march and then why did he work with anti-trans news orgs ranging from the New York Times to CBS and frame this as a trans march story? There were arrests at a trans march party, why hasn’t he said anything against these arrests or in defense of the trans community? Hasn’t his national campaign about this incident been harmful to the trans community? Some queer Jews have left Sha’ar Zahav (the historically LGBTQ congregation) for more pro peace congregations such as Or Shalom and Kehilla. Has he engaged with this community and understood why they feel unwelcome and disappointed in the relatively pro-Israel stances of Sha’ar Zahav?
2) If he has changed his opinion on our country’s relationship to the Israeli military and now believes Israel has been committing a genocide, will he apologize for vilifying ceasefire activists and speak against antisemitism directed against activists in general? What about starting by engaging with Jewish ceasefire activists? Will he work with Dean Preston, Hilary Ronen, Aaron Peskin (prominent pro peace San Francisco Jewish local politicians, all recent city supervisors), will he work with Standing Together US, Bay Area Jews for Justice, If Not Now, or JVP? If he isn’t open to working in solidarity will he criticize attacks on the Jewish progressive community such as calling us kapos, antisemitic or self-hating Jews? Jewish faculty and trainees at UCSF have been investigated, disciplined and doxxed for antiwar statements.
3) Most importantly, will he apologize and make repairs for contributing to Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism? Does he understand the critique and fear expressed by his former campaign manager Nadia Rahman? Will he apologize for vilifying Arab and Islamic organizations working for free speech? Will he work with AROC or CAIR? Will he work with Palestinian and Lebanese constituents? https://nadiarahman.medium.com/november-2024-election-endorsements-san-francisco-215ca7e45bb9
4) What does he think about academic freedom for K-12 teachers, state and university professors? For example, is it wrong for teachers in a high school social studies class to use his video describing Israel’s actions as a genocide in courses? Could a teacher be investigated based on AB 715 (his K-12 censorship bill) for this action? If UCSF has “advancing health worldwide” as a slogan is it wrong for student protestors to say “ceasefire now” or “stop bombing hospitals”?
5)Does Scott Wiener think false charges of antisemitism do harm? Daniel Lurie (our mayor and a Scott Wiener ally) had a recent scandal where he criticized DSA protestors for being antisemitic at a rally for chanting “Tax the Jews” but it was revealed that it was one ranting woman not part of the DSA (the woman was well known to the community and quickly removed by DSA protestors). Lurie said this shows “the left” is antisemitic. Wiener opposes the billionaire tax. Can we call to tax the rich without Wiener accusing us of antisemitism?
6) Nancy Pelosi has been consistently and famously protested for her pro war and pro Israeli govt policies. Wiener is asking us to send him to congress, will he be open to the same protests or will he use antisemitism to deflect them?
Thank you for considering.
why all this rigamarole? Just vote for Chan With such past history garbage Wiener doesn't deserve the digital space here.
I think it would be helpful to have a conversation about the harm from false charges of antisemitism. I was hoping to provide San Francisco context for Peter Beinart’s interview. Often we hear stories from other parts of the country that are decontextualized or misrepresented.
Fully agree, especially since Peter and other liberals like Pod Save boys defended Wiener when they don’t realize how two-faced and untrustworthy Wiener has been. He wants all us allies to stand up for LGBTQ rights but it’s always “now is not the time” for Palestinians. That’s bullshit. And super crazy that UCSF has targeted so many frontline health workers just to preserve the FEELINGS of old, Jewish patients. Like all of us need to care that someone wore a watermelon pin on their clothes…! Everyone needs to know the ridiculousness that even liberal SF has been subjected to - we can’t say “stop killing children” but some old lady can report a clothing accessory she doesn’t like. Yep. The backlash against Wiener was a long time coming because people in SF can see he cares more about climbing than about principles of human rights and that he has become a tool of the Billionaires which includes the hardcore Zionists who make $$ from weapons. After all, championing housing is also about $$ that is mostly made by large developers and construction companies like all of Trump’s crowd. So while more housing is important, it’s not like Wiener has ever had to face making truly difficult decisions. In getting attacked by a more progressive wing of the LGBTQ community, he could have responded differently if he really wanted to represent all of us. But instead, he just focused on his own victimhood. We are a diverse community. How can any of us trust that he will stand up for our human dignity if Palestinians are just an after thought? Like they deserve rights only after 10k more have been killed, raped, tortured…? That is what Wiener represents.
Valid, but Peter is already planning a conversation. I hope he covers literally everything Jessamyn is bringing up here.
I'd like Peter to ask Congressional hopeful Scott Wiener how he responds to people who say things like, if the Capitol crumbled to the ground, the *one* thing that would remain would be Congress's commitment to aid for Israel.
After hearing Wiener's answer, Peter could then reveal that it was Nancy Pelosi, whom he seeks to replace, who put it in just those terms. This was at the end of 2018, just before she became House Speaker for the second time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvi3O9NkhQI#t=7m36s
And also, why Wiener promoted AB 715, which enacts into law the appointment of a California "Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator", when the state has *no* Prevention Coordinator for Anti-anything-else. If he says that there are plans to have similar ones for other groups, then that's a cop-out, because the fact is that he's giving "Antisemitism Prevention" the *first* priority instead of acting in concert with representatives of other groups, including any that are more numerous in his own district than Jews are. Doesn't this "antisemitism first" priority *promote* antisemitism? Especially when you consider how Jews as a group are hardly downtrodden by any measure in this state but are well known to have been among the most successful people in whatever economic sectors have been hot here such as tech, Hollywood, even the Gold Rush.
I would like Peter NOT to ask Wiener and engage Connie Chan. She is the one Pelosi endorsed and has a chance to take Shaikat voters to win.
Activist and author Winona LaDuke connected many dots on a Facebook post from 2012. Winona is the daughter of Sun Bear, Anishinaabe, and Betty Bernstein, Jewish European:
“…euro-americans in the United States can’t talk about Gaza, because we can’t talk about Israel. Because we can’t talk about the fact that the world is not suffering from a Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but that the world is suffering from the fact that Europe has never been able to deal with it’s ‘Jewish Question’ without some sort of intense barbarity and horror from the Inquisition to the Holocaust. And that Europe, in particular ‘Great’ Britain, the masters of divide an conquer ‘solved’ the problem by supporting the radical, terrorist, extremist Zionists and their mad plan to resettle the ‘homeland.’ We can’t talk about Israel because we can’t talk about Wounded Knee. Because we can’t talk about Sand Creek or Carlisle ‘Boarding School.’ Because we can’t talk about forced sterilization or small pox blankets or Kit Carson and his scorched earth policy in the Southwest. Because we have Andrew Jackson on our twenty dollar bill. Because we are one huge settlement on stolen land. We can’t talk about Israel because we are Israel.”
In 2023 on the day after Thanksgiving I participated in a shellmound to shellmound March from Berkeley to Emeryville, California. As I was carrying a large Palestinian flag one of the leaders of the march wearing a AIM jacket says to me “you get up here in front, this is about your people too”. As the descendant of the some of the first Europeans to colonize parts of this country the man didn't know how right he was
My daughter had California history as a 4th grader. When I asked he what she had learned about native Californians, she said they were taught there was many tribes before the Spanish but most died off after from disease. That was interesting as I had recommended reading Benjamin Madley’s “An American Genocide” to her teacher at the beginning of the year about the state sponsored genocide of native communities during the gold rush. But with Wiener supported bills like ab715 no sensible public school teacher is going to say genocide except for the Holocaust.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced”. James Baldwin
Btw, Peter, maybe you might pass along to Scott Wiener a chant my daughter came up with: "AB715, you can't call it a genocide!"
Israel delenda est.
Oh. That's a blow. But I get it.
Maybe, Peter, you can ask Scott Wiener with his suppose new sympathies for the plight of Palestinians why he still has not attended any pro Palestine events.
Last year at MECA’s Ride for Palestine in Berkeley, Rashida Tlaib was there and spoke. But none of my local representatives, not Raphael Mandleman, not Scott Wiener, not Nancy Pelosi nor either of my senators. If fact I am unaware of any of them attending ANY pro Palestine events, much less an event run and organizeed by Arab Americans. We might have to wait a bit longer for that to happen, maybe when hell freezes over.
Israel delenda est.
I wear a button that says Never Again For Anyone, and one that says Never Again BY Anyone.
Never Again For Anyone was the title of the talks by the late Hajo Meier, a Holocaust survivor who did a speaking tour some years ago. No Toronto synagogue or mainstream Jewish org would let him speak there. He spoke at the left wing Winchevsky Centre and at Quaker House.
Bryan Stevenson is a national (world) treasure.
We should also name the specific Jewish leaders, like Elie Wiesel, who stood up against other global genocides, while continually ignoring Israeli crimes against Palestinians.
A thought-provoking video, Peter, as always!
I am a little puzzled by your main idea, though. You say that the United States has never had a "never again" moment with regard to its enslavement of Africans and their descendants and its genocide of Native Americans (I realize that there's overlap between "enslavement" and "genocide"). And I wholeheartedly agree: we need one. Several!
But I think of "never again," especially in the case of Jewish reaction to the Shoah, as being the cry of the victims, not the resolve of the perpetrators. Do perpetrators who are nation-states usually do this? Canada has tried with regard to its First Nations population, with perhaps some success. I think Germany is leaps and bounds ahead of the United States in confronting the reality of its past, but even that, I'm sure, has been imperfect.
Indeed, I think some of what's going on in Israel today stems from the inability or unwillingness of some Jews/Israelis to see themselves in the role of the perpetrator. "Never again" continues to mean "We will never again allow ourselves to be victims of a genocide *against us.* That may actually fan the flames of their resolve to maintain a Jewish-majority state with unequal rights for those who are not Jewish, by whatever means.
Thank you again for your thoughts.
Okay, here's what I think: "Never again" means never again. It's especially easy to carry out "Never again" when you're in the role of potential perpetrator. All you have to do is not perpetrate. Easy-peasy. As a victim or an ally, it's much more difficult. You have to stop scary, powerful people you might have no control over. As the potential perp, you only have to stop yourself.
In one of the last times I was in DC, I visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and thought that it's journey from beginning of slavery in 1619, including Jim Crow, the lynchings, Emmet Till, through to the civil rights movement, was very powerfully portrayed. It reminded me very much of how I felt spending 6 hours in Johannesburg's Apartheid Museum dedicated to Nelson Mandela. There is also a difference between the Holocaust Museum in DC and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. The Holocaust Museum has a statement by President Jimmy Carter on the wall of the entrance saying that Never Again relates to all people, not only the Jews in the Nazi period. That doesn't exist at Yad Vashem. No question that Never Again for Israelis and Jews has to include an honest reckoning with the Nakba in 1948, and also with the destruction of Gaza. But an honest reckoning with the 1948 Nakba has to also include a reckoning with the fact that the Palestinians and the entire Arab side rejected the 1947 UN Resolution 181, the Partition Plan, that was accepted by the majority of the international community at the time. If the Arab side had accepted the resolution it would have prevented the Nakba. That doesn't absolve the Israeli side, but it is a factor in the historical calculation.
I guess if more native Americans just gave up their land and went willingly to reservations we wouldn't have had to kill so many. Just a factor in the historical calculation.
Israel delenda est.
Most horrors have a justification given. I don't see this as an especially good one.
"If the Arab side had accepted the resolution it would have prevented the Nakba."
That resolution was effectively *designed* as a poison pill for the non-Jewish majority in Palestine. It never had their buy-in. But even if representatives of the majority of the people in Palestine had accepted the resolution, the preponderance of the evidence convinces me that the Nakba would still have happened.
“Never again” means practicing kindness and compassion along with … what can I say, a sense of right and deeply wrong? The knock bar continues.
Growing up in the 1960s and 70s, we were taught a lot about the lessons of the Holocaust, including by many Jewish teachers. It had a big impact on my values and belief in *universal* human rights.
Somewhere along the way, I got the impression (or maybe I assumed) that "Never Again" was meant to be universal. Then I noticed Israel being silent on atrocities in Cambodia and elsewhere. The Sabra and Shatila massacres. Other. And now this.
Taken together, it's hard to experience all this as anything but betrayal of the values and lessons we were taught. Maybe I am not the only one feeling this.
Thoughts on "Never Again."
I was a part of the grassroots campaign during the 70s/80s to win redress/reparations for member of the Japanese and Japanese American community who were forcibly removed and indefinitely incarcerated on the basis of race/ethnic-national ancestry and denied due process by the U.S. government during WWII.
Although one of the principles of unity for my organization was to "overturn the legal basis for the concentration camps", and although various organizations and individuals have done a lot of work over decades to do that -- rescinding racist proclamations and executive orders and court cases -- I was deeply moved when I discovered that, almost 20 years later, the United Nations had adopted a definition of reparations from the Global Movement for Reparations that declared, among other things, that cessation and non-repetition of the oppressive action was an integral part of true and effective reparations.
I am angry that we were not able to guarantee that the U.S. government would not be able to do to others that which it had done to us. Declaring a public apology as well as individual monetary compensation to survivors, and rightfully attributing those policies to "wartime hysteria, racial prejudice, and a failure of political leadership" was not enough to stop the scapegoating of Arab Americans and Muslim Americans in the wake of the attack on the WTC, was not enough to stop the Muslim Ban, and was not enough to stop the sweeping apprehension of Latino, Asian, and Black immigrants and their detention without due process under the trump regime.
Anyway, to make a long story short, when we Japanese Americans say Never Again, we mean NEVER AGAIN TO ANYBODY. The formerly incarcerated, when rising up after 35 years of repression and erasure of our history, tasked us, their children, with the mission to "make sure it doesn't happen to anybody else!" And we say "Never Again is Now" because we think that today and right now is a good time to shake off complacency and put whatever muscle and elbow grease we have to the task of defending other people.
There are a number of multi-racial Japanese Americans who are also descended from WWII Holocaust survivors and who demand that Never Again means to defend EVERYBODY against oppression, and this very obviously includes Palestinians.
I think it must be a soul deadening requirement to have to say Never Again and then blind yourself to some instances of oppression.
Not only does the US not have monuments to victims of slavery and genocide, but we continue to glorify the perpetrators. The US Capitol dome is filled with racist depictions of indigenous people that justify their oppression as part of the natural course of American history.
I've been listening to an excellent podcast series by Rebecca Nagle, a Cherokee writer and journalist called “First America.” The most recent episode happens to be about the lack of acknowledgement and accountability. She talks about George Washington’s directive to Major General John Sullivan to inflict atrocities. The letter says he the goal is “total destruction and devastation” on indigenous settlements and to take prisoners of “every age and sex.” I'm in my 40s and had never heard of this before.
I hope, when State Sen Wiener joins you, you press him on why despite his supposed recognition of the genocide, he continues to push legislation targeting public school faculty for teaching content critical of Israel, why he attacks bds and anti-Zionism as antisemitic, and why he he has never apologized for his harassment of the nurse mentioned in comments above. To recognize the genocide but vilify someone who says she feels uncomfortable around an IDF soldier is really rich.
In light of your comments today I thought you’d be interested in the new memorial in Charlotte, NC. https://forward.com/fast-forward/833717/in-north-carolina-a-memorial-project-will-honor-martin-luther-king-and-holocaust-victims/?utm_source=The+Forward+Association&utm_campaign=3124b53f27-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_03_12_05_39_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-628507ef87-288558752
Nazi Republicans Spitting On The Constitution: White Power Politics
July 4th on the 250th anniversary marked the continued racist division. This time however instead of a physical Civil War, it’s a battle in the collective mind of the nation about who belongs and who doesn’t. Now it’s the CNPP(Christian Nationalist Ped Party) who says that not all men and women are created equal and that the country needs to go back to pre Civil war years where slavery was ok.
Our country is based on the rule of law. WE the People demand that our government uphold the rule of law and the foundational principle that all men and women are created equal. Executive orders to get rid of DEI and to abolish integration by government contractors done in the first weeks of the Nazi Republican occupation tell the story of a developing Confederacy and the eugenics philosophy that there are humans that are superior and deserve power.
Nazi Republican Congressional legislators turn a blind eye to this racist lawless conduct by a traitorous hateful racist misogynistic president supported by the partisan black robbed hacks that are called jurists on the Supreme Court. Regardless no one should give these Nazi Republicans any leeway because they are ALL complicit in the lawlessness and racist behavior. They took oaths to the Constitution but they’re spitting on that oath.
WE the People’s DNA demand WE fight tyrants. The Declaration of Independence was actually an indictment of a tyrant, at the time King George III. Now the tyrants of today, like those in WWII, are the Nazi Republicans. WE lose every fight WE don’t fight. So get angry and get ready to fight for all men and women are equal.
I re-read this every year on July 4th:.
https://www.brianwillson.com/what-the-flag-means-to-me/