Making a Significant Difference in the Balance of Power

The world’s peoples have spoken loud and clear: Stop the US-Israel Genocide Now!
How do we definitively challenge the corporate governments, their multi billion dollar profit machines, which promote and drive the war on the Palestinian people?

Many lessons need to be studied and learned from the overturn of apartheid in South Africa and the task of overcoming apartheid in Palestine/Israel.

In the struggle for South African freedom, the world’s people stood on the side of humanity, on the side of justice, and exercised their collective unity to bring the apartheid system to an end.

One of the lessons, we learned is how the world’s people obstructed the complicit corporations and governments profiteering from South Africa’s apartheid, with the tools of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).

Throughout the 1960s to 1980s, cities and towns throughout the globe banned South African goods from their offices and schools. They also banned South African sports teams from its playing fields.

Many unions announced an end to pension-fund investments in companies with South African subsidiaries. Labour unions, student organizations and other public bodies continued for dozens of years of a campaign against the human rights abuses of apartheid South Africa

I came to Canada in 1994 in time to celebrate the official end of the world-hated regime of apartheid on April 27 with the election of Nelson Mandela to the Presidency of South Africa. It was then that the movement for Palestinian freedom blossomed in Toronto and promoted the tools of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).

What is BDS? Simply, Today it’s a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, Justice and equality. It is a social rights movement, anchored in the Declaration of Human rights. BDS is a world movement BDS that urges united meaningful action to pressure Israel to comply with international law.

The world’s peoples, in contrast to their complicit governments, are determined, as proven by the repeated daily and weekly demonstrations these past seven months, demanding a cease fire.

Israeli apartheid has persistently bombarded Gaza with its end goal of destroying all of Palestinian society.

We must not stop insisting that Canada’s so-called leaders, including Justin Trudeau, take immediate steps for a cease fire and to unconditionally stop the genocide.

The situation in Palestine today cries out for us, unionists, students, and ordinary people, to organize effectively for immediate, meaningful and impactful actions.

We are millions and that is our power. We have the ability to stop the governments, the corporations who profit by the US-Israel goals.

We should act in addition to demonstrating our love and loyalty. We should demand that our organizations use the tools of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions.

Boycott Divestment Sanctions is intersectional. BDS allies with movements against anti Semitism, against Black racism, Islamophobia, sexism, anti Queer discrimination, and for Indigenous rights. Palestine freedom is part of the intersectional movement.

Our focus should be to dismantle and ban military manufacture and distribution of equipment, machinery, and bombs that are killing the thousands of innocent civilian’s day-in and day-out. Our Palestinian people are prevented at the point of machine guns and non-stop bombings from accessing food and medical needs

These social justice movements could also use BDS and in that way strengthen world justice against racist complicity.

I am a survivor of the Jewish Holocaust, and understand the system of hate first hand. Hitler’s war against the Jews aimed to eradicate our history and the Jewish people. Nazism Is hatred of the other – it is racism. Colonialism was Hitler’s nationalist program to conquer land for Germany.

Israel apartheid seems to follows in those footsteps.

The government of Israel does not speak for the Jewish people of the world. Zionism is the political ideology of the Israeli nationalist movement to establish a homeland for only the Jewish people. It is that racist ideology that created apartheid.

Judaism, the religion and its traditions, does not stand for racism.

Conflating Zionism and Judaism is an unforgiveable crime against the Jewish people, a crime against the Palestinians, and a crime to humanity.

I was saved from Hitler by world solidarity. I was among the thousands of Jewish children in France who were saved by the solidarity of the Jewish resistance, communities of Christians in Southern France, and the peoples of the world united against Nazism.

Today, Jewish people continue to feel deeply about the Nazi Holocaust and the attempt to destroy and eliminate us. There is anti-Semitism and there is Islamophobia, and there is hate. But all that hate is encouraged by the media owned by corporations who make their profits on colonial projects.

We are opposed to the Israeli system of apartheid. To be against Israel’s policies is not anti-Jewish. It is not anti-Semitic. We claim the Palestinians as our sisters and brothers. We are all humanity. We say: “Not in our name!”

Jewish people are in the forefront of the struggle against Israel apartheid. Many of us recognize its Nazi methods of today. Jews are also in the forefront against the attempt of the US and Canadian governments and its agencies to eliminate the Palestinians from our conversation.

There is a witch-hunt in Canada today against the Palestinians and their defenders This is part of a global organized effort to mute and terrorize courageous people who speak out for the freedom of Palestine.

The US-Israel genocide is parallel to this witch hunt with the same goals: To erase Palestine in its entirety from the world.

Sarah Jama, the independent MPP of Hamilton, Ontario invites us to wear the Keffiyeh, symbol of freedom for Palestine. It is also generally recognized a piece of clothing worn by peoples in the Arab nations. Prohibition against wearing the Keffiyeh is an attack on Palestinians, Muslims, and Arab peoples.

We are all affected by this imperial effort led by the US and Israel apartheid.

We will defeat Israeli apartheid by the solidarity of the world’s peoples. All of the freedom movements globally will be impacted and learn with this solidarity.

We must act collectively through our organizations, choose a target and be strategic. The complicit governments, their financial institutions, and corporate heads will feel our might

End the Occupation. Freedom for Palestine. Freedom for Humanity. The world will be built on new foundations.

How to pressure Israel into submitting to peace

Using the tools of Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS)
Suzanne Weiss, February 2024
To Toronto Independent Jewish Voices (IJV)

Genocide in the world, until now took place away from public eye. The world did not see the Jewish Holocaust. They barely heard of it even after the war.

A big difference between our struggle against Israeli apartheid today and that of South Africa is the unprecedented support for Israel by imperialism which shields Israel from international law – although Israel’s crimes are seen by the world in live stream.

How this is done, Omar Barghouti emphasizes:

By the US who props up Israel with military arms and funds and with the complicity of the imperialist countries such as Canada.
And it is done by dehumanizing Palestinians with lies in racist narrative.

The US amplifies fabrications and propaganda with the complicity of their military, diplomatic, political, corporations, and institutions.

Omar Barghouti points out that we can use pressure above all against Israel — because unlike South Africa, Israel is extremely dependent on the global markets.

We can do this with the world campaign of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions.

We in Canada have for years supported the Palestinian right to be free from the Israeli occupation.

We have stood in these years with the majority of the peoples throughout the world to end Apartheid –and now in the last four months with the staggering genocide — which aims to eradicate the existence of the Palestinian people.

We’ve had immense demonstrations throughout the world indicating our solidarity and love for our Palestinian sisters and brothers. It’s has been inspiring. And we continue to have them. We’ve had various projects which have brought the Palestinian struggle in view to Canadians.

We take note that Israel warns that the killing will continue until it is satisfied. And the US and its supporters turn a blind eye.

What should we do?

Naomi Klein says it’s time that we focus on the method of BDS. She agrees with Barghout that Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a powerful method because it is goal oriented: We strive to achieve Palestinian rights.

The intent of BDS is to choose a target, to be strategic. It isn’t enough to have legal arguments. It isn’t enough to be ethical. We have to be impactful to be effective.

BDS challenges the complicity of the chosen target, whether it be the governmental, its structural organizations, corporations, or institutions, and demands it to break with complicity – because these links sustain Israel in some way. Without these links, Israel cannot continue its criminal genocide.

Importantly, BDS challenges the media complicit in the dehumanization of the Palestinians done by Israel. We, the defenders of Palestinian freedom, focus on humanity: Palestinians deserve freedom, justice, equality, self-determination, dignity, –like everyone else.

What is the strength of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions?

BDS is a way to apply pressure in forcing Israel to heed the opinion of the world’s peoples, and to submit to international law.

Omar Barghouti is quoted with emphasis by Naomi Klein, “It is a profound ethical and moral obligation in these times to act to end the complicity –to do no harm.”

BDS is a movement of strength with broad global support of tens of millions. BDS is led a Palestinian leadership, the largest coalition in Palestinian society.

BDS mobilizes pressure through organizations, through global collective effort. BDS invites everyone to participate to push for policy changes.

BDS is a rights movement, anchored in the Declaration of Human Rights. It is a world movement. It is intersectional.

BDS allies with movements against anti Semitism, against Black racism, Islamophobia, sexism, anti Queer discrimination, and for Indigenous rights. These movements could also use BDS and in that way add strength to achieving world justice against racist complicity. Palestine freedom is part of that intersectional movement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dQlFgMhxcI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfVwIbTt4pc

LEILA KHALED TO SPEAK: FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE NOT WAR

Suzanne Berliner Weiss, activist, author of Holocaust to Resistance: My Journey:

I am proud to add my name to the supporters of Leila Khaled, a world-renowned leader of Palestinian resistance. It will be an honour for us all to hear her testimony at a forum in Australia on fighting climate change, not war.

I am a survivor of the Jewish Holocaust carried out by the German Nazis. I was saved by the solidarity of many individuals and a whole community who protected Jews and others marked down for death. The world’s peoples did not know of the mass murder being committed, although their governments knew, were silent, and thus, complicit.

Another crime was initiated in 1947 with the Nakba, the catastrophe, when the Israeli government with military might, expelled over 750,000 indigenous Palestinians from their homeland.

This crime continues to this day in the name of the Jewish people — without their consent.

The world’s peoples did not know the extent of the Palestinian misery but were rudely awakened in 1969 by the courageous Leila Khaled. She demanded freedom, dignity, equality, and peace for the oppressed Palestinians.

The world’s people were once again awakened on October 7 with the same demands to end the cruel occupation and daily bombardment of Gaza. Today, we all insist on an immediate enduring cease fire to the genocide.

Leila Khaled has dedicated her life to the resistance and for a free Palestine. It will be an honour to discuss with her and to work together on better ways to live in equality, dignity, and peace to save this planet.

Read more articlesNewer

Nick Riemer, academic, refugee and union activist says Leila Khaled must not be prevented from speaking in Australia.

Wendy Bacon, journalist and researcher: “I am appalled that the Albanese government will not provide Leila Khaled with a visa”

Ecosocialism 2024

Three Minute Talks: Solidarity for Palesitinian People

A few talks given to Thousands of Toronto Supporters of Palestine Liberation
October to December 2023.
CEASE FIRE! IMMEDIATE END TO THE GENOCIDE1

Spring Socialist conference: Red October
October 13, 2023

I am a survivor of Adolph Hitler’s holocaust. As a Jew I was marked down for death. I was saved by the solidarity of many individuals and a whole community who believed in humanity.

Today I look at Israel’s unspeakable barbarism, above all, against the Palestinian people, and ask: is it for this that we survived? When Nazism was smashed in 1945, we as Jews cried out, “Never again!” We meant never again for all humanity.

In the struggle against the Nazis, the Jewish resistance worked with anybody and everybody who stood with them. In the same way, the Palestinians have a right to use every means to defend themselves against the blockade, the daily bombings of Gaza, and to resist the occupation and oppression. The Palestinians have a right to accept the aid and solidarity of anyone who wishes to see Palestinians free from Israel’s brutal occupation.

We despise apartheid –that is, legally imposed racial oppression. This is not hatred of Jewish people. It is hatred of apartheid, criminally falsely carried out in the name of the Jewish people.

We stand with the Palestinian and their quest to live in freedom, dignity and equal rights and opportunity with others who share the land.

We in Canada cannot and should not accept the incessant whitewash and lies that defend the genocide of apartheid Israel. We must seek the truth and speak the truth against colonialist oppression and systemic racism.

What is our duty as defenders of humanity, as seekers of justice and peace?

We must unite just as, in Nazi occupied France, when a community saved my life from the Nazis who sought to kill all Jews and others they deemed as subhuman.

So today, we must demand that our governments, who are complicit in these crimes, act for justice and compel Israel to obey international law which stands opposed to occupation.

The Canadian government must act immediately and unconditionally to end the blockade on Gaza.

Canada must demand that Israel End the occupation!

We must find ways to defend the Palestinian freedom struggle, and to use the tools of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)!

Freedom and justice often appear to be unattainable. But ultimately the resistance must win and will win.

With all our hearts, Victory to the Palestinians!
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To Jewish groups: Not in My Name!
Rally, 8 a.m. at Israeli Consulate, Toronto
October 23, 2023

Jewish organizations here are in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance; against the Israeli government’s aim to kill them as “animals.”

What is our duty as defenders of Palestinian resistance; as defenders of all humanity who seek justice and peace?

We must do all we can, and also demand that our governments, although themselves complicit, act immediately and unconditionally to stop and block the genocide, to end the blockade on Gaza, and to send food, and medical aid to the besieged Palestinians in war torn Gaza.

I am a survivor of Adolph Hitler’s holocaust. As Jews we were marked down for death as a sub-humans. I was saved by the solidarity of many individuals and a whole community who believed in humanity and justice.

Let us recall that the Holocaust was carried out by the Nazi regime with the indifference of the governments of the world. Not one intervened to aid the insurgents in the Warsaw ghetto, no one sought to put an end to the Nazi massacre.

Similarly today, the indifference of the governments is repeated as the Palestinians valiantly defend themselves. They have done so with sticks and stones, against the Israeli war machine, for 75 years.

Today I look at Israel’s unspeakable barbarism, against the Palestinian people, and ask: is it for this that we survived? When Nazism was smashed in 1945, we Jews cried out, “Never again!” We meant never again for all humanity. Yet, we see a new Naqba. An attempt to eradicate a whole people.

We proudly say as defenders of Judaism, “Not in our name.” What do we mean by that?

The government of Israel does not speak for the Jewish people. Judaism is not Zionism. Judaism does not stand for racism. Yet, the occupation, the systematic war of recrimination is done in our name.

Israel apartheid drags the Jewish people through the mud, smears us with the blood of the Palestinians denouncing us as self-hating Jews, and as anti-Semitic.

How do we combat this lie against Judaism?

Hold on tight to the Palestinian flag! Palestine freedom is our freedom too; and it is freedom for humanity.

PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat once said:
‘We were saying “no” to the Zionist state, but we were saying “yes” to the Jewish people of Palestine. To them we were saying: “You are welcome to live in our land, but on one condition. You must be prepared to live among us as equals, not as dominators.” (biography by journalist Alan Hart)
These same words are repeated today by the Palestinians in their struggle for freedom.

This is worth our allegiance. Victory to the Palestinians!

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In Solidary With York University Students
October 26, 2023
Zoom message by Suzanne Weiss

The valiant Palestinians are calling out to us. If you listen, you will hear. An enslaved people, a dominated people, will never cease to rise again and rise again until they win their freedom.

We in Canada know about racist colonialism and stand with the Indigenous peoples in their long struggle for equality and peace.

I am a survivor of Adolph Hitler’s holocaust. As a Jew I was marked down for death. The solidarity of many individuals and a whole community who believed in humanity saved me and thousands of others. When Nazism was smashed in 1945, Jews cried out, “Never again!” We meant never again for all humanity.

Israel’s Zionist colonialist ideology is the source of their unspeakable bestiality. Judaism is opposed to racism. Yet, the occupation, the systematic war of destruction is done in our name. That is an unforgiveable crime against the Jewish people.

Defending Palestinian freedom, we are denounced as self-hating Jews, and as anti-Semitic. In fact, anyone speaking against the racist program of Zionism is slandered as anti-Semitic. Zionism is not Judaism.

We ask, what can we do to halt the genocidal military machine of Israel’s apartheid government.

We do what we can. And York University students do what they must to educate themselves and others on the history of Palestine and the development of Zionism. We must find ways to use the tools of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions!

What is our duty as supporters of Palestinian resistance; as defenders of all humanity who seek justice and peace?

We must demand that our Canadian governments, although themselves complicit, act immediately cease fire and unconditionally to stop and block the genocide, to end the blockade on Gaza, and to send food, and medical aid to the besieged Palestinians in war torn Gaza. We demand that apartheid Israel stop its murderous rampage in the West Bank. We ask this of the York University administration as well.

We here this evening stand in solidarity with you, courageous university students and staff. The administration must stop their suppression of free expression and repeal the oppressive Regulation that hinders student organizations.

With all our love, with all our might, we struggle to end the occupation. Palestine freedom is our freedom too; and it is freedom for humanity.

Freedom and justice for Palestine!

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Stop the genocide – Cease Fire Now!
November 4 rally, Toronto
Talk by Suzanne Weiss

We are gathered here today in unity and solidarity to demand that the Canadian governments act immediately for cease fire — to unconditionally stop the genocide — Canada should send food, and medical aid to the besieged Palestinian in Gaza!

What is the Palestinian struggle about! The Palestinian people have a right to return to their homes with dignity and equality, and peace. That is what the Palestinian resistance is about!

The Palestinian struggle is against Israel’s Zionist political program which was established in 1947 when Israel took full control and occupied of the land and subjugated the Palestinians.

It is called settler colonialism and carries at the basis of its program, racism – hatred of the other. Palestinians are called animals. – We Jews were called sub-humans by the racist Nazis.

I am a survivor of Adolph Hitler’s Holocaust. As a Jew I was marked down for death. I was saved by the unity, the solidarity of many individuals, and of a whole community who hid me and thousands of others from Hitler’s mass murders.

Hitler’s war against the Jews aimed to irradicate their history and the Jewish people themselves. Nazism is hatred of the other – It is racism. Colonialism was Hitler’s program to conquer land for Germany.

Gas chambers and the hundreds of concentration camps which starved, tortured, and eliminated Jews by disease, is repeated today in the Gaza concentration camp. –The largest concentration camp in the world! Death chambers and ovens have been replaced in Gaza with tons of bombs that destroys all in their path. Gaza has become a death camp.

The government of Israel does not speak for the Jewish people. Zionism is a racist ideology. Judaism does not stand for racism. Conflating Zionism and Judaism is an unforgiveable crime to the Jewish people, to the Palestinians and to humanity.

There is a witch-hunt in Canada today against the defenders of Palestinian freedom. Courageous people are losing their jobs and reputations because they speak for the Freedom of Palestine. We must stand with them and their right to speak freely for freedom and against the hate and racism of Israel’s government.

The Palestinian leaders of the world movement for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions platform state, “Full equality for Palestinians, and respecting, protecting, and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.” The Palestinians have a right to live on the land with others in equality, dignity, and peace. That is what their struggle is about.

We here today, insist that the Canada’s so-called leaders, including Justin Trudeau, take immediate action for a cease fire — and to unconditionally stop the genocide. End the Occupation!

Palestinian freedom is our freedom and the freedom of Humanity!

End the Occupation, the root of this evil!

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US/Israel resumption of the Genocide on Palestine
December 2, 2023 Rally, Toronto
Called by Toronto4Palestine
Talk by Suzanne Weiss

*For an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza
* Trudeau, End Canadian complicity in Israel’s genocide
* Lift the siege on Gaza – End the Occupation!

We gather here today in great distress because US/Israel has resumed their full-scale genocide of the Palestinian people. The Israeli government goal, as they have repeated stated, is to rid the land of the Palestinian people.

Shamefully, Israel is led and financed by the US government. And Canada is complicit.

Why is the US government bankrolling Israel with $3.8 billion per year and now $14.5 billion more for the genocide this year?

Is it because American big business seeks control of the middle east to reap profits from the land’s natural resources such as oil, and natural gas? Are genocide Israel and the big business US working together each for its own goals?

I am a survivor of another genocide. Adolph Hitler killed six million Jews in Europe with the similar goals. It was to secure colonial conquests and to rid the land of Jewish people.

The Nazis were racists much like the Zionists of the Israeli government.

My mother died in the death camp of Auschwitz. I was saved by the Jewish Resistance. Many individuals helped me with acts of kindness, and a whole community hid me.

It was world solidarity that defeated the Nazis.

World solidarity of the world’s peoples will also help liberate the Palestinians.

Now that the genocide has resumed with bombardments equivalent to two nuclear bombs since October 7; and the denial of electricity, fuel, medications, food, water, and assassinations – to starve the Palestinians.

What should we do?

We must redouble our efforts. We should organize peaceful disruptions, sit-ins, occupations and other projects that educate and are inclusive of the masses who wish to unite for Palestinian freedom.

We must end government, corporate, and institutional complicity with Israel’s 75-year-old regime of apartheid. We must give meaningful solidarity to stop Israel’s genocide.

We should support the campaign for world boycott, divestment and sanctions. BDS gives us examples of meaningful actions that can make a difference on apartheid Israel’s economy and have an impact on genocide Israel.

* Major trade unions in India, in Belgium, in Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey have called on workers to boycott Israel products and refuse to handle Israeli cargo.

* Trade unions in Canada have signed on the Canadian Cease Fire Now statement.

* In the US, the United Auto Workers, a very large union, joined the call for ceasefire now.

We call on Canada to stand for peace and for the protection of fundamental freedoms. Muslims are suffering violent acts of hate in their neighborhoods because of the US/Israeli genocide. They need our solidarity.

Judaism is not Zionism. Israel claims to represent the Jewish people. That is a lie! Criticism of Israel’s genocidal policies is deceitfully labeled anti Jewish or anti Semitic. In fact, many demonstrations are led by the Jews who defend the Palestinians and for their rights to share the land in equality, dignity and peace.

We are all under attack by big business government and its institutions, including big business media. We are not safe to freely discuss or express opposing opinions on Israel’s genocidal policies. We are not able to freely say that we support Palestinian freedom without risk of losing jobs.

We must point to this world-wide witch-hunt, and identify it as part of the governmental attack on Palestinian freedom. Let’s meet it head on and insist on free discussion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. University students and faculty are leading the way. Many highs school students are participating.

* We demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
*Trudeau, End Canadian complicity in Israel’s genocide
* Lift the siege on Gaza – End the Occupation!

Palestinian freedom is our freedom. It is freedom for Humanity.

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Lessons From the Holocaust with Suzanne Weiss, Holocaust Survivor

Workshop Opportunity: Lessons From the Holocaust with Suzanne Weiss, Holocaust Survivor

Independent Jewish Voices is offering this powerful and moving talk featuring Jewish Holocaust survivor, author, and longtime social justice activist Suzanne Weiss. If you would like to have Suzanne present this talk for your school, student association, faith group, community organization or union, get in touch with us. We’d be happy to work with you. Contact lessons@ijvcanada.org

Suzanne’s talk draws on her experiences surviving the Holocaust as a child in Vichy France and lessons from her lifetime of social justice activism to explore how we can fight racism in our present time. In relating her powerful story, she provides listeners with both a history which we must remember and the inspiration to make a difference in our world.

MY VIEW: “The Other Betrayal of Anne Frank”

MY VIEW: “The Other Betrayal of Anne Frank”
(Toronto Star, January 23, 2022)

by Suzanne Berliner Weiss

The Toronto Star, our city’s daily, published on January 23 a two-page feature article called, “The Other betrayal of Anne Frank.” The article landmarks an investigation on a suspect who betrayed Anne Frank to the Nazis. The betrayal of her secret annex hideout also led to the death of Anne Frank and others hidden with her in a Nazi concentration camp

In my book Holocaust to Resistance: My Journey, which tells the story of my survival, I explain that in the scramble to secure individual life, many Nazi collaborators tore the fabric of society by betraying neighbors, sowing suspicion, preying on their neighbors’ fears, and enriching themselves in a struggle for personal survival. (more…)

Activism, Sexism and Resistance

Below is my 15 minute contribution to a panel discussion given on May 22, 2021 on zoom in La Grande Transition, a post-capitalist international conference. My talk is based on an article — A Socialist Woman’s Experience in the Socialist Movement — published in March-April 2021 in a socialist magazine, Against the Current.
* * * *

Like all women, I have coped with the threat of sexual and physical assault and harassment. For women, this threat is omnipresent. It was a constant hazard of my younger years. Later, the danger of sexual attack shaped decisions of where I lived and with whom, where I worked and whether I felt able to speak and act freely. All told I suffered more than a dozen threatened sexual assaults. I suspect that this count is not unusual.

When I joined the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) USA in 1959, at the age of 18, anxiety of sexual assault was an obstacle to my participation in political activity. The threat could come from a stranger or from an intimate friend.

I fell victim to this threat in the dormitory of a socialist conference. It was evening, and an intimate friend flew into a rage. He bellowed and whacked me, with furniture and props flying around. It was behind closed doors, but the uproar was heard outside the room, and the assault left visible marks on my face. Yet the next day, socialist friends averted their eyes and showed no concern.

(more…)

Lessons from the Holocaust

Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorates the Jewish martyrs of massive and murderous ethnic cleansing.
Today I speak as a survivor of this genocide. We lost six million Jews, a great calamity for all the world’s peoples. It was the time of the Second World War, in which tens of millions perished (40 million). Now, we analyze and try to make sense of that horrific experience and seek guidance for today’s challenges.
This is a story of survival against Nazi racism, nationalism, and colonialism which holds many lessons for humanity. It is a story of resistance! It is a struggle for unity and solidarity by individuals and entire communities to counter disaster and destruction.

My Story
I come from the Nazi Holocaust in France. Back in 1942, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler marked me down for death because I am Jewish. Hitler feared that if I lived, I could give birth to Jewish children who would seek vengeance.
Hitler and his movement didn’t merely hate Jews; they saw Jewish annihilation as a central historic goal.
When I was one year old, and still with my mother, the Nazis organized a massive raid in Paris which arrested thousands of Jews and imprisoning them in a sports arena called the Vélodrome d’Hiver (Vel d’Hiv).
The French authorities, in league with the German Nazis, had campaigned against Jewish immigrants and refugees, blaming them for the war that began in 1939, and its mounting hardships. The pro-Fascist government of Vichy passed harsh laws against Jews, even worse than the ones in Poland, from which my mother had fled.
In Poland, Jews such as my mother lived in ghettos, denied higher education and entry into professions. My mother belonged to the socialist Bund and worked for a socialist world. She escaped to France, which held the reputation of the 1789 revolution, with its promise of brotherhood, liberty, and equality. She found work in Paris and married. She joined the Jewish Union for Resistance and Mutual Aid. (The organization still exists and is sister to the United Jewish Peoples Order in Canada – UJPO). (more…)

James P. Cannon: The Comrade I Knew

by Suzanne Berliner Weiss

On April 22, 2021, I gave the following short talk in honour of James P. Cannon (1890–1974), an outstanding socialist leader who helped found the U.S. Communist movement in 1919 and subsequently became a central leader of Trotskyism on a world scale.

My talk is based on my experience as personal secretary to Jim Cannon during the last two years of his life. In the discussion period, I referred to Cannon’s many volumes of speeches, letters, and articles available from Pathfinder Press (see below).

In the discussion after the presentations, I strongly suggested studying Socialism on Trial and Defense Policy in the Minneapolis Trials, in which Cannon provides a popular introduction to and defense of the ideas of revolutionary Marxism. One outstanding one lesson is how the working class looks at its battles against the system of capitalism. The majority of these struggles are for their alienable rights as human beings and as members of a society. Cannon explained that workers looked at the Russian revolution not as an insurrection but as a defense of these rights.

My years with Cannon are also discussed in my memoir, Holocaust to Resistance, pp. 154-9. See also James P. Cannon on Defensive Formulations and the Organization of Action

***

I met James P. Cannon in 1960 when his partner Rose Karsner invited me to their home for a chat. Jim gave a cordial hello and listened while Rose asked me about my student activism for Cuba and Black freedom. She was also interested in my background, which was similar to hers – the Jewish community in Eastern Europe. Rose was highly regarded by the party as one of its founders and as a serious organizer well versed in the theories of Marx.

A decade later, I served as Jim Cannon’s personal secretary. Rose had recently died of cancer. The impact of this blow was of great concern to Jim’s comrades. They convinced Jim to review his life’s work in speeches, writings, and letters, which were consequently published in several volumes. I was the fourth person to serve as his full-time assistant. In addition, two male comrades lived with him and provided companionship in the evenings.

When I joined the household, Jim was 82. Physically frail, and suffering from emphysema, he exuded an air of dignity.

Visitors came from time to time, and Jim greeted them with pleasure. He was glad to hear reports of developments in his party. He welcomed varying points of view.

Jim, first and foremost, championed the working class, and its international efforts. In his conversations, Jim seethed over the crimes of capitalism. He watched the Watergate corruption scandal, which led to Richard Nixon’s demise. He cheered Nixon’s downfall and even more the way the disgrace exposed the deceptions of the supposedly democratic political apparatus.

Jim bemoaned Israel’s mistreatment of the Palestinian people. What a terrible turn Israel was foisting on the Jewish people. In their name — the Israeli government was abusing the calamity of the Holocaust and acting criminally against the innocent Palestinians and Arab peoples.

Jim no longer had the energy to review his remaining personal papers, but he agreed to be interviewed by Harry Ring, a party writer and activist whom Jim had known since the thirties. Jim was gratified by the leading role his young comrades took in social movements, particularly against the war, in the Black freedom movement, and women’s liberation.

To gain more insight into the man, Harry tried to get Jim to talk about himself, but Jim was reticent. Finally, Jim softened a little and mentioned a number of small personal incidents highlighting his own inadequacies and regretting his own behaviour. He liked to repeat the dictum, — “Man know thyself.” — Then he would add, “Man forget thyself.” — I identified with that. It threw a light on the unselfish focus in his dedication to improving the human condition.

Jim’s books, articles, and speeches are guides to apply Marxism’s dialectical method in the US and Canada. — It was an honour to have had a close link with this great giant of labour and socialism.

***

Books by James P. Cannon:

Published by Pathfinder Press:

The Coming American Revolution
America’s Road to Socialism
The Communist League of America: Writings 1932-34
The First Ten Years of American Communism
The Left Opposition in the US: Writings 1928-31
Letters from Prison
Notebook of an Agitator
Speeches to the Party
Socialism on Trial
The Socialist Workers Party in World War II
Speeches for Socialism
The Struggle for a Proletarian Party

Published by Resistance Books:

Building the Revolutionary Party
Fighting to Socialism In the ‘American Century’
The Revolutionary Party: Its Role In the Struggle for Socialism

Prometheus Research Library

Dog Days: James P. Cannon vs. Max Shachtman in the Communist League of America, 1931-1933
Early Years of American Communism: Selected Writings and Speeches, 1920-28

A Socialist Woman’s Experience

Published in Socialist Magazine, Against the Current

March 2021

Suzanne Weiss speaking at a demonstration in Toronto, 2019.

1. Barriers to Women’s Participation

FROM ITS BEGINNINGS in the 1800s, modern socialism has embraced equality and liberation for women. The socialist movement has made a major contribution to political, cultural, and intellectual changes challenging women’s second-class status. For many women, joining a socialist movement opened the road to developing their talents, achieving social influence, and contributing to social change.

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