Freedom of Speech – Suzanne Berliner Weiss

Socialism Is a Democratic Transformation

By Suzanne Weiss

This zoom talk was given in a panel organized by Socialist Action Canada in October 2020. It focuses on the defense and expansion of democratic rights of fighters for a new society representing their human needs.

Sixty-one years ago, I learned how a socialist transformation would be possible in the heart of the beast, the USA.

I learned from socialists who had met Lenin and Trotsky in Moscow, who knew the Russian Revolution first-hand: Jim Cannon, Rose Karsner, Arne Swabeck, and others, members of my local branch in Los Angeles. They drew on ideas in the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels and the History of the Russian Revolution by Trotsky.

They published their view of revolutionary strategy in a book called Socialism on Trial, which was our socialist recruitment handbook at the time and is now on line.It’s a transcript of a famous court case which should to be read and studied today, especially in the climate of growing mass social movements.

In 1941 Cannon and seventeen other socialists were arrested and charged with conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government by force and violence. — That’s the eternal slander of the political police against socialists, then and now.

‘Holocaust to Resistance’ Tour Draws Wide Interest

March 23, 2020

Resistance to Hitler Has Lessons for Today

by John Riddell: The dangers posed by the Covid-19 virus forced suspension on March 19 of Suzanne Weiss’s tour introducing her memoir, Holocaust to Resistance: My Journey. But the tour’s results so far indicate encouraging interest in her story and its message of global solidarity.

Suzanne’s seventeen meetings in Toronto, Montreal, Kingston, Hamilton, Winnipeg, and Pittsburgh were attended by 1,000 participants. Many more saw her or heard her four interviews in print and online. (See Interview by Radio Western.)

All Suzanne’s city and university presentations highlighted Palestinian human rights, a topic that today often triggers false accusations of anti-Semitism. (For a recent overview of this controversy, see IJV Statement.) Yet Suzanne’s meetings aroused no such criticisms. When her views were questioned, the exchange was respectful and constructive.

‘Holocaust survivor condemns McGill’s handling of anti-Semitism allegations’

By Kevin Vogel, published in the McGill Tribune, February 25, 2020

Photo by Kevin Vogel, The McGill Tribune – Suzanne (in the middle) is being given a kefiyyah.

During her visit to promote her memoir, Holocaust to Resistance: My Journey, Suzanne Berliner Weiss led a rally on Feb. 17 condemning Deputy Provost of Student Life and Learning Fabrice Labeau’s handling of anti-Semitism allegations regarding last semester’s controversial Face to Face trip. Weiss, a lifelong activist and Holocaust survivor, heard about these allegations from media coverage last December. Co-organized by Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) and Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill, the rally outside of the James Administration Building featured Weiss delivering a letter to Deputy Provost Labeau detailing her perspective on the issue. Weiss read the letter aloud before delivering it to Labeau’s office.

In solidarity with Tlaib and Omar

Dear Rashida and Ilhan,

As a survivor of the Jewish Holocaust, I hail your personal sacrifices, dedication, and courageous actions for the Palestinian people, as they strive for homeland, equality, and freedom.

As a young child under Nazi occupation, like countless other Jewish children, I was saved from Hitler by the warm embrace of solidarity.
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Today, you bring this same spirit to the aid of Palestinians, who seek to tear down the racist apartheid walls and to build a foundation for peace, justice, and reconciliation.

Thank you, Rashida and Ilhan, for breaking the silence over inhuman apartheid and raising the Palestinians’ unifying demand for boycott, divestment, and sanctions.

Suzanne Weiss, Toronto
Aug. 19, 2019

Celebrating the Palestinians and Freedom of Speech

Today, June 1, was a great success for the Al Quds rally which gathered more than 1,000 people in support of Palestinian freedom and free speech. I was honoured to be one of the speakers. Here is what I said:

My name is Suzanne Weiss. I am a Holocaust survivor. As a Jewish infant, I was marked down by the Nazis for death. All my life I have worked to prevent another Holocaust through pursuit of social justice and free speech. We meet today in the cause of human rights for the Palestinian peoples. Their lands are seized, their homes destroyed; they are confined by walls and checkpoints; they are arbitrarily jailed. In Gaza – they suffer a brutal and murderous blockade without the medications, water, and food needed to enjoy life.

How can we help put an end to these evils?
Through the global campaign to end Israeli apartheid. A campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions against the Israeli government! To end apartheid, we have three demands:
** End the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
** Let the exiled Palestinians return to their homeland.
** Grant equal rights to all in Israel- including the Palestinians.

Some tell us that to speak of Israeli apartheid is hateful. Some want to make it a crime even to say the words “Israeli apartheid.”
But we must speak the truth. It is Israeli apartheid that is the crime. The call to end Israeli apartheid is a non-violent effort to achieve justice and reconciliation. The call to end Israeli apartheid affirms our hope and trust that the Israeli people, like the Palestinians, will come to embrace an agenda of equality. Our goal is for Palestinians to be free to pursue their dreams in their homeland, in equality and reconciliation with their Jewish sisters and brothers.

I welcome the efforts of the Al-Quds organizers, our Muslim and Palestinian friends, to achieve this goal. Al Quds explains the difference between Judaism and Zionism. Al Quds seeks to overcome anti-Jewish and anti-Palestinian prejudice. They say “Judaism yes, Zionism no!” These efforts deserve constructive engagement, dialogue, and respect for free speech.

In this spirit, we say: “Free — Free Palestine!”