WORLD WORLDWIDE UK uk United Kingdom - (en) UK. Libcom: An anarchist critique of die Plattform's statement on the October 7th attacks and the ongoing genocide in Palestine (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Our grief can go to anyone. Our solidarity must go to the oppressed:
Anarchists, Palestine and October 7th ---- On December 6th, 2023, the
German anarcho-communist organisation die Plattform published the
statement Zur aktuellen Lage in Israel/Palästina: Erklärung der
Plattform, ("On the current situation in Israel/Palestine: Statement
from die Plattform"). We, three members of an anarcho-communist
collective based in Scotland, who were in Palestine in the summer of
2023 working alongside Palestinian activists, produced a response to die
Plattform's statement, outlining our deep disagreement with their
position. We did so in the form of an open letter, which we sent via
email to die Plattform on December 15th. We wish to make our critique
publicly available, to foster the necessary discussion on Palestine and
anarchists' position on the current situation.

Author
Jack, Carl, Pietro
Submitted by edilibsoc on January 30, 2024
Copied to clipboard
"The most violent element in society is ignorance." - Emma Goldman

Dear Comrades,

We are writing on behalf of our anarcho-communist collective based in
Scotland. We consider ourselves part of the platformist tradition and
are keen to at some point set up a specific anarchist organisation. In
this aspiration, die Plattform has been a great inspiration to us.
However we are writing to you with a lot anger and disappointment
regarding your recent statement on the situation in Palestine. Overall,
we consider it a piece of shocking misanalysis of the situation that can
be considered part of the repressive tapestry. Several members of our
collective were in Palestine this summer, where we worked alongside
numerous brave Palestinian activists as well as Israeli Jewish
activists, who daily risk their lives to fight against the occupation.
Your analysis of the situation does not fit with any of the dialogues we
had with them. Rather than being a balanced commitment to liberation of
both Jews and Palestinians, your statement reads as a pathetic attempt
to appeal to the hegemonic racist culture in your country. You insult
the anti-racist and anti-colonial work going on on the ground in
Palestine with your misdirected attempts to condemn so called
Palestinian antisemitism. The following are specific points that we
would like to raise. However, if this statement is symptomatic of the
culture and analysis around Palestine within die Plattform, we strongly
suggest that dealing with this becomes a priority. As we said, three of
us spent time in Palestine this summer and would happily enter into a
longer term dialogue with you about this. Below are our major objections
to the piece.

Missing the Point
We are witnessing a genocide against the Palestinian people. It is a
genocide that is the direct product of the settler colonial project of
Zionism, under the leadership of a state which is increasingly showing
fascist tendencies. This project is directly propped up by hegemonic
imperial interests. These are unequivocally the most important facts.
Unless something has been lost in translation, your article contains no
mention of genocide against Palestinians, colonialism, zionism or
fascism and only the most fleeting mention of imperialism. This is a
very serious problem. It is crucial to acknowledge the violence and
unspeakable sadness that has been experienced by both Israelis and
Palestinians since the 7th of October. But without locating the recent
events within this frame of imperialism, colonialism and (more recently)
fascism, you completely obscure both the potential risks and the
underlying power dynamics of the situation.

However, it goes further than this; the blatant imbalance in emotive
language that you have chosen to use when describing the suffering that
has happened on both sides is shocking. When talking about the
casualties on the Israeli side you refer to them as "old people,
parents, young adults, children", the Palestinian side you refer to
simply as "civilians". The word "helpless" is used twice to describe the
Israeli population and not once to describe the Palestinian population.
The description that you offer about the situation in Gaza does not come
close to the horror being experienced there. Lacing this tepidness with
phrases such as "what exactly is happening is difficult to say with
certainty through the fog of war" is despicable. There is no fog to look
through. The genocide is being shown by Palestinian witnesses,
journalists and international organisations, as well as streamed live by
Israeli soldiers and announced by Israeli politicians and army generals
celebrating their own war crimes. They are bombing hospitals, targeting
ambulances and rescue teams, abducting doctors, torturing prisoners,
shooting down refugees and displaced people. It is a genocide. While
reading your sentence referenced above, we truly wished we could find an
explanation for it other than the cowardice of someone who does not wish
to see a reality that conflicts with their own preconceptions and in
doing so parrots the narrative of the oppressor. Either way the effect
is the same - another stone removed from the path of the fascists. The
disparity of emotive language has been a key tactic of the mainstream
media to distort understanding of the situation, making your assertion
to "stand against the propaganda of the bourgeois press" laughable.

Mis-characterisation of the October 7th attack
The fundamental characterisation of the October 7th attack as an
antisemitic attack rather than an anti-colonial one is extremely
ignorant. It is undoubtedly true that antisemitism is present in the
ranks of Hamas (and it is the responsibility of progressive forces in
Palestine to challenge this, and the responsibility of internationalists
to support those progressive forces). But to claim that it was this that
drove the attack, and not the century of unspeakable injustices and
indignities at the hands of the colonial regime, is delusional.

The historical context that you have chosen to situate the October 7th
attack in is the Holocaust. It is undeniably one of the darkest episodes
in human history, but the emotive effect of mentioning it here - when
its analytical use is clearly minimal - can only be to silence (or at
least diminish) real dissent to the Israeli colonial regime. The fact
that you have chosen to mention this genocide and not the Nakba of 48
(perpetrated by the exact same forces that exist in Israel today) - is
evidence that trying to develop a serious and historical analysis of the
contemporary situation is not a priority for you. We agree with your
condemnation of the German politicians' rhetorical misuse of their own
history, but accuse you of the same.

As we know all too well, anarchist solidarity with the Palestinian
resistance is complicated and by no means easy - especially given the
increasing hegemony of authoritarian forces (partially due to Israel's
own actions to bolster these as a way to undermine the leftist
resistance). We too, are worried about this, and are especially
concerned with the increasing support for the Iranian regime. A critique
of Hamas from a revolutionary anarcho-communist position is crucial. But
it cannot come before a recognition of the fact that the Palestinians
are a colonised people and their fight for self-determination must be
supported. This does not mean we have to support all their methods. The
authoritarianism, patriarchy, and some of the violent tactics of Hamas,
as we are sure we would all agree, are morally deplorable. This analysis
must be maintained but it cannot precede or obscure our calls for an end
to the colonial regime. Furthermore, it should not manifest in
solidarity with the settler-colonial population, but rather a solidarity
with the forces in Palestine that stand for people's power. Again we
acknowledge that this is difficult in Palestine at the moment, but it is
not impossible, and not attempting to keep in accordance with this
position, will always end in a reactionary analysis.

It is also crucial to remember the milieu into which you project your
analysis. It is common knowledge that the German left has serious
problems with Palestinian solidarity. This massively increases your
responsibility, as principled anarchists, to emphasise the legitimacy of
the Palestinian struggle for liberation, and only to deal afterwards
with the problematics of its actors. We are shocked this is not obvious.

Shallow understanding of colonialism
To extend your solidarity to the Israeli population, reveals an
extremely shallow understanding of colonial dynamics. Some of the
victims of the October 7th attacks were Israeli peace activists, and
even those who weren't did not deserve to be killed as they were. As
anarchists, we feel anguish and anger for every human life that is lost
due to the structures of domination and exploitation we live in,
including when that violence befalls the people benefiting from those
structures. We can express these feelings. But extending solidarity to
the whole "Israeli civilian population" and to the "Palestinian civilian
population" equally, as if they were both victims of a conflict between
comparable sides, is in our view a symptom of a failure to understand
colonialism and apartheid. Here by 'comparable' we do not refer to
military strength, or even to the scale of suffering  -- although the
latter surely is important and revealing -- but to the opposing
political and moral positions. At this very moment large swathes of
'civilian' Israeli citizens, take part in the theft of Palestinian land,
as anyone who has experience in the West Bank will know. The non-army
settler population contain large amounts of armed militants who harass
Palestinians on their fields and in their villages, who assault and
sometimes kill Palestinians, all with near-complete legal impunity and
often while being protected by the regular army. But whether or not an
Israeli citizen takes part in this active colonisation, every Israeli
living on stolen land is a part of the colonial project. The violence
suffered by Israelis is the horrible, tragic result of the colonialism
and ethnic cleansing of the zionist project - which the small population
of Israeli peace activists have not yet been able to stop, and the rest
of Israeli society facilitates, takes part in, and benefits from.

The violence perpetrated by the colonisers and the violence perpetrated
by the colonised are qualitatively different, and to your credit you
(quietly) acknowledge this by recognizing that "violent and armed
resistance[is]morally justified". The violence suffered by the
colonisers and that suffered by the colonised are equally different. We
believe that solidarity to the whole colonising population -- especially
one that is worded exactly as the solidarity extended to the colonised
population -- is unwarranted.

As for all other cases of colonialism and brutal apartheid that have
marked history, "both-ways" solidarity to the colonisers and the
colonised is indefensible. The examples from the past are too many to
consider -- every single anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggle that
we can think of has resulted in the (usually deliberate) killing of
civilians belonging to the settler population -- so we will give only one.

During the bloody slave rebellions that saw enslaved black people rise
up against their oppressors in Virginia, unarmed whites, including
children, were also butchered. Of course, the revolts were then crushed
with extreme violence and dire consequences -- including collective
punishment and escalating torture -- for the whole enslaved population.
No anarchist (or precursor of anarchism) could have extended solidarity
to the entire white population of Virginia -- even phrasing this
solidarity exactly alike the solidarity granted to the enslaved people
--  and still called themselves abolitionist. And to our knowledge, no
serious abolitionist did.

We are allowed to express our pain, anger and condolences for any death,
as well as the rage we feel for the unjust killing of those who were
undoubtedly innocent. But this pain cannot be divorced from a thorough
analysis of the different moral and political positions at play, which
can only bring us to one conclusion: the root cause of the October 7th
attack is the oppression, the colonialism, the apartheid. Our grief can
go to anyone. Our solidarity must go to the oppressed.

Similarly calling for a solidarity between the Israeli working class and
the Palestinian working class is evidence of a lack of understanding.
These sort of copy and paste solutions to national liberation struggles
are extremely unhelpful, if it not coupled with an actual understanding
of the situation. As has been comprehensively analysed in numerous
places (for example, Not an Ally, The Israeli Working Class by Daphna
Thier), the Israeli labouring class, have been a crucial tool of the
settler colonial project, and are, in the majority of cases, its most
ardent supporters. On a theoretical level, there is simply no material
solidarity of interests between the Indigenous Palestinian population
and the labouring classes in Israel who are often direct beneficiaries
of the primitive accumulation that comes from the constant land theft.
On a historical level, the main union in early zionist days, MAPAM was
one of the biggest feeders of the racist militias Haganah, who were a
crucial rung of early genocidal pushes by the regime. On top of that
there has never been a single episode of Israeli strike action to
challenge the racist nature of the Israeli regime - national loyalties
have always triumphed over class loyalties and there is absolutely no
evidence that this is likely to change (the contemporary mass base of
the far right parties are the Israeli working class). Lastly, with the
waves of austerity that swept Israel, the war economy and particularly
the IDF is the most significant way that the working class benefit from
large amounts of military aid that is poured into Israel by the imperial
powers. Meaning that their interests are directly tied to the
maintenance of the occupation. To paraphrase Thier, given these
realities, it is like calling for solidarity between prisoners and
prison guards.

Lastly, the consistent position for anarchists and anti-authoritarians
in the imperial core is to be supportive of the political currents that
most resemble our own in other contexts. This is something that die
Plattform have been vocal about, and so we are curious why that does not
extend to Israel and Palestine. There are anarchists and
anti-authoritarians in both Gaza, the West Bank and within the borders
of 48, and a number of them risk their lives on a daily basis against
the the colonial regime. The tone and analysis in this article (which
doesn't even once mention colonialism!) is worlds away from the way they
understand the situation. In fact, it was anarchist Israeli comrades who
asked again and again for us to make clear the distinction between
antisemitism and anti-zionism - by not doing this, your statement not
only disrespects their work, but contributes to the risk that they face
on a daily basis. It is crucial that you deal with this blindspot.

Misplaced analysis of antisemitism
You are correct in pointing out that antisemitic attacks are on the
rise. This is a cause of serious concern and should be emphasised. It is
our duty as anti-racists and anti-fascists to fight against this.
However, it is extremely clear that by far the biggest cause of this
rise is the fascist right and not those struggling for Palestinian
liberation (even if some of the far right adopt the rhetoric of
Palestinian liberation, though it is far more common for them to be
adopting pro-zionist, islamophobic positions). To blur the two
relatively distinct contexts undermines our ability to successfully deal
with the far-right and erodes the popular legitimacy that the
Palestinian cause deserves.

To reiterate the earlier point, there is nothing more important that
emphasising the difference between antisemitism, which is akin to
racism, and anti-zionism which is akin to a rejection of the colonial
project. Clarity on this point is what both Palestinian and Israeli
comrades are asking of us, as the purposeful confusion around it has
been, and continues to be, one of the most effective ways that the
Israeli state has avoided responsibility for its crimes. In Palestine we
were told by a Palestinian comrade that the most important thing we
could do for their cause is (1) to argue their case in our own countries
and (2) to fight antisemitism in our own countries. It is the historical
and present day threat to Jewish existence in Europe that the largest
component of the propaganda used to justify colonisation of Palestinian
land. We cannot accept that Jewish people need Israel to be safe. Jews
must be safe everywhere. If this is not an understanding that die
Plattform has internally, we would suggest it as a first starting point.

In the final section, where you point to tangible actions for people to
take, you suggest reaching out to and making contact with synagogues.
This is of course good work and should be encouraged. Unless there is
something that we have really not understood though, the fact that there
is no mention of mosques honestly borders on active islamophobia. There
is not a genocide of Jewish people happening right now, there is a
genocide happening to the people of Palestine - the vast majority of
whom are Muslims. We simply don't understand why you would not suggest
reaching out to Muslim communities, partly because some of them will
likely be from Palestine, and partly because that is where a lot of the
organising for the Palestine solidarity movement is happening. To
reiterate our earlier point, a broader political analysis also points to
the fact that it is racialised islamophobia, and not antisemitism that
is the current focus of all the largest contemporary far right
movements. Islamophobia of course uses the language of "muslims" but
targets non-muslim people of South West Asian and North African descent
as well. It is crucial to add that in the UK people have been arrested
for holding signs in Arabic, Arab students have been called terrorists
and come under anti-terror policing for supporting Palestine. Not
materially extending your solidarity to the Palestinian diaspora or the
Muslim/SWANA community in times like these really calls into question
your anarchist principles. Again, to reiterate, we are not making the
case that we should stop emphasising the importance of combatting
antisemitism, but to do that at the expense of combatting the colonial
zionist project and contemporary islamophobic tendencies is very dangerous.

What really distinguishes revolutionary organisations from reactionary
ones is their capacity to accurately discern who is the oppressed and
who is the oppressor - and to act accordingly. This article contains no
evidence that die Plattform is able/willing to do this.

We acknowledge that this report was the product of consensus in a
nationwide organisation, with such a problematic national discourse on
the subject, we do not underestimate how difficult the process of
putting it together must have been. But if a specific anarchist
organisation does not hold actively anti-racist and anti-colonial
positions then we suggest that changing this internal culture becomes an
overwhelming priority for the time and resources of its members. If not
it means that your path to liberation will involve stepping on the
bodies of other oppressed peoples.

In the introductory paragraph you asked for our "solidarity,
constructive criticism and feedback". Here we have offered you our
constructive (we hope) criticism and feedback, but at this stage we
cannot offer our solidarity, as this statement is a victory for Israel
and its colonial project.

We know die Plattform is full of good comrades and good analysis, we
urge you to cut out this violent blind spot. While we do not have these
contacts ourselves, we encourage you to reach out to anarchist
Palestinian comrades such as the organisation Fauda. In turn we are
happy to help in terms of arranging contact with other Palestinian
progressive forces as well as Israeli anarchist comrades, recommending
resources and keeping channels of communication open.

We look forward to your reply.

Jack, Carl & Pietro.

https://libcom.org/article/our-grief-can-go-anyone-our-solidarity-must-go-oppressed-anarchists-palestine-and-october
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca