This interview was conducted with several members of the Israeli
anarchist group anarchyin48. You can find the group on Instagram. ----Tell us about anarchyin48 and how your group started? ---- We are still
not an official kind of group. For now, we are just a few anarchists
with hopes and dreams of creating something like the[anarchist communist
group]"Ahdut" that was in Israel/Palestine a few years ago. ---- One of
our comrades created this page on Instagram along with another page of
anarchist memes. They started uploading photos of them from the demo
waving anarcho-communist flags. We also participate in other left-wing
groups such as Food not bombs, Standing Together and the Fauda movement
in Palestine.
We met with some friends, some of whom were or are in radical movements,
and we decided that anarchists in Israel should unite and work together.
That's why we decided to start publishing anarchist content in the media
and come to demonstrations with flags. Gradually, other small groups of
activists are formed.
How do you feel about the calls to boycott Standing Together as an
organization that supports the "normalization" of Israel?
It is really a problem that Standing Together does not have a clear
position on Zionism. It is part of their desire to be a popular
organization. Shamefully, this has led to the "normalization" of
Zionism. People abroad don't know that there is also post-Zionism and
not just Zionism or anti-Zionism, many on the Israeli left are
post-Zionists, meaning they want Israel to exist, but not as a Jewish
state. In my opinion, post-Zionism tries to eat the cake and leave it
untouched, because being "another Israel" it cannot be Israel, because
the essence of Israel is Zionism.
How would you describe the ethnic and religious backgrounds of the
people who make up anarchyin48? How do these backgrounds influence your
activism?
We are mostly atheists; we have Mizrahi and Ashkenazi. Many of us are
Jews from the countries of the former USSR, so they know communism and
anarchism. We also have some Palestinian members who are against Zionism
and authoritarianism and think that this region must have something new
that is not fundamentalist or statist. One of the members adds: I grew
up in a religious Jewish home and left the religion after a while. I
grew up in a religiously conservative and fascist environment and this
influenced and shaped my views, which are very much against this way.
What does daily organizing look like? What are your priorities?
For now, we just go to protests against the genocide in Gaza, wave
anarchist flags together and take pictures with censored faces. But we
have plans when we have more people, like creating our own block at the
protests and communicating with more anarchists and anti-authoritarian
leftists in the country.
For now, it is about reaching as many organizations/individuals as
possible and cooperating with them, inviting them to demonstrations
against occupation and war, establishing contact with them and
organizing events. We also work on a telegram channel called mash'hirot
, through which we spread radical content and expose the public to
anarchist views.
What is the landscape of anarchist groups around Israel? Are you
networked with anarchist groups like Radical Haifa?
We are not affiliated with Radical Haifa, but one of us knows a founder
who says he is no longer active (although as individuals they are still
doing what they can). For now, we just bring flags and come to protests
organized by the radical bloc. To look the occupation in the eye and
stand together. We are also in contact with Kompas.
Unfortunately, most of the anarchists here are not activists because
they are very tired and usually have their own personal problems, but
there are still some anarchist activists among the radical left here,
which are also very sparse. I would say that 1% of Israelis are
non-Zionists, and that is very bad, although there are organizations
like the Communist Party and some NGOs like Zochrot . There is also a
local punk scene that is associated with anarchism and anti-fascism.
Are you in contact with any Palestinian groups, anarchist or otherwise?
Yes, we have many Palestinian comrades and friends. Some of us are even
members of Palestinian organizations that welcome anti-Zionist Jews,
such as Fauda.[Fauda is an anarchist movement in Palestine that is more
insurgent than communist.]
We establish connections with other organizations and groups. Currently,
due to the situation, there is not much anarchist activity in Israel,
and especially not among the Palestinians. The state is silent and
persecutes them. That is why they are not so active these days. We make
connections with those we do, we try to unify them all.
How did October 7 affect the conversations going on in radical circles
around Israel? Did it strengthen or weaken the movement?
The Hamas attack made it so terrible. The general political opinion of
the country shifted a lot to the right and it broke the "resistance"
that was there against the government. (They were mostly liberals, so I
don't know if that really counts). Yet the real ones are still as
anti-Zionist and anti-war as ever.
The Gaza uprising could be so good if it didn't involve such war crimes.
Today, it is harder than ever to convince Israelis to stop believing in
Zionism. We lost people who died in this attack and we also lost people
ideologically. Once they were all so radical and revolutionary and now
many of them have become average Zionist rightists. Of course, those of
us who haven't changed our minds blame it all on the Israeli entity and
have decided that we as anarchists should be united today more than ever.
It's hard for anyone who doesn't support the war, but for us it was just
the beginning. Because of this situation, we have decided that it is
time to act and unite. So we started initiating meetings and events and
that's how the group started.
How widespread do you think non-Zionist or anti-Zionist sentiment is in
Israel and how are these views suppressed by the government?
Anti-Zionism is really, really unpopular. We are literally a minority of
minorities. There are barely a thousand of us and we are very, very
weak. The Zionist regime is so dictatorial that it always sanctions us.
I do not think that in the next few years the Israeli police will
tolerate any outright anti-Zionist demonstration. People who publicly
speak out against Zionism face problems when trying to find work.
The government is stalking Facebook or Instagram accounts and even
firing Palestinians who express grief over the killings in Gaza. Of
course, they also try to silence and deplatform anti-Zionist Jews. This
has become an illegitimate view for most people in Israel.
What do you think of those like Tal Mitnich who refuse to fight in the
Israel Defense Forces?
We have a lot of respect for him and other rejects.
Some of our members may not agree with their pacifist leanings, but we
still really respect them, especially these days because there is a
consensus on "defense of the fatherland". At least the naysayers have a
conscience, while most Israelis support the genocide.
How do you hope the conflict will be resolved in the short and long term?
Members have different opinions. Some believe in a short-term truce and
a long-term joint anarchist revolution in Israel, the West Bank and
Gaza. One commented that he thinks we need to create a joint people's
militia for both nations to protect them from the Zionists and Hamas
instead of continued bloodshed.
As anarchists, what is your vision for the future of the region for both
Palestinians and Israelis?
We wish for a multicultural, decentralized space in Palestine like
Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan/Northeastern Syria).
We want Arabs and Jews to live here in solidarity, but because the
Palestinians live under an oppressive regime that takes everything from
them and expels them, the struggle becomes more difficult.
Some members might say that we must allow the Palestinians to establish
their own state or live in a binational state. It's complicated because
as anarchists we have an overall vision of a shared society based on
solidarity that exists without the need for government. But right now
the Israeli regime is committing so many injustices and murders that we
have no choice but to cooperate with the Palestinian struggle as it
exists and hope to create other Jewish-Arab anarchist movements later.
How can anarchists abroad support your cause and those suffering in Gaza
and the West Bank? Are there organizations that you think people should
donate funds to?
Anarchists around the world can help us by spreading our message and the
struggles we are participating in. Share about the anti-war protests in
Israel (specifically organized by The Radical Bloc) and follow our
account, like and share our posts. Anti-war protests in Israel are
barely known internationally, while literally no one knows about the
existence of anarchists here.
It's really important for us that people abroad see our struggle against
colonialism, just like the white South Africans who stood up against
apartheid even though they were settlers. There are many white American
leftists who oppose colonialism while they are real settlers just like
us, but many of them really hate us[because some of us are Israelis]and
we just don't understand them because there is no difference between
them.[settlers here and in the US].
https://anarchiste.org/rozhovor-s-cleny-izraelske-anarchisticke-skupiny-anarchyin48/
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