Columbia student representatives from a wide array of organizations show their support for a divestment campaign (Photo courtesy of Columbia SJP)
The current and future battle over the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement will be decided by America’s changing demographic face. That much is clear from divestment campaigns on California campuses and the recent back-and-forth over Alicia Keys’ July 4 concert in Israel.
This was a point touched on in a smart piece in Haaretz by Simone Zimmerman, a recent graduate of the University of California (UC), Berkeley and the president of J Street U’s national board. “When I arrived as a freshman at UC Berkeley ready to defend Israel, I expected to do so in alliance with other minority communities on campus,” writes Zimmeran in a piece titled “Blind Israel advocacy will lose to BDS.” But there was a hitch to Zimmerman’s expectation of what minority communities would say about Israel:
I did not anticipate standing on one side of a room among Jewish students opposite a diverse pro-BDS coalition of progressive Christians, Muslims, Jews, Arabs, and other allies. Nonetheless, that reality defined much of my experience as a pro-Israel student on campus when I advocated multiple times against divestment resolutions that charged Israel as a ruthless occupier.
Indeed, on California campuses across the state, the pro-divestment campaigns worked in concert with a wide and diverse variety of activists–queer groups, black groups, Latino groups and more. As student activist Rahim Kurwa notes in his review of recent divestment campaigns, this coalition was crucial to the successful drive at UC San Diego that pushed the student government to recommend divestment:
They were supported by 16 student organizations, ranging from the Mexican and Chicano Students Association to Asian Pacific Student Alliance, the local chapter of the graduate union, the Black Student Union, and the Coalition of South Asian Peoples…
At Santa Barbara, the process of organizing around the bill produced a list of 30 endorsing groups and beautiful expressions of solidarity across struggles. Moving statements were read by students of color, whose experiences of colonialism, displacement, imperialism and racism were knit together in solidarity with the Palestinian call for divestment.
The Palestine solidarity groups on campus were continuing work that was first solidified when M.E.Ch.A. (Movimiento Estudiantil ChÃican@ de Aztlán), a large Latino youth association, endorsed the BDS movement in 2012. This type of coalition-building has continued as Palestine solidarity and Latino groups make connections between militarization on the U.S.-Mexico border and the separation barrier in the West Bank. And if Palestine solidarity groups want to spread their message far and wide, the Latino community is ground zero for that effort.
The black community, too, has seen battles over BDS break out. Alice Walker’s letter to Alicia Keys urging her to boycott Israel–an effort that was unsuccessful, as Keys is set to perform there tomorrow–sparked media coverage of BDS in black publications like The Grio. Walker’s letter was followed up by a wide array of prominent black activists likewise urging Keys not to perform and saying that the conditions Palestinians live under are similar to Jim Crow in the American South.
It’s tough to tell how much support there is for BDS in these communities. The movement hasn’t yet reached a critical mass where it’s a hot topic of conversation for political and civic groups in those communities, though on campuses, it appears that non-white groups are firmly in the BDS camp.
But the battle over hearts and minds is raging now, and Israel lobby groups recognize that. As the Jewish Daily Forward’s Nathan Guttman reported in March 2012, AIPAC has aggressively organized an “outreach effort” to make the group a home to “many non-Jewish supporters of Israel,” like “Christian evangelicals, African Americans, [and] Latinos.” Other Israel advocacy groups will likely take their cues from AIPAC on this front. And as Robin Kelley, a black professor at UCLA, recently noted, the black group Vanguard Leadership Group has taken shots at Students for Justice in Palestine.
The United States is expected to have a non-white majority by mid-century. So the future of many political questions, including BDS, will increasingly be decided among non-white communities. The battle over Palestine in these communities is just getting started. Both sides of the debate recognize that.
What was that pro-Israel thinktank that advocated Zionists cozy up to artists and minorities and inculcate them with pro-Israel propaganda?
And as Robin Kelley, a black professor at UCLA, recently noted, the black group Vanguard Leadership Group has taken shots at Students for Justice in Palestine.
of course! according to the Birmingham Jewish Federation VLG’s co founder Darius Jones works for aipac:
additional 2011 link on aipac’s vanguard group here:
https://mondoweiss.mystagingwebsite.com/2011/04/truth-matters-the-vanguard-leadership-group-is-wrong.html
and for some history of just how entrenched VLG is with aipac do not miss VLG’s founding members: Darius Jones & Jarrod Jordon speech @- AIPAC Policy Conference 2009
”The United States is expected to have a non-white majority by mid-century. ”
According to census demographic projections Hispanics will be the dominate non white group.. …in 2010 they were in a dead heat — 50 mil to 55 mil– with black americans in the population.
Hispanics could have much the same effect on the US as the great Irish immigrant wave had …there are some group similarties there in their immigrant attitudes and expectations imo.
I see some postives in this.
RE: “And if Palestine solidarity groups want to spread their message far and wide, the Latino community is ground zero for that effort.” ~ Alex Kane
MY COMMENT: That’s one of the reasons Haim Saban bought Univision. He is using it to disseminate Spanish-language hasbara.
ONE EXAMPLE: “Latino stars explore Israel, stun Dominican fans”, By Leeror Bronis, Times Of Israel, 6/10/13
ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.timesofisrael.com/latino-stars-explore-israel-stun-dominican-fans/
Alicia Keyes might want to see this:
“The U.S.-funded Alhurra network said Thursday that one of its cameramen was interrogated and strip-searched by Israeli security men while covering a July 4 party at the U.S. ambassador’s residence near Tel Aviv.
The Arab satellite channel had coordinated with the Israeli prime minister’s office to cover the event on behalf of the international media. But when cameraman Samer Jallad arrived, he said he was detained for questioning, ordered to remove his shoes and sit in the sun for more than half an hour, and then taken to a room where he was forced to remove his pants for a body inspection. He said he was held for more than 90 minutes before he was permitted to enter.
It was the latest in a string of incidents in which Israeli security have used heavy-handed tactics against Arab journalists, a practice Israel has defended as necessary for security. Jallad, who said he has covered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on many occasions, is a Palestinian from east Jerusalem who holds full Israeli residency rights and has a government-issued press card.
The Foreign Press Association, which represents international media in Israel, called on the U.S. Embassy to condemn the incident.
“We find it especially shameful that a staffer of a U.S.-funded network would be the victim of racial profiling at an official U.S. event celebrating American Independence Day,” the FPA said. “Such treatment goes against the core values of freedom and equality that the U.S. seeks to uphold.”
The embassy and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office had no immediate comment.”
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/israelis-strip-search-arab-journalist-us-party-19581321#.UdXUMW0uevk
Something stinks to high, high heaven.