Dorothy Zellner was 22 years old when she joined the staff of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, in Atlanta Georgia. She recruited student volunteers for the Freedom Summer Project in 1964 and helped design the logo for the Black Panthers, in 1966. Dorothy has been active in feminist movements and the Palestine solidarity movement for many years.
Phil Weiss, founder and senior editor of Mondoweiss spoke to Dorothy recently. This wide ranging conversation covers the threat of fascist movements here in the United States, the importance of organizing for Palestinian liberation within Jewish communities, and the backlash that Jews can face in their own families for criticizing Israel.
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Articles and Links mentioned in the show
- Profile of Dorothy Zellner at the SNCC Digital Gateway site
- Dorothy Zellner oral history interview (video)
- From Mississippi to Gaza — Dorothy Zellner reflects on 50 years of struggle, Phil Weiss
- Hillel’s segregated lunch counter, Phil Weiss
- Palestinian citizens of Israel hold the key — Zellner, Phil Weiss
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Palestine in the Elizabethan Era: Will Britain Atone for Its Sinful Policies – Palestine Chronicle
“Palestine in the Elizabethan Era: Will Britain Atone for Its Sinful Policies? The Palestine Chronicle, Sept. 16/22, by Prof. Illan Pappe
EXCERPT:
“While millions of people in Britain & around the world cannot stop singing the praises of the late Queen as a paragon of moderation, sensibility, & common sense, quite a few of the people who were colonized during her reign, or were second-rate subjects in Britain itself, took a far more complex view on her 70 years of rule.
“Of course, the Queen was not the chief policy maker in all these 70 years, but symbolically, any decision taken was after all Her Majesty’s Government’s decision, for good or for worse. So, indeed, we can all agree that an era has to come to an end, & this is always a good time for reflection & summation. From this perspective, I would like to revisit Palestine in that era, more specifically the British policy towards Palestine & its impact.
“Queen Elizabeth’s rule began after the Nakba. Therefore, the disgraceful British behavior that allowed the 1948 Israeli ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians belongs to the period when her father was the king of the United Kingdom. Elizabeth began her time on the throne when the Conservative Party bounced back after a surprise defeat in the 1945 elections to Labour that were ruling Britain during the time of the Nakba & carried direct responsibility for its occurrence.
“When the Conservatives came back first under Winston Churchill & then under Antony Eden, another shameful chapter in Britain’s relationship with Palestine & the Arab world was written by Her Majesty’s Government. Britain colluded with France & Israel to try & topple Gamal Abdul Nasser &, on the way, fully endorsed the intransigent Israeli refusal to allow the Palestinian refugees to return, a rejection that was followed by a shoot-to-kill policy towards the Palestinian refugees trying to retrieve their crops, husbandry & whatever else was left after the Israeli pillage of the Palestine countryside in 1948.” (cont’d)
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“The Labour Party, in the period between the Nakba & the Naksa (the June 1967 war), was most of the time in opposition, but was the most loyal ally of Israel, on a level unimaginable even today. An alliance that also included the Trade Union Council (TUC), which, together with other leading socialists, turned a blind eye to the suffering of the 48 Arabs under a cruel military rule, based on colonialist British emergency regulations that bred, among other atrocities, the Kafr Qassem massacre in 1956, preceded by the massacre of the village of Qibya before that, & in the village of Samu’ after that.
“In those days, a new outfit was established, The Labour Friends of Israel, which became a pillar in the pro-Israeli lobby in Britain, already quite well established as a pro-Zionist lobby since 1900, the year the fourth Zionist Congress convened in London & launched the building of a powerful lobby, which brought about the Balfour Declaration & the British commitment to hand over Palestine to the Zionist movement at the expense of the indigenous people of Palestine.
“At that period, two processes began that were crucial for providing a shield of immunity around Israel, which would allow it, until today, to continue the policies of colonization & dispossession in Palestine, without fear of international rebuke or condemnation.
“The first was the full recruitment of respectful Anglo-Jewish institutions, which in theory were meant to look after the concerns of the Anglo-Jewish community, to the Zionist, & later Israeli cause. The most important of them was the Board of Deputies, which transformed from being the parliament of the British Jews into an Israeli embassy.
“The second process was a close association between a successful political career within the Labour party & membership in the Labour Friends of Israel. Being a friend of Israel could get you very far in the party.
“The Elizabethan landscape changed after June 1967. It was more difficult to sell to the British public the Israeli mini-empire as a poor David fighting the Arab Goliath. A fundamental shift in the attitude of the rank & file in all the political parties occurred after 1967 & in response to the re-emergence of the Palestinian liberation movement…”