Activism

Open letter to progressives: The ADL is not an ally

100+ racial, economic, and social justice organizations issue an open letter encouraging community institutions to rethink their relationships to the ADL

We are writing to ask you to reconsider the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as a partner in social justice work.

Many organizations in our communities find themselves in spaces with the ADL, using its anti-bias education materials, or counting on the ADL to support our political goals. In light of a growing understanding of the ADL’s harmful practices, many progressive groups are rethinking those relationships.

Even though the ADL is integrated into community work on a range of issues, it has a history and ongoing pattern of attacking social justice movements led by communities of color, queer people, immigrants, Muslims, Arabs, and other marginalized groups, while aligning itself with police, right-wing leaders, and perpetrators of state violence. More disturbing, it has often conducted those attacks under the banner of “civil rights.” This largely unpublicized history has come increasingly to light as activists work to make sense of the ADL’s role in condemning the Movement for Black Lives, Palestinian rights organizing, and Congressional Representative Ilhan Omar, among others.

We are deeply concerned that the ADL’s credibility in some social justice movements and communities is precisely what allows it to undermine the rights of marginalized communities, shielding it from criticism and accountability while boosting its legitimacy and resources. Even when it may seem that our work is benefiting from access to some resources or participation from the ADL, given the destructive role that it too often plays in undermining struggles for justice, we believe that we cannot collaborate with the ADL without betraying our movements.

This primer lays out some of the ADL’s practices. We hope this can open conversations about this important issue.

Signed,

American Friends Service Committee
American Muslims for Palestine
Arab Resource & Organizing Center
Asian American Advocacy Fund
Black Alliance for Just Immigration
Black and Pink, Inc.
Causa Justa: Just Cause
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Political Education
Christian Peacemaker Teams
Council on American-Islamic Relations
Critical Resistance
Democratic Socialists of America
Detention Watch Network
Dream Defenders
DRUM – Desis Rising Up & Moving
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Highlander Research and Education Center
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
Jewish Voice for Peace
Jews Against Anti-Muslim Racism
Jews for Racial & Economic Justice
MADRE
MediaJustice
Methodist Federation for Social Action
Mijente
Movement for Black Lives
Movement Law Lab
Muslim American Society
National Lawyers Guild
National Students for Justice in Palestine
New York Collective of Radical Educators
No Dakota Access Pipeline Global Solidarity Campaign
Palestine Legal
Palestinian Youth Movement
Project South
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid
Rising Tide North America
School of the Americas Watch
South Asian Americans Leading Together
Southerners on New Ground
Stop LAPD Spying Coalition
Teachers 4 Social Justice
The Red Nation
United We Dream
US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
US Palestinian Community Network
Veterans for Peace
War Resisters League

A full list of signatories can be found here.

Sign your organization on to the letter here.

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How could anyone ever have mistaken the ADL as a ‘progressive’ ally?

Of course the ADL is no ally to “progressives” of any stripe. This brings to mind an article that Phil wrote in June:

“George Floyd killing highlights issue of US police training in Israel …… Much of the criticism focuses on a yearly counter-terrorism seminar in Israel that looks to be a police junket paid for by the Anti-Defamation League, which has trained hundreds of US law enforcement officers.

Lincoln Anthony Blades wrote about the ADL training in Teen Vogue in 2018, in the wake of the Mike Brown killing in Ferguson in 2014 and the clampdown on protesters.

Three years before the Ferguson protests, Tim Fitch — the chief of the very same St. Louis County Police Department responsible for firing teargas at activists and concerned citizens — had flown to Israel to receive training from Israeli police, intelligence, and military in a weeklong course on terrorism-focused policing.

That training was organized by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which has conducted its National Counter-Terrorism Seminar in Israel since 2004. The seminar, which is focused on riot suppression, counterinsurgency, and counterterrorism, attracts a variety of attendees, including local police, immigration-enforcement agencies, and even campus police.

The Anti-Defamation League’s role is of special interest because it has lately described George Floyd’s killing as a “murder,” and called for Americans to address a “racist” system here. “[S]ystemic injustice and inequality calls for systemic change,” its director, Jonathan Greenblatt, writes. “Now.” …”

https://mondoweiss.net/2020/06/george-floyd-killing-highlights-issue-of-us-police-training-in-israel/

Remember Bassem Masri? He died.

Bassem Masri, 31, a Palestinian-American activist who live-streamed throughout the protests against police brutality and the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, has died. Reports of his death circulated on social media on Tuesday, with other prominent activists and journalists offering condolences and memories about the man, who was known for his strong, outspoken beliefs, and his thoughtful conversation.”

https://www.thecut.com/2018/11/another-ferguson-protester-bassem-masri-has-died.html

So, here it all gets tied up like a pretty package and comes home to roost~ it happens all the time to Palestinians, courtesy of the IOF:

“After the protests, lingering trauma: the scars of ‘non-lethal’ weapons
Dozens of protesters sustained serious injuries from teargas, rubber bullets and stun grenades, used by police to disperse crowds during the George Floyd protests

… It was a warm evening, a few hours before the 8pm curfew set in. The crowd advanced toward a bridge leading to the university where Stevenson, 25, had recently graduated from with a Masters of international development. He linked arms with two other protesters and together, they made their way to the front.
Stevenson had attended several other protests throughout the week where police presence had been minimal. This was different. As he approached the bridge, Stevenson saw demonstrators retreating from the front line, their faces covered with milk to alleviate teargas burn. Once on the bridge, he counted 20 police vehicles and in front of them, officers in riot gear. The crowd began to chant, “Hands up Don’t Shoot.”

Without warning, a stun grenade launched over Stevenson’s left shoulder. He watched it explode over the crowd and then heard a pop – his head jerked backwards. He reached instinctively for his face. His eyebrow, his nose, his cheekbone had become soft and compressed, like a hard-boiled egg cracked with a teaspoon.

Blinded, Stevenson stumbled to the back of the protest and sat down on a curb, blood dribbling from his eye socket. He was sweating, terrified. He kept touching his face, which was covered in a jelly-like substance. “I’ve lost my eye,” he thought to himself. “This is my worst nightmare.” …”

much more @- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/12/george-floyd-protests-lingering-trauma-non-lethal-weapons-scars

“as activists work to make sense of the ADL’s role in condemning the Movement for Black Lives”
It’s very simple. The ADL’s prime mission is fighting anti-semitism. With Black Lives Matter being riddled with anti-semitism it is pretty evident to the ADL to not be endorsing them.