The Real Agenda of the New Student Left

The Real Agenda of the New Student Left
FrontPageMagazine.com | April 12, 2002
by Ronald Radosh

THE DEMONSTRATIONS THIS WEEK AT OUR NATION’S MAJOR CAMPUSES, described in The New York Times on April 8, mark the emergence of a new and dangerous student anti-war movement, one that seeks to confuse its audience by the rhetoric of peace and human rights, while in fact seeking to organize a new anti-capitalist and anti-Israel campus activism. It is truly a coalition of the leftover Left- a group seeking anxiously to create a new umbrella cause that they hope can be for their generation what Vietnam was for that of their parents.

It is clear that having had only limited success with organizing around domestic issues such as the movement for a "living wage," or calling for an end to "Third World sweatshops," the Israeli counteroffensive against terrorism--which by necessity is based on a military response to the brutal killing of innocent civilians--serves just that purpose. And by resurrecting the old and discredited shibboleths that "Zionism is racism" and that Israel is the moral equivalent of the apartheid regime in the old South Africa, they have what they regard as the perfect mechanism for achieving their ends.

Echoing the tactics of their elders, the movement got off to a large start at a prominently covered demonstration held at the front gates of the University of California, Berkeley on the April 9. The NBC television news commentator reported, as we might expect, that it was "reminiscent of the ‘60s." What better place to begin than the site made famous by the old Free Speech Movement that began the decade of student protest? What better attention-getter than taking over a campus building? Old tactics, it seems, still get the media’s attention. The Berkeley based group actually had its first National Conference in February, when they announced that they were "taking on the role of spearheading the movement against Israeli apartheid today." It was at this event that they had workshops on organizing, direct action, divestment, media activism, the "Right of Return," and solidarity with revolutionary groups in "Kashmir, Vieques, East Timor and the Philippines." They also made clear, for anyone who might have thought that peace was their goal, that the truth would be revealed in a panel on "The Myth of the ‘Peace Process.’" And if one failed to see the connection to their revolutionary politics, they scheduled one session on "Imperialism-Capitalism-Colonialism" and another on "US Militarism in the Middle East."

The fruits of their February effort occurred this past week. April 9 was what the campus Left called the "National Campus Day of Action for Palestinian Rights," and the day in which they announced their demand that universities disinvest in any firms that do business in or with Israel. The tactic, of course, is meant to emulate the actions taken by their predecessors in the 1980s, when the campus Left had great success in mobilizing against the apartheid regime in South Africa. In addition, in their effort to paint Israel as an imperialist Nazi-like nation, the educational work of the group focused on what they call "the 1948 massacre in the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin," which they refer to as "one in a series of ethnic cleansing operations conducted by Zionist militia." One would not know that the attack on Deir Yassin was not conducted by the Haganah, the official Jewish army during the Israeli war of 1948, but by the extreme right-wing "Stern gang," part of the Irgun, and was condemned by the Jewish leadership at the time. It was, historian Matthew Hogan writes, "a wartime tragedy of complex causation…during which an inept booty and morale-building raid by irregular Jewish fighters became an episode of prolonged slaughter and wanton abuse of Arab civilians." Hogan concludes that, "the weight of the available evidence is that neither the attack nor massacre was initiated by official Labor Zionist leadership, local or central…the Jewish Agency in Tel Aviv was taken by surprise and ultimately issued a public condemnation." One cannot, of course, find a link to Hogan’s thoughtful and accurate assessment in any of the solidarity group’s websites. (Hogan’s article appears in The Historian.) Interestingly enough, a website called "Boycott Israel Campaign" listing the corporations they seek to boycott is accompanied by a list of products to purchase, including the "Islamic Though CD-ROM," "Art of the Islamic Revolution," "Gems From the Holy Quran," and an "Islamic Sites Screensaver." The products are obviously a paid advertisement, and its inclusion on the site gives us a good indication of what sources are backing their effort.

Their next big action is scheduled for April 20, and once again, it is a March on Washington, combined with teach-ins, concerts, a stop the war rally at the Washington Monument (shades of Vietnam Moratorium) and a March to the Capitol, ending with another rally on the national Mall. And the since the March coincides with the annual national meeting of AIPAC (the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee), contingents will also march to the site of the AIPAC convention at the Washington, DC Hilton, where they will attempt to disrupt activities and draw the media’s attention to their protest against Israel and away from the sessions held by AIPAC.

The March’s key umbrella group, "Stop the War," is apparently a replica of the Vietnam era Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam, or MOBE, as it was then called. Its orientation is opposition to the war on terrorism, and the organizing committee’s preamble claims that America’s "democratic rights are being further eroded, hundreds of people have been ‘disappeared’ into jails and prisons, and corporate interests are shamelessly trying to use this crisis to their advantage." They ask the people to "rise up" and demand things like "an end to racial profiling" and military recruitment of "youth of color and working class youth," as well as an end to "secret imprisonment of immigrants," nothing, of course, about the danger of terrorism and what it has done to our country. Scheduled speakers include Al Sharpton, the volatile black leader in New York who threatens to run for President in the Democratic primary, and whose actions have given him major influence in Democratic Party circles. Also included in the roster is the ‘60s radical counsel Michael Ratner, the Catholic ‘60s activist Daniel Berrigan and Hussein Ibish, communications director of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee. Legal representation for those who expect to be arrested is to be handled by the old Communist front group, the National Lawyers Guild, and the DC Justice and Solidarity Collective, which they describe as a "radical legal team."

The participating anti-Israel coalition at the March is being organized by a group calling itself SUSTAIN--which stands for "Stop US Tax-funded Aid to Israel." Their activity begins with an "educational" meeting held at American University in Washington, DC, in which they will explain how "the Palestinian struggle for self determination" is "connected to the movements against capitalist globalization and the ‘war on terrorism.’" They are right. There is a connection. The same revolutionary militants who created the anti-globalism coalition are now turning their sights to condemnation of Israel, and are seeking to unite both forces in a new and more powerful movement. They also will have workshops on "National Liberation movements today," which singles out the nation of Colombia, where narco-terrorists operating under the guise of Marxism-Leninism are refusing to end one of the most vicious guerrilla movements. And the highlight of their event will be what they call "creative actions" against Ariel Sharon, who will be the featured speaker at the AIPAC conference. As they write: "Just when we thought there couldn’t possibly be any more reasons to take part in the …Washington, DC protests against the War--be it the war on ‘terrorism’ in Afghanistan, the drug war in Colombia, or the war on the poor being waged by the IMF and World Bank--AIPAC gave us another reason: they invited the war criminal Ariel Sharon to town." In case we don’t get the point, they add: "AIPAC’s annual conference brings together all the main forces of reaction and war…To have so many war criminals together at one event is too good an opportunity to pass up." Let us hope that the Washington Hilton will have the tightest security possible. If you have any doubts about who makes up SUSTAIN, the member groups include "The Anti-Capitalist Convergence," the DC Green Party, the International Socialist Organization, Queers for Racial and Economic Justice, the Nicaragua Network and, sadly, the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ. It seems that just as in the days of the Popular Front, when the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dean Hewlett Johnson (dubbed the "Red Dean") used the prestige of the Church to defend Stalin’s totalitarian dictatorship, some prelates today insist on following the same path.

A few weeks ago, the political theorist Michael Walzer asked, in a much discussed essay appearing in the Spring issue of Dissent magazine, whether or not there could be a decent Left. He and his comrades in the social-democratic movement tried to argue that such a Left could be created, and that it had to begin again. On these pages, David Horowitz answered Walzer and argued that while Walzer was disgusted with the nihilism of the anti-American Left, he was still hopeful about success for the Left’s visionary goals. Walzer said, in fact, that the Left was correct about its "opposition to domestic and global inequalities." Now, the new student Left is using opposition to these inequalities as a pathway to joining in the new anti-American and anti-Israel offensive, which is quickly gaining ground. Their campaign indicates, in fact, that Walzer has been answered--and it is not the answer he hoped for. Those who personify the Left in America are in fact the descendants of the anti-American Left of the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s. They are singing the same song, using the same mobilizing tactics, and gathering strength on the nation’s campuses. The Left is still with us. It is not decent, and it must be stopped.

I certainly agree they are potentially very dangerous, because they peddle what I call poisonous ideas-- once you swallow them, they make you so sick ( mentally ) you can't reason your way out of the semantic trap they set for you.

I do think 911 has shone a revealing light on the bankruptcy of many of their ideas, however.

After 9-11...communism/terrorism/liberalism isn't chic anymore.

Communism, OK. Terrorism of course not, but that not the same as freedom fighting. I'd like to think you're right about liberalism, but it finds back doors. In these demonstrations, they're simply supporting the "newly opressed". And in Muslim students, I think they've found a new constituency (SP?) that will swell their ranks.

Some of the old-timers over there are lamenting the large influx of new members, many of whom have Arabic screen names and draft posts that indicate English is not their native language. I predict that at least part of the pro-Israel Left will end up looking for a new home, and we should be prepared to welcome them with courtesy and respect. This is a great opporunity to break up the Left's cobbled-together coalition.

You're right, though you must recognize they are adding to their coalition at the same time.

Ever go to www.arabia.com? Click English in the upper left (unless you have an arabic translator) and visit the forums.

It is a great book. Unfortunately, it is far too short.
Commies goes through the American left, but is still somewhat parochial is it is basically confined to groups Radosh has dealt with. Teh book also has a section explaining Radosh's break with the left. Essentially is is Ronald Radosh's Radical Son

I still cannot believe that anti-Americanism and anti-capitalism are enough to get the Lefties in bed with islamonazis. There's gotta be a payoff somewhere. Anybody got an idea about how to trace the money pipeline?

So, massacres of civilians eating in pizzerias or celebrating religious holidays, are justified by "the Palestinian legitimate right to resist." In ISM's parallel universe, a person can support suicide bombers, while calling himself a "pacifist," a "peace activist," a "humanitarian worker." And note that ISM's language and that used by Arafat on March 31 — in calling for foreign intervention against "Israeli aggression" — were virtually identical.

A Jewish Nazi? The Adam Shapiro Story

This is a potential wedge issue for us, if played right. The Jewish equivalent of the anti-Castro Cuban Republicans could emerge from this.

I'm not sure the wedge would be effective. There are only 6 million Jews in the US so we are not talking large numbers. Jews are concentrated in NY, CA, and FL so their is some electoral benefit. The real benefit would be to dry up monetary support for the Democrats. Jews disproportionately contribute and volunteer for capmaigns.
Unfortunately, leftism is ingrained in American Jewish life, to the point that many leaders of the Anti-Zionists are Jewish. Let me close this by noting that I am a right-wing Jew. (Although not observant, as I am not at services right now).

It is instructive to note how many of the anti-American Left of the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s are now living in their worker's paradises of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Libya, or Cuba. One might expect a like number of today's group to take up shop in Syria, Iran or Iraq. Leftistm is bankrupt.

It is truly a coalition of the leftover Left- a group seeking anxiously to create a new umbrella cause that they hope can be for their generation what Vietnam was for that of their parents.

Monkey see, monkey do.

"It is instructive to note how many of the anti-American Left of the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s are now living in their worker's paradises of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Libya, or Cuba. One might expect a like number of today's group to take up shop in Syria, Iran or Iraq. Leftistm is bankrupt."

That gets my vote for Quote of the Day!

The instructors, hippies left over from the '60's, are teaching them this. It helps them relive their youth. They don't want to live in the present. In the past, they were considered amoung their peers as "groovy dudes, man." The professors want that back, at the expence of the students, of course. The students are great brain dead political tools for their future shock games.
Pathetic group, I'd say.

The Jewish equivalent of the anti-Castro Cuban Republicans could emerge from this.

I doubt it. Cubans who fled supported freedom. Israel is a socialist state and Jews have always voted far left in America. Tonight I watched Clinton on C-Span giving a speech to the National Jewish Democrat Council. Nothing has changed. From school choice to prayer in schools to abortion, there is a host of issues the majority of Jews will never accept.

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