The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), established in 1982 in New York City out of the remnants of several failed leftist groups (their first co-chair was socialist-feminist author Barbara Ehrenreich), boasts supporting several members of the US Congress as well as state legislatures, and as of Wednesday no longer endorses the most visible leader of the Squad, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
The DSA’s June 23 endorsement of AOC was conditioned on her opposing all funding to Israel (including for the Iron Dome), Supporting BDS (goes without saying), showing up at all the DSA meetings, and, most critically: “Publicly opposing all criminalization of anti-Zionism, such as bills advancing the IHRA definition which conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism.”
You’ll note that three out of the four conditions for receiving the DSA endorsement had to do with Israel. In a world where children are wasting away in sweatshops in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Central and South America; where poor folks are interned for years because they can’t afford bail; where one percent of Americans control 90 percent of the wealth – being a Democratic Socialist in America only means promoting the annihilation of the Jewish State.
The DSA’s July 10 statement on the “Status of DSA National Endorsement for Rep. Ocasio-Cortez” noted that “In the last several months, thousands of DSA members provided input about the prospect of a national endorsement through town halls, meetings, and engaging in their chapters’ discussions, and AOC was invited to speak at a member forum. Many members have supported national endorsement while at the same time demanding that AOC demonstrate a higher level of commitment to Palestinian liberation, self-determination, and the immediate end to the heinous genocide in Gaza committed by Israel that aligns with DSA’s positions and expectations of socialists in office.”
Nothing about AOC’s commitment to the American worker, nothing about women’s rights (remember the Supreme Court’s killing of Roe v. Wade?), nothing about race relations, fuhgeddaboudit – black lives don’t matter, only Gazan lives.
New in DemLeft: Students are organizing encampments to support Palestine all across the country.
Finnialla Wright says DSA can and should stand in solidarity with them.https://t.co/HPVMDtETmL— DSA (@DemSocialists) July 10, 2024
The DSA statement laid bare the case against the Congresswoman from the Bronx: “AOC recently hosted a public panel with leaders from the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, lobbyists for the IHRA definition of antisemitism. On this panel, anti-Zionism and antisemitism were conflated, and boycotting Zionist institutions was condemned. This sponsorship is a deep betrayal to all those who’ve risked their welfare to fight Israeli apartheid and genocide through political and direct action in recent months, and in decades past.”
The working definition of antisemitism according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), adopted in Bucharest on May 26, 2016, defines antisemitism, among other things, as: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”
This item is so logical, so self-explanatory, much like the first item on the IHRA list, “Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.” Which is why so many US states and several countries have adopted both to define criminal antisemitic behavior. But the extreme left, in the US and now in France and the UK, cannot accept it because, as shown above, hating Israel is their entire agenda.
“A national DSA endorsement comes with a serious commitment to the movement for Palestine and our collective socialist project,” the DSA statement concluded. “We must endorse candidates who enthusiastically seek a relationship with DSA, and the National Political Committee as the highest body of the organization between conventions is responsible for setting the criteria we establish for national endorsements. Chapters have a responsibility to make this clear to their endorsed candidates when applying for a national endorsement. The NPC is committed to ensuring that all of our elected officials are unabashed in their support for Palestinian freedom. To build a socialist movement that’s capable of defeating capitalism, we must demand more from leaders in our movement.”
By the way, “a socialist movement that’s capable of defeating capitalism?” Seriously?
Anyway, I didn’t believe there was enough tetrahydrocannabinol (that’s THC to you and me) on the planet to make me come down on the side of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in an article, but there you have it. I just discovered something more repugnant than AOC!
Now, Barbara Ehrenreich, who passed away in 2022 at the ripe old age of 81, published in the December 1979 issue of Mother Jones a harsh attack on the US government (it was the Carter administration at the time) titled, “The Charge: Genocide,” about the contraceptive Dalkon Shield that was causing severe injury to a disproportionately large percentage of women in the third world. See, back then, American leftists understood the meaning of the word genocide, and weren’t using it to cuss Jews.
