In our continuing coverage from last Saturday’s anti-war protest and march organized by the left-wing ANSWER Coalition, Code Pink, and the Gay Liberation Network, we have more alarming video to share. Alarming, but not surprising, given our footage of the same groups’ joint demonstration last March.
Organizers and protesters from Occupy Chicago joined these groups and provided support to last Saturday’s anti-war gathering. The protest carried a strong anti-Israel/anti-America message, a theme that both served as a rallying cry for the day and, more ominously, a call to action for the organization of massive demonstrations in Chicago next May during the G-8 and Nato summit. Bringing more socialist economics to the United States, was also high on the agenda for the day.
Hatem Abudayyeh, a local pro-Palestinian agitator, rose to stage to address the crowd regarding Israel and American imperialism. He referred to Benjamin Netanyahu as a “fool” for his recent address to the U.N. General Assembly, and cheered the effectiveness of the global boycott and divestment in Israel, which he said was successfully putting a “dent in Israel’s indemnity over Palestine and the Arab world.” During the speech, members of the radical left-wing Jewish Voice for Peace, an organization on which noted socialist Noam Chomsky happens to sit on the board, passed out flyers that read at the top, “Be a Passivist (sic), be a Nonviolent Activist, Refuse to Pay Taxes, Destroy Israel!”
(also posted on Rebelpundit.com–where the story originated):
I notice that the “Destroy Israel” comment was added with an ink pen to the original document.
But it’s not unusual for fragmentary groups to take advantage of demonstrations—for example, the ‘Obama is a Fascist’ groups that accompanied the Tea Party rallies.
@Liberal1 (objectivity):
You make a valid point, Liberal1.
But there is a major difference between the way fragmentary groups were treated when they tried to join in with the TEA partiers compared how these folks were received by the OWS group.
Take a look at what these TEA party gatherings did when infiltrators came in.
Now look back up at the photo with Curt’s post.
These are NOT ”infiltrators.”
These Israel-haters were welcomed with open arms.
It’s a general problem with mass protests. Any event like this were you have a bunch of media coverage is going to attract radical elements who would otherwise have great difficulty getting their message heard. Unless the organizers have some effective way to exclude people, they’ll often steal the show. I remember back in 1991, when I marched against Gulf War I, I was shocked and dismayed to see that not far ahead of me was a van with a bunch of guys in kaffiyeh, chanting ‘Go! Go! PLO’ (van also had palestinian flags and such though I don’t recall any ‘destroy Israel’ slogans). That was the last such protest I went to – not interested in lending credibility to whatever radicals decide to show up. Would have been better off donating the bus fare to some politician or PAC I trusted.
This is not to say that mass protests are never useful – but it really has to be to the point where the consent of the governed doesn’t exist, so that a tenth or more of the whole population is in the streets (for example, East Germany around the time the wall fell).
@bbartlog:
You may want to read the below thread before you declare them infiltrators.
http://floppingaces.net/most_wanted/email-archive-of-the-occupywallstreet-movement/