We are pleased to announce that, at our chapter-wide General Assembly in April, members of our chapter overwhelmingly voted in support of a resolution that reinforces DSA San Diego as an anti-Zionist organization both in principle and in practice.
The adopted resolution explicitly defines anti-Zionist expectations for both our membership and endorsed candidates. As a result of this resolution, we expect our members to commit to anti-Zionist practices and policies, refrain from any and all affiliation with the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups, to oppose legislation that harms Palestinians, and to support legislation that results in Palestinian liberation. Similarly, endorsed candidates must support Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), have no affiliations with any Zionist lobby groups (Democrats for Israel, J Street, AIPAC, etc.), and pledge to politically support the Palestinian cause from their elected positions.
After Israel’s latest genocidal assault on Gaza, DSA San Diego moved to call for a ceasefire, mobilized to phone bank for BDS, and supported protests that called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire as well as Palestinian liberation. As these mobilizations continued, it became clear that DSA San Diego had to address the history of DSA with regards to Zionism if we wanted to continue being an effective ally in this struggle.
The Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) founding merger was heavily predicated on ensuring that it would uphold the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee’s position of supporting continued American aid to the Zionist settler-colonial project of Israel. DSA has publicly declared in recent years and on numerous occasions that it “unapologetically stands in solidarity with Palestinian people everywhere.”
DSA San Diego
stands in solidarity with
Palestinians in their
struggle for
liberation.
Following the lead of other chapters, including DSA Houston, DSA Inland Empire, and DSA San Francisco, we drafted a resolution to fully commit the chapter to anti-Zionism and place ourselves on the side of the Palestinian liberation struggle. This resolution commits DSA San Diego to anti-Zionism as a part of our socialist understanding of anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, and anti-racism.
Zionism is a nationalist political ideology and settler-colonialist movement that aims to establish and maintain a Jewish ethnostate in historic Palestine, requiring the systematic displacement and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people as a means of achieving Zionists’ desired demographic goal.
In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 3379, which designated Zionism as “a form of racism and racial discrimination.” The preamble of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which has been ratified by 53 African countries as of 2014, includes an undertaking to eliminate Zionism together with other practices including colonialism, neo-colonialism, apartheid, “aggressive foreign military bases” and all forms of discrimination.
Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism. It is not discrimination against Jewish peoples to reject nationalist practices and ethnic cleansing.
This resolution will push DSA San Diego forward in efforts to stand in solidarity in the fight for Palestinian liberation. Let there be no confusion: DSA San Diego is fully committed to a free Palestine and we encourage members and non-members alike to support Palestinian-led grassroots relief efforts, as well as call local officials, join protests, and spread awareness of the ongoing horrors that Palestinians are facing.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
DSA San Diego
