Left-Wing Zionism

     Today I would like to discuss a unique and interesting topic that came up for discussion in Amy Thornton’s house and also when we were with Tanya Barben. Coming from a country that has always been in strong support of the legitimate rights of self-determination of the Palestinian people, I had heard a lot about Zionism. As I knew it, Zionism was a fascist ideology that advocated the total elimination of the Palestinian people and the formation of a settler colony, that was committing genocide against the innocent Palestinian people (this is arguably half-baked knowledge). But, the long and short of this was that I had always perceived Zionism as something negative and inherently fascist. However, I was to experience a totally transforming experience, probably because I was with a group that immensely appreciated normativity and expressed the liberal-democratic ideals that is so characteristic of Western society. So during a wonderful discussion with Amy on her inklings with political revolution and her inspirations behind joining the liberation struggle, I was surprised to learn that she was initially inspired by Left-Wing Zionism. I realized that Judaism was an eminently humane religion preaching compassion and justice. It was probably distorted by these right-wing Zionists in Israel. Amy launched her story by describing how as a child, she was allowed to play on the beaches while “Black” children would just watch on sadly from the partition barriers which forbade “Black” and “Colored” children from mixing with White children. It was a poignant tale and immediately related to the widespread disparities present in India, where a tiny minority of the children have privileged, elite childhoods, while the rest of the children eke it out on the streets in conditions resembling Hobbes’ “state of nature.” I intently sympathized with the disparity keenly perceived by Amy and her decision to totally rebel at the system which constructed these inequalities. I was also certain that had her family decided, in the unlikely event, to immigrate to Israel, she would have become a strong and vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause. She told me her brother had immigrated to Israel. The story from the “other” side seems always to hold a ton of perspective. It totally explained the liberation struggle and brought out the complicated environment in which brave activists like Thornton had survived. She described with great vigor her meeting with Nelson Mandela. At the time of her meeting, Mandela was trying to evade the Secret Police of the apartheid state and so her meeting was conducted with the greatest secrecy. Mandela arrived to meet her disguised as a milkman. It was one of his tricks. It must have been an extremely difficult life, to live in great secrecy. She also explained that the White government imposed “bans” on all political activists, which precluded their normal life. For instance, Thornton was prohibited from meeting with more than something like two people. Basically, this was possibly a strategy aimed at denuding the intellectual strength of the activists, by slowly depriving them of human company, in the eventual hopes of killing the spirit of liberation burning deep in their hearts. However, Thornton was cheerful and bustling and seemed full of life when we met, and the alleged strategies of the government had not seemed to have any effect! It was also something I discovered throughout the trip- that all the activists including our cheerful guide at Robben (who was a former political prisoner), Mandela, Thornton and Shirley Gunne (another lady activist who had belonged to the MK, which was the armed wing of the African National Congress), seemed to maintain their spirit for the revolutionary movement intact, inspite of all their personal difficulties. Hence, today's meeting with Thornton shed some light on the concept of “Left-Wing Zionism”, which was totally different from its fascist counterpart, presently practiced by Israel. It was also easy to see that the humane values which had inspired Thornton to join the liberation struggle came from a deeply just, religious heritage that preached compassion and justice to fellow human beings. This thread of Left-Wing Zionism seemed to permeate through South Africa. Left-Zing Zionism closely allies itself with labor activism, and was also demonstrated through Ray Alexander’s (I was corrected twice by Lauren for making a mistake about Ray’s last name which she insisted quite forthrightly, was not “Alexander,” but was “Simons”) activism. Hence, the apartheid government in South Africa and the principled opposition to it resembled one of the foremost apartheid governments in place today-the settler colony of Israel.

-Shritha