Lies, pressure, criminal complaints
Every criminal seeks to hide or justify his crime. Zionism is no exception. Throughout the world, it tries to silence any expression of condemnation to its anti-Palestinian genocide. As part of the solidarity with Palestine, we must confront this totalitarian campaign.
By Pablo Vasco, CADHU-MST
An example of this undemocratic action of Zionism was canceling the reservations at the Faena and Alvear hotels in Buenos Aires for the renowned British musician Roger Waters. Faced with this attack, state unions offered him accommodation and our representatives Cele Fierro and Vanesa Gagliardi submitted a text in solidarity with him in the Buenos Aires Legislature. But there was more: the Zionist Delegation of Israeli Associations in Argentina (DAIA) asked the justice system to directly cancel the show for alleged anti-Semitism. And the prosecutor who “monitored” Waters’ public statements is Andrea Scanga, the same one who acts in favor of the DAIA in their lying complaint against our colleague Alejandro Bodart.
Regardless, in the two vibrant and massive concerts he performed at the Monumental, Waters reaffirmed his support for Palestine and human rights. The audience not only applauded him, but also sang and jumped against Milei. At the entrances to the stadium, in gazebos with Palestinian flags, comrades from the MST distributed flyers and collected signatures for the national government to break relations with Israel.
Attacks around the world
In the United States, for example, days ago the lower house passed with 234 to 188 votes a motion of censure against Democratic representative Rashida Tlaib, of Palestinian origin, who stated: “I will not be silenced, and I will not let you distort my words… The idea that criticizing the government of Israel is antisemitic sets a very dangerous precedent, and it’s been used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human rights.” And, among other cases, actress Susan Sarandon’s contract was terminated by her representative agency for criticizing Israel.
The well-known Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, who condemned the Israeli massacre in Gaza, was also censored by that government. The Israeli Minister of Education removed every reference to her from her school curricula. And last week, at an event in Amsterdam, after Greta invited a Palestinian woman to speak, a man tried to take the microphone from her.
In addition, events for Palestine have been banned in countries such as Germany and France, where they also threatened to remove the legality of the Palestine Will Triumph Collective and suspended the Instagram and Twitter accounts of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) that publishes the newspaper Révolutionnaires! And according to the UK Home Secretary, “flying the Palestinian flag may not be legitimate.” Even so, as is the case in many countries around the world, the marches through Palestine are massive.
Face them here too
Faced with the Zionist attack, the Memory, Truth and Justice Center (EMVL) disseminated a clear position: “This campaign, which hypocritically attempts to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, has gained particular virulence at the University of Buenos Aires, with slander of false attacks and intimidation from those who defend the Palestinian people, more vandalization of spaces in the University. This also occurs in the universities of General Sarmiento, Cuyo, Entre Ríos, San Juan and others in the country. At the same time, there is a concentrated attack against leaders and militants of the leftist forces -of the PO, the MST and the Izquierda Socialista in the faculties of the UBA and in the institute for teachers Joaquín V. González – and against combative unions such as Ademys or Amsafe Rosario, in the attempt to silence the voices that denounce Zionist barbarism with increasing force, both in Argentina and in the world.
“This campaign is added to the arrest of Cristian Díaz for months; the threats to Myriam Bregman, Vanina Biasi, Cele Fierro, Néstor Pitrola and Gabriel Solano after the presidential debate, before to Juan Carlos Giordano and Luciana Echevarría, as well as the DAIA trial against Alejandro Bodart, in all cases for his support of the Palestinian people.”[1]
That’s the way it is. Confronting Zionist censorship requires the greatest possible unity of action in defense of freedom of expression, which is a fundamental human right, and, at the same time, denouncing that the State of Israel victimizes itself and cynically uses yesterday’s Nazi Holocaust to cover up its anti-Palestinian genocide today.
[1] See full text at https://periodismodeizquierda.com/emvyj-basta-de-amenazas-sionistas-a-la-solidaridad-con-el-pueblo-palestino/