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Recent articles by Steffi
Search author name words: Steffi Wederzijdse hulp: een anarchistisch concept in werking in Zuid Afrika 0 comments A Hot Winter in Greece 0 comments Mutual Aid: An Anarchist Concept at Work in Southern Africa 1 comments Recent Articles about Mashriq / Arabia / Iraq Imperialism / WarResist Genocide Oct 14 23 Résister au génocide Oct 14 23 La révolution du Rojava a défendu le monde, maintenant le monde doit d... Jan 09 22 Interview with Ilan Shalif from Anarchists Against The Wall (Israel/Palestine)
mashriq / arabia / iraq |
imperialism / war |
interview
Monday April 06, 2009 16:05 by Steffi - ZACF zacf at zabalaza dot net
Shalif is a veteran Israeli anarchist. This interview was conducted in January 2009 while the war on Gaza was still going on. It was first published in issue 10 of Zabalaza: A Journal of Southern African Revolutionary Anarchism. ZACF: Can you please briefly tell us about Anarchists Against The Wall? Their origins and involvement in the struggle against the wall?
Ilan Shalif: The AAtW initiative started with the joint Israeli-Palestinian camp against the separation fence near the Palestinian village Mas'ha in 2003. It was an initiative of the Israeli "One Struggle" anarchist collective to which radical people joined who liked the idea.
As AAtW is not monolithic there is no common opinion on anything. However, I am sure that all the involved see it as part of the Israeli efforts to extract as many concessions as possible from the Palestinians and to delay as long as possible the need to give back part of the occupied territories of the 1967 war.
The best solution has been regarded for tens of years as the only possible one: Socialist revolution in the whole region and the world. How accurate is the comparison to apartheid South Africa, and what do you think of the fact that everyone in South Africa struggled for a 1 State solution while in Palestine people seem to prefer to have their own state?
The settler-colonialist project in South Africa was based on exploiting the indigenous people. In the Zionist settler-colonialist project the national socialists were the leading power and they wanted the land without its indigenous people. Do you think that the conflict is maintained by the elites on both sides of the border to win popular support for their actions? Do the nationalist and fundamentalist elites benefit from the conflict and if so, how?
The conflict is mainly the direct result of the efforts of the Israeli settler-colonialists who are dominant in the capitalist elite to advance their conquests. There are some elements of compradorian interests of the Palestinian ruling elite, both nationalist and fundamentalist, but it is marginal. What do you think about boycotting Israeli products or economic sanctions against Israel and what can people outside of Israel do? The call for boycotting Israeli products of the occupied territories is 30 years old – and was issued by the anti-authoritarian anti-capitalist socialist organisation in Israel, Matzpen [meaning Compas, founded in 1962] ( http://matzpen.org). As the Second Intifada and the suppression of it took momentum, members of Matzpen abroad issued an internet petition to BDS Israel. Note: A theatre of people dressed in white with blood stains all over lying down in front of the entrance to the airport at which 21 activists from AAtW were jailed for the weekend. |
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