{"id":433,"date":"2011-03-23T08:20:56","date_gmt":"2011-03-23T07:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/?p=433"},"modified":"2011-03-29T08:22:38","modified_gmt":"2011-03-29T07:22:38","slug":"israel-the-middle-east-and-the-international-trade-union-movement-notes-for-a-lecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/israel-the-middle-east-and-the-international-trade-union-movement-notes-for-a-lecture\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel, the Middle East and the International Trade Union Movement – notes for a lecture"},"content":{"rendered":"
The following are my notes for a talk given at the headquarters of the American Federation of Teachers in Washington, DC on 23 March 2011.<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What I will talk about today:<\/div>\n
The bad news<\/div>\n
The good news<\/div>\n
Where do we go from here<\/div>\n
The bad news<\/div>\n
The growing strength of the global BDS campaign in the trade union \u00a0movement<\/div>\n
Cannot be seen in isolation from the increasing isolation of Israel on campuses, in the media, etc.<\/div>\n
How the discourse has turned against Israel \u2013 the apartheid \tanalogy, for example<\/div>\n
Recent example: Large Norwegian union calls for boycott, sanctions<\/div>\n
This is a union that invited me to speak a few years back<\/div>\n
Well-intentioned, strong internationalist views<\/div>\n
Clearly ignorant about the Israel\/Palestine conflict<\/div>\n
Call for LO to sever relations with Histadrut \u2013 but gives no \t\t\treason for this, no explanation apparently needed<\/div>\n
COSATU plays a very bad role here<\/div>\n
They give credibility to the line that Israel is an apartheid state<\/div>\n
They carry great moral authority in the movement<\/div>\n
Why this is happening<\/div>\n
Say it up front: Israeli policies don’t help<\/div>\n
Stalemate in peace talks (even if Palestinians at fault) \t\t\t\tdoesn’t help<\/div>\n
Decades-long decline in the post-war consensus which has now \t\tallowed anti-semitic arguments to resurface<\/div>\n
Israeli unions have not taken international work seriously \t\t\tsince the early 1990s and have a very low presence in the \t\tinternational trade union movement<\/div>\n
Histadrut doesn’t even have a website in English<\/div>\n
The good news<\/div>\n
Major national trade union centres \u2013 here in the USA, in Germany, to a certain degree in Australia \u2013 remain largely immune from this<\/div>\n
Each country has its own reasons why this is true<\/div>\n
The ITUC and the GUFs continue to play a positive role<\/div>\n
ITUC thwarts COSATU proposal in Vancouver<\/div>\n
Ofer Eini’s elevated status<\/div>\n
GUFs continue to seat Israeli representatives<\/div>\n
Some GUFs (ITF, BWI) make a concrete contribution to the \t\t\tpeace process<\/div>\n
Unions still influence each other across international borders<\/div>\n
US and German trade union statements and their effect on the \t\tBritish TUC<\/div>\n
An increasing awareness in Israel and in the Histadrut that this is a problem and we need to devote resources to it<\/div>\n
The revolution in Egypt may be good news for Israeli unions<\/div>\n
My experience at the CTUWS event<\/div>\n
PGFTU invited though boycotted by the official unions<\/div>\n
Because of their relationship with Histadrut<\/div>\n
Prospects for a new regional body \u2013 that might eventually \t\t\tinclude the Israelis<\/div>\n
Where do we go from here<\/div>\n
Leverage our strength in union movements like the one here in the USA to expose, isolate and defeat our opponents internationally within the labour movement<\/div>\n
This is why TULIP was founded \u2013 explain what TULIP is<\/div>\n
Expose<\/div>\n
Show how our opponents are not fighting for peace, but for \t\t\tHamas, Hizbollah and Iran<\/div>\n
The link to Iran is particularly potent \u2013 trade unions are \t\t\timplacably opposed to the Iranian regime<\/div>\n
Don’t be afraid to attack anti-semitism (e.g., the boycott of \t\t\tIsraeli academics; hate speech by Bongani Masuku)<\/div>\n
Role of the TULIP website (over 430 posts) and mailing list<\/div>\n
Isolate<\/div>\n
Identify the forces behind these campaigns \u2013 e.g., PSC \u2013 and \t\tfocus on them<\/div>\n
Role of the totalitarian left (SWP, CP) \u2013 small organizations \t\t\tthat have in some cases hijacked union agendas<\/div>\n
We must use forceful language to identify our opponents for \t\twhat they are \u2013 not pro-Palestinian, but pro-Hamas<\/div>\n
Work closely with Palestinian moderates (e.g., TUFI \t\t\t\tdelegations meet PGFTU)<\/div>\n
Link trade unionists in different countries who share the same \t\tview \u2013 TULIP launch event in London in June<\/div>\n
Defeat<\/div>\n
The need to move from defense to offense<\/div>\n
Propose positive alternatives (e.g., joint Histadrut\/PGFTU \t\t\tprojects) to BDS<\/div>\n
Change the discourse \u2013 why we no longer say ‘friends of Israel’ \t\tand focus discussion not on defending the Jewish state, \t\tbut on what we can do to promote a two-state solution<\/div>\n
What victory will look like: an international trade union \t\t\tmovement that doesn’t demonize one side, that supports \t\tgenuine peace \tand reconciliation<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following are my notes for a talk given at the headquarters of the American Federation of Teachers in Washington, DC on 23 March 2011. What I will talk about today: The bad news The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":434,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions\/434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericlee.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}