Palestinian self-determination raised at Berlin conference

Sara Flounders, co-director of the International Action Center and a contributor to Workers World newspaper, presented a 30-minute keynote talk at an important Rosa Luxemburg Conference in Berlin, Germany, on Jan. 10. Some 1,600 progressive Germans attended the conference, hosted by the Berlin daily newspaper Junge Welt (jungewelt.de). Judging from both positive and negative comments in the German media about Flounders’ talk, her comments contributed to the controversial political discussion among the German left, especially regarding Palestine. The following is Workers World managing editor John Catalinotto’s Jan. 25 interview with Flounders.

Workers World: Why was it that your comments had such resonance in the discussion among German leftists?

Sara Flounders at Rosa Luxemburg Conference in Berlin, Jan. 10. Photo: Gabriele Senft

SF: It was really a question of timing. What we had to say—that revolutionary socialists should show solidarity with all the forces resisting U.S. and world imperialism, even those with which we have ideological differences, that is, the Islamic resistances—would have always been part of a political argument. But it would perhaps have been an academic argument.

It became part of the living struggle because I was speaking as the Israelis, with U.S. and EU backing, were assaulting and slaughtering the civilian population of Gaza.

In the hours before I was scheduled to speak I learned that not only the parliamentary left—the Left Party—but also some other groups considered communist had taken a position criticizing Hamas for launching rockets. The broad peace movement had made no strong mobilization against the Israeli assault, as had happened, for example, in Spain and Britain. And I learned that even much of the anarchist movement defends Israel 100 percent, in a distorted reaction to anti-Semitism.

Under those conditions, I knew I would have to emphasize the position of solidarity with the struggles of oppressed peoples, including supporting the right of the oppressed to defend themselves.

WW: How did you do that?

SF: I said that, contrary to the media lies, Hamas is not a terrorist group but a mass organization that is deeply connected to the entire Palestinian people and elected by them. The U.S. and Israel decided that the Palestinians had voted the wrong way and have been trying to destroy Hamas since. Previously, the U.S. and the Israeli state targeted Fatah and the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] the same way.

Washington and Tel Aviv want to destroy any organization that fights for Palestinian self-determination, because the Palestinian struggle—and especially Gaza—for 60 years has been the shining example of resistance to occupation, an example of national liberation for all the world. The imperialists hope that by smashing the civilian population they can defeat this struggle and demoralize millions.

I said we know that the Israelis planned the war for months in advance, if not for years. We know that Israel has held Gaza under siege for 18 months, an act of war. We know that a siege means there is no real cease-fire, and that the rockets are just an excuse for Israeli propaganda.

I was speaking in Berlin on the weekend to honor the two revolutionaries, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, who were opponents of German imperialism in World War I and whom the German rightists and even German Social Democrats called traitors for their war opposition. Liebknecht and Luxemburg were murdered by the generals. Tens of thousands of people come that weekend from all over Germany to lay flowers on their graves. I based some of my argument on the heroic history of these two revolutionary heroes.

I also said, and with special emphasis, “The Palestinians in Gaza have every right to fire rockets and to dig tunnels against Israel’s sure starvation and siege. We must defend this right to resist!”

WW: What was the reaction?

SF: From the people at the conference, I got the strongest applause of the day. Of course, Junge Welt—although it is not a particular party’s newspaper and represents various left opinions—has a general anti-imperialist position. In 1999 it took a strong position in defense of Yugoslavia against NATO. It attracts some of the most revolutionary people in Germany.

Still, the enthusiastic support showed that many on the German left appreciated a strong stand against this horrific assault on the children and other civilians of Gaza. They welcomed an anti-imperialist voice from the United States.

My talk was reported extensively in Junge Welt—and later the reactionary press quoted from this report in an attempt to criticize the conference.

Of course, the struggle on this issue will continue in Germany just as it has for decades here in the United States. The left will have to counter anti-Arab and anti-Islamic bias. They will have to fight ruling-class opinion, which still lines up with the U.S. and Israel in the region, and which sends troops to Afghanistan.

We were honored that Junge Welt invited us to speak at such an important conference and that we could participate in this debate that is so important to the development of the German anti-imperialist movement and to solidarity with Palestine.

To read Flounders’ talk in Berlin, see iacenter.org.