The Gaza Flotilla incident, which would really be more aptly called the Hamas Flotilla incident, needs to be viewed from a wider perspective to be more fully understood and appreciated for what it represents – A Marxist-Progressive Jihad on Israel, and by proxy, the United States, wherein the American Progressive Left is engaged in an open and working relationship with Islamist radicals.
The Hamas Flotilla action was not an isolated event. It was but the latest in a carefully programmed series of actions that have been taking place since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in a violent coup in 2007, designed by community organizations that have been operating in the region since at least the mid-1990s.
The umbrella organization of this recent series of actions is called the Free Gaza Movement, and represents several international organizations, as well as many prominent American Progressive organizations.
The international organizations include George Galloway’s Viva Palestina, IHH, and the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
The American Progressive community is organized against Israel under the banner of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
The US Campaign to end the Israeli Occupation is a co-production of Global Exchange/CodePink/United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) (All founded by Medea Benjamin), and a group called the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR).
The Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) has been organizing on the ground in Palestinian territories since 1996.
One of the mainstream Progressive organizations that has pledged its support to this anti-Israel movement is the Progressive Democrats of America, a group organized by Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Lynn Woolsey, Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. John Conyers, Rep. Donna Edwards, Tom Hayden (founder of SDS), and Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans of Global Exchange/CodePink.
The Progressive Democrats of America are but one in a slew of mainstream American Progressive groups taking part in these actions against Israel on behalf of Hamas.
Another Progressive organization whose board members are helping Hamas with this program of actions is the Movement for a Democratic Society, or (MDS). Their members include a who’s who of 1960s domestic radicalism.
The full list of the November 2006 MDS board members is available here, but some names jump right off the page:
Bernardine Dohrn – Domestic Terrorist, Northwestern University Professor.
Rashid Khalidi – Very close friend of President Obama, (details at the link). Sits on the Advisory Board of the US Campaign To End The Israeli Occupation.
Carl Davidson – Former SDS. Co-organized the anti-war protest where Barack Obama came out against the Bush Administration.
Tom Hayden – Former leader of SDS, member of Progressive Democrats of America.
Alan Haber – First President of SDS
Below is a diagram of major Progressive groups responsible for the Free Gaza marches and flotillas (Click to view full size image):
These groups have attracted a great deal of public support from some very interesting people and organizations.
One very notable celebrity supporter and on-the-ground participant in these actions is Author Alice Walker (Color Purple). She’s so notable, in fact, that President Obama continues to prominently stream from his Presidential YouTube channel her impassioned and detailed 2008 presidential campaign endorsement-commercial. If you are a fan of irony, you will really love the 2:58 minute mark of the Alice Walker video below:
When America elected President Barack Obama, more than anything else, they were getting a community organizer. Given that he marketed himself on this particular credential, this is not at all a racist slander (as some have suggested of any criticism of his Presidency), but merely an empirical observation.
Until Barack Obama ran for the Presidency, most people didn’t have the faintest clue as to what a community organizer was, let alone the name of one of their groups. That made it very difficult for most people to understand the choice they were making when they pulled the lever for Barack Obama. It didn’t help that the mainstream media in this country had neither the will nor the skill to educate the American public about community organizing beyond an altruistic and sterilized fairytale of selfless volunteerism.
These are the days of Google, however, and with a little bit of time and curiosity (something absent in alleged news organizations like Tribune), anyone can answer for themselves such questions as: who organized the Gaza-Hamas flotilla? Or, who organized the bank protests? Or, who organized the violent protests during the 2008 Republican National Convention? Or, who organized the violent protests in Seattle during the 1999 meeting of the World Trade Organization? Or, who organized all those Jihad photo-ops of children throwing rocks at tanks?
In each and every single case mentioned above, the answers to those questions lead to the same core group of people in the American social organizing community. They are easy to identify and their motives are clear because they frequently write openly about what they are doing.
If the people of the United States are to understand the presidency of Barack Obama and today’s Progressive-controlled Democrat party, they can only do so by knowing and trying to understand the American/global community organizing industry. There are several community organizing mega-corporations in America, and they each have their key players.
This article will attempt, in very basic terms, to offer a foundational knowledge of these groups, their leaders, and their actions. Hopefully this information will aid people’s understanding of incidents like the Gaza Flotilla, as well as the actions and programs that have come before it – and that will surely follow.
GROUP: Global Exchange
CAMPAIGNS/ORGS: CodePink, United For Peace and Justice, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Global Citizen Center
BACKGROUND: Founded by Medea Benjamin and her husband Kevin Danaher, Global Exchange has launched several entities over the years, including CodePink, but more notably, United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ).
UFPJ was the umbrella organization for almost ALL of the large scale “anti-war” marches that unfolded in America. They are also responsible for the protests that took place in Denver and St. Paul during the Democrat and Republican conventions.
Among the members of the UFPJ steering committee is Marilyn Katz, former SDS head of “security” during the ’68 Chicago riots. Katz is also a big money bundler for President Barack Obama, and a member of his National Finance Committee. Katz, along with former SDS Carl Davidson, organized the 2002 anti-Iraq war rally in Chicago where Barack Obama came out publicly against the War.
The US Campaign to End Israeli Occupation is the Grand Central Station of US Marxist Progressive community organizing directed against Israel. We shall return to that in a moment.
Through the US Campaign To End Israeli Occupation, Global Exchange and CodePink staged the Gaza Freedom March and the Flotilla. Many notable people and groups either supported or took part in this action. Among them, the Progressive Democrats of America, Author Alice Walker (Color Purple), Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn.
Medea Benjamin sits on the Advisory board of Progressive Democrats of America.
It is also worthwhile to mention that Van Jones, former Obama Green Jobs Czar, sits on the board of Global Citizen Center, Global Exchange’s environmental organization.
Global Exchange also has significant ties to Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela. Read their detailed and gushing blog post describing their interactions with Hugo.
So let us take a moment to acquaint ourselves with the motive power behind these various entities. Here is a video of Medea Benjamin at a Gaza border check point. Be sure to catch the part at the front where she openly talks about her working relationship with the Hamas terrorist government of Gaza.
GROUP: Alliance of Community Trainers (ACT) & Root Activist Network Trainers (RANT)
CAMPAIGNS/ORGS: US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, 1999 Seattle WTO Protests, 2004 Republican Convention Protests in NYC, 2008 DNC/RNC Convention protests
BACKGROUND: Founded by Lisa Fithian, Starhawk, and Juniper.
Their specialty appears to be ‘direct action’ protests designed to cause significant confrontation. Together with UFPJ and the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World), they organized the Anarchy movement and made it a key component of their street confrontations with police in Seattle, St. Paul, and elsewhere.
RANT has been a member of the UFPJ Steering Committee since its inception.
Co-founder Starhawk took part in CodePink’s Gaza actions in 2009/2010
Co-founder Starhawk is a board member of the radical Movement for a Democratic Society.
GROUP: International Solidarity Movement (ISM)
CAMPAIGNS/ORGS: UFPJ (Steering Committee), US Campaign To End Israeli Occupation.
BACKGROUND: Founded in 2001 by Huwaida Arraf and her husband Adam Shapiro as an international component to US Campaign To End Israeli Occupation, among ISM’s chief tasks is to organize Americans and other Westerners to go serve as human shields in places like Iraq and Israel.
Regarding Jihad terrorism, Arraf and Shapiro have written:
“Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics, both violent and nonviolent. But most importantly, it must develop a strategy involving both aspects. Nonviolent resistance is no less noble than carrying out a suicide operation.”
For a disturbing look inside the US recruiting program of the ISM, read the article at FrontPage Mag entitled Solidarity With Terror.
ISM gained notoriety back in 2003 when one of its organizers, Rachel Corrie, was killed by an Israeli bulldozer. According to Israel, she was accidentally killed while they were destroying smuggling tunnels leading from Egypt into Gaza. According to the Organizing Industry, the Israeli Bulldozer ran her over on purpose. Either way, Rachel Corrie is dead and now the ISM names their boats after her.
The sea vessel Rachel Corrie was last seen attempting to run Israel’s blockade of Hamastan, in the ISM-orchestrated Free Gaza Flotilla. The Flotilla was merely the latest in a series of Actions run under the Free Gaza program.
ISM Founder Huwaida Arraf Chairs the Free Gaza Movement.
ISM Founder Huwaida Arraf currently sits on the advisory board, and has served on the Steering Committee of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
ISM Founder Huwaida Arraf is a member of Global Exchange’s Speakers bureau.
ISM also organized people on the ground at the Democrat and Republican party conventions in 2008.
GROUP: Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO)
CAMPAIGNS/ORGS: Organizing trips to Cuba, US Campaign To End Israeli Occupation
BACKGROUND: Founded in 1967, they have been dedicated to busting the US blockade/sanctions against Cuba. Their contemporary claim to fame is coordinating congressional visits to Cuba. From their website:
2000: Reps. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Barbara Lee (D-CA) traveled to Cuba in a February delegation organized by IFCO. They cut the ribbon at the opening of the first-ever US-Cuba Medical Trade Fair. They dedicated the trade fair to Elián González and all the Cuban children who were deprived of medicines because of the US economic blockade.
The second official delegation of the Congressional Black Caucus, organized by IFCO, visited Cuba in May-June 2000.
Most recently, IFCO has coordinated funds for the American arm of Viva Palestina, the George Galloway component of the Free Gaza Movement.
GROUP: Center for Economic and Social Rights
CAMPAIGNS/ORGS: Research/Education (Propaganda) related to the Palestinian Territories. US Campaign To End Israeli Occupation.
BACKGROUND: Founded in 1993 by Roger Normand, Sarah Zaidi and Chris Jochnick, this group works with the Jihadis to produce research that they then use for propaganda educational tours in America and elsewhere. They also handle fundraising for the umbrella group US Campaign To End Israeli Occupation.
Since 2001, together with Global Exchange and their other partners under the US Campaign To End Israeli Occupation, they have organized many direct action campaigns against Israel, the latest being the Free Gaza Movement in all of its incarnations.
GROUP: USAction
CAMPAIGNS/ORGS: Health Care For America Now (HCAN), TrueMajority.org, Showdown in America
BACKGROUND: Founded by former 60s radicals Heather and Paul Booth as Illinois Public Action Council, it eventually grew into a national network called Citizen Action. The national organization folded after numerous scandals including Teamstergate, and a multi-million dollar embezzlement conviction against Obama campaign organizer Bob Creamer, then Citizen Action treasurer. Most of the locals renamed and reorganized under the new national banner of USAction.
In 2005 the president of USAction, William McNary, delivered a rousing keynote address to the CPUSA (Communist Party of the United States) that had the crowd roaring. President Obama worked for William McNary organizing a Get Out The Vote campaign, ostensibly for Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.
During the Clinton administration, Heather Booth was hired to coordinate organizing for the DNC.
President Obama’s now deceased Doctor Quentin Young (regarded as the godfather of Obamacare) was an important member of Illinois Citizen Action.
In 2008-2010, USAction used HCAN (Healthcare for America Now) to stage rallies to spearhead the successful effort to push the health care bill through congress.
Their most recent work includes co-organizing the Showdown in America protest actions, including the ones that terrorized a teenager alone in his home, and stormed into Federally-regulated bank buildings.
GROUP: Movement for a Democratic Society
CAMPAIGNS/ORGS: New SDS
BACKGROUND: Founded by former members of the original 1960s Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and their spin-off terrorist group, Weather Underground. Some of the more prominent ones are Bernardine Dohrn, Rashid Khalidi, Carl Davidson, Tom Hayden, Alan Haber, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Noam Chomsky, Mark Rudd, Jeff Jones, Bert Garskof, and Starhawk.
Bernadine Dohrn and her husband Bill Ayers have taken part in Free Gaza Movement Actions, and were members of the Weather Underground terrorist organization.
Tom Hayden is on the board of Progressive Democrats of America, and was a member of the Weather Underground terrorist organization.
Rashid Khalidi is on the Advisory Board of the US Campaign To End The Israeli Occupation.
Bill Fletcher is on the Advisory Board of the US Campaign To End The Israeli Occupation.
Noam Chomsky is on the board of advisers for the Free Gaza Movement, a sub-group of the US Campaign To End The Israeli Occupation.
Marc Rudd was a member of the Weather Underground terrorist organization.
Jeff Jones was a member of the Weather Underground terrorist organization.
Bert Garskof was a member of the Weather Underground terrorist organization.
GROUP: The New Party / Working Families Party
CAMPAIGNS/ORGS: Running 3rd party and fusion candidates in targeted races.
BACKGROUND: The Progressive movement – not unlike the Libertarian movement – felt locked out of a one party system masquerading as a 2 party system. They set out to take control of the Democrat party where they couldn’t defeat it outright.
The New Party collapsed in the 1990s when they lost a Supreme Court case involving the backbone of their strategy, fusion voting. They re-organized as the Working Families Party, and boast such prominent members as Hillary Clinton, Elliot Spitzer, and John Edwards.
An excellent background resource for the New Party can be found here, but for the purposes of this article, the pertinent point is that President Barack Obama was an important member of the New Party, and still is a member of the Working Families Party.
If you look at the list of New Party members, you will see that a large number of them are involved in the Gaza actions against Israel, as outlined above.
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From storming banks and personal property, to rioting in Seattle and St. Paul, to Palestinian children throwing stones at tanks in Israel, the groups listed above (among others) are the community organizers responsible for most of it.
Don’t like health care being pushed through? Too bad, that’s what community organizing looks like.
Don’t like protesters storming bank lobbies and private residential property? Too bad, that’s what community organizing looks like.
Don’t like anarchists rioting in Seattle or St. Paul? Too bad, that’s what community organizing looks like.
Don’t like CodePink organizing marches and flotillas in support of Hamas? Too bad, that’s what community organizing looks like.
These groups and their leaders are openly Marxist and virulently opposed to Capitalism.
Consistent with their worldview that all means are justified by their ends, they have intentionally organized Anarchists into their movements.
Consistent with their worldview that Capitalist America is the evil empire and Israel is her colony built on land stolen from indigenous peoples, they have organized the Jihadis. They hide behind the language of human rights and justice, but their bias is betrayed by the complete lack of honesty when it comes to representing the narrative of that region. Absent from their movement is any mention of the word Hamas. Search their English websites and you will be hard pressed to find a single mention of the Iran-supported terrorist government of Gaza, Hamastan. It is as if Hamas has gone missing. Come to think of it, there isn’t much mention of Jihad either. Or Sharia, Or Dhimmitude.
Their thin cloak of human rights legitimacy is torn to shreds when their tactics include weapon wielding ‘peace activists’ invoking ‘death to the Jews’:
The Marxists explain that the only reason the terrorist groups gain traction is because outside Western empire powers stole that land for the Jews, who have turned it into a militarized apartheid state. They fail to mention that within the concepts of Sharia and Dhimmitude, Jewish self-determination has been a non-starter for the Arabs since day one. Also, no mention of the repeated and relentless stream of Jihad terrorist attacks against innocent men, women, and children, guilty of nothing more than being Jews, and who were hoping only for the dignity of self-determination on one tiny shred of their ancestral homeland, among a sea of Sharia states demanding dhimmitude for ‘peace’. Also, no mention of the Palestinian involvement in the Holocaust. Nope. Just racist-evil-maniacal Israel – colony of America.
The Marxists and their Islamist clients like to say that it is all about the occupation. This has nothing to do with occupation. This decades-long Jihad against the Jews began long before the occupation. Long before the Holocaust.
The Jews, who by chronological logic were there first, are the tiniest minority in an ocean of Muslim countries. All they want is to have one small piece of their birthplace and to be safe there, but the bigotry of dhimmitude will not allow it. Never has, never will.
And the Marxists have fooled the world into thinking the Israelis are maniacal aggressors beating up on innocent defenseless Muslims.
Some of the President’s closest friends and financial supporters are admittedly working with and supporting Jihad terrorists in an effort to defeat the Little Satan – Israel. Are we supposed to assume that they will stop there? Or will they work together to also defeat the Great Satan?
Is it okay to question their patriotism yet?