For R1: “Make YDSA an Anti-Zionist Organization in Principle and Praxis”

The authors motivate in favor of Resolution 1 for the 2024 YDSA National Convention.

In a vulgar plea for assistance from the colonizer Cecil Rhodes, after whom the colonial entity Rhodesia was named, Theodore Herzl, one of the founders of political Zionism, wrote in 1902 that the Zionist project is “something colonial.” This description of what would become the so-called state of Israel is perfectly in line with Herzl’s 1896 treatise, in which he wrote:

[The Zionist project] shall serve as the outpost of [Western] civilization against [Eastern] barbarism. 

By definition and at its very core, Zionism is orientalist bigotry and a function of imperialism. Unlike what Michael Harrington–one of the founding members of DSA–would have us believe, Zionism is racism!

YDSA Should Reject Zionism

This history is why Resolution 1 “Make YDSA an Anti-Zionist Organization in Principle and Praxis”–which delegates at the YDSA Convention will be considering–rejects DSA’s past affinity with the Zionist project and exposes Zionism as indeed “a racist, imperialist, settler-colonial project that has resulted in the ongoing death, displacement, and dehumanization of Palestinians.”

Just since October 7, the Zionist entity has slaughtered tens of thousands, perhaps more than 186,000, in Gaza in a form of collective punishment–what Palestinians are calling a second Nakba–seemingly with the aim of finishing what it started in 1948 and has been planning long before that.

However, we have seen unprecedented support for the Palestinian people as protests have erupted everywhere, especially on college campuses. It is crucial at this moment for YDSA to show its commitment to anti-imperialism, anti-racism and anti-Zionism, and to fully and unabashedly support the struggle for Palestinian liberation. Along with taking a principled position on an important question, this would also help rectify and distance ourselves from past mistakes our parent organization has made regarding Palestine. 

At a time when the Palestinian struggle has reached one of its strongest peaks in the last 3 decades, the largest socialist vehicle in the US: the DSA – has missed critical opportunities to embody this shift.

The Palestinian Youth Movement, a transnational, independent, grassroots movement of young Palestinians, wrote the preceding principled critique in their statement of support for DSA to adopt the anti-Zionist resolution, a very similar resolution which was presented at the 2023 DSA Convention. 

Drawing a Hard Line Against Zionism

Not only is Resolution 1 an expression of YDSA’s understanding of Zionism as a racist, settler-colonial project, but it also seeks to remove Zionism from our organization and draw a hard line against its normalization in YDSA. The resolution does this by adding, for the first time, Zionism as among the definitions of what Article IV Section 3a of the YDSA constitution calls “substantial disagreement with the principles or policies of the organization.” Even before the 2023 YDSA Convention amended the membership provisions, the term “substantial disagreement” has always been in the YDSA constitution as good grounds for expulsion, but it has never before been defined.

Resolution 1 establishes that, YDSA members who have been credibly shown to: (1) have consistently and publicly opposed the Palestine liberation movement, even after receiving fair and ample opportunity for education about the Palestinian struggle for liberation, (2) are currently affiliated with the Israeli government or any Zionist lobby group, or (3) have provided material aid to the so-called state of Israel are to be considered in substantial disagreement with the principles or policies of the organization, and thus subject to expulsion in line with the constitution.

Interpreting the constitution is the responsibility of the highest deliberative body of YDSA, which is the convention when it is in session and the National Coordinating Committee (NCC) when the convention is not in session. That is exactly what Resolution 1 seeks to do: interpret what is one of the things the constitution means by “substantial disagreement” and name support for Zionism as among those definitions.

The resolution does not prescribe any particular process for how this “credibly shown” determination is made or how expulsion, if it occurs, should occur. As explicitly stated in Resolution 1 and as already required–but not yet implemented–in our existing constitution, the NCC is still obligated to draft and adopt a “Membership Policy which outlines the process in which a member may be expelled from the organization.”

Restorative Justice Inline With Abolitionist Principles

Our existing constitution requires a “written notice of charges” and an “opportunity to be heard before an unbiased, impartial body designated by the NCC.” This is already in the constitution, and Resolution 1 does absolutely nothing to change that or to prescribe how expulsion should be done. Resolution 1 only seeks to define Zionism and opposition to the Palestinian liberation movement as among the definitions of “substantial disagreement.”

The only requirement from Resolution 1 on the Membership Policy is that there be a process for those expelled for this reason to have restorative justice and to be able to return to the organization if their views change, they demonstrate ideological growth, and reject their past Zionist affinity. This is a framework inspired by abolitionist principles; that even our internal disciplinary processes should not be punitive, but restorative. It is worth noting that we do not have any similar process for the other reasons someone could be expelled, and the hope is that the NCC when adopting the Membership Policy will include similar restorative provisions for all reasons for expulsion.

In Resolution 1, the NCC is given a 1-year deadline to draft this Membership Policy. This is one of the great things that this resolution accomplishes. It gives the NCC a reasonable time to execute a responsibility that the NCC has thus far neglected to complete even though the body was required to do so in our existing constitution since passage of Amendment 2 at the 2023 YDSA Convention.

Conclusion

In the final analysis, Zionism is a racist ideology which has now led to the death and dispossession of millions of Palestinians. It remains a colonial outpost in the East that constantly works to suppress the self-determination of the peoples of several nations and has no place in any organization that calls itself socialist or anti-imperialist. Passing Resolution 1 would go a long way in ensuring that YDSA maintains a principled line in the struggle against Zionism as well as sending a message that we support the Palestinian struggle to the hilt.

We urge YDSA to join the movement for the liberation of Palestine in rejecting Zionism in all its forms by adopting Resolution 1 “Make YDSA an Anti-Zionist Organization in Principle and Praxis.”