DECLARING WAR on Zionism & American Exceptionalism

One of my main concerns is for Palestine to be free--for Muslims, Jews, Christians, Druze, B'hais, etc. to be able to live as equal citizens in the whole of Palestine.  For that to happen, Israel has to be FORCED to dissolve as a "Jewish Supremacist" State.  HOW should this be done?  Since violence is the problem, it cannot be the solution; more positive & successful victories over tyranny have been won through Non-Violent Direct Action here and around the world than by the use of violence. 

The key word here is ACTION.  Action is essential for true change.  Americans, especially need to see that holding conferences, rallies, & educational programs is not true action.  However, this passive approach is currently our modus operandi. 

True ACTION would begin with commitment to the concept that we are at WAR.  Not with Israelis, or even the IDF, but with the twin ideologies that motivate Israeli repression and atrocities:  Zionism and American Exceptionalism.  It was the same in the Civil Rights Movement:  The enemies were not segregationists, but the concept of segregation and the mechanisms by which it was imposed.  The enemy was not racist, but racism.  And so on with the other enemies.  Dr. King identified the main three as "racism, extreme materialism, and militarism."  These are enemies we still face.

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Once we commit ourselves to waging War against these evil forces (or to put it another way, "waging Peace and Justice"), we can begin to IDENTIFY what we need to accomplish, ORGANIZE an army, STRATEGIZE what that army needs to do to WIN, and DEPLOY ourselves to carry out coordinated actions that will accomplish our objectives.

Here's an example:  Changing the average American's perception of Palestinians and of Israel is a key objective.  A strategy to meet that objective would be to create affinity groups across the country based upon occupations.  For instance, a team in Palestine could produce a video of firemen in Rafah talking about their work of, literally, putting out fires that the IDF starts, and another of farmers talking about the effects of the Wall.  Then activists in the US and elsewhere could set up meetings with local fire departments and farmers' organizations to show these videos to these groups and ask for their understanding, sympathy, and commitment to truly help their Palestinian counterparts by actively opposing the Occupation.  Arranging delegations of US firefighters and farmers to visit Palestine and report back to their organizations in the US would drive our message even more.  Such organizing would also generate media coverage, extending the message to even more people.  The final step could be forming on-going Palestine Solidarity groups within firefighter and farmer organizations.  Obviously, this tactic could be used among Americans from teachers to social workers to construction workers, etc.

BTW, we spend a LOT of money sending people to Palestine on "fact-finding" missions.  This is not an effective use of the scant resources our movement currently has.  We already have the facts, and the average Palestinian thanks us for visiting, but wishes Americans would actually DO something to stop our government from continuing its support of Israel.  Our money would be better spent organizing, organizing, and organizing to WIN!