New Voices: Occupying the occupiers

YJP organizers interviewed in Other Voices

Occupying the Occupiers
By Gabriel Schivone, New Voices, November 8, 2011

Members of Jewish Voice for Peace’s youth wing, Young, Jewish and Proud, disrupted an event last night in New York City hosted by Birthright Israel-Next.

According to their press release:

Using the ‘human microphone’ or ‘people’s microphone’ made famous by the Occupy Wall Street protests they interrupted a Birthright Israel Next-sponsored event. The event featured CEO Steven Pease, and was called “The Golden Age of Jewish Achievement,” part of Birthright Israel’s Next’s ‘Wall St.’ series. Pease was addressing the question of ‘Why Jews are disproportionately high achievers?’

The young Jews used the human microphone, one person saying a short phrase and others repeating back, to read a site-specific version of their declaration which calls for young Jews to take similar actions wherever the ‘1%’ of their own community gathers. The disruption will be broadcast on Occupy Wall Street’s video stream. Afterwards, protesters stayed outside to continue reading their declaration and share stories of their experiences of what they saw as Birthright’s dishonest presentations of Israel. Their numbers more than doubled as passers by joined them. Later that night, via twitter, Birthright Israel offered to “dialogue” with the protesters. Birthright Israel was previously the target of a Young, Jewish, and Proud spoof email offering a fictional ‘Birthright for All’ trip that included Palestinians.”

I interviewed two of the organizers/participants, Liza Behrendt and Carolyn Klaasen on their group’s goals, reasoning and vision with the “occupy” event and general outlook on organizing within the American Jewish community around the US/Israel-Palestine conflict.

Liza Behrendt graduated in May from Brandeis University, where she organized with Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. She continues to work with JVP as a board member and a Young, Jewish, and Proud leader. She now lives in Brooklyn as a member of Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps, working as a community organizer at Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

Carolyn Klaasen is currently earning her M.A. at Union Theological Seminary, where she is involved in organizing Protest Chaplains for Occupy Wall Street. Before attending Union Carolyn lived and worked for the Community of Living Traditions, a Jewish, Muslim and Christian residential community dedicated to activism and nonviolence. She has been a JVP member for almost a year, and is a Young, Jewish and Proud leader.

SCHIVONE: What is this “occupy the occupier” protest all about? What do you aim to achieve?

Liza Behrendt: We aim to empower Jews to take back their community institutions, just as people in diverse communities nationwide are doing with Occupy protests. Institutions like Birthright claim to represent all young Jews in offering them a free trip home, rendering invisible the many Jews who oppose Israeli policies, including the Law of Return that allows Jews, but not Palestinians, to move to Israel.

Carolyn Klaasen: After spending the majority of my activist life resisting occupation in Palestine, I have developed a new relationship with the word “occupy” in these past two months down on Wall Street. From the very beginning of OWS I have seen it as inextricably linked to my Palestine solidarity activism, and “occupy the occupiers” is about making that connection clear.

It’s not okay for banks in the U.S. to profit from foreclosures and the financial crisis, and it’s not okay for anybody to profit from the ongoing occupation of Palestine. We’re calling for Jews to show solidarity with Palestinians and with OWS by standing up to the 1% in our own community.

In terms of race and class, which kinds of Jews or institutions (or both) are you referring to as part of the US-based 1%? Is the action individual-based or institution-based–or both?

LB: We are calling on people to target institutions. The reality is that many Jewish institutions are dangerously dependent on a small handful of donors or foundations, who subsequently have a disproportionate influence on the political and social agendas. Unwavering support for Israel is the most glaring issue, but last night’s Birthright event, glorifying capitalist gain during a time of dreadful inequality, is another example.

The target was a Jewish nationalism event by Birthright Israel-Next, New York, which, according to its description, asserts that the “Jewish contribution to science, literature, the arts, and industry far surpass their miniscule numbers (less than .1% of world population).” Suggesting to prove their statement, they invite “Author, venture capitalist and turn-around CEO Steven Pease, raised a Presbyterian, [who] asks why Jews are disproportionately high achievers and attempts to answer these questions through hundreds of fascinating case studies, ultimately making the case for the important role Jewish culture has played in this high-achieving result.”

Your response? Would you explain why you thought this was an appropriate target for the action?

LB: The narrative of a modern-day chosen people is detrimental to our community. It encourages chauvinism and keeps us out of touch with the urgent global problems facing all people, including Jews.

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