Unions Are Critical in the Fight Against Israeli Apartheid

https://www.citywatchla.com/voices/28283-unions-are-critical-in-the-fight-against-israeli-apartheid

Sonali Kolhatkar January 15 2024

LABOR WATCH - When United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain called for a ceasefire in Israel’s assault on Gaza in mid-December, his union was among the nation’s largest to do so. It was a bold move, fresh from UAW’s victorious high-profile contract negotiations with the Big Three auto manufacturers a few weeks earlier. “nions are the best bridge toward fighting all forms of hatred and phobias,” said Fain in his ceasefire speech alongside Congressional lawmakers. He added, “As union members, we know we must fight for all workers and people suffering around the world.”

UAW’s move is part of a major turning of the tide for American labor unions as a whole, which have historically backed the state of Israel and done so unconditionally—so much so that labor historian Jeff Schuhrke told the New York Times, “In many ways, you can argue that U.S. unions helped construct the state of Israel.”

But the idea of unions is based on collective power to ensure just outcomes for workers in the face of the financial might of bosses: the powerless versus the powerful, working together to tilt the scales of justice in their favor. While Israel may have successfully hijacked the narrative to cast itself as the victim for decades, that story is unraveling as younger Americans—including union members and leaders—are viewing Palestinians as dispossessed victims of a well-armed apartheid state.

This trend is long overdue. U.S. unions, including UAW, were instrumental in opposing South Africa’s apartheid regime. The AFL-CIO led a wave of protests against apartheid South Africa in 1984, with the union federation’s secretary-treasurer Thomas R. Donahue being arrested alongside the heads of the Newspaper Guild and the United Steelworkers of America.

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(Sonali Kolhatkar is an award-winning multimedia journalist. She is the founder, host, and executive producer of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a weekly television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations. Her most recent book is Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice (City Lights Books, 2023). She is a writing fellow for the Economy for All project at the Independent Media Institute and the racial justice and civil liberties editor at Yes! Magazine. She serves as the co-director of the nonprofit solidarity organization the Afghan Women’s Missionand is a co-author of Bleeding Afghanistan. She also sits on the board of directors of Justice Action Center, an immigrant rights organization. This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.)