HAPPY 91st BIRTHDAY to JVP's oldest member: Shatzi Weisberger, the @peoplesbubbie!
An anti-Zionist, abolitionist, lesbian Jew who has been organizing for justice her entire life, Shatzi is a guiding light and source of wisdom, inspiration, and joy for our community 🥰
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"I grew up very Zionist, but I've come a long way, baby," Shatzi says. She joined the movement for Palestinian freedom in 1983, after she started to educate herself about Palestine and feel a profound “anguish over what Zionists were doing to the Palestinians.”
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Unlearning Zionist “brainwashing” was a “process that took time” and effort, but it was well worth it: she made powerful contributions to movement, forged deep connections with her partners in struggle, and built Judaism and Jewish community beyond Zionism.
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These days, Shatzi says, it's "easier to protest Zionism than it was before,” since so many Jews are rising for Palestinian freedom and Judaism beyond Zionism. “I am part of JVP and so I am no longer isolated in my anti-Zionism. I have this entire community whom I adore.”
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Before joining JVP, Shatzi’s involvement in the movement for Palestinian freedom spanned many Palestinian-led groups and many kinds of work — from helping to organize demonstrations to making sure all of her comrades were well-nourished.
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Shatzi was also dedicated to building solidarity with Palestinians in the women’s and LGBTQ movements, leading Palestine workshops at feminist and lesbian events. Here she is declaring her support for Palestinian self-determination at NYC pride in 1985 🌈
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Outside of her Palestine solidarity work, Shatzi was a nurse for 47 years during the height of the AIDS crisis. She has also been part of countless other groups and movements for justice, from anti-war to Black liberation to anti-incarceration/abolition.
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Since retiring, Shatzi has devoted herself to the positive death movement, which seeks to help people understand that, like living, dying may also be an art — a process worth experiencing fully and intentionally.
However and whenever she dies, Shatzi plans to continue organizing until the very end of her life. We are all so humbled, honored, and grateful to learn from and be in community with Shatzi, and we treasure her now and forever 😭
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To learn more about Shatzi’s life and work, watch her episode of @jvpliveNY's Movement Elders series:
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This #NakbaDay, 100s of our members sent photos opposing the #OngoingNakba in Jerusalem.
Our Jewish solidarity shows that Israel's expulsions are not about religion but about land theft, ethnic cleansing, and ethnic supremacy — just as they were in 1948.
In Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, 1,500 Palestinians face the threat of forced displacement and home demolitions by Israeli settlers working in collusion with the Israeli government and military.
2/20
Most families in these neighborhoods are refugees from the beginning of the Nakba in 1948, when Zionist militas violently expelled 750,000 Palestinians from their homes. For them, their impending forced displacement in 2021 is especially painful.
This Shabbat, we invite you to talk to your family, your friends, and your community about the atrocities that the Israeli government, military, and civilians are perpetrating against Palestinians — from Sheikh Jarrah, to Gaza, to the West Bank, to inside ’48 borders.
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We know that misinformation and indoctrination runs deep in our community, and that talking about Palestine and Israel is an emotional minefield for so many. Talking with our people may be difficult, and changing their hearts and minds may take time, effort, and commitment.
2/7
But, as @m7mdkurd reminds us, the oppression that Palestinians endure under Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism will always be harder than the work we do to transform our communities — and nothing less than the end of that oppression is at stake.
3/7
@facebook, treating "Zionist" as a proxy for "Jew" would undermine efforts to dismantle real antisemitism, deprive Palestinians of a venue for expressing their viewpoints to the world, and help the Israeli government avoid accountability for violations of Palestinian rights.
2/9
@facebook, we need to talk about the best ways to dismantle antisemitism.
We need to talk as Jews, discussing and debating our many relationships to Zionist political ideology.
This quote ran in Ha'aretz yesterday, along with other shocking details from IDF snipers trained to maim and murder Palestinians in Gaza who protest at the border. Ha'aretz removed this quote and anything related to children. But we saw it, we have receipts. The world should know
CW
Attached are screenshots of the original text of the article, which is extremely violent and shocking and may be difficult to process for some.