Comments on the Anti-Normalization Piece

by Ibrahim Alloush

Upon reading the piece on anti-normalization, one may feel a little
confusion due to a problem of focus. Of course the effort in and of
itself is to be commended. However, in the analysis, there seems to
be a little overlap between the need to delineate a program to face
globalization, and the need to delineate a program to face Zionism.
Granted, there are strong links between the two. But this is not
to say the program to confront each of them is one and the same.
When we include in the anti-normalization program tasks that are
meant to fight capital on an international scale, we fall in two
possible traps:

1) an ideological one: "Israel" is an abnormal entity. In that sense,
we refuse to normalize relations with the abnormal. Capital, on the
other hand, which makes good use of "Israel", is NOT abnormal. It is
normal in the sense that it is the result of socio-economic development
at a specific stage in human progress.  THE POINT IS THAT IF WE EQUATE
FIGHTING ZIONISM WITH FIGHTING CAPITAL, WE RISK MAKING "ISRAEL" A NORMAL
ENTITY. Thus, we need to two programs: one for fighting globalization
and another for fighting Zionism, which of course doesn't preclude the
possibility that the two programs would have several items in common.
There is nothing wrong with showing the links between the two phenomena,
globalization and Zionification. But we should not call fighting
globalization, anti-normalization.

2) a political one: by making the task too big, the obstacles become
insurmountable, thus unachievable.  This could actually frustrate
activists and help normalizers by making our demands seem irrational.
At this stage, there is a huge campaign in the Arab World to boycott
American goods BECAUSE OF U.S. GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR "ISRAEL" IN THE
SECOND INTIFADA. People are fighting hard to find alternatives to
American goods, and it's not always easy. Alternatives include European
goods. We are not ready at this stage to wage a boycott against all
Western goods, even though the boycott against American goods on account
of U.S. government support to "Israel" will have implications in the
future for anti-capitalist campaigns in the Third World fight against
globalization, as I've written more than once already. THE POINT IS
THAT THE BOYCOTT EMANATING FROM ANTI-NORMALIZATION EFFORTS SHOULD
CENTER AT THIS STAGE ON ZIONISTS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS, NOTHING ELSE.

Other comments on the piece include:

1) the criterion used to judge that buying "Israeli" goods is okay in
the land occupied in 1948 should be spelled out clearly.  I think that
people in the West Bank and Gaza also don't have much choice but to buy
many "Israeli" goods as well, but that issue should be spelled out more
clearly.  Why is running for the Knesset bad, but not running for
municipal elections in the land occupied in 1948?  Specify the
criterion..

2) please take into consideration that the media committee of the
Association against Zionism and Racism issued a pamphlet which was
posted on connect.to/azar, titled "The Mechanisms of Tackling Zionist
Infiltration", which addresses the issue of establishing a united
anti-normalization front across the Arab World, among other things.
The pamphlet came out several months ago. Also, please be aware that
there are meetings that take place irregularly amongst anti-normalization
committees in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. The largest such meeting took
place on the margin of the Arab Nationalist Conference that took place
in Algeria several months ago. The point is not to call for establishing
a united anti-normalization front.  Many people have voiced that call
already. The point is to do it. Doing it requires the cooperation of
several focal points. Nobody responds to general calls from a distance
anymore. The work here is largely organizational, not rhetorical. The
most important piece in the program at the end of the piece, therefore,
is the call to identify "Israeli" products in America and boycott them
through the efforts of the Arab-American community, and the cooperation
of Arab-American organizations to achieve that goal.

The second practical stage is to build organizational links between
these anti-nomalization groups in America and the ones in Jordan and
Egypt, where anti-normalization work is at its zenith.

3) Please take into consideration that normalization took very severe
blows in Jordan and Egypt since the beginning of the second Intifada.
Normalizers are scurrying for cover. Even the governments keep
relations with the invader to a minimum. Of course, anti-normalization
evolved into a higher plane with the efforts to boycott American goods
on account of American support for "Israel". The question now is how to
consolidate these gains for the future.  That's where the fight is right
now, and that's where our weak organization is showing through.

Governments are simply fighting to keep their options open for the
future and opposing the boycott of American goods. Nobody dares to
showcase their normalization efforts these days... The point is that
the second Intifada has helped tremendously in fostering a culture of
anti-normalization like never before. That part of the program has
been achieved. The question is how do we institutionalize it?!!

The problem here is that the Arab popular wave is much farther
ahead of the anti-normalization elite...

4) The piece needs general editing. There is no work like
'reviewuate'...

5) Any initiative needs parties to back it up. Who is calling for
this?  and where could interested parties go?

Later
Ibrahim Alloush

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