On Oct. 3, UTSA’s Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) hosted a “What is Zionism?” Roundtable event in the Multidisciplinary Studies building to help students learn what Zionism is, the historical context behind it, its impact and its reality.
Before starting the meeting, attendees were grouped up and told to discuss whether they had ever heard the word Zionism before, if so by whom and in what context.
The presentation explained the first 50 years of the history of Zionism from 1896 to 1947. The speaker voiced that Zionism is generally more of a political stance and an excuse for colonialism than it is anything else.
The presentation included words from the Balfour Declaration, a declaration of the promise of a homeland for the Jews.
“His Majesty’s Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
An explanation was provided for the conditions the Palestinian natives allegedly had to endure while being forced out of their lands
“And the thing that I would really like to emphasize is that modern Zionist claims center on the idea that the state of Israel is something indigenous, that it is a form of a decolonial land back movement,” the speaker said. “And something that I hope you’re kind of seeing is that the repeated quotes from the founders of political Zionism, the movement that led into modern Zionism, is essentially colonial. It is a movement that has consistently appealed to other powers that rely on their funding and that rely on their backing and that consistently assert itself as people coming into a land to take it away from the people already living there.”
“Zionists utilized violence to assert themselves from the region and relied on external legal systems to enforce their claim on Palestine. Over the course of these 50 years that I kind of covered, about 300,000 Palestinians were killed or expelled to the various colonial campaigns up to this point.”
At the end of the presentation, the speaker opened the floor for questions and allowed attendees to understand more of what was just discussed. The speaker also recommended a book titled “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine” in an attempt to understand more of the historical context of Zionism.
After attendees asked questions, the speaker and other members of YDSA started discussion questions to learn more of their attendees’ perspectives and their experience with knowledge of Zionism.
The speaker, as well as other members of YDSA, advised attendees to inform and help educate others they may know about Zionism and how it relates to the Oct. 7 events.
