Thank you, Robert Naiman, for a well reasoned letter in an increasing confused world. Henry C.K. Liu Robert Naiman wrote: > Open letter to Gennady Zyuganov > > from a Jewish leftist in the U.S.A. > > Gennady Zyuganov > Russian Communist Party > > Dear Brother Zyuganov, > > Greetings. I hope my letter finds you in good health. > > Allow me to address you as an American Jewish leftist, as one with great > concern over the suffering of Russias people, and also as one deeply > concerned with the suffering of the Arab peoples of the Middle East, indeed > as one who has brought medicine to Iraq in violation of the U.S. embargo and > who was imprisoned by the Israeli authorities in February 1996 for > attempting to nonviolently obstruct the demolition of a Palestinian home by > Israeli authorities, and who remains to this day barred from Israel by the > Israeli government. > > Let me begin my letter by expressing my deep regret for the destructive role > that the United States, through its military, economic and political > policies, has played in Russia, particularly for the role of the U.S., the > IMF, and USAID in supporting "shock therapy" for the Russian economy, which > has caused so much suffering for the Russian people. > > While I continue to be saddened by the suffering of the Russian people, I > have been heartened by the recent moves of the Russian government to > "declare independence" from the IMF and the U.S. and return to economic > policies more attuned to the interests of the Russian people than to the > interests of international banks and multinational corporations. > > However, I was quite dismayed to read recent press reports that you have > recently and publicly attacked the role of "Zionist capital" in Russia, > accusing it of "ruining Russias economy." > > I hope that these reports are not accurate. If they are not, please accept > my apologies and my hope that in the future, you will bear in mind how your > remarks may be distorted in the Western media and choose your words more > carefully. > > If these reports are accurate, however, I must vigorously protest. Your > remarks are being interpreted in the West a thinly veiled anti-Semitic > attack. Sadly, I must agree with this assessment. In making these remarks, > not only do you do a great disservice to the Jews of Russia, who must surely > feel less safe today knowing that the head of the Russian Communist Party is > willing to engage in anti-Semitic diatribes, you also do a great disservice > to all those who struggle for more economic justice in the world and to all > those who support the just demands of the Palestinian and Arab peoples for > self-determination. > > That you do a disservice to the Jews of Russia, by making an issue of the > religious or ethnic background of some of the clique around Yeltsin instead > of attacking them for their specific activities, I think is obvious. That > you do a disservice to those who support economic justice and Arab and > Palestinian self-determination may not be so obvious to you, so let me > attempt to explain. > > To begin, I hope that you would agree that the opinions of the > newspaper-reading public in the United States are a matter of great import > for the world. It should not be so; in a just and more perfect world, power > would be more evenly distributed, the U.S. would not be able to push other > countries around so much, and so the opinions of Americans would not matter > so much. But while we should all work to reduce the power of the U.S. > relative to other countries, for the foreseeable future U.S. policy will > have a great impact. > > Now, I would not claim that we in the U.S. democratically control the U.S. > government. Clearly this is not the case; our democracy is rather imperfect, > to say the least. Nonetheless, public opinion does have some impact. > Consider the Vietnam War as an example. The war continued long after it was > deeply unpopular in the U.S. Nonetheless, popular protest shortened the war > and thus saved many lives. More recently, activists opposed to the policies > of the IMF succeeded in blocking the Clinton Administrations request for > more money for the IMF in the U.S. House of Representatives. While the IMF > eventually got the money through a backroom deal, we believe that this > battle significantly weakened the IMF politically and contributed to the > somewhat increased flexibility the IMF has shown recently, at least in Asia. > > I assume you are aware that for many years Yeltsin and his clique have been > portrayed in the West as "democrats " and "reformers," who are only opposed > by "remnants of the Stalinist regime" and "extreme nationalists." (The term > "nationalist" in this context has the connotation not of those who defend > the general public against the interests of foreign powers but of those who > promote ethnic hatred and xenophobia to advance their political careers. ) > With this portrayal, increasingly at odds with reality as you know, the U.S. > government was able to maintain public support for its destructive policy of > supporting Yeltsin at all costs and destroying the Russian economy. > > I hope you will see then, that by making comments like this you play into > the hands of Russias worst enemies, foreign powers who would destroy > Russian industry and make Russia a Third World vassal of the United States, > exporting raw materials and importing industrial goods. Comments like this > allow the U.S. government to portray those who oppose the rule of Russia by > the U.S., the IMF, and foreign corporations as Jew-haters and racists. I > would not be surprised to find out that U.S. State Department officials were > secretly delighted by your remarks. > > Similarly, and perhaps more importantly for the fate of the world, your > remarks do a great disservice to those of us who are working, against > formidable odds, to change U.S. policy in the Middle East. Perhaps Russia > will be able to find its own way even in the face of U.S. opposition. > Perhaps Russia, with its nuclear weapons, can cancel its foreign debt and > expel the IMF without fear of a U.S. military attack. The Arabs of the > Middle East have no such security. Every day they live under the threat of > U.S. military intervention, as we have seen demonstrated again so recently. > As you know, more than a million Iraqis have died as a result of the > U.S.-maintained economic embargo. > > You must know that those who support the current U.S. policies in the Middle > East, and those who support the policies of the Israeli government which > since 1948 has expelled Palestinians, confiscated their land and destroyed > their houses, you must know that these forces have benefited tremendously > from the lie that those who oppose their policies are anti-Jewish. I know > that you said in your letter that you are not anti-Jewish. But when you use > the term "Zionist" to refer to the activities of Jewish capitalists in > Russia, you conflate two unrelated things to the detriment of both > criticisms. Unless you have specific evidence that they are connected, which > you are then obligated to place before the world, you should keep separate > your criticism of the activities of capitalists in Russia, however > nefarious, from your criticism of colonialists in the Middle East. If you > fail to make this separation, your criticism of "Zionists" in Russia will be > interpreted -- correctly -- as anti-Semitism and your criticism of "Zionism" > in the Middle East will be dismissed as anti-Semitic as well, at least in > the West. > > Lastly, Brother Zyuganov, I would ask you a question. If your remarks lead > many Jews in Russia to feel more insecure, and if this insecurity leads more > Russian Jews to emigrate, and if some of these Jews emigrate to Israel, and > if the Israeli government settles these Russian Jews on land and even in > houses that it has stolen from Palestinian Arabs; then, Brother Zyuganov, > exactly whose interests have you served? > > Im sure, Brother Zyuganov, that you would be alarmed to discover that your > criticism of "Zionism" had in fact made you an "objective ally of Zionism." > > Brother Zyuganov, I wish you peace and prosperity in the New Year and the > same for all the peoples of the world. Lchaim. > > Robert Naiman > 1744 Kalorama NW > Washington, DC 20009
