Empire in Decay: Why We Should Abandon Landsman

Importance of the ideological struggle

The movement in the US for Palestinian liberation has grown strong to the point that its Zionist opponents, because they can't logically defend their genocidal land-grab, have resorted to open and unapologetic suppression of free speech. In the US, this is far from a new phenomenon. The arrest of peaceful protesters and students on felony charges, suppression of pro-Palestine messaging by classifying it as hate speech, and the banning of apps that they can’t control or censor all demonstrate the capitalist oligarchy’s abject fear of a general uprising for the liberation of the Palestinian people. Capitalists and bourgeois politicians realize that they cannot lose the masses' ideological support of Zionism without eventually losing the state of Israel altogether; and they are losing, despite the help of major news outlets and the millions poured into propaganda campaigns. Moreover, the inverse is also true. The loss of the Zionist project threatens to expose capital and the bourgeois state as a paper tiger.

Landsman and “Bipartisanship”

The alliance between the Democrats and Republicans in Congress against those who oppose imperialist genocide reemerges alongside the Democrats’ incessant cries for votes and support against the Republican boogeyman. There is validity in the liberals' fear of the far-right, but the insistence that the liberals are meaningfully different—beyond their rhetoric—than the conservatives falls flat in the face of scrutiny. In fact, the liberals are incapable of effectively opposing their conservative counterparts because they both serve the same master: capital. The German KPD 1932 slogan “a vote for Hindenburg is a vote for Hitler” was proven correct when Hindenburg willingly handed state power over to Hitler and the Nazis a year later. In 2024, a vote for liberalism is a vote for imperialism, fascism, and genocide. This is why the political questions Americans should be asking go far beyond “Trump or Biden?”

Today’s best example of an ineffectual liberal may be Hamilton County's own Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH), whose obsession with bipartisanship betrays the not-so-hidden truth that Democrats and Republicans are merely two wings of the same corporate party. Landsman, an unapologetic supporter of the apartheid state of Israel and their genocide of indigenous Palestinians, continues to show that he has no problem cooperating with reactionaries. This is not at all difficult for Landsman, because he, himself, is a reactionary masquerading as a “progressive.” Landsman, on the surface, may seem like a man of the people given his vocal support for reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights–which constitutes the bare minimum, and without which he couldn’t hope to secure many votes from his Democratic  base—but the charade is far from convincing. 

Just in 2024, Landsman has voted yes on bills, supported by both parties, which criminalize pro-Palestine language, suppress the spread of information by forcing TikTok to sell so that it can be censored or be subject to nationwide ban, intensify US-Mexico border restrictions (H.Res.973, a bill sponsored by Landsman), fund foreign US puppet regimes like Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan with hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons to wage proxy wars and outright genocide, and sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) for issuing a warrant on Netanyahu for committing war crimes.

Antisemitism Awareness Act

On May 1, 2024 the US House of Representatives passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act which, if voted into law, would “provide statutory authority for the requirement that the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights take into consideration the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA's) working definition of antisemitism when reviewing or investigating complaints of discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.” The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA's) working definition of antisemitism includes such examples as antisemitism: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” and “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” This is the same definition of Antisemitism that was adopted by Cincinnati City Council in April of last year (2023). The House adopted the so-called “Working Definition” in the face of widespread and withering criticism from legal scholars and historians for its vagueness, inconsistency, and incompatibility with democratic norms of free speech. The author of the working definition has even expressed his opposition to it being used for legislation. As University of London professor Rebecca Ruth Gould has written, 

If we accept the rhetorical turn that has dominated US public discourse around Israel since the advent of the IHRA definition, we are forced to choose between acknowledging Palestinians’ point of view and being accused of antisemitism. This is an unsustainable—and unacceptable—opposition that follows logically from definitions of racism that prioritize feelings over material conditions. Everyone has the right to be offended, but no one has the right not to be offended, or to translate their feeling of offense into an unequivocal demonstration of racism.

As Gould points out, the “Working Definition” in practice has mainly been employed to silence critics of Zionism on the Left, but hardly even addresses the origins and purposes of the real historical antisemitism of the fascist Right. The IHRA definition is a thinly-veiled McCarthyite cudgel for Western capitalists—mostly gentiles—to use against their opponents, not a means to combat the real, perennial, and vicious European and Christian scapegoating of Jews.

If this resolution is made law, it means that programs or institutions that receive federal funding, like public schools and universities, could lose financial contributions from the federal government for expressing—or even failing to censor–—valid criticisms of the state of Israel as a genocidal apartheid state. In most cases, the loss of federal funding would mean the end of these programs and institutions entirely. To “reverse the normalization of antisemitism and counter antisemitic discrimination” is a stated goal of this bill, and something we would have no disagreements with if not for the conflation of opposition to Zionism with Jew-hatred. We unequivocally oppose antisemitism, racism, and bigotry in all forms. We also stand against anyone using anti-racist rhetoric to justify the racist slaughter of indigenous Palestinians. The aim of these attacks on pro-Palestine language is to delegitimize it and exclude it from what is considered acceptable “politically correct” discourse. 

Zionist liberals, like Landsman, claim that the language used by the Free Palestine movement is dangerous because it makes certain groups feel uncomfortable or unsafe. Never mind that these same people are using this argument to delegitimize their opponents and justify the genocide of the indigenous Palestinian population. Framing this as a question of rising antisemitism is nothing but a clumsy attempt to distract people from the real content of the struggle being waged against the Zionist state: a struggle against settler-colonialism, white-supremacy, capitalism, imperialism, environmental destruction, and genocide. If roles were reversed, as they were in Europe during the time of the Nazis, and a fascist ethnostate with a depraved and vicious military were to do to Jews what Israel is now doing to the Palestinians, those now taking a principled stance against the genocide of Palestinians would be fighting for Jewish people’s right to exist and resist. Should Jews be able to live in Palestine? Yes. Are Jews entitled to a violent apartheid state at the expense of an indigenous population? They are not, and neither are the descendants of European settlers in the so-called “New World.” 

We’re growing tired of repeating ourselves, but we have no other choice amidst attempts to paint our party as antisemitic and suppress pro-Palestinian voices. On the other hand, the Zionists and imperialists on Capitol Hill have no other choice but to resort to suppression and discreditation of the Free Palestine movement. There is no logical defense of the state of Israel other than “we believe white-supremacist settler-colonialism is okay.” Out of their mouths, this would not be a lie, though it isn’t something many of them would dare say so explicitly. To condemn the settler-colonial nature of Israel would be to condemn the US settler-colony. They have to defend Israel’s actions to protect the legitimacy of the imperialist exploits of the US ruling class. It is all a question of protecting American capitalist hegemony. To do this, they can't engage in “open dialogue,” a catchphrase so precious to our liberals. Instead, they move toward outlawing ideological deviation on the question of Zionism entirely. 

Zionism, in the realm of ideas, is fairly young, and until more recently was a movement that existed on the fringe—enjoying little support from anyone, Jewish or otherwise. Its founders were members of the late 19th century European bourgeoisie, and were thus imbued with a corresponding bourgeois ideology. Rather than combating antisemitism with solidarity among the working masses of all nations, making the world-over a safe place for Jews, the Zionists betrayed the Jewish diaspora entirely, in favor of escaping antisemitism to a “land without a people.” They cared little for the Jewish working-class and had a hatred for Jewish communists. The Zionists’ plan was to abandon those revolutionary Jewish proletarians to suffer vicious pogroms on their own, while the European Jewish bourgeoisie was to be imported into Palestine to establish a nationalist paradise for themselves at the expense of the indigenous Palestinian population. 

These unsavory realities have been largely concealed in the US due to compulsory Zionism, which arises out of the America-Israel lobby (AIPAC) and is maintained by the delegitimation and out-right illegality of opposition to Zionism. Making Zionism a civil religion in the US has only been a way to put a veneer of humanism on fascism. It is a fig leaf for racism, chauvinism, and McCarthyism. Greg Landsman is a mouthpiece of the America-Israel Lobby and a contemporary manifestation of this historical phenomenon. He’s received $144,900 from AIPAC since 2023 to further suppress Zionism’s opponents and approve tax dollars to fund the Zionist project.

Student Encampments

The spring of 2024 saw a spontaneous blossoming of activity in the form of student Palestine solidarity encampments starting at Columbia University and spreading internationally. Greg Landsman, showing his commitment to bipartisanship, signed a letter with Republicans and 21 Democrats to the Columbia University Board calling on their resignation if they failed to  “act decisively” to put an end to the encampment. There was no elaboration on how best to put a stop to it, but it’s clear the subtext behind this letter was a prescription to remove the solidarity encampment with a heavy dose of police force. We need not make assumptions about this given the numerous instances of police violence against students at these encampments, including the assault and arrest of students and organizers at OSU, some of whom were in the middle of prayer when the police stormed in.

Landsman, in an interview with The Hill, when asked about the encampments said

Adults are failing these kids… It is really important for the adults to keep everyone safe, which they can't do unless they get rid of these encampments, and to help educate these folks to understand the difference between free-speech and hate and dangerous speech, the difference between protesting and chaos, the 1st amendment versus Title IX, so that kids understand that they can protest, but they can’t do it like this because you can't keep them safe and you can't keep other students safe.

Landsman’s belief that these encampments are unsafe is rooted completely in his own fragility, typical of Zionists who perform mental somersaults to convince themselves that they are the victims and not the perpetrators of this situation. No Jewish students have been harmed at these encampments, other than those brutalized by police. We only wish Landsman had the same concern for the students and children in Gaza who’ve been deliberately starved and seen their schools and homes leveled by Israeli bombs that Landsman himself voted to supply. Greg Landsman has no principles whatsoever. He is in no place to tell us how we can or cannot protest. He calls our protests “chaos” because they are out of his control. It's a confession that the Free Palestine movement is growing stronger, posing a real threat to Zionism and US imperialism in general.

Funding Arms and Aid

Landsman has been a vocal supporter of bills to fund the militaries of Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. In an official statement from his website in support of a bill to supply arms and funds to these countries, Landsman stated

Russia, Iran, and China are empire building, and unabated, their actions in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific will lead to larger, more expensive, and more deadly global wars… Israel and its democracy [our italics] are standing in their way of the empire building work they are all pursuing.

One should be surprised here. Has Landsman taken an anti-imperialist turn? We’re sad to announce that there is no cause for celebration. As we said above, Landsman has no principles whatsoever. Landsman is a champion of US imperialism who only opposes Russia, China, Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, etc. because they represent a threat to US hegemony and its west Asian stronghold, the state of Israel. No matter how hard he tries, Landsman will have difficulty convincing any knowledgeable person that Israel is the world’s safeguard against imperialism rather than its appendage. Landsman also has no problem using the Ukrainian people as cannon fodder to fight against Russia. He would be happy to see Ukraine fight to the last if it served the strategic geopolitical interests of the US ruling class, and it does. Congress goes so far as to provide neo-Nazi Banderist paramilitaries such as the Azov Battalion with financial support and weapons. So much for combating antisemitism in Ukraine.

Landsman continues, “The bills also include billions in humanitarian aid for Sudan, Ukraine, and Gaza. In Gaza, this gives us even more leverage to get all the aid in and to every corner of the strip.” This is an entirely transparent effort to save face and gain support for these bills. What good is humanitarian aid to Gaza if the people sheltering there are killed before they can receive it? 

We should be especially wary of the US government’s involvement in the distribution of aid to Gaza after an attack in early June carried out by US and Israeli forces who used a vehicle disguised as a humanitarian aid truck as a Trojan horse to infiltrate Nuiserat refugee camp and kill at least 274 Palestinians to retrieve 4 hostages. The death toll includes 57 women and 64 children. At least 700 refugees were wounded. 

Just when one thinks they can’t possibly sink lower, the US military and the IOF put their degeneracy on full display. Dante would have something to say about where such villains and their supporters, like Landsman, belong.

In another statement entitled “Israel Is at War With Hamas, but It Is More Awful and Complicated Than Just That,” Landsman acknowledges the atrocities being committed by Israel, but maintains that we should still support them:

This may be a long war, and the United States must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel every step of the way. The future of a Jewish State of Israel is not guaranteed. Many could argue that its long-term is now and has always been an open question. This is a critical and strategic ally of ours [our italics] and we will be there to help them end this war as quickly and successfully as possible. The images and stories coming out of Gaza in the days and weeks ahead will be horrific. War is horrific. Israel must defend herself, and yet we can all mourn the awfulness of war.

We do not desire permission to mourn. Of course we feel sad, but our demands do not have to do with feelings. We demand action. We demand an end to funding the Israeli onslaught immediately and the end of the genocidal Zionist apartheid state, as well as the right of the Palestinians to return to their homeland under a Palestinian state spanning from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, where Muslims, Christians, and Jews can once again live in peace.

Democracy and the Question of State Power

Marxism teaches us in our analysis of society—its political, economic, and ideological forces—to make the distinction between form and content; appearance and reality. By applying a Marxist lens to US society of 2024—examining the relations between classes and the struggle that develops among them—one can only arrive at the conclusion that liberal bourgeois democracy, which in the US takes on the form of a representative republic, is in content a dictatorship of the capitalist class. Liberal bourgeois democracy is just that: democracy only for the bourgeoisie, not for the proletariat. Marx correctly observed that “the oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.” Lenin expands on this idea in State and Revolution:

The real business of “state” is performed behind the scenes and is carried on by the departments, chancelleries, and General Staffs. Parliament is given up to talk for the special purpose of fooling the “common people.”

He describes parliamentary democracy as a “permanent quadrille,” an unending dance that “is going on in order that the attention of the people may be occupied.” This is exactly what we see from our two major parties who claim to oppose the other but never fail to agree on the question of selling out the American people.

Landsman, who no one would accuse of being a Marxist, fails to understand the nature of bourgeois democracy as a class dictatorship. He said, in an interview with Hamodia, “I do believe that Israel has a vibrant democracy that is showing itself week in and week out on the streets of Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem.” 

First of all, claiming an apartheid ethno-state is a vibrant democracy is hilarious. Secondly, the right to protest does not make one free, especially when the demands of the people go unheeded by elected officials. Mass demonstrations are in fact an indicator that the state is not fulfilling its democratic duty of serving the people. As protests increase in strength and number, as the consciousness and frustration of the masses grows, as it becomes clear that bourgeois democracy means no democracy for the masses, there reaches a point where the movement takes a qualitative leap from demonstrations to attempts at revolutionary seizure of political power. As long as the proletariat does not control the state and is instead subject to it, it cannot know democracy. The diametrically opposed interests of the capitalists and workers and the resulting class struggle means the bourgeois state cannot serve the proletariat. The bourgeois state’s function is precisely to safeguard the power and privilege of the ruling capitalist class over the proletariat. Because of this, the revolution cannot simply take hold of the ready-made state machinery. The revolution must destroy the bourgeois state and erect a different kind of state, a proletarian state: democracy for the proletarian masses. The same can be said of the Palestinians. Until they achieve statehood, they cannot know freedom. The Israeli state must be brushed off and a Palestinian state raised in its stead. And thirdly, describing Israel with its fascist government as “a vibrant democracy” only indicates the kind of democracy Landsman, with all his “pragmatism and bipartisanship,” aims to secure for the US. 

A Dying Colonialism

The Zionists are losing the ideological battle. Israel has lost nearly all credibility. Countries across the globe have severed diplomatic ties to Israel, closed their embassies and recognized the illegality of the Israeli occupation. The ICC has issued warrants for its leaders' arrests. Multiple officials in high positions, including an Israeli General and an Israeli minister and war cabinet member, have resigned from their posts. Zionism is met with little to no support among young people worldwide. Even the Biden administration is looking for a way out. The UN has passed a ceasefire resolution brought by the US, who has vetoed every previous ceasefire resolution brought to the UN assembly, which has supposedly already been agreed upon by the state of Israel. They know that they cannot succeed in destroying the Palestinian resistance. They hear the voices calling for the end of the Zionist entity growing louder. This new ceasefire deal is the best deal they’re going to get, as it allows Israel to continue its occupation. But a ceasefire does not mean the end of the Free Palestine movement; it is only the first step. Netanyahu and his criminal accomplices must be brought to justice. The Palestinian resistance will not waver until it achieves its complete liberation. This will be a historic victory for the oppressed people of the world, delivering a devastating blow to US imperialism, and serving as an open invitation for exploited nations worldwide to throw off the shackles of the American bourgeoisie. It is the responsibility of the US proletariat to organize, intensify the class struggle, further chip away at imperialism’s crumbling foundation, hasten its collapse, and never abandon its solidarity with the Palestinian resistance.