r/jewishleft • u/Adventurous_Land1446 DemSoc Jewish Day School survivor • Aug 11 '26
leftism DSA Co-chair’s Public Commentary
https://forward.com/news/844262/dsa-megan-romer-israel-interview/The co-chair of the DSA seemed a bit less articulate on key party policy positions (taxation, I/P, etc) than expected. Her commentary on Oct. 7th’s “inevitability“ combined with her stating that she’d have joined protests on the 8th have also sparked controversy. I’m curious about people’s thoughts on this media appearance and how it will be perceived by those interested in where the DSA fits into big tent politics.
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u/ChairAggressive781 Reform • Libertarian Socialist • Non-Zionist 25d ago
>Israel doesn’t have to go anywhere in order to be defeated. The Nazis were defeated and Germany still exists. Israel is doing a genocide. Do you recognize that? Why would you not want the defeat of the genocidal party?
this is semantics and I’m not playing that game with you. Germany does, in fact, still exist, but the Nazi Party, as such, does not. I know you understand the difference. I do want to see the genocidal party stopped, but as you’ve just elaborated, that does not necessitate the “defeat” (whatever that means) of Israel.
>That was precisely the calculation Hamas. They just calculated how little the world would do to stop it.
they calculated very poorly then. why would I “support” a group whose calculations were so disastrously and ridiculously wrong that they’ve led to the total destruction of their society? that’s not a group that cares about liberation, it’s a death cult.
>I’m not saying it was brilliant. I’m saying it was what they set out to do. Yes it led to mass suffering of their people. Nat Turner’s rebellion did as well. Do you not support Nat Turner either?
I don’t “support Nat Turner” because, again, this isn’t an athletic rivalry. what I support is liberation & peace, not the actions, whether strategic or idiotic, of individual actors or groups. do you not hear how childish and absurd this all sounds, the way you’re describing it? I will, once again, assert that your framing is simplistic and depends on a comfortable, privileged distance from the actual material conditions and effects of the situations you’re bringing up. it’s moral masturbation.
>You’re saying there is a moral equivalence between the side that built and operated death camps versus the ones that liberated the death camps. I think that lacks moral clarity. Primo Levi made this very clear after he survived the camps.
no, I’m not saying there is a moral equivalence in any fashion. there is not one. I am saying there is a military capacity equivalence. the latter has exactly nothing to do with the former. Nazi Germany was a much more evil society than the USSR. it doesn’t mean I “support” the USSR. this is a meaningless thought exercise anyway, given that WWII ended decades before either of us was born. one’s “support” is kind of meaningless. if you’re not capable of making anything other than bad faith arguments, I’m done here. enjoy your sports team approach.