Via the Internet:

At 6:30 PM on Thursday, January 29, ten young activists peacefully blocked the two main entrances to the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square to protest the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Fundraising Gala. The action, which lasted just under two hours, coincided with a 250-person protest rally in front of the hotel, separately organized by the Break the Siege On Gaza Coalition—Student Committee. All ten activists were arrested, spurring the formation of a campaign for their defense and for the conscious escalation of pro-Gaza activism.

I’m wondering if any “libertarians” will condemn this action for taking place on private property, ignoring the fact that said property was the meeting place for a powerful gang of criminals. Hopefully nobody will be ridiculous enough to claim these activists violated AIPAC’s “free speech right” to plot world domination through murder.

More than a month after Israel began its massive assault on Gaza and amidst international protests, AIPAC held a $1500-a-plate fundraising dinner, its largest event of the year. The event was attended by prominent business people, lobbyists and U.S. politicians, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The blockade disrupted what the participating activists considered a disgraceful gathering…

AIPAC, or the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, describes itself as the most important organization affecting the U.S. relationship with Israel. With a budget of $65 million, and membership now standing at over 100,000, it is no wonder that congressional staffers consider it one of the most powerful and effective lobbies on Capitol Hill. Once a year, AIPAC holds its annual conference in Washington DC. This May it was attended by over 5,000 participants. Its annual policy conference is one of Washington’s largest gatherings of lawmakers, topped only by the President’s State of the Union address.

It is certainly heartening to see resistance to such a powerful group of rights-violators. Here’s hoping that 2009 will be a revolutionary year.

Massive props to the AIPAC 10!

This entry was posted on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 12:13 pm and is filed under current event. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.