Thank You for coming!!

I am here today for many reasons! 

My mom and dad grew up Jewish in Austria in the 1930’s—when my dad was 22, Nazis marched into Austria in 1938—he was arrested for being active in the Jewish community of Vienna—in four prisons for five months—beaten many times, my mom got him out—still possible. He went immediately to France and came to New York City in 1939 where I was born and lived there through high school. Many of our relatives like my uncle went to concentration camps—some survived, some were killed. My grandfather hid in a farm in Czechoslovakia where he died during World War II. I am here today for them. My parents believe in the dignity of all humans but felt very powerless, fatalistic—on the other hand growing up in the 1960’s together with my background and family values—my response was different-Never again to me means fighting and organizing against all oppression—as the U.S. continued its murderous war against Vietnam it meant organizing with all of my energy against that war—35 years later challenging oppression also means opposing the U.S. criminal war in Iraq. I would say we in the United States have even more of a responsibility to speak up than Germans did during Hitler because information was more available here in the U.S. and repression wasn’t as great—understanding that repression in the U.S. was greater against Blacks and people of color than whites.

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Coming of age in the 1960’s also brought home to me how central racism has been to U.S. past and present and that challenging racism was key to any fundamental change in this country. Racism today in the United States is still central to the U.S. political economy—look at black and Latino and Native American unemployment and poverty rates which are more than twice that of whites. So while opposing the vile racism of the Nazis, let us also oppose the racism of this Administration that attacks affirmative action and guts public housing and social programs, that lets poor people and particularly poor black people die in New Orleans during Katrina. Let us also remember that not only Tim Eyman but the majority of white people voted to end affirmative action in Washington State in 1998. We need to oppose this as we oppose the Nazis.  

We need to challenge the anti-immigrant hysteria as expressed by the Minuteman yesterday in Seattle, by the Sensenbrenner bill which passed the House of Representatives which would make felons of immigrants who come here seeking jobs and those who help them; it would spend billions on a wall between Mexico and the United States. Let us not allow Muslims and Arabs to be targeted and repressed. Let us be inspired and show support for the growing immigrant rights movement, e.g., the million who marched in LA last Sunday; my son, Filemon, calls it the New Civil Rights Movement. So let us defeat the Nazis by showing they are the tip of a virulent disease of racism and build a stronger movement for racial justice in Olympia and beyond.  

A great German Marxist, August Bebel, once said that anti-Semitism is the socialism of fools. That certainly fits the National Socialist Movement (NSM). Friday, one of their members called me, they have put my name, home and office address and phone number and pictures of me on their website, www.nukeisrael.com, and call me a kike and Jew boy on it. Other names are also listed there. Nevertheless, I spoke to him. He talked about low wages and insecure jobs of white people and how immigrants are overrunning this country. I told him that they were blaming and targeting immigrants, blacks, Jews, Mexicans, lesbians and gays, LGBT, and the disabled rather than those who have the power, the wealthy capitalist elites and the multinational corporations. He didn’t listen; the national part of their name dominates the socialist. They are trying to recruit disaffected white non-Jewish youth, promising them power and also better jobs, health care, education for whites and some handy scapegoats.  

We must build a movement that is about more than just for peace and tolerance but one that challenges all oppression and fights for a living wage, health care for all, free and quality education through college, affordable housing reproductive rights and taxing the wealthy in the short run and in the longer run, we should work for a system that is not capitalism, that is sustainable and based on production for need not profit—NOT support business Democrats like Cantwell and business democracy but real democracy. Otherwise the NSM and the Republican party wins. We need to fight against the war at home as we work to stop the U.S. wars abroad. 

The NSM on their web-site supports Palestine and is totally hostile to Israel. The reason is their hatred of Jews which comes through on every page. I am angered by this as I am equally opposed to and angered by their hatred of Black people and other oppressed people. An Injury to one is an Injury to all. On the other hand, I was also offended on January 22^nd, when the NSM came to town, that an anti NSM protester said I was a hypocrite because I opposed the Nazis and Israel—I guess they meant that opposing the Nazis should mean supporting Israel. NO, NO, NO! In fact, my background as the child of  holocaust survivors has caused me to support the struggle by Palestinians for self-determination, for a nation in all of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza and with the right of return by Palestinians. Remembering how Jews have been so oppressed in Europe has made the Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people, the daily humiliation of Palestinians, the seizing of most of their land, their denial of self- determination, particularly sad to me—although that is what happens when you take someone’s land. We are supporting Palestinian human rights and nationhood for totally different reasons than the NSM. This is what Rachel Corrie did, she  supported a Palestinian state as she opposed anti-Semitism.  Let us follow this example. 

I am a member of the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, (OMJP) we believe that without justice there can be no peace. We welcome you to our meetings the second and 4^th wed of every month at 7 P.M. at the Olympia Free School, 601 South Columbia. We live in a time with a really right wing government--the ones in suits and ties are much more dangerous than the Nazis but we also have an opportunity in this crucial period to dialog with the great majority in the United States who are against the war and being taken advantage by the Bush administration, on that is taking from the needy and giving it all to the greedy.   Join us!! Talk to your neighbors, coworkers.    

OMJP believe that the Nazis are not welcome in our town or any town. We intend to surround them today in Olympia, they have arrived; and non-violently project through our actions a message that they are not welcome and we will turn their rally of hate and white supremacy into an anti-racist one that is about racial, social and economic justice. The NSM has said they will return in early July in Olympia. One of our ideas is to have a Festival of Life, a physical place before and while the NSM is here of music, art, workshops, networking, where people can camp out, learn from each other about challenging oppression and working for liberation and opposing the NSM and other white supremacists. We need energy and ideas. Join Us.  

Not in Any Town, Not in Rachel’s Name—Thank You 

Peter Bohmer