Friday, October 22, 2021
The national Sunrise movement says it did not have advance notice of DC affiliate’s broadside against Jewish groups
The Sunrise Movement, a national youth group devoted to advocating against human-caused climate change, said it did not have advance notice of a statement by its Washington D.C. affiliate calling for an end to associations with Jewish groups with ties to Israel.
"Sunrise Movement is a decentralized grassroots movement," the group said in a statement Thursday, in response to press queries, including from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
"Hundreds of hubs like Sunrise DC exist across the country powered by volunteers, and each of them has the ability to act independently — whether it's organizing protests, supporting candidates, or sending out public statements," the statement said. "Sunrise DC made a decision to issue this statement, and we weren't given the chance to look at it before it became public."
It was not clear from the statement where the national group stood on its Washington D.C. affiliate's call on progressive movements to cut off ties with three progressive Jewish groups, or how the group viewed the backlash, which included Jewish groups calling Sunrise DC's statement antisemitic.
"Our work on behalf of all humanity is rooted in the value of human dignity and we reject all forms of discrimination, including antisemitism and anti-Palestinian racism," the national Sunrise movement said. "As a national movement that supports freedom and dignity for all people, we will always welcome anyone who acts on our principles and chooses to join the fight for collective liberation. We believe that the rights of Palestinians are a part of that struggle and are committed to embracing that struggle together."
The national group's seeming equivocation infuriated the Reform movement's Religious Action Center, one of three groups targeted by Sunrise DC in its original statement.
"The failure of the Sunrise movement to speak clearly in condemnation of the offensive statement this week from their Sunrise DC hub that sought to erase the presence of the RAC, NCJW, and JCPA from the fight for voting rights, is shameful," said the RAC statement, referring both to itself and the two other targeted groups, the National Council of Jewish Women and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
Comments:
Post a Comment
