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CUPE Internal Battle - Anti-Zionism vs. Anti-Semitism
07/09/24
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Sept. 5, 2024
"I’m A Jewish CUPE Member, And I Support Fred Hahn"
In choosing to ignore their membership and cower to the Zionist lobby, CUPE’s National Executive Board has undermined union democracy.
As politicians, media and the Zionist lobby campaign against CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn, I can’t help but wonder why the conversation hasn’t included many actual rank and file members?
In May, I sat alongside thousands of other delegates in a sea of keffiyehs at the annual CUPE Ontario convention and re-elected Hahn to the position he has held since 2010. Hahn’s presidency followed the groundbreaking 2006 CUPE Ontario resolution to support BDS, and this year’s convention saw the commitment to Palestine continue with several emergency resolutions being passed in light of the genocide in Gaza. I’ve never been prouder to be a member of CUPE Ontario.
Today, this union pride has been marred, though not by Hahn’s Facebook post sharing a video calling for the removal of Israel from the summer Olympics, nor by his subsequent apology highlighting the importance of not conflating Israel with the Jewish people. Rather, I’m appalled by CUPE’s National Executive Board’s call for Hahn to step down as the board’s general vice-president.
As the nearly 200,000 emails sent to the Board urging them to reverse their call and endorsements from several locals indicate, Hahn is supported by the vast majority. The Ontario Executive Board also recently passed motions supporting Hahn as both CUPE Ontario president and CUPE general vice-president. These motions affirm the democratic process of the membership and reiterate CUPE Ontario’s position on Palestinian liberation.
In choosing to ignore the will of their membership, and cowering to the Zionist lobby, the national board has undermined the very core of union democracy. Publicly calling for Hahn’s resignation without consulting Ontario membership also sets a dangerous precedent for labour leaders who dare to speak truth to power.
The MapleAdam D.K. King
The Board claims their call for Hahn to step down was made in the name of denouncing antisemitism and protecting Jewish CUPE members. However, Hahn has the support of many Jewish CUPE members, and the Board has only demonstrated that they can’t seem to understand the difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.
At the same convention where Hahn was re-elected back in May, Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) and Labour for Palestine were invited to have a booth. Over the course of four days, dozens of Jewish pro-Palestine CUPE members came over to chat with IJV members about the difficulty and fear of being a pro-Palestine Jew in this moment, due in part to public doxxing, familial shunning and other forms of silencing. Yet at this booth, we found comradery, hope and assurance that normalizing genocide is wrong. These feelings were amplified when Hahn visited and joined us for a photo.
As a Jewish CUPE member, critical thinking about how Judaism has been hijacked by Zionism, and the work groups with surging memberships such as IJV do to untangle this conflation, are what keep me safe. While Israel works overtime to claim its actions are on behalf of all Jews, people like Hahn consistently stand with members of the Jewish community that have spent 11 months screaming, ‘Not in our name!’
Rather than work to actually ensure safety, the Board has allowed a human rights complaint made in November by 30 Jewish members to effectively chill decades of CUPE Ontario’s advocacy work. Calling for Hahn’s resignation has not rescinded the complaint, and only exposed that the Board doesn’t understand how the Zionist lobby operates. Instead of actually fighting antisemitism, this lobby dogmatically suppresses any criticism of Israel, and partners with conservatives, the far right, and anyone else willing to support that state. Yet these groups are no friends to the labour movement.
The Board itself tried to make this point after Ontario Premier Doug Ford commended their call for Hahn to stand down by releasing a second statement distancing themselves from the government. However, the damage had already been done. The Board has found themselves in bed with institutions that harm the labour movement.
If the Board is serious about tackling antisemitism, it should be consulting with a wide array of Jewish members and groups, not just the ones suing them. National board members need to stand up for principled leaders like Hahn, rescind their call for his resignation and get back in touch with the people they purport to represent.
[Top photo: Fred Hahn at the annual CUPE Ontario convention in May 2024. Photo via Julia Barnett.]
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