City of Austin: Drop the ADL!

The truth about the City of Austin’s newly created We All Belong campaign:

it is helping to launder the Anti-Palestinian sentiments of Austin City Council and the Anti-Defamation League

We All Belong: Drop the ADL

Do Not Allow the ADL to use We All Belong As Smokescreen for Hateful Agenda

More than eight months into a genocide, in a city that has refused to demand a ceasefire, the sickening reality is that we must approach all city-sponsored events with a learned skepticism for how the powerful in our community launder their appearance of having anti-racist and social justice priorities, while actually turning a blind eye to—or outright supporting—inequality, white supremacy, and mass violence.

Refuse to Normalize ADL’s Hate

The Anti-Defamation League has a long standing history of being Anti-Palestinian and Anti-Black.

We refuse to participate in the Party at the People’s House event knowing that the Anti-Defamation League is a primary sponsor of the We All Belong initiative. As long as the ADL is part of it, this purported anti-hate campaign will be a dangerous and disingenuous smokescreen to cover the hateful agenda of the ADL.

We demand that the ADL be dropped from this initiative and any other initiatives or programs involving our community’s safety and social justice issues.

The ADL and its supporters:

Fought a months-long campaign against our ceasefire resolution calling ceasefire resolution supporters “terrorists” at Austin City Hall on 04/04/2024 (1:30 mark).
Allowed their ADL Central Division Director of Policy to spew racist and debunked rhetoric about Palestinians and pro-Palestinians during an Austin City Council meeting at the (2:17 mark) on 02/29/2024 and at a Texas State Senate Hearing on 05/14/2024.
Has an ongoing pattern of attacking social justice movements led by communities of color, queer people, immigrants, Muslims, Arabs, and others—while aligning itself with police, right-wing leaders, and other perpetrators of state violence. Disgustingly, it has often conducted those attacks under the banner of “civil rights.” ADL has a history of harmful practices within social justice coalitions and communities of color, despite seemingly being integrated into community work in many of these arenas and promotion of its anti-bias materials and resources.
Has condemned the Movement for Black Lives, Palestinian liberation organizing, and many progressive leaders.
Consistently smears Palestinian organizers and the movement for Palestinian liberation as “anti-semitic.”
Used its integration in local, state, and national policymaking and media spaces to quash Arab American community efforts to participate in US politics, and to defend Israel from criticism.
Blacklists organizations criticizing Israel’s genocidal settler colonialism, and smears Jewish organizers who refute the claim that anti-zionism is antisemitic.
- Tell Jonathan Greenblatt: Defaming Students Puts Jews in Danger
- The Anti-Defamation League Has Abandoned Some of the People It Exists to Protect
Supports the Israeli government’s work to partner with even the most racist, fascistic, and far-right US politicians, including Donald Trump—encouraging the legitimacy of Israel as an example of ethnonationalism for white supremacists and colonizers.