Amira

Hass
Here's a short
bio of Amira
Hass, the proPalestine Israeli
journalist
coming to
speak at
Marxism 2015.
Hass was born
and educated in
Israel, as the
daughter of two
holocaust survivors. Her mother,
Hanna Levy-Hass, was active in the resistance against the Nazis and agitated among the youth within
the concentration camps. Her main activity was writing a journal (parts of which were translated by
Amira Hass in the memoir "Diary of Bergen Belsen"). Inside the concentration camps, writing was
forbidden. Documenting the reality of Jewish persecution was seen as a subversive and radical act.
This family history clearly had an impact on Amira Hass, who for the past 20 years has dedicated her
life to recording the oppression and resistance of Palestinians under Israeli occupation. She has lived
in Palestine since 1993 and works as a journalist for the liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz, reporting
from on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank.
Hass rose to prominence as a journalist in 1989 when she covered the Romanian Revolution that
overthrew the dictator Ceausescu. This experience of being immersed in popular struggle led her to
the conclusion that as a journalist reporting on Palestine, she should actually be inside Palestine,
interacting with the people and seeing firsthand the results of Israel's policy. This kind of journalism is
important in revealing the disjunct between the reality on the ground and the way the Western and
Israeli media wish to portray the "conflict". However, Hass doesn't see her journalistic activity as a
vehicle for change - she insists on the need for popular uprisings that can challenge imperialism in the
Middle East.
Hass' position on the Israel-Palestine question is essentially the same as ours - Israel is an apartheid
state, and the only solution is a single state in which Arabs and non-Arabs can co-exist with equal
rights. A bulk of her writing is around the "failure" of the Oslo accords. Rightly, she sees this not as a
failure but as a victory for Israel. These processes were never intended to end in peace but merely to
strengthen the hand of Israel by fracturing the Palestinian population, so that any political
independence became utterly meaningless. She has similar criticisms of the Palestinian Authority as
us - she sees them as a privileged bureaucratic layer that continues to capitulate to Israel's agenda
and that doesn't represent the interests of the Palestinian population. Hamas, she says, is moving in a
similar direction.
She is a self-identified Marxist with a basic sense of class politics. Her parents were both members of
the Israeli Communist Party (which, despite its innumerable deficiencies, is probably the best thing
you can do in that situation). As far as I know, she is not a member of any political party, but was
active in the Israeli left since her adolescence. The first contact she had with actual Palestinians was
as a volunteer for the Workers' Helpline, advocating for Arab workers not properly represented by
Israeli trade unions.
Amira Hass is not a member of any marxist organisation, nor is she a theoretical authority on
imperialism or the nature of the state of Israel. Her main contribution lies in her dedication to
documenting and making public the actual, visceral experience of Palestinian life under the Israeli
regime. Her articles explore the depths of every aspect and result of systematic oppression, and the
experience of popular resistance. She has won many awards and is internationally recognised as a
journalistic figure fighting for human rights and freedom of press.
It is a testament to the impressiveness of our conference that Amira Hass is willing to come and
engage with our organisation at Marxism 2015. She is someone who, in the face of one of the most

repressive regimes in existence, has made herself a target of the Israeli state in order to expose the
atrocities of world imperialism.
If comrades want to read more, the most useful source I found was this transcript of an interview Hass
did in 2003:
http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people3/Hass/hass-con0.html
Also you can access her articles in Haaretz here:
http://www.haaretz.com/misc/writers/amira-hass-1.278

Eamon McCann
As comrades know, Eamon McCann is speaking at our conference. So this leads to questions like:
Who's Eamon McCann? Why's it cool he's speaking at our conference? And why would someone
want to get a ticket to see Eamon McCann? Well...

McCann was instrumental in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights campaign of the late
1960s and the early 1970s, fighting for an end to public housing and job discrimination
against Catholics and the Northern Irish, weighted voting systems, corrupt police and more.

He was a leader in the Battle of the Bogside, a 3 day war between loyalists and the
state on the one hand and those wanting civil rights and independence on the other, in his
home town of Derry. This led to the creation of Free Derry, a sectioned off autonomous part
of Derry, free from the influence and oppression of Ireland. Free Derry lasted for 3 and half
years and was only ultimately destroyed after the Bloody Sunday Massacre, when the
British Army was brought in and killed 14 unarmed protesters.

McCann typifies the struggle of the Northern Irish and is still a hero there today. His
role in the Battle of the Bogside, for instance, is one of legend. And his lefty-cred doesn't
end there - I could go on forever: he's a well established left-wing writer and journalist, an
organised socialist in the Irish SWP, a lifelong unionist, etc etc
So how could you not wanna come along to Marxism 2015 and see this guy!?

Emory Douglas
Emory Douglas is coming to Marxism 2K15!!
This is really exciting news, not only because it will be fantastic to hear Emory talk about his life and
being 'minister of culture' for the Black Panther Party, but also because he is bringing his travelling art
exhibition along with him - exclusively for our wonderful conference. This is great, because it will allow
us to sell tickets to an audience that might otherwise not be available to us - those arty circles that
hang out at the NGV and Ian Potter gallery!
So here's a brief overview of Emory Douglas, as well as some of the most iconic images of the civil
rights movement.


Emory became involved with the Black Panther Party whilst studying art in San Fran,
in 1967. The Black Student Union at his uni invited him to a public meeting with Betty
Shabazz, Malcom X's widow. There he met Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.

From there he became impressed with the duo, and soon became an early recruit of
the BPP

In an interview, Douglas recalls going 'on patrol' which often meant armed
confrontation with the cops, which led to the US state attempting to make carrying arms
illegal. When the panthers marched on the state capital, the panthers were thrust into the
national and international limelight.

Douglas became the 'minister of culture' and his artwork was a major feature of the
BPPs newspaper. His images and captions were an important part of the paper, as many of
it's readers weren't going to read the long articles, but the captions and the images together
was very accessible.


Douglas is still creating art, and is still and activist. He is a strong supporter of
Palestine, and has also highlighted the hypocrisy of Obama.

Anand Gopal
Anand Gopal's new book No good men among the living is making huge ripples right now. Why is it
such a big deal? And why is it so great that Gopal's speaking at Marxism?
Gopal lived in lower Manhattan during 9/11. When the planes struck he was driven to learn more
about international and Middle-Eastern politics. He was quickly dissatisfied with both the mainstream
and the independent coverage, due to the lack of info, and with the impetuousness that would define
his career, he ditched his physics studies and headed to Afghanistan.
He knew nothing about journalism or the language, and was working for no one. He embedded
himself with US troops but thirsted for the other side of the story. Hearing of an imprisoned drug lord
with connections to the Taliban who spoke Tamil, Gopal, who also speaks Tamil, went to the prison
and posed as the drug lord's relative to the guards. From there on he embedded himself in the
Taliban, interviewing them and following their operations for years. His book is now the definitive work
on the Afghan war.
His book tracks the injustice of the occupation and illuminates the emptiness of the US rhetoric that
the war was about fighting jihadism, while following the lives of individual Afghanis struggling to
survive and to resist the occupation. In this manner it provides an account of the Afghanistan war
integral to understanding many of the forces at play in Middle Eastern politics.
Gopal's session will focus on the recent history of US Imperialism, resistance and reaction in the
Middle-East, including the rise of ISIS. All extremely important questions in world politics, and
questions that have had a real bearing on domestic Australian politics recently. To fly down such an
eminent figure to discuss these things is a real coup - let's go nuts with it!

Kylie Sambo
Here's a short little bio on Kylie Sambo, who'll be speaking at Marxism 2015. Unfortunately,
information on Indigenous activists in Australia is sparse, so if comrades know anything more about
her then please send it on through.
Kylie Sambo is an Aboriginal hip hop artist and activist. Her hip hop is distinctly political and it was her
hip hop song about Muckaty Station that won her awards from, among others, the ABC, at only 16
years of age.
Muckaty Station is the proposed site of Australias first nuclear waste dump. The Federal government
nominated the area as a nuclear and medical dump site almost a decade ago with no consultation
with most of the traditional owners. A Federal court challenge ensued, and in June of this year the
government pulled out of their legal action, admitting the nomination was an error. However, as of
only a few weeks ago, another site within Muckaty Station had been nominated, beginning the
process all over again. Sambos activism around the issue has been central to its profile and is what
she is best known for.
Sambos activism does not stop there. Growing up Aboriginal in Australia means she speaks out
unsurprisingly against racism, police mistreatment and the Northern Territory Intervention. The
Indigenous stream at Marxism has been fantastic in previous years and her inclusion for 2015 helps
ensure thatll be the case again. To have a young, Indigenous activist involved in a present day
struggle against the Australian governments continued racism towards Indigenous people at our
conference is really quite exciting!

Gary Foley
It's fantastic to have Gary Foley back again for Marxism 2015.

Foley is a legendary Aboriginal activist, writer, actor, teacher, story teller and historian. He is a
prominent figure in the history of Aboriginal resistance in Australia. Foley was centrally involved in the
establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in 1972, and in many of the campaigns for land rights
and justice that followed.

He has been an activist since the late 1960s when, as a young man in Redfern, he was bashed by the
cops, and discovered the writings of Malcolm X. He and some others began a discussion group which
soon gave birth to the first Aboriginal legal service and to the Sydney chapter of the Black Power
movement. This core of people became the major force behind the Aboriginal Tent Embassy and most
of the key Aboriginal protests of the late 60s and early 70s.

Importantly, the Black Power movement in Redfern developed a strong relationship with the radical
NSW Builders Labourers Federation, and the Communist Party.

Gary has been continually involved in the struggles for land rights and justice. These include the
massive protests at the Brisbane Commonwealth Games in 1982 and during the Bicentenary
celebrations in 1988, the successful campaign to save Northland Secondary College in Melbourne in
the early 1990s, and the protests that stopped the Jabiluka uranium mine later that
decade.Gary lectures in history at Victoria University, where he has recently completed a PhD on the
history of Aboriginal organisations and struggles in Redfern in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

There's a great interview in Red Flag by Sarah Garnham everyone should take 5 minutes to read.
Watch on YouTube the fascinating SBS documentary 'Persons of Interest' that uncovers the classified
ASIO file of Foley and features interviews of ASIO agents!

His talk 'A Black Life' at the 2014 conference was fantastic, and if you've never seen him before, his
talk next year is something you just can't miss! Gary has had the most amazing life, and he won't shy
from talking about it. Here he is with The Clash, because why not?