29/09/2024
We're excited to announce JEWISH, NOT ZIONIST, the new book by Marilyn Garson.
This book tells a personal story about Aotearoa’s Jewish solidarity with Palestine.
Marilyn Garson worked in Gaza for four years. In her new book, she recounts her homecoming as a practicing Jew, seeking her faith community and justice for Palestine. Painfully excluded from her community, she slowly constructed a liberatory Jewish identity—both activist and spiritual. She co-founded Sh'ma Koleinu - Alternative Jewish Voices to call for justice in a pluralist, anti-racist Jewish voice.
JEWISH, NOT ZIONIST also explores the weaponisation of antisemitism and challenges the groups that claim to speak for the Jewish community. It offers a timely analysis of the International Court of Justice’s impact on the voice of protest.
Garson writes with the aroha of Gaza and an unwavering resolve learned on the front lines of the international justice movement.
Some quotes from advance readers:
"A brilliant work of solidarity. Garson shines a light, through sharp and honest prose, on an alternative path to identity and religious hope through community building." - Dr Murdoch Stephens
"One day, Jewish, not Zionist will be riveting testimony to a Jewish solidarity with Palestine that blossomed in our unique context of Aotearoa. Right now, it is an urgent meditation on getting there. Together." - Nadia Abu-Shanab
"Marilyn Garson's compelling book takes readers on a journey of resistance, shedding light on the conflict between Jewish identity and Zionism. It urges us to delve into grassroots Jewish solidarity, its potential and challenges, and the struggle against Zionism's dominance. This timely contribution is essential in understanding the role of Jewish solidarity in dismantling Israeli colonisation and reclaiming the true essence of Jewish identity." - Dr Njimeh Ali
"Marilyn Garson disentangles Judaism from the nationalist project of Zionism. Garson explains exactly why criticism of the actions of the state of Israel is not, by definition, antisemitism. For Garson, it is necessary, from a humanitarian and ethical perspective, to talk publicly about what has happened and is still happening to the Palestinian people" - Lynn Jenner
"In this extraordinary book, Marilyn Garson grapples with the unbearable pain of her exclusion from her small New Zealand Jewish community in response to her support for Palestinian human rights. Rather than a tale of retreat and recrimination, this is a story of spiritual and political commitment to the principle that Jewish tradition and practice can and must be reclaimed for liberatory purposes" Dr Sheryl Nestel
"An ancient Chinese proverb says: "When Marilyn Garson speaks, the world ought to listen." Having benefited from Marilyn's wisdom and spirit over many years, I wholeheartedly recommend the proverb and her new book." - Professor Norman Finkelstein
Published October 22 2024. ISBN 9780473724627
Ask for it at your local library, or pre-order your own copy now: https://leftequator.github.io
Book launch : https://fb.com/events/1242958843548829
