An evening with an Israeli refusnik
On Monday 20th November 2006 at the Istituto Tecnico-Commerciale Battisti in Fano, eastern Italy, with Lior Volinytz, a 19-year-old Israeli refusnik and activist in the Anarchists Against the Wall initiative.
Attendance was quite good, with around 60 people present, mostly young secondary school students. Lior spoke about how he became an anti-militarist, about his decision to refuse military service and finally about his decision to join the Anarchists Against he Wall initiative, an Israeli movement that supports the non-violent struggle of Palestinian villagers against the Wall, in particular in Bil'in where fore the past 20 months, every Friday the village's Popular Committee organizes a non-violent demonstration against the Wall with the cooperation of international activists, Israelis from Anarchists Against the Wall and others.
There was strong reaction from the slides that Lior showed and the videos of the demonstrations against Israel's militarist policies in Tel Aviv and against the Separation Wall at Bil'in in Palestine, where the IDF does not hesitate to use violent methods against non-violent demonstrators. Answering questions from the audience, Lior clearly illustrated the strategy of the Wall to isolate the Palestinians and to steal their land far beyond the 1967 Green Line, all with the vital support they receive from the colonist lobby, mostly fascists and religious fundamentalists, many of whom are sent into Palestinian territory from the Israeli government itself.
The initiative was organized by the "FuoriTempo" association together with other local groups, with the cooperation of the FdCA's Fano/Pesaro branch, in particular with regard to Italian-language material on the activities of Anarchists Against The Wall and the libertarian left in Israel.
D.R.
Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici - "Nestor Makhno" Branch, Fano/Pesaro