One of the unique collections of the Freedom Archives that’s been attracting some attention of late consists of organizational files and audio recordings related to the Jewish Alliance Against Zionism, known as JAAZ. The recent interest in the group has been prompted by the genocide and resistance in Palestine and Lebanon, and the recognition that the campus demonstrations in support of Palestinian freedom have included many young Jewish students. 

JAAZ was an organization of anti-Zionist Jewish activists in the San Francisco Bay Area from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The collection at the Freedom Archives includes not only a number of written materials, such as statements of principles, educational leaflets and flyers, as well as audio recordings of group internal educational study sessions, radio programs, and public presentations.

In his work on an upcoming memoir, author and poet Hilton Obenzinger made use of our JAAZ archive to write an essay on its work and its ongoing relevance. Hilton, who was a member of JAAZ, has continued his solidarity work with Palestine up till the present. This is a link to that essay.

As Hilton’s chapter describes, one of the most well-known programs that JAAZ presented, in both Berkeley and San Francisco, was a dramatic reading that highlighted the striking similarities between the Jewish anti-fascist resistance at the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943 and the Palestinian resistance at the Tal al Zaatar refugee camp in 1976. As the chapter notes, the clear anti-Zionist message of the program led to threats against it, including a bomb threat against La Peña in Berkeley, where the program was first presented. The program was nonetheless held, with necessary searches at the door, which only heightened the intensity of the dramatic presentation. The JAAZ archive includes live recordings of that performance, and you can hear an excerpt from it below:

It’s important to point out that while the JAAZ archive gives insight into an earlier manifestation of Jewish anti-Zionism that presaged the much larger movement of the present, a look into the Freedom Archives reveals much more. For in fact, there is a deep strain of resistance to Zionism that goes back to the earliest days of the Zionist movement. 

One of our largest collections brings together the voluminous recordings of Colin Edwards. As an independent journalist for Canadian Broadcasting, the BBC and Pacifica Radio, among others, Colin did on-the-scene interviews and documentaries on anti-imperialist national liberation struggles in the Middle East, especially Palestine, Asia, particularly Vietnam, and many other struggles, including the civil rights, Black Power, and student anti-war movements in the US.  

Colin also worked closely with Moshe Menuhin—a prominent Jewish anti-Zionist (and the father of world-famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin). Colin’s extraordinary series of audio interviews with Moshe Menuhin are in the Freedom Archives, along with a number of his other programs on anti-Zionism and Palestine liberation. If you’re interested in the JAAZ materials or the work of Colin Edwards, search on our site online and/or contact us to learn more and arrange a visit