We sent out this call for submissions last month, and since then we've heard from a lot of folks who are really excited about being part of this project, but who just don't have the time to work out a piece of writing or art for it by now.
In an effort to include as many of you as possible, and in hopes that yet more of you will get in touch with us and be part of this zine, we're extending our contributions deadline to March 15.
Please be in touch with us in the meantime about your contributions, questions, concerns, excitement, and suggestions.
Nava and Elana
************CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS! PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY!*********
Introducing the Ex-Zionist 'Zine!
Send us your writing and black and white artwork about struggling with a zionist past and coming to new conclusions.
Send your submissions by March 15, 2003 to exzine at yahoo.com!
THE VISION
We want to make this Zine in order to collect stories that are like ours - stories that reflect our struggles with growing up in a zionist culture and community and realizing that the ideas on which they're founded don't reflect our ideas of justice.
We also want to make this Zine in order to collect stories that are different from ours and from each other. Ex-zionist identity is complicated by all sorts of struggles and joys and identities and homes. We imagine, for starters, that you'll send us art about family, about language, about food, about community, about identity, about finding jewish identity outside of zionism, about racism, about money, about gender and sexuality, about intergenerational relationships, about home. We hope these stories will reflect all kinds of starting-places, all kinds of movement, all kinds of current identities.
Our particular experiences of being and becoming ex-zionist have been hugely informed by our political identities. (For example, for both of us, being white ashkenazi jews has meant that our struggles with zionism led us to make connections among our responsibility for racism and white privilege among Israelis, in Palestine, and here in the U.S.) With this in mind, we invite explorations of ethnic and racial identity, gender, sexuality, class, family history.
It is important to us to compile a diverse collection of voices so that we can understand that ex-zionism does not look like one particular thing, because zionsim does not look like one particular thing, as jewishness doesn't look like one particular thing. This is especially important in light of the fact that the dominant narrative of what jewishness is in the united states is white and wealthy and zionist. And if we want to use this zine to detach judaism from zionism (which we do), then we also have to crack open those related images of judaism.
We think that collecting these stories can strengthen the work that all of us do; give us a sense of community; and ultimately lead to our more effective resistance of everything that stands in the way of an end to the occupation.
We want to open a venue for an alternative narrative to be shared and named and announced.
We are calling for writings and art work by ex-zionist jews about the process and experience of being or becoming an ex-zionist jew. We'll compile these into a Zine.
(A ZINE IS a self-published magazine, often perfect for spreading around stories and ideas and collections that wouldn't make it through mainstream media. This one will be made of paper.)
WHO WE ARE
We are two white jewish people. Both of us were raised as women. One of is a gender queer queer. One of us is a poet. Both of us participated actively and enthusiastically in zionist movements at some point in our lives. Neither of us believes in zionism now.
Both of us are committed to using our particular skills and bodies to work toward freedom for Palestinians and an end to the occupation.
We are dedicated to understanding the Israeli occupation as part of a broader system of white supremacy and imperialism -- and, therefore, connected to anti-racist struggles here at home.
THE PARTICULARS
We invite submissions of fiction and non-fiction writing; poetry; transcriptions of spoken-word performance; black and white photography, drawings and other art work, or photos of art work which can stand being reprinted in low-definition black and white.
Submissions might range in length from a sentence to a paper. A submission can be a paragraph or a sentence about your experience that you wish would be in the zine, or only your name (or an alias) that we'll include somewhere in the zine so that you can be represented.
It's important to us to distribute it in the communities it comes from, so if you have an idea for a place or person near you, please e-mail us! This could include radical bookstores, community spaces, local organizations working against the occupation, campuses, and conferences.
We reserve the right to reject any submissions without explanation. We want to be clear that we won't engage heckling.
Please send all e-mail-able submissions and inquiries to exzine at yahoo.com. If you would like to send us something by mail, please contact us by e-mail first.
Please send us your submissions by March 15. (We invite you to send us works in progress in the meantime, if you want to talk about ideas and plans.)
We're looking forward to hearing from you!
Nava and Elana exzine at yahoo.com -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>