BADIL

The AICafe

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Meeting and Discussion: Akiva Orr on Studying the History of the Zionist Colonization of Palestine

Akiva Orr is an Israeli writer and political activist. He is an outspoken critic of Zionism and supports a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Since 1968 Orr has been a leading advocate of radical direct democracy.

In 1962, Orr helped form the Israeli Socialist Organization, better known by the name of its publication Matzpen. Matzpen criticized the Zionist project in Israel as a colonizing project, arguing that the Zionists had come to Palestine to expropriate the indigenous population rather than to exploit them economically. He moved to London in the late 60's and eventually left the party, but remains very politically active. Akiva's talk is designed to serve as a guide for the self-study of Zionist colonization hsitory.

Akiva Orr was born in Berlin in 1931, and at the age of three, with his parents, left Germany and moved to Palestine. He was raised in Tel Aviv, where he lives again today. Orr is the author of a number of books in both English and Hebrew.

Akiva Orr is dedicating this talk to the memory of Ghassan Kanafani (1936-1972) Palestinian poet and freedom fighter, killed in Beirut by Israeli agents.

The cafe' opens at 6:30pm

The event starts at 7.30pm