Open letter to the Simon Wiesenthal Centre

A qualitative limit in the use of the Jewish ordeal has been broken in order to present US imperialism and the Israeli colonialism with a nice appearance. Such a disgrace, and I have weighed the term, has been unfortunately committed by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, thus leading to serious consequences.

The attempts to use the Holocaust are not new, although in some years, two stages have been saved.
The US State Department has widely used it to slander its opponents, but this media weapon was only used against people who were more or less isolated, never against popular movements, until the bloody September 11, 2001, when going beyond a first limit, it was used against those who question the official version of the attacks, and later, against any contest of the invasion to Iraq. _The second stage was not only to use the Nazi horror, but also those who really fought against it, such as the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, thus sealing the spectacular failure of its honourable and salutary fight.

Let’s pick up the facts again. The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has accused the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela of anti-Semitism and requested MERCOSUR member states to suspend the integration process of that country into the Latin American common market as long as no public excuses are made. The accusation has not been made by any journalist who has been instructed to do so, but from a prestigious institution, thus conferring it full credibility.

However, the Venezuelan President is no other than Hugo Chávez Frías. For many, he is the heir to Simón Bolívar, the “Liberator”, who freed the continent from Spanish oppression. He is a follower of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, who rejected US imperialism. He is the son of liberation theologians, who see the US Empire as the descendant of the Roman Empire, from which Christ would have wanted to free Humankind. He is a legendary figure not only for Venezuelans and Latin Americans, but also for all those who fight against imperialism and colonialism, no matter whether they are Palestinians, Iraqis or others.

The accusation of anti-Semitism comes from an incomplete cite, forged and withdrawn from its context. Thus, Simon Wiesenthal Centre has deceivingly blamed Hugo Chávez of having stigmatized the Jewish as a deicidal people and hoarders of the wealth of the world, when it was actually denouncing a transnational social class that exploited men.

There is also something ridiculous in the assertion of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, under which Hugo Chávez, smart and prudent revolutionary, would label the Jewish as the cause of misfortunate of the world instead of imperialism against which he is still fighting. And this is the slanderous situation! The Nazis did not seek other thing when they turned the Jewish into scapegoats, but to hide the true responsibilities, to launder the blame of the oppressors.

The manoeuvre is now visible. It is disgusting because it is associated to an attempt of sabotage against MERCOSUR in order to carry out the project of imperial exploitation: the Free Trade Area of the Americas that George W. Bush was unable to impose during the Summit of Mar del Plata. How could the Simon Wiesenthal Centre help in any way President George W. Bush, who has accepted to inherit the bloodstained money of the fortune raised by his grandfather, Nazi Prescott Bush, through the exploitation of slave labour force at Auschwitz concentration camp? [1]

Let’s redefine the positions. Israel, according to the only appreciation criterion shared by all of us and international law, is a colonialist state because it maintains colonies, according to its own terms, out of the internationally recognized borders. The United States is imperialist, because it has launched a war against Iraq that is labelled as “illegal” by the UN Secretary General; it still has its troops there and is keeping the wealth. Those who love peace, justice and freedom should fight against the policy implemented by both nations.

Resorting to the anti-Semite and projectionist terms in order to use them against those who oppose US imperialism and Israeli colonialism, has become a common method to disqualify and exclude them from public debate. It has been seen in the international arena with Nelson Mandela and Mohamad Mahatir. In France with Thierry Meyssan, Tariq Ramadan and Dieudonné Mbala Mbala, although they have been their critics and not who have been condemned by the French court.

This rhetoric is being used in an effort to involve the Jewish in colonialism. Thus, their religion would demand that the Israeli army should occupy the Palestinian territories and carry out their atrocities; that the US should enslave and plunder the old Babylon. Those who fought against these horrors would oppose the Jewish religion and therefore would be anti-Semite.
In this regard, the Jewish should bear the responsibility of imperialism and colonialism, and pay for it. It is exactly what imperialism is trying to do and the Simon Wiesenthal Centre has fallen into this trap.

The Jewish of my family died fighting Fascism and then colonialism. Being a minority and hunted, they have always been in the weak side. That is their vocation. However, today’s intentions aim at taking them off this path and recruiting them as a complement of imperialism.
If we, the Jewish, made such a mistake, the increasing number of victims of imperialism would have their own reasons to hate us.

This is where the slanderous action of the Wiesenthal Centre stems from.
It is slanderous because it takes side with injustice.
It is slanderous because it enables executioners to become victims.
It is slanderous because it discredits the fight against Nazism.
It is slanderous because it denatures and makes anti-Semitism and rejection common at the risk of being accepted.
It is slanderous because by manipulating the memories of the Holocaust, it makes it ridiculous.
It is slanderous because it gives the impression that all Jewish support imperialism.

Therefore, it is absolutely necessary, in the name of the Jews who were massacred and for the sake and peace of those alive, that the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, which has certainly made a mistake, apologizes for this terrible slander.