12.11.25
Editorial Note
Fifty years ago, on November 10, 1975, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 3379, which “Determines that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination,” with 72 votes in favor, 35 votes against, and 32 abstentions.
Before the vote, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, warned that “The United Nations is about to make anti-Semitism international law.” After the vote, Moynihan said, “The United States rises to declare before the General Assembly of the United Nations and before the world that it does not acknowledge, it will not abide by, it will never acquiesce in this infamous act.” And that “A great evil has been loosed upon the world.”
Leonard Garment, counselor to the US Mission at the United Nations, denounced this resolution as an “obscene act,” and said the language of the Resolution “distorts and perverts. It changes words with precise meanings into purveyors of confusion. It destroys the moral force of the concept of racism, making it nothing more than an epithet to be flung arbitrarily at one’s adversary Zionism is a movement which has as its contemporary thrust the preservation of the small remnant of the Jewish people that survived the horrors of a racial holocaust. By equating Zionism with racism, this resolution discredits the good faith of our joint efforts to fight actual racism. It discredits these efforts morally and it cripples them politically.”
On December 16, 1991, Resolution 3379 was revoked by Resolution 46/86, and was adopted with 111 votes in favor, 25 votes against, and 13 abstentions.
This week, on November 13, 2025, the Consortium for Palestine Studies at UCLA is hosting the event “Revisiting Zionism as a Form of Racism and Racial Discrimination.” The invitation reads, “50 years later, Professor Noura Erakat revisits UNGA Resolution 3379 that declared Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination. Revisiting Zionism as a Form of Racism and Racial Discrimination.”
Adding that the presentation by Prof. Erakat “will be followed by a panel discussion with Professor Robin D.G. Kelley (Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History, UCLA Department of History) and Professor Nour Joudah (Assistant Professor, UCLA Department of Asian American Studies). Location (at the UCLA campus) will be shared with registrants the morning of the event.”
According to the invitation, “On November 10, 1975, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 3379 declaring Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination. A coalition of states introduced the resolution at the start of the 30th session of the General Assembly as an amendment to the Decade Against Racism in the context of Third World Revolt against imperialism; Palestinian liberation was central to this agenda. This lecture will explore the historical context that led to the introduction of this resolution, its drafting history, including racial theories of Zionism that were introduced during the deliberations as well as the intense procedural maneuvers that aimed to subvert it all together.”
The invitation even stated that “Though a hard-won victory, the PLO rescinded the resolution in 1991 as a precondition for entering the Oslo Accords.”
This event will discuss “the 50th year anniversary of the resolution as well as its contemporary relevance.”
The About Us page of the host, the Consortium for Palestine Studies at UCLA, states that it was “founded in 2024 by faculty across campus. The history of scholarship and activism about Palestine on the UCLA campus spans decades. The UCLA chapter of Students for Justice was founded in 2005. The UCLA chapter of Faculty for Justice in Palestine was founded in late 2023. Most recently, UCLA became a focal site for Palestine activism after the formation of the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on April 25, 2024, and its violent clearing by police. The Consortium builds on this long tradition of student organizing to create a focal point for research, creative activities, teaching, and activism on Palestine.”
The Consortium is led by an advisory board of Saree Makdisi (co-chair), Sherene Razack (co-chair), Chris Jadallah, Nour Joudah, and Robin D.G. Kelley.
An examination of the Consortium’s past activities and publications reveals that there is no in-depth study of Palestine. For example, the last three events in October 2025, “Rememberment: Palestine in Real Time,” is a lecture performance by Jasbir K. Puar and Dima Srouji. describing it as “Scenes of bodily humiliation and mutilation have been screaming from our screens for more than two years. Working through and against the grain of this obvious, ubiquitous archive, Puar and Srouji excavate the longue durée of debilitation in Gaza and conversely, also foreground the praxis of “re-member-ment” that highlight Palestinian determination to become differently whole;” another event led by Mejdulene Bernard Shomali presented “Sahq, Dirt, Shaheed: Queer Poetics and Palestinian Resistance;” and the third event hosted a “Dabke Workshop with El-Funoun Popular Dance Troupe.”
In July, the film “Bye Bye Tiberias” (2023) was screened, described as “Through present-day footage and family VHS archives, filmmaker Lina Soualem paints a lyrical, deeply personal portrait of four generations of women shaped by exile and longing. Soualem returns with her mother, actor Hiam Abbass (Succession), to their Palestinian village, where Abbass once took her swimming in Lake Tiberias ‘as if to bathe me in her story.’ The film captures how its Arab women subjects carry history within them, even as the meaning of home constantly shifts beneath their feet.”
In April, a panel discussion was held on “Jewish Critiques of Zionism and the Weaponization of Antisemitism” between progressive and left-wing Jews about their relationships to Palestine and Israel, critical perspectives on the recent arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, and interpretations and responses to charges of antisemitism deployed in opposition to racial justice work by the Trump administration, the UCLA administration, and the political right. Featuring: Izzy Cortes, Michal David, Benjamin Kersten, Beth Ribet, and Noah Zatz. Chaired by Hannah Appel.”
Their Publications of the last couple of years include: Palestine from UCLA: The Camp(US), The Worker, The Archive Salih Can Aciksoz, Hannah Appel, Susan Slyomovics, and Bharat Jayram Venkat (2024); Honoring Pasts, Escaping Presents, and Dwelling in Futures: The Palestine Land Society Village Reconstruction Competition Nour Joudah (2024); Palestine Solidarity Movements and the Crisis of the US Universities: A Report from UCLA Katsuya Hirano (2024); A Feminist Practice of Bearing Witness to Genocide Loubna Qutami (2023); Afterword: Palestine is Everywhere Saree Makdisi (2023); Icon of Solidarity: The Revolutionary Vietnamese Woman in Vietnam, Palestine, and Iran Thy Phu, Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi, & Donya Ziaee (2023).
Universities should be more vigilant about anti-Israel activities on their campuses. As a result of a lawsuit, UCLA reached a $6 million settlement in July 2025 with three Jewish students and a Jewish professor. The lawsuit argued the university violated their civil rights by allowing pro-Palestinian protesters to block their access to classes and other areas on campus in 2024.
Hosting an event that presents Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination should not be permitted anywhere on the campus.
REFERENCES:
Revisiting Zionism as a Form of Racism and Racial Discrimination: UNGA Resolution 3379 50 Years Later with Noura Erakat
Nov 14, 2025
Hosted by the Consortium for Palestine Studies and the Palestinian Student Union
Thursday, November 13, 5:30 to 7 pm
Please Register here for location
On November 10, 1975, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 3379 declaring Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination. A coalition of states introduced the resolution at the start of the 30th session of the General Assembly as an amendment to the Decade Against Racism in the context of Third World revolt against imperialism; Palestinian liberation was central to this agenda. This lecture will explore the historical context that led to the introduction of this resolution, its drafting history, including racial theories of Zionism that were introduced during the deliberations as well as the intense procedural maneuvers that aimed to subvert it all together. Though a hard won victory, the PLO rescinded the resolution in 1991 as a precondition for entering the Oslo Accords. This discussion will both mark the 50th year anniversary of the resolution as well as its contemporary relevance.
Professor Erakat’s talk will be followed by a panel discussion with Professor Nour Joudah (Asian American Studies) and Professor Robin D.G. Kelley (History).
Bio:
Noura Erakat is Professor of Africana Studies and Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She is the author of Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2019), which received the Palestine Book Award and the Bronze Medal for the Independent Publishers Book Award in Current Events/Foreign Affairs. In 2023, Noura co-chaired an Independent Task Force on the Application of National Security Memorandum-20 to Israel, a report documenting how U.S. arms to Israel have been used in violation of U.S. and international law and which was submitted to the White House. She is co-founding editor of Jadaliyya and an editorial board member of the Journal of Palestine Studies as well as Human Geography. She is a co-founding board member of the DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival. She has served as Legal Counsel for a Congressional Subcommittee in the US House of Representatives, as Legal Advocate for the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Refugee and Residency Rights, and as National Organizer and Legal Advocate of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. Noura has also produced video documentaries, including “Gaza In Context” and “Black Palestinian Solidarity.” Noura completed a non-resident fellowship of the Religious Literacy Project at Harvard Divinity School as well as a Mahmoud Darwish Visiting Professorship at Brown University. In 2022, she was selected as a Freedom Fellow by the Marguerite Casey Foundation. In 2025, the University of Ghent awarded the Amnesty International Chair in recognition of her contribution to human rights and scholarship.
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Revisiting Zionism as a Form of Racism and Racial Discrimination
Location TBD
Nov 13 from 5:30pm to 7pm PST
Overview
50 years later, Professor Noura Erakat revisits UNGA Resolution 3379 that declared Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination
Revisiting Zionism as a Form of Racism and Racial Discrimination- UNGA Resolution 3379 50 Years Later
Join us on Thursday, November 13, 2025 at 5:30 pm for a presentation by Professor Noura Erakat, followed by a panel discussion with Professor Robin D.G. Kelley (Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History, UCLA Department of History) and Professor Nour Joudah (Assistant Professor, UCLA Department of Asian American Studies).
Location (at the UCLA campus) will be shared with registrants the morning of the event.
On November 10, 1975, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 3379 declaring Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination. A coalition of states introduced the resolution at the start of the 30th session of the General Assembly as an amendment to the Decade Against Racism in the context of Third World Revolt against imperialism; Palestinian liberation was central to this agenda. This lecture will explore the historical context that led to the introduction of this resolution, its drafting history, including racial theories of Zionism that were introduced during the deliberations as well as the intense procedural maneuvers that aimed to subvert it all together. Though a hard won victory, the PLO rescinded the resolution in 1991 as a precondition for entering the Oslo Accords. This discussion will both mark the 50th year anniversary of the resolution as well as its contemporary relevance.
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Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination: Zionism as racism – GA resolution
RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
[on the report of the Third Committee (A/10320)]
3379 (XXX). Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolution 1904 (XVIII) of 20 November 1963, proclaiming the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and in particular its affirmation that “any doctrine of racial differentiation or superiority is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous” and its expression of alarm at “the manifestations of racial discrimination still in evidence in some areas in the world, some of which are imposed by certain Governments by means of legislative, administrative or other measures”,
Recalling also that, in its resolution 3151 G (XXVIII) of 14 December 1973, the General Assembly condemned, inter alia, the unholy alliance between South African racism and zionism,
Taking note of the Declaration of Mexico on the Equality of Women and Their Contribution to Development and Peace, 1/ proclaimed by the World Conference of the International Women’s Year, held at Mexico City from 19 June to 2 July 1975, which promulgated the principle that “international co-operation and peace require the achievement of national liberation and independence, the elimination of colonialism and neo-colonialism, foreign occupation, zionism, apartheid and racial discrimination in all its forms, as well as the recognition of the dignity of peoples and their right to self-determination”,
Taking note also of resolution 77 (XII) adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity at its twelfth ordinary session,2/ hold at Kampala from 28 July to 1 August 1975, which considered “that the racist regime in occupied Palestine and the racist regimes in Zimbabwe and South Africa have a common imperialist origin, forming a whole and having the same racist structure and being organically linked in their policy aimed at repression of the dignity and integrity of the human being“,
Taking note also of the Political Declaration and Strategy to Strengthen International Peace and Security and to Intensify Solidarity and Mutual Assistance among Non-Aligned Countries,3/ adopted at the Conference of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Non-Aligned Countries held at Lima from 25 to 30 August 1975, which most severely condemned zionism as a threat to world peace and security and called upon all countries to oppose this racist and imperialist ideology,
Determines that zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.
2400th plenary meeting
10 November 1975
_____________
1/ E/5725, part one, sect. I.
2/ See A/10297, annex II.
3/ A/10217 and Corr.1, annex, p. 3
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Events
October 2025
October 14 – Sahq, Dirt, Shaheed in 1500 Public Affairs Building (12:30 to 2 pm) with Mejdulene Bernard Shomali hosted by the Center for the Study of Women
October 16 – Dabke Workshop with El-Funoun Popular Dance Troupe in John Wooden Center Legacy Room (3 to 5 pm) hosted by PSU and PCRF
October 24 – Rememberment: Palestine in Real Time in Lani Hall – Herb Alpert School of Music (4 pm) with Jasbir K. Puar and Dima Sjrouji hosted by the Department of English
July 2025
July 19 – Bye Bye Tiberias at the Billy Wilder Theater (7:30pm) hosted by the UCLA Film and Television Archive
May 2025
May 1 – Maura Finkelstein Talk in Haines Hall, Room 352 (12:00pm – 1:30pm) hosted by Anthropology
May 7 – Distinguished Lecture in Ideas and Organizing: Naomi Klein (6:30pm – 8:00pm) hosted by the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy
May 8 – Lara Deeb Talk in Haines Hall, Room 352 (12:00pm – 1:30pm) hosted by Anthropology
May 9 – From Ground Zero in Kinsey Pavillion, Room 1220B (2:00pm) hosted by the Center for the Study of Women | Streisand Center
May 15 – Jennifer Mogannam Talk in Haines Hall, Room 352 (12:00pm – 1:30pm) hosted by Anthropology
April 2025
April 2 – Jewish Critiques of Zionism and the Weaponization of Antisemitism (6:30pm) hosted by Critical Race Studies at the Law School
April 3 – State-building, Genocide, and Plans: Researching Israel’s Distribution of Stability and Violence with Dr. Kareem Rabie in Haines Hall, Room 352 (12:00pm – 1:30pm) hosted by Anthropology
CANCELLED – The Politics of “Race, Ethnicity and Politics” with Yasmeen Abu-Laban hosted by Political Science
April 10 – Munira Khayyat – After the End of the World: Another Season of War in South Lebanon in Haines Hall, Room 352 (12:00pm – 1:30pm) hosted by Anthropology
CANCELLED – Sahq, Dirt, Shaheed: Queer Poetics and Palestinian Resistance with Mejdulene Bernard Shomali hosted by the Center for the Study of Women | Streisand Center
April 17 – Maya Wind Talk in Haines Hall, Room 352 (12:00pm – 1:30pm) hosted by Anthropology
April 24 – Hadeel Assali Talk in Haines Hall, Room 352 (12:00pm – 1:30pm) hosted by Anthropology
April 26 – Palestine Blues at the Billy Wilder Theater (7:30pm) hosted by the UCLA Film and Television Archive
April 28 – Ussama Makdisi – Gaza, Genocide, and the Palestine Exception in Royce Hall, Room 314 (12:00pm – 1:30pm) hosted by History
POSTPONED – Jasbir Puar and Dima Khalidi Talk hosted by English
March 2025
March 4 – Listening to the Dead: Methods of Studying Genocide in Kaufman Hall, Room 200 (12:00pm – 1:30pm) hosted by the Center for the Study of Woman | Streisand Center
POSTPONED – Diana Greenwald Talk hosted by Political Science
February 2025:
February 8 – Our Oracle-Ruin: The Arabic Poetic Tradition in Light of Gaza in Royce Hall, Room 306 (3:00pm – 5:00pm) hoted by English, Comparative Literature, Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations and the Edward Said Chair in Comparative Literature
February 10 – Karam Dana on ‘To Stand With Palestine: Transnational Resistance and Political Evolution in the United States’ in Bunche Hall, Room 4357 (12:15pm – 1:30pm) hosted by Political Science
December 2024
December 13 – Poetics in Refusal of Settler Life: Mahmoud Darwish and the Question of Palestine (12:30pm) hosted by English
November 2024
November 12 – Invited to Witness Book Talk with Jennifer Lynn Kelly on Zoom (3:30pm – 5:00pm) hosted by Gender Studies
October 2024
October 1 – Out of Place: A Marathon Reading at the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden (Oct 1, 9am – Oct 2, 9am)
October 11 – Dawayer with Huda Asfour at Lani Hall (6:30pm – 8:00pm)
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AboutCalendarEventsPublications
Publications
- Palestine from UCLA: The Camp(US), The Worker, The Archive
Salih Can Aciksoz, Hannah Appel, Susan Slyomovics, and Bharat Jayram Venkat (2024) - Honoring Pasts, Escaping Presents, and Dwelling in Futures: The Palestine Land Society Village Reconstruction Competition
Nour Joudah (2024) - Palestine Solidarity Movements and the Crisis of the US Universities: A Report from UCLA
Katsuya Hirano (2024) - A Feminist Practice of Bearing Witness to Genocide
Loubna Qutami (2023) - Afterword: Palestine is Everywhere
Saree Makdisi (2023) - Icon of Solidarity: The Revolutionary Vietnamese Woman in Vietnam, Palestine, and Iran
Thy Phu, Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi, & Donya Ziaee (2023) - Archipelago of Resettlement: Vietnamese Refugee Settlers and Decolonization across Guam and Israel-Palestine Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi (2022)
- Unsettled Debts: 1968 and the Problem of Historical Memory | Reborn as Fida’i: The Palestinian Revolution and the (Re)Making of an Icon
Loubna Qutami (2022) - Tolerance is a Wasteland: Palestine and the Culture of Denial Saree Makdisi (2022)
- Mapping Decolonized Futures: Indigenous Visions for Palestine and Hawai’i
Nour Joudah (2022) - Transnational Histories of Palestinian Youth Organizing in the United States
Loubna Qutami (2021) - Palestine as Praxis: Scholarship for Freedom Nour Joudah, Randa M. Wahbe, Tareq Radi, and Dina Omar (2021)
- The War of Words: Language as an Instrument of Palestinian National Struggle
Loubna Qutami & Zahzah, O. (2020) - Intervention—Gaza as Site and Method: The Settler Colonial City without Settlers
Nour Joudah (2020) - From the River to the Sea to Every Mountain Top: Solidarity as Worldmaking
Robin D.G. Kelley (2019) - Cold War Entanglements, Third World Solidarities: Vietnam and Palestine, 1967-75
Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi (2018) - Vexed Solidarities: Vietnamese Israelis and the Question of Palestine
Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi (2018) - Elimination as a Structure: Tracing and Racing Zionism with Patrick Wolfe
Saree Makdisi (2017) - Another Freedom Summer
Robin D.G. Kelley (2014) - Palestinian youth perspectives on exile politics: Between solidarity and leadership Nour Joudah (2012)
- The Architecture of Erasure
Saree Makdisi (2010) - Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation Saree Makdisi (2008)
- “Intellectual Warfare” and the Question of Palestine
Saree Makdisi (2006) - Said, Palestine, and the Humanism of Liberation Saree Makdisi (2005)
- The Israel Divestment Campaign and the Question of Palestine in America
Saree Makdisi (2003) - The Object of Memory: Arab and Jew Narrate the Palestinian Village Susan Slyomovics (1998)
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