Anti-Israel group Code Pink is hosting a four-part workshop series this week aimed at teaching educators, parents and students to challenge Zionism and Holocaust-related curricula in K-12 schools.
According to the North American Values Institute, speakers participating in the series are affiliated with teachers’ unions and activist education networks, including groups connected to the National Education Association.
The series, titled “Challenging Zionism in Our Schools,” began Monday with a session examining Anti-Defamation League educational materials. Code Pink described the workshop as an effort to show “how organizations like the ADL use Holocaust education to justify state violence and silence Palestine.” The session featured Marcy Winograd, who leads the group’s “Drop the ADL” project and heads a pro-Palestinian caucus in the California Teachers Association.
Tuesday’s session focuses on strategies for establishing Students for Justice in Palestine clubs and incorporating Palestinian culture into K-12 education. Featured speakers include Colette Cavanagh, education director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and Merri Nijimy, former president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association.
Wednesday’s workshop will focus on “literature and art as tools for resistance,” and on Thursday the group will close the series with a session on “the meaning of the slogan ‘from the river to the sea,’” featuring Maha Nassar, an associate professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona.
“This should worry every parent, teacher and policymaker,” NAVI stated. “The webinar did not just expose an anti-Israel agenda for K-12. It exposed an illiberal worldview. And now that worldview is being packaged into materials and organizing strategies for K-12 schools.”
