An April 2023 book giveaway at the Broward taxpayer-funded Destination Sistrunk facility in Fort Lauderdale featured books from a “radical” pro-Palestine publisher. Based in Chicago, Haymarket Books describes itself as a “radical publisher of politics, culture and current events.” Founded in 2001, Haymarket Books’ first publication was “The Struggle For Palestine.”
So how did Haymarket Books get an outlet in a black cultural center like Destination Sistrunk?
In April 2023, Broward Dream Defenders and the Broward Democratic Socialists Of America (DSA) hosted a book giveaway at Destination Sistrunk. According to flyers distributed by Dream Defenders and Broward DSA, the book giveaway was meant to counter a “book ban” instituted by the State of Florida.
Instead of featuring controversial books in Florida elementary, middle and high schools, the Destination Sistrunk giveaway featured obscure socialists screeds on Critical Race Theory, black liberation, “The Invention Of The White Race,” racism and social justice.
Earlier this week, REDBROWARD exposed another radical event co-hosted Destination Sistrunk and Broward DSA. The “Reading Aloud” event was supposed to feature readings from banned books.
Instead, the “Reading Aloud” event featured radical books from Haymarket Books. Some of the books on display included works by Marxist author Angela Davis as well as books on Critical Race Theory, class war and socialist involvement in U.S workers unions.
On its website, Haymarket Books prominently features books on Palestine. The website says, “Publishing books on the struggle for justice in Palestine has been a central part of Haymarket’s mission since we published our first book, The Struggle for Palestine, in 2001. Now as ever, we recognize the root cause and ongoing perpetrator of violence in Palestine to be Israeli settler-colonialism and apartheid, and we stand in solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle for freedom.”
Haymarket Books free books on Palestine include “BDS: The Global Struggle For Palestinian Rights” and “Palestine: A Socialist Introduction.”
During an October 13, 2023 interview with NY1 TV News, Sumaya Awad, co-editor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction and a member of NY DSA, said Israel was guilty of “genocide…war crimes…crimes against humanity…and apartheid.” Awad said “bad faith actors” hijacked a New York City protest promoted by DSA where some praised Hamas’ attacks on innocent Israelis.
Over the last two weeks, Broward DSA, Black Lives Alliance, Dream Defenders and other socialist groups have promoted protests across Broward County. On Sunday, a downtown Fort Lauderdale protest featured calls for “intifada” (uprising) in Florida. One protestor carried a sign comparing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler. At every event, protesters repeatedly chant, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Broward County Commissioner Steve Geller addressed this chant earlier this month. “We have a lot of people who frequently talk about or they chant the slogan, from the mountains to the sea, Palestine will be free,” Geller continued. “If you unpack that mountains to the ocean, that they’re describing the State of Israel when they are chanting that they’re actually calling for the destruction of the State of Israel.”
Why are socialist groups pushing socialist books and propaganda at a facility funded by numerous Broward government entities and non-profit groups?
Did someone at Destination Sistrunk or inside a government office think hosting events for socialist propaganda was a good idea?
Why is taxpayer-funded cultural center hosting any political event?
