About Vivienne Porzsolt

I am a secular Jew whose parents were refugees from the Nazis here in New Zealand where I grew up. From them I drew on a rich Jewish tradition, that was named by Isaac Deutscher The Non-Jewish Jew: humanist, universalist and rationalist with a strong focus on social justice. I have recently moved back to Aotearoa and live in Palmerston North.

I have been active in the Women’s Liberation movement, the anti-apartheid movement, the anti-Vietnam War movement and as a rank-and-file delegate in the trade union movement. My focus since 1989 in Aotearoa and Australia has been justice in Palestine-Israel. I have worked as a bus driver, a meat-worker, a kitchen hand and on prawn boats in Queensland.

I was a founding member of Jews against the Occupation ’48 in 2003 and have recently stepped down as Spokesperson. I am passionate about projecting a Jewish voice beyond the Pale of Zionism and standing alongside the Palestinians in their struggle for justice.

I have been on a number of delegations to Palestine-Israel and served a spell with the International Women’s Peace Service in the West Bank. There we women accompanied Palestinian families harvesting their olives and demonstrating against the Israeli Occupation. I joined the Gaza Freedom March in 2010 and the Canadian boat Tahrir in an attempt to break the blockade of Gaza. When the Greek government blocked us from leaving Crete, I went with another Australian activist to join the Welcome to Palestine campaign. We were detained by the Israeli authorities when we arrived at the Israeli  passport control saying in reply to their question of our purpose in visiting Israel we replied ‘We intend to visit Palestine.’ We were released with the services of 2 Israeli human] rights lawyers.

Despite the horrors of these dark times, I believe the Palestinian struggle is at a tipping point and the Zionist project is collapsing from internal and external pressures and and is doomed. We need to keep on with our solidarity work till the people of Palestine, both Palestinian and Jewish, are free.

That’s it!

I look forward to engaging with Alternative Jewish Voices.