On the anniversary of October 7, Ann Toback’s tells The New Republic the erosion of democracy is driving human suffering and the expansion of the conflict.

October 7, 2024

Ann Toback, CEO of the Workers Circle, pointed out that her organization has, since its founding over a century ago, been domestically focused, turning its attention first to the labor movement, then to women’s suffrage, to immigration rights, and then to civil rights. Workers Circle left the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in August 2023 because it felt the focus of the group’s activism was almost exclusively on Israel, and not on democracy.

“Even as our focus is domestic and democracy in the United States, we don’t have blinders on,” Toback said. “But for us, the focus has been the erosion of democracy in the United States, and also abroad, and we see that erosion as fueling this ongoing and expanding conflict, and we see it as driving the incredible suffering, extreme suffering that’s been being borne by ordinary people.”

Published in The New Republic on October 7, 2024

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We Reflect on October 7, 2023.