tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post483432487325185836..comments2024-03-01T08:19:54.547+00:00Comments on BobFromBrockley: Lenni Brenner says Ken's wrongbobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15439386754907203808noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-31376266190322952812016-05-22T18:03:00.885+01:002016-05-22T18:03:00.885+01:00Socialist Organiser's 1984 article on Brenner:...Socialist Organiser's 1984 article on Brenner: https://shirazsocialist.wordpress.com/2016/05/22/lenni-brenners-revisionism-hysterically-and-obscenely-stupid/Jim Denhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01642992463679646250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-58233157903636316752016-05-07T23:57:00.122+01:002016-05-07T23:57:00.122+01:007. My final point:
RE I also see that on the same...7. My final point:<br /><br />RE <i>I also see that on the same basis, of trying to close down debate other than on those terms, even David Feldman, from the Pear's Institute for the Study of Ant-Semitism, who has been appointed alongside Sham Chakrobarty to head up the report into racism and anti-semitism is not Zionist enough. He is now apparently being attacked himself as potentially anti-semitic for having even suggested that some of the accusations made were a bit flimsy, and politically motivated, and that it is not necessarily anti-semitic to draw parallels between the actions of the Israeli State and other oppressive states, including the Nazis.</i><br /><br />I disagree with the attacks on Feldman (particularly the allegation that he's unsuitable because he once signed the Independent Jewish Voices Statement), but is anyone saying he's "potentially antisemitic"? The serious criticisms of him (e.g. at Engage) relate to the fact that he's published a definition of antisemitism (commissioned by Mann no less) that seems to rule an awful lot out. I personally hope he'll do a good job. But criticizing him on this basis is not "shutting down debate"; it's saying a commission of inquiry needs to be headed by someone of total credibility not someone who's already taken a position on the topic at hand. It's not an exact analogy, but we wouldn't use the formula "shutting down debate" for opposing the appointment someone who's written glowingly of the South Yorkshire Police to head a commission of inquiry into Orgreave.<br /><br />OK, that's me for now.bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15439386754907203808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-2168098466834944362016-05-07T23:45:14.956+01:002016-05-07T23:45:14.956+01:006. I just got to this, which closely relates to (5...6. I just got to this, which closely relates to (5) above:<br /><br /><i>But, surely the point here is not about did Hitler/Nazis actively support Zionism, or did they just use this agreement for their short term benefit, but is whether it is true that the Nazis and Zionists did make such agreements, as Livingstone stated, and as Mann and others have suggested is historically untrue and beyond the pale even referring to?</i><br /><br />This would be right if Livingstone <i>had</i> simply said that there were agreements between Hitler (or, more accurately, the Nazi government, as it seems Hitler was ambivalent about it) and some parts of the Zionist movement. But Ken did actually say - and repeat and repeat - that "Hitler supported Zionism". This is precisely what made his position offensive, and gave good cause to Mann to in turn lose it in response. It may be the outrage was theatrics on Mann's part, and it may be it was part of an anti-Corbyn agenda, but it was also fuelled by a basic (and I'm sure in Mann's case genuine) aversion to using the Holocaust against the Jews. bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15439386754907203808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-14811725119163317072016-05-07T23:35:22.956+01:002016-05-07T23:35:22.956+01:00Addendum to (2) above:
I forgot to say: there was...Addendum to (2) above: <br />I forgot to say: there was one Naz Shah comment which actually mentioned Jews. Actually it wasn't Jews but "the Jews", when she said "The Jews are rallying" to an online poll about Israel. This seems to me to be antisemitic. bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15439386754907203808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-54491660355057218382016-05-07T23:33:32.435+01:002016-05-07T23:33:32.435+01:005. On the Stern gang etc:
I think there's a wo...5. On the Stern gang etc:<br />I think there's a world of difference between on one hand saying "Hitler supported the Zionists" and on the other pointing out some of the reactionary nature of some dimensions of Zionism. Hitler was reactionary, but not all reactionaries are Hitler. So, yes, the Stern Gang was generically fascist or very close to it, and yes there were one or two instances of some Nazis working with some Zionists - but the Stern Gang were far from mainstream Zionists at the time; the Nazis understood there to be several strains of Zionism and deliberately cultivated some at the expense of others; Jabotinsky was one of the fiercest opponents of the Ha'avara Agreement; a Revisionist Zionist murdered Haim Arlosoroff for his involvement in it. It's perfectly legitimate to raise these reactionary dimensions of Zionism, but to interpret them, as Ken insists on doing, as "Hitler supported Zionism" is totally illegitimate. bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15439386754907203808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-17357593874547525012016-05-07T23:25:28.053+01:002016-05-07T23:25:28.053+01:004. Re this:
The "offence" in Livingston...4. Re this:<br /><br /><i>The "offence" in Livingstone's fulmination was not about the hurt feelings of the Jews but about the distortion of truth. To listen to his words, one who is not much knowledgeable about history would come away with the clear understanding that there was a meeting of minds between the Nazis and the Zionists. This suggests that Jews enjoyed Hitler's sympathy for their plight, that he was a benefactor for Zionists. Livingstone's formulation did not try to exonerate Hitler's crimes but rather the contrary: to tar, taint, smear, besmirch Zionist Jews as Hitler's acolytes. He used Hitler's evil reputation in order to create an alliance between that evil and Zionism, to make the point that Zionists were unscrupulous agents of .. who? What, exactly? <br /><br />This is another ploy to present the history of Israel's creation as associating and collaborating with pure evil.<br /><br /><b>When you ignore Livingstone's intent you do violence to his message which he keeps claiming is the truth, and does not regret.</b></i><br /><br />I more or less agree with the first two paragraphs there. My uncertainty is about the last point, which I've put in bold, the one about intent. I don't think it's helpful to talk about ploys and intents. To me what matter is the <i>effect</i> of what he said, which is to distort the truth, and to suggest that Zionism is basically Nazi. We can examine Ken's pattern of statements and actions over time and conclude that this was his intent - but I don't think we need to in order to condemn it. bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15439386754907203808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-52068614705940892162016-05-07T23:20:16.541+01:002016-05-07T23:20:16.541+01:003. On the free speech issue and causing offence, a...3. On the free speech issue and causing offence, and the Mo'Toons analogy: <br />Yes, if free speech means anything it is the free speech of your enemies and the right to cause offence. However, I don't think that arguing that "saying X is offensive/antisemitic" necessarily means that you follow up with "saying x should be banned". Anyone who wants to censor or arrest someone for saying what Ken said or sharing what Shah shared is totally wrong - and I doubt many people would think that. Ken's free speech is not in doubt: he has been called on to dozens of media platforms now to talk about Hitler. This is emphatically not a free speech issue. <br /><br />Instead, the questions about these two individuals specifically are (a) should they apologise, and (b) should it affect their status in the Labour party. Personally, I think they should both apologise for causing offence (she has; I believe he's just apologising for causing trouble for Labour). In her case, she obviously doesn't think now the things she shared back then, so that's that. In his case, he can't retract his historical rantings, because he clearly believes them. It's the fact that he believes such cranky nonsense and that he is totally unable to open his mouth these days without offending Jews kind of suggests to me he has no place holding office in the Labour Party. And if I were a Labour Party member I'd not feel very comfortable being in the same party as him. bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15439386754907203808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-1627047513983759002016-05-07T23:11:32.086+01:002016-05-07T23:11:32.086+01:00I'm sorry about slow moderation here and my la...I'm sorry about slow moderation here and my lack of comment. I just haven't had time to sit and type. I'm reading through all of the above now, and here are some comments, some of which relate to points that you guys have moved on from.<br /><br />1. This absolutely isn't the main issue at hand here, but I meant to comment on the idea that the US created al-Qaeda. That simply isn't true. They may have been entangled with the Mujahadeen and possibly with the MAK, one of al-Qaeda's predecessors, but the idea they actually created al-Qaeda is just foolish. And I also disagree with the Tory Kissingerite Julian Lewis about the actually 70,000 "moderate rebels", as I wrote here: http://brockley.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/what-cameron-said-about-70000-moderate.html <br /><br />2. Re Boffy on Naz Shah:<br /><i>She engaged in "meaningful self-scrutiny and gracious apology", you say. So did, Bukharin and others in the Moscow show trials. I've looked at what she said in those social media posts, and especially given that the one with the map was not even intended to be taken seriously, I'm still trying to see exactly what was explicitly anti-Semitic, as opposed to anti-Israel in them.</i><br />I don't think Shah's apology bears any resemblance to a show trial. We know from Bradford Synagogue and from Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner that she had changed in her attitudes since becoming an MP. I think it's very plausible that she looked back on what she said in the heat of the 2014 Gaza conflict and squirmed. However, she didn't actually say much in those posts. First, it was almost all things she shared rather than said herself. The map thing was basically a bad joke. It has added offensiveness because, well, we know that "solutions" to Jewish questions have something of a history, and that being "transported" isn't something Jews would like us to laugh about. <br /><br />She also didn't actually comment on Hitler either. She shared a picture of Martin Luther King - actually, ironically, if you look closely at it, it comes from a right-wing American Twitter account @iamtheteaparty (see http://www.thejc.com/files/imagecache/body_portrait/NazShahMartinLutherKing1.jpg and https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/82/3c/b1/823cb1207b1d606e889852a2a8a796bc.jpg ) and added her own comment, the hashtag #ApartheidIsrael. In my view, this isn't antisemitic. (I don't think calling Israel an apartheid state is antisemitic.) But it is implying a similarity between Israel and Hitler, which is felt as offensive by most Jews because, well, Hitler killed lots of Jews.<br /><br />The worse thing she shared, though, is the article that talks about the Zionists "grooming" people for high office on a global scale and exploiting "pogrom guilt" to get a state. Not <i>explicitly</i> antisemitic perhaps, but drawing on several antisemitic tropes.<br /><br />[cont.]bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15439386754907203808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-71622723345290269402016-05-07T19:52:07.542+01:002016-05-07T19:52:07.542+01:00"...The Holocaust itself was an enormous blow..."...The Holocaust itself was an enormous blow to the Zionist project..."<br /><br />Herzl's premonition of the enormous danger facing the Jews in Europe should be compared to the inability of most other political leaders to foresee what was to come. It is becoming clearer as time passes that the enormous blow that the Jewish people suffered has weakened us so much that our struggle to maintain our life as a sovereign people is as desperate and precarious as ever. And the cacophany of jeering and abuse from our enemies and detractors that accompanies that struggle is increasing rather than subsiding.<br /><br />Instead of reading and publicizing Lenni Brenner's distortions and lies, Bob should read Yitzhak Azuz's book "Understanding the Holocaust", from which he might finally learn and inwardly accept how cruel and evil Allied policy towards Europe's Jews was during those fateful years.Migrelinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-2948863278984242192016-05-07T19:13:49.784+01:002016-05-07T19:13:49.784+01:00Boffy complains he is a victim of Zionist McCarthy... Boffy complains he is a victim of Zionist McCarthyism. <br /><br />His Proof: His view that "Israel was established over the bones of Palestinians" is opposed by actual numbers, such as these:<br /><br />Palestinians grew from 1.2M in 1946 to 10.5M in 2005 <br /><br />Jews who were 15.4M in 1933 will barely reach 13.5M in 2020, 90 years later <br /><br />More numbers:<br /><br />In 1948 Arab-Israel war: Size of armies engaged:<br /><br />On the Arab side: 660,000<br />On the Jewish side: 140,000<br /><br />Killed:<br /><br />On the Arab side: 4,000<br />On the Jewish side: 6,373<br /><br />Additional numbers here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947%E2%80%9348_Civil_War_in_Mandatory_Palestine#Death_toll<br /><br />This is true McCarthyism, countering slanderous fantasies with actual facts.<br /><br /><br /> The Contentious Centristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07370528817706233156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-35425147955934868652016-05-07T15:58:24.857+01:002016-05-07T15:58:24.857+01:00Bob,
As an indication of the kind of trajectory I...Bob,<br /><br />As an indication of the kind of trajectory I feared could occur, its becoming apparent that any attempt at rational debate is facing attempts to close it down with any views other than those which defend Zionism, and the basis upon which the state of Israel was established over the bones of Palestinians being described as disingenuous or offensive and so on, and the usual trolling resort to abuse in place of argument.<br /><br />But, I also see that on the same basis, of trying to close down debate other than on those terms, even David Feldman, from the Pear's Institute for the Study of Ant-Semitism, who has been appointed alongside Sham Chakrobarty to head up the report into racism and anti-semitism is not Zionist enough. He is now apparently being attacked himself as potentially anti-semitic for having even suggested that some of the accusations made were a bit flimsy, and politically motivated, and that it is not necessarily anti-semitic to draw parallels between the actions of the Israeli State and other oppressive states, including the Nazis.<br /><br />Memories of Joe McCarthy or Beria anyone?Boffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-1635604591566758742016-05-06T18:10:58.418+01:002016-05-06T18:10:58.418+01:00More from Howard Jacobson:
"Maybe there was ...More from Howard Jacobson:<br /><br />"Maybe there was an alternative to Zionism for Jews when once-friendly countries turned hostile and other nations closed their borders, but no one found it."<br /><br />"Zionism is not and never was an ideology of oppression; Zionism came into being as an expression of Jewish fear and aspiration, a longing for renewal and self-determination occasioned by waves of violence against Jews all over Europe and made increasingly urgent as those fears were given a terrible materiality by the Nazis.<br /><br />Whoever minimises the threat Jews faced 100 years ago, 50 years ago, and still face today, flirts with the discourse of antisemitism. Whoever accuses Jews of making capital out of adversity paves the way for antisemitism. And whoever describes Zionism as the imposition of Jewish exclusivism and supremacy is an antisemite."<br /><br />http://www.thejc.com/comment-and-debate/comment/157796/thanks-showing-your-hand-ken<br /><br />The Contentious Centristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07370528817706233156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-80659534609344021962016-05-06T16:44:41.678+01:002016-05-06T16:44:41.678+01:00"First, Hitler despised Zionism. In fact he r..."First, Hitler despised Zionism. In fact he ridiculed the idea as he was convinced that the Jews would be incapable of establishing and then defending a state. More importantly, he and his government viewed the prospect of a Jewish state in Palestine as part of the broader international Jewish conspiracy which his fevered imagination presented as a dire threat to Germany. While (after robbing them of most of their possessions) the Nazis did allow some German Jews to leave the country in the 1930s in order to travel to Palestine, that policy was primarily driven by a desire to get the Jews out of Germany rather than to build a Jewish state in Palestine. By the late 1930s the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, who later collaborated with the Nazis in wartime Berlin, had informed German diplomats stationed in Jerusalem that the entry of Jews into Palestine from Germany was angering local Arabs. For reasons of their own, the Nazis cut off Jewish emigration in 1941 to pursue their goal of murdering Europe’s Jews. This ignorance about the implications of the Holocaust is stunning. As the Israeli historian Anita Shapira has pointed out, it is only a half-truth to say that Israel was founded because of the Holocaust. The other half of the truth is that literally millions of Jews in Europe who might have contributed to the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine could not do so because the Nazis had murdered them. The Holocaust itself was an enormous blow to the Zionist project."<br /><br />http://fathomjournal.org/hitler-and-the-nazis-anti-zionism-2/<br /><br />To repeat:<br /><br />"As the Israeli historian Anita Shapira has pointed out... literally millions of Jews in Europe who might have contributed to the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine could not do so because the Nazis had murdered them. The Holocaust itself was an enormous blow to the Zionist project."<br /><br />And, by the Marxist zero-sum principle -that when someone is poor,it's because someone else is rich- then the only conclusion is that the unrecoverable loss for the Jews was pure gain for Palestinians. <br /><br />Who, in 1947, benefited best from the Holocaust? Who decided to act on that benefit and try to eliminate the 600K Jews in Mandatory Palestine? How come Palestinians grew from 1.2M in 1946 to 10.5M in 2005? How come Jews who were 15.4M in 1933 will barely reach 13.5M in 2020, 90 years later? <br /><br />There comes a moment when even the Boffies of this world will have to deal with these numbers and their meaning, being so morally outraged and everything. (And if I weren't in mortal dread of Bob rebuking me for using uncivil language, I would have said "schmucks like boffy"). <br /><br /> <br /><br />The Contentious Centristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07370528817706233156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-52639897905540739772016-05-05T23:38:04.869+01:002016-05-05T23:38:04.869+01:00Good Lord, I have never seen such disingenuous guf...Good Lord, I have never seen such disingenuous guff from one writer. Just reams and reams of disingenuous and offensive guff. Getting to the heart of it:<br /><br />"which defended the Zionist policy of establishing the state of Israel, and which thereby defended the denial of the right of self-determination of Palestinians etc'<br /><br />It is absolutely not true that creation of the state of Israel necessarily denied the self-determination of Palestinians. This is only true if the self-determination of Palestinians necessarily could not allow any form of Jewish self-determination, whether as a federated state, cantons or otherwise. There are numerous states in the region created in the fallout from WW1 and it is ridiculous in the extreme to state that Zionism is particularly unusual. <br /><br />Lots of tribes/clans/nations ended up on the wrong side of various borders, it's what happens when true imperial power is visited upon a region. Moreover, this is not even calling into question what notion of the Palestinians we are talking about, given the population was and is a patchwork of Sunni Muslim, Druze, Christian, Circassian, Samaritan etc and etc). The fact that there was a rise in Sunni Political Islam such as the Muslim Brotherhood is far more of a factor in the failure to come to any form of settlement than Zionism precludes 'Palestinian' self-determination. Palestinian self-determination was shaped by wider political movements, up to and including assassinating Arab leaders who urged positive accommodation in the 1920s. As always, anti-Zionists treat Arabs with Orientalist disdain for the idea that they had/have agency.WestEndGirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01381731012936885027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-55382380431196777042016-05-05T14:39:37.969+01:002016-05-05T14:39:37.969+01:00BTW, The Holocaust was not the reason Israel was e...BTW, The Holocaust was not the reason Israel was established. It served as a catalyst of sorts to accelerate its establishment, mainly because Europe and the US didn't know what to do with 1M Jewish refugees. But Israel would have come into being anyway. Israel was a de-facto functioning mini state anytime during the 1930's. If you read the 1937 Peel Commission report you will know that. <br /><br />Having said that, let me look at it from another angle: The Holocaust, actually, served the interests of the Arabs of Mandatory Palestine.<br /><br />Arabs' rejection of the Peel Commission plea for partition in 1937 yielded favourable fruits for them: 6 millions Jews exterminated and none who would ever be able to set foot in the land of their ancestors.<br /><br />Imagine Arab rage when it turned out that the Jews, far from being a broken up, intimidated and traumatized people, turned out to have the stamina, the will, the intelligence, to build a state where other Jews could now find refuge and no longer need be the supplicants for a right given freely to anyone else: the right for a free, decent, and dignified life in their own country.<br /><br /> The Contentious Centristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07370528817706233156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-15356682965833816432016-05-05T12:14:03.872+01:002016-05-05T12:14:03.872+01:00Really interesting exchange guys. I agree with Bob...Really interesting exchange guys. I agree with Bob.FalconMaltesernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-83730607555431012652016-05-05T08:57:12.026+01:002016-05-05T08:57:12.026+01:00As for Netanyahu's comment, as I said I am not...As for Netanyahu's comment, as I said I am not defending Livingstone, and referring to it was not intended to do so. But, I think that there is also a danger of simply taking Mann's rant at face value as being an honest criticism of Livingstone, rather than what it was and is, which is a cynical piece of theatre that plays into the narrative and strategy of the Blair-rights over recent months, as part of the attempt to remove Corbyn, by driving a wedge between him and those around him, and by continually feeding a media frenzy of attacks on him that must be fought off rather than allowing any positive message to feed through.<br /><br />I don't take Livingstone's words to mean anything more than that objectively, in so far as the Haavara Agreement was concerned it supported the aims of Zionism, by providing and encouraging Jews to relocate to Palestine. As someone else pointed out, or maybe it was you in another posit, I can't remember, in terms of actually supporting Zionism, Mussolini is probably a better example, because Mussolini had rich Jews in his government, and as supporters, until Hitler told him to remove them.<br /><br />But, surely the point here is not about did Hitler/Nazis actively support Zionism, or did they just use this agreement for their short term benefit, but is whether it is true that the Nazis and Zionists did make such agreements, as Livingstone stated, and as Mann and others have suggested is historically untrue and beyond the pale even referring to? The fact is that those agreements did exist, and it was not just the Nazis who sought them, but also the Nazis as the quote about the policy of the Stern Gang, demonstrates. The Stern Gang not only sought an alliance with the Nazis and Mussolini because they thought that they were a lesser evil compared to Britain, but also based their ideological model on what they wanted a future state of Israel to be like on that same kind of National Socialism, or National Bolshevism.Boffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-20606229306073693742016-05-05T08:44:05.079+01:002016-05-05T08:44:05.079+01:00Cont'd
And, in fact, the ridiculous nature of...Cont'd<br /><br />And, in fact, the ridiculous nature of that in the case of the AWL, was that in hitching their horse to this "democratic imperialism", they too like the SWP end up hitching their wagon to the same kind of reactionary Islamist forces as the SWP, where those forces are the allies of "democratic imperialism." So, for example, in Iraq, they apologised for people like Sistani; in Libya they ridiculously claimed that the intervention of the feudal gulf monarchies special forces was the way bourgeois democracy was going to be spread in the Middle East; when everyone around knew that the so called "rebels" were a bunch of reactionary Islamists, and that the Libyan National Council was an illusion, the AWL presented them as the vehicle for a democratic Libya, and Matgamna apologised for their reactionary Islamist politics in exactly the same terms that the SWP defended Hizbollah; similarly, for months the AWL tried to deny that there was anything nasty going on in Libya, as the Islamists began a spree of murdering black workers and so on.<br /><br />So no, I do not accept that Matgamna and the AWL do not ignore the basis upon which the Israeli State was established. They support its establishment, rather than just opposing its forcible destruction. And, in fact in justifying the creation of Israel in their article on Glotzer they do argue that the position of Jews was Special, because of the Holocaust. When I responded to their article, the AWL as they do with most comments that criticise their positions, deleted my comments. My actual comments can be found on my blog, in these series of posts - <a href="https://boffyblog.blogspot.co.uk/2007/07/glotzer-and-jews-as-special.html" rel="nofollow">Glotzer and the Jews as Special</a>, <a href="https://boffyblog.blogspot.co.uk/2007/07/glotzer-and-immigration.html" rel="nofollow"> Glotzer and Immigration</a>, and <a href="https://boffyblog.blogspot.co.uk/2007/07/glotzer-anti-semitism-and-degenerated.html" rel="nofollow"> Glotzer, Anti-Semitism and the degenerated Workers State</a>.Boffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-8919464656381555502016-05-05T08:43:04.774+01:002016-05-05T08:43:04.774+01:00Bob,
I treat all those who use uncivil language, ...Bob,<br /><br />I treat all those who use uncivil language, or defend its use as trolls, especially where it is their first resort. In other words, I simply ignore whatever they have to say. So, turning to the civil and rational points you make I will try to respond briefly, because I have too many things to do at the moment.<br /><br />Firstly, I referred to Matgamna's posts because both you and Jim Denham had cited them as responses to what Livingstone had said. You say,<br /><br />"Matgamna never says "ignore" Israel's annexations. AWL is critical of them. He is simply saying these annexations are not exceptional; they are part of the history of more or less every nation-state."<br /><br />But, I don't think that this is JUST what Matgamna and the AWL say. Matgamna has said on several occasions not just that he defends the right of Israel to exist, as I do, but that he is a Zionist, and I think that cuts to the heart of this debate. When I was still allowed to comment on the AWL website, I wrote some brief responses to the article they posted supporting the position of Al Glotzer, which defended the Zionist policy of establishing the state of Israel, and which thereby defended the denial of the right of self-determination of Palestinians etc.<br /><br />Now, it is a totally different matter to say that the state of Israel exists, and that attempts to turn the clock back, by destroying that state, would be a terrible reactionary act, and on the other to support, at the time the creation of that state on the basis it was established, and by the means that it was established! The latter is as bad as, and merely a mirror image of the former, and that is typical of the politics of the AWL and of the Third Camp in general. It is a subjectivist, rather than Marxist politics, driven by moral outrage and a desire to fulfil some categorical moral imperative, i.e. Kantianism.<br /><br />So, on many occasions we see that resulting in the Third Campists of the SWP taking one moral position "idiot ant-imperialism", whilst the Third Campists of the AWL take the opposite position of being supporters of "democratic imperialism". Both position stem from a feeling of powerlessness, a lack of faith in the working-class to achieve progress on its own terms, and so a reliance on other more powerful forces to achieve the moral objectives of the particular organisation.<br /><br />For the SWP, and others who think like them, the moral imperative is "anti-imperialism", and more generally "anti-Camitalism", and with no faith in the working class being able to achieve that, they turn to various reactionary Islamist groups, and states, or they turn to Putin and so on. For the AWL, the moral imperative as it was for Shachtman/Burnham is opposition to anti-democratic forces, such as Stalinism, Islamism and so on, and again having no faith in the working-class they instead place their faith in "democratic imperialism" to achieve that moral goal, by it for example, invading Vietnam and attempting to bomb the population back to the stone age, or its similar acquiesence in such activities in Serbia, Iraq, Libya, and until it became obvious it would have the same disastrous consequences, in Syria too. <br /><br />Cont'dBoffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-30816885695685454092016-05-04T20:42:38.519+01:002016-05-04T20:42:38.519+01:00"Vildechaye, please don't use such uncivi..."Vildechaye, please don't use such uncivil language. Thanks."<br /><br />I agree. Pointing out the obvious is utterly futile, and inconsiderate to the blog's host.<br /><br />And let's also not forget the #1 rule: Jews must always, always be on their best behavior. The Contentious Centristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07370528817706233156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-37973552596549179852016-05-04T20:37:26.799+01:002016-05-04T20:37:26.799+01:00"But, its also necessary for those who defend...<br />"But, its also necessary for those who defend the right of Israel to exist, and who as I do point to the reactionary consequences of trying to argue for it to be dismantled, to also recognise that the establishment of the state of Israel WAS a reactionary act. It DID necessarily mean a denial of the right of self-determination for all of those Palestinians already living there; it DID mean a series of genocidal attacks on those Palestinians to force them off their lands."<br /><br />Indeed. In order to get some decent, historically-accurate observations from political leaders Israel's advocates should first of all accept that the slanderous of those unscrupulous leaders are based on some irrefutable "moral truth" that exists in their fantasy. <br /><br />Boffy's arguments strongly remind me of the medieval Christian ethos with regards to the terms for Jewish existence:<br /><br />The Jews are witness to the crucifixion. As witnesses they must be allowed to exist but Christians must never forget that the Jews murdered our savior and therefore Jews must not be allowed to prosper and thrive.The Contentious Centristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07370528817706233156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-65094790659309020542016-05-04T16:28:48.704+01:002016-05-04T16:28:48.704+01:00Coming really late to this comment thread. A few t...Coming really late to this comment thread. A few things:<br /><br />1. Matgamna's article is a decade old, so is not replying to Ken's new comments. Matgamna never says "ignore" Israel's annexations. AWL is critical of them. He is simply saying these annexations are not exceptional; they are part of the history of more or less every nation-state. Boffy's comparison to the US as an implicitly racist settler state is exactly right: criticisms of Israel apply to Canada, New Zealand and ultimately more or less everywhere given the wars and occupations required to create our current patchwork of nation-states.<br /><br />2. The Netanyahu thing: I don't get how that defends Ken. At the time I thought (and tweeted) that Netanyahu was wrong and stupid, and many pro-Israel folks and historians said the same. What Netanyahu said, though, is almost the opposite of what Ken said: that the Hitler supported Palestinian nationalism, and that the latter was in fact central to Hitler's final solution. Is Ken saying this was the "when Hitler went mad" moment? It's nonsense, because Hitler's intent was genocidal far earlier, e.g. in Mein Kampf, and his expulsion policy was only ever lukewarm precisely because he saw the Jews as a global not national threat. <br /><br />3. Vildechaye, please don't use such uncivil language. Thanks. <br /><br />4. The Ha'avara Agreement: yes, this was a fact, but there is a huge amount of wiggle room in how we interpret it. Was it a way of busting the Jewish boycott and extorting money from richer would-be emigrants - or was it "supporting Zionism"? I think it's clear it was the former; it is the "supporting Zionism" interpretation (exacerbated by the "before he went mad" comment) that made Mann say Ken was a Hitler apologist. <br /><br />That's enough for now, but probably more later!bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15439386754907203808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-36004994910922469282016-05-04T15:56:54.157+01:002016-05-04T15:56:54.157+01:00I don't think that is contained in what Living...I don't think that is contained in what Livingstone said. What I would agree with is that Livingstone like many of the left see only the reactionary basis on which Israel was established, and are unable to get beyond it, in terms of navigating a current political solution. It is essentially a politics of moral outrage.<br /><br />But, its also necessary for those who defend the right of Israel to exist, and who as I do point to the reactionary consequences of trying to argue for it to be dismantled, to also recognise that the establishment of the state of Israel WAS a reactionary act. It DID necessarily mean a denial of the right of self-determination for all of those Palestinians already living there; it DID mean a series of genocidal attacks on those Palestinians to force them off their lands.<br /><br />And, it is also necessary to recognise that many of the leaders of the Zionist movement at that time, who later became prominent Israeli politicians and prime ministers were thoroughly reactionary and WERE prepared to form an alliance with both the Nazis and with Mussolini to achieve their ends. <br /><br />Take the Stern Gang, for instance. As Wikipedia states, it<br /><br />"... initially sought an alliance with Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, offering to fight alongside them against the British in return for the transfer of all Jews from Nazi-occupied Europe to Palestine. Believing that Nazi Germany was a lesser enemy of the Jews than Britain, Lehi twice attempted to form an alliance with the Nazis. During World War II it declared that it would establish a Jewish state based upon "nationalist and totalitarian principles". After Stern's death in 1942, the new leadership of Lehi began to move it towards support for Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union. In 1944 Lehi officially declared its support for National Bolshevism."<br /><br />This is the organisation of which Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir was the leader. In 1980, Israel established a military decoration called the Lehi Ribbon named after the gang, and in praise of its activities. Those who wish to live in the present, and defend the right of Israel to exist, on the basis that a forcible destruction of it would be a terrible and reactionary event, and who want to move forward on the basis of a progressive socialist solution that unites both Jewish and Arab workers, also have to admit the truth of the past, and also admit the truth of the basis of the continued oppression of Palestinians as being the desire to maintain a confessional state.Boffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-25217416723961629872016-05-03T17:22:58.249+01:002016-05-03T17:22:58.249+01:00The "offence" in Livingstone's fulmi...The "offence" in Livingstone's fulmination was not about the hurt feelings of the Jews but about the distortion of truth. To listen to his words, one who is not much knowledgeable about history would come away with the clear understanding that there was a meeting of minds between the Nazis and the Zionists. This suggests that Jews enjoyed Hitler's sympathy for their plight, that he was a benefactor for Zionists. Livingstone's formulation did not try to exonerate Hitler's crimes but rather the contrary: to tar, taint, smear, besmirch Zionist Jews as Hitler's acolytes. He used Hitler's evil reputation in order to create an alliance between that evil and Zionism, to make the point that Zionists were unscrupulous agents of .. who? What, exactly? <br /><br />This is another ploy to present the history of Israel's creation as associating and collaborating with pure evil.<br /><br /><br />When you ignore Livingstone's intent you do violence to his message which he keeps claiming is the truth, and does not regret.<br /><br />I don't understand the need of anybody to spend so much time and words trying to cleanse what cannot be cleansed.The Contentious Centristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07370528817706233156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10131050.post-60832282387175675282016-05-03T08:46:54.881+01:002016-05-03T08:46:54.881+01:00One final comment, because I have too many other t...One final comment, because I have too many other things to do to continue this discussion. A lot of the discussion has been about Livingstone's comments "causing offence". Well, nearly ten years ago, when I was still allowed to make comments on the AWL website, and indeed when I was writing a blog there, I spend a lot of time defending the AWL's position, and decision to post the Danish Cartoons.<br /><br />There was a lot of discussion at that time too about causing offence to Muslims by posting those cartoons. I think the position that I defended, and that the AWL and others adopted at that time was correct, which is that free speech only means anything if it means the right to say things that someone else might take offence at. Just because someone might take offence at the cartoons, or drawing comparisons between the actions of one group with some other pariah group, does not make them racist, sexist, or whatever, not can it remove the right to free speech.<br /><br />Once again there seems to be a lack of consistency of approach, and a tendency to pick up an argument that suits and can be used for one discrete event, only to perform a logical somersault, and a zig-zag in position, and then drop that argument because it does not support the conclusion desired in the enxt discrete event.Boffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.com