30 Jan 2007

Gilad Atzmon libel threat to Sue Blackwell

Let me make a confession. I was brought up as a Zionist in an orthodox Jewish household. I also grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust. I concluded from an early age that if anti-Semitism was wrong, then all forms of racism were equally wrong.

Unfortunately the Zionist movement drew the opposite conclusion. Indeed it accepted the arguments of anti-Semitism that Jews did not belong in the lands where they were born and grew up. They were strangers living in exile (Galut). They should ‘return’ to Palestine. Unfortunately they took with them the ideological framework of European racism. In essence, the anti-Semites said ‘you do not belong’ and the Zionists said ‘we agree’.



This is from Tony Greenstein, who is part of the Alliance for Green Socialism (who I as a green and a socialist would love to see in the GPEW! not organising as another Party), he has a fantastic record as a campaigner on a range of issues including support for Palestine as well as opposition to anti-semitism...issues which as you know I am pretty passionate about.

I have been strongly opposing anti-semites in the monetary reform/social credit movement as well as supporting Palestine and hailing figures like the late great Edward Said.

The excellent socialist unity site contains a statement from Tony about how Sue Blackwell is being sued by Gilad Atzmon.

Please read this and support Sue and educate your selves about the issue of 'left' anti-semitism (not left criticism of Israel in relation to Palestine but holocaust denial and nasty conspiracy orientated attacks linked to race).

Any way on to the statement from Tony...

"Many people will be aware of who Gilad Atzmon is. An ex-Israeli jazz player and anti-Semite who has become a Christian fundamentalist.

"Sue Blackwell is the Birmingham University lecturer who successfully moved a motion at the Association of University Teachers 2005 Conference supporting a boycott of Israel. She has a 'Nazi Alert' webpage which features Atzmon and it is this he has taken exception to.

"Although Sue has not called Atzmon a neo-nazi or a Holocaust Denier, there is no doubt that when not consorting with the SWP he enjoys the convivial company of a variety of anti-Semitic fruitcakes such as Israel Shamir and Paul Eisen. His own website is replete with Jewish conspiracy articles. Atzmon has hired lawyers who have sent a letter threatening Sue with defamation proceedings. "

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

You don't know what you're talking about. You've also libelled Gilad Atzmon. You've fallen into the same trap as Blackwell and Greenstein. You are irrational PRO-semites.

Derek Wall said...

I think your inability to distinguish my opinions from those of Ariel Sharon, says it all about this issue!

Anonymous said...

Thank you Derek for your kind comments.

I am not at all a 'pro-Semite' whatever that is. I have spent my life fighting Jewish chauvinism and Zionism. But that is also why I will not avert my eyes from anti-Semitism. And Atzmon's site reeks of it. His 'on anti-Semitism' article speaks explicitly about Jewish control of the world. Do I really need to spell out where that comes from?

Sue Blackwell is a good friend and a good supporter of the Palestinians. She took unbelievable personal flack for moving the academic boycott of Israeli universities. For Atzmon and his crowd to attack her, and Israel Shamir, who is a neo-Nazi and someone who Atzmon speaks highly of, gave her personal details to ex-NF leader Martin Webster, is disgusting.

A secular, democratic state in Palestine for Jews, Palestinians and those of no religion is the only solution which will solve the problem of imperialism and racism in the region.

Tony Greenstein

Anonymous said...

...I have been strongly opposing anti-semites in the monetary reform/social credit movement...

Er, that's just because you want Green Party policy to be standard Marxist dogma tarted-up with some greenwash, isn't it? Like some weasel you suggest people who, quite correctly, identify privately-created debt-money as a key cause of social and economic suffering as being somehow closet racists, a breath away from ecofascism.

I could say that anti-Israel statements are often evidence of closet anti-Semitism and while that's sometimes true, its not a reason to say criticism of the Israeli state is some slippery slope to nazism.

You're no doubt aware that the eco-Marxists have ideologically cleansed or marginalised the GPEW of the liberal reformers, the small-c conservatives, the centrists, the left-libertarians. Once I could tell conservative friends who recycled, hated excessive consumerism, needless waste and bland corporate dominated towns,agreed the railways were better off public to vote Green not Tory. Can I do that anymore with a straight face when the party increasingly resembles something off a 70s poly campus?

Anonymous said...

Fred,
Yes you can!
The fact that the GPEW has a "Green Left" grouping tells me that the party itelf is not "left" let alone Marxist.
True some [prominant] members may be described as such, including perhaps Derek Wall, but the wider ordinary membership out here is not. This important because GPEW, at least for moment does not have a leader and is very much a decentralised party.

Imperialism Is the Arsonist: Marxism’s Contribution to Ecological Literatures and Struggles

Derek Wall ’s article entitled  Imperialism Is the Arsonist: Marxism’s Contribution to Ecological Literatures and Struggles , argues that Ma...