Jewish Socialist Group

JSG is not a party political organisation but there is some very welcome cross over with them and Green Left, personally I have been really inspired by Jewish voices for peace and from the progressive Muslims who I count as friends...here is the editorial and contents form the latest Jewish Socialist.

Issue 56

Autumn 2008

Editorial | Contents

In the week that two converted fishing boats - Liberty and Free Gaza (see cover photo) - peacefully challenged Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, Israeli peace pioneer, Abie Nathan died in Tel Aviv at the age of 81. This brave, principled and determined man, anchored his Peace Ship off the coast of Tel Aviv, It was home to his extraordinary radio station, Kol HaShalom, The Voice of Peace. Each day he signed off with Hey Jude sung by John Lennon, who had partially funded the ship, and the message: 'Shalom, salaam and peace to all our listeners'.

Kol Hashalom was just one of his many extraordinary projects which gave hope to Palestinians and inspired a generation of human rights activists. He flew solo to Egypt in a bid to talk peace, broke the law in speaking to members of the PLO and, in the 1970s, went on repeated hunger strikes to try to force the Israeli government to make concessions for peace with Egypt.


As well as his efforts to bring peace to the region and justice to the Palestinians, Abie Nathan shipped emergency supplies to victims of war, earthquakes and famine all over the world, including to Biafra, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Lebanon and the former Zaire.


Today, while the US and UK wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Israeli government builds more and more settlements in the West Bank and tightens the screws even further on Gaza, peace campaigners from the UK, USA, Ireland and Australia, have courageously sailed into the ghetto that Gaza has become. For over two years Israel has severely restricted access to Gaza, blocking aid shipments and trade. As a consequence, Gaza's economy has collapsed, forcing most industries to close and dramatically increasing malnutrition rates among children. Today, 80% of families in Gaza are now completely dependent on United Nations food aid; over 200 people have died as result of not being able to leave the enclave for medical treatment and hundreds of Palestinian students, who have places at universities abroad, have been denied exit visas by Israel.
These people, like Abie Nathan in the 1960s and '70s, are putting their governments and the international human rights community to shame by refusing to stand by and watch as the Israeli government, with US and European support, tries to destroy or drive out an entire nation. We need to draw inspiration from them and the courageous few who are risking their lives and their futures to fight for a peaceful and just future for all of us.

News
3 Monitoring the territories; Antifascist footprints
4 Israel's 60th birthday
5 Harold Rosen obituary
14 Italian pogroms condemned

Features
6 So who needs another Cold War? Charlie Pottins takes a closer look at the Georgia conflict
7 A time to break ranks. Brian Klug analyses the significance of the challenge to the Jewish establishment that has recently emerged
8 Defending secular spaces. Pragna Patel celebrates Southall Black Sisters' recent court victory and analyses its wider importance for secular radicals in minority communities
10 The great cover up. Yonathan Mizrachi looks at the political uses and abuses of archaeological digs in Silwan
13 East End Rocker. Fifty years after the death of émigré anarchist Rudolf Rocker, Neil Roberts describes his role in the Jewish East End
15 Whiter than white? Dave Landau looks at whether the British National Party's enthusiasm for Islamaphobia is making it lose interest in antisemitism
16 Post war heroes. David Rosenberg interviews Alan Dein and Mark Burman about a fascinating radio documentary on the anti-fascist fighters of the 43 Group
20 Klezmer responses. Mike Heiser continues the debate on the politics of Jewish music
22 The man who was Friday. Charlie Pottins recalls the dramatic personal and political saga of a Jewish revolutionary

Poetry
11 When a poet dies; Identity card

Reviews
26 Miradores CD
27 The Zionist Masquerade; Live Working or Die Fighting
28 Henryk Grossman and the Recovery of Marxism
29 Secret Judaism and the Spanish Inquisition

Regulars
4 Change the World
12 From Where I'm standing
21 Letters
30 On the Shelf
31 Dybbuk's diary


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