Variousness 19

24Dec09

Loren Goldner: Turkey and on anti-imperialism. Snip:

The “anti-imperialist” ideology of the 1960’s and early 1970’s died a hard death by the late 1970’s. Western leftist cheerleaders for “Ho- Ho- Ho Chi Minh” in London, Paris, Berlin and New York fell silent as Vietnam invaded Cambodia, and China invaded Vietnam, and the Soviet Union threatened China. China allied with the U.S. against the Soviets in the new Cold War, and the other “national liberation movements” that had taken power in Algeria, and later in Ethiopia, Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau…disappointed.

Today, a vague mood of “anti-imperialism” is back, led by Venezuela’s Chavez and his Latin American allies (Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Bolivia), more or less (with the exception of Stalinist Cuba) classical bourgeois-nationalist regimes. But Chavez in turn is allied, at least verbally and often practically, with the Iran of the ayatollahs, and Hezbollah, and Hamas, as well as newly-emergent China, which no one any longer dares call “socialist”. The British SWP allies with Islamic fundamentalists in local elections in the UK, and participates in mass demonstations (during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, summer 2007) chanting “We are all Hezbollah”. Somehow Hezbollah, whose statutes affirm the truth of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, is now part of the “left”; when will it be “We are all Taliban”? Why not, indeed?

Such a climate compels us to turn back to the history of such a profoundly reactionary ideology, deeply anti-working class both in the “advanced” and “underdeveloped” countries, by which any force, no matter how retrograde, that turns a gun against a Western power becomes “progressive” and worthy of “critical” or “military” support, or for the less subtle, simply “support”.[...] 

We find these anti-working-class origins, not surprisingly, in the defeat of the world insurrectionary wave of 1917-1921, a wave moving from Germany and Russia to ultimately affect dozens of countries.

Max Dunbar on Matt Taibbi’s The Great Derangement. Snip:

The 9/11 Truth Movement, no matter what its leaders claim, isn’t a grassroots phenomenon. It didn’t grow out of a local dispute at a factory or in the fields of an avacado plantation. It wasn’t a reaction to an injustice suffered by a specific person in some specific place. Instead it was something that a group of people constructed by assembling bits and pieces plucked surgically from the mass media landscape – TV news reports, newspaper articles, Internet sites. The conspiracy is not something anyone in the movement even claims to have seen with his own eyes. It is something deduced from the very sources the movement is telling its followers to reject.

This has always been one of the key features of the 9/11 Truth Movement. When the left finally found something to revolt over, it turned out to be something entirely fictional, something that not a single person had seen with his own eyes, or felt directly in his bank account, in his workplace, in his home. No one here was revolting over the corrupt medical insurance system, the disappearance of the manufacturing economy, the exploding prison population, the predatory credit industry, the takeover of electoral politics by financial interests. None of the people in this room were bound together by a common problem. What they had in common was a similar response to a national media phenomenon. At some level, this wasn’t even a movement – it was a demographic.

Moishe Postone: Hamburg, 2009 – another German Autumn. Snip:

The conventional Stalinist and Social Democratic representation of Nazism and fascism as simply tools of the capitalist class, used to crush working class organizations, always omitted one of their central dimensions: These movements, in terms of their own self-understanding and their mass appeal, were revolts. Nazism presented itself as a struggle for liberation (and supported “anti-imperialist” movements in the Arab world and India). The basis for this self-understanding was a fetishized understanding of capitalism: the abstract, intangible, global domination of capital was understood as the abstract, intangible global domination of the Jews. Far from simply being an attack on a minority, Nazis anti-Semitism understood itself as anti-hegemonic. Its aim was to free humanity from the ruthless ubiquitous domination of the Jews. It is because of its anti-hegemonic character that anti-Semitism poses a particular problem for the Left. It is the reason why, a century ago, anti-Semitism could be characterized as the “socialism of fools.” Today it can be characterized as the “anti-imperialism of fools.”

Robert Fine: Antisemitism, Zionism and the left. Snip:

The argument that the charge of antisemitism serves only to invalidate criticism of the Israeli occupation and human rights abuses is a way of saying that people only raise fears of antisemitism in bad faith. An emphatic insistence that antizionism is not antisemitic, but is labelled antisemitic by ‘defenders of Israel’, presupposes that antisemitism is no longer real, it has become (at least in this context) a political ploy. In some quarters the charge of antisemitism is now almost a badge of honour rather than an occasion for self-reflection. Quite often individuals speak ‘as Jews’ and offer the authority of being Jewish to confirm that criticism of Israel is not antisemitic either in its motives or effects. From the perspective of the left, a refusal to take antisemitism seriously seems to me a problem for a movement that wishes to be consistently antiracist. From the perspective of a European the idea that it is no longer antisemitism that is troubling Europe but talk of antisemitism seems to me an equally troubling notion.

K Kahn-Harris (Metal Jew) on James Horrox A Living Revolution: Anarchism in the Kibbutz Movement. Snip:

If there is a vision of Israel that can avoid the polarization and mythmaking of much Diaspora and Israeli discourse, it requires an appreciation of the complexities of Israeli society. James Horrox’s “A Living Revolution: Anarchism in the Kibbutz Movement” provides a welcome reminder that Israel wasn’t always seen by radicals as an outpost of Western imperialism. Horrox unearths the utopian, anarchist influences behind the growth of the kibbutz movement in pre-state Israel. Anarchism may be a highly flawed ideology, but at the very least it offered a vision of Zionism that, in not aiming to build a Jewish state, held out the possibility of a land in which Jews and Muslims could coexist peacefully. This was never likely to happen, of course, but at the very least it’s important to remember that Israel didn’t have to be the place that its contemporary detractors and defenders imagine it to be — and it doesn’t have to be that place now.

Hoelzer Reich: I have failed to keep up with this controversy, so get it all from @ndy:

Hoelzer Reich : Update

And: Hoelzer Reich & neo-Nazism. Yeah but, no but… (December 10, 2009) | Hoelzer Reich : White Christmas Catalogue! (December 9, 2009) | C.U.N.T., Hoelzer Reich, & Tomorrow Belongs to The Yes Men! (December 7, 2009).

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Tags: 9/11 Truth Movement, Anti-imperialism, anti-zionism, antisemitism, Hoelzer Reich, Loren Goldner, Matt Taibbi, Moishe Postone, Robert Fine, Zionism

Johanna Kaschke libel update

21Dec09

Johanna Kaschke libel update here. Back ground here.

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Tags: Johanna Kaschke

Variousness 18: Mostly theory

15Dec09

Moishe Postone: In French.

The narcissism of minor difference? An old Principia Dialectica post about Andrew Kliman’s alleged debt to Postone. Chicago Political Workshop take up the meme. Platypus1917 joins the fray. CPW apologise.

Rosa’s body: From CPW, I see that Rosa Luxemburg’s body may have been found!

Hagalil: David James Fisher (2003): Zum psychoanalytischen Verständnis von Faschismus und Antisemitismus / Towards a Psychoanalytic Understanding of Fascism and Anti-Semitism [via Ent.]

Uncle Chomsky: Garden Noams. Genocide denial.

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Tags: marxism, Moishe Postone, News and Letters, principia dialectica, Rosa Luxemburg

Variousness 17

11Dec09

Andy defends Noam Chomsky against the claim that he is a capitalist pig, and also against the claim that he is Chavez’s clown. Here’s a fuller defence from TR&L. Closely related, Martin In The Margins on the post-left’s anti-imperialist reflex.

Related: whose fault is it in Honduras? One answer. Also: Iran, Brazil and the world stage.

Examples of the pseudo-radicals in the anti-Zionist and anti-imperialist movements. A racist Christian anti-Zionist in London (also here). And Bongani Masuko.

And examples of genuinely radical positions on the Israel/Palestine and the wider Middle East: Anarchism, ethnicity, and culture: revolution and reaction in the Middle East. Dissecting political and militant Islam.

Baader-Meinhof: The element of madness – on the letters of Gudrun Ensslin, Bernward Vesper and Andreas Baader.

More on the Claude Lanzmann story. And more from Karl Pfeifer.

Finally… Climate change denial as conspiracy theory.

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Variousness 16

30Nov09

Left-right convergence: Alexander Cockburn: Reaching Out to the Right

Pseudo-internationalists blockade genuine anti-fascists: Blockade of Claude Lanzmann’s film “Why Israel?”. Eyes Closed and Covered. [ADDED: MORE HERE.] Karl Pfeifer blood libelled.

The ‘Israel Lobby‘: Antisemitism and the reported world.

The ‘Israel Lobby’ meme infects the Green movement: “Zionists out of the peace movement”? Green Rupert And The Anti-Jewish Racist. Plus update: The Curious Case Of Rupert And Gilad.

The real struggle for Palestinian freedom: Palestine-Israel, The ongoing joint struggles against the separation fence and occupation.

The backlash against the boycott: No reason to boycott Israel, says director Wim Wenders.

Ideas for freedom: Moshe Postone to speak at Ideas for Freedom winter 2009.

Odds and ends: From Roland.

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Capitalism: a love story

27Nov09

Last week, we did anti-capitalist students in Nikes and keffiyahs. This week, anti-capitalist warriors with stocks in the military-industrial complex. Warning: sources are right-wing, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.

Michael Moore:

According to Fortune Magazine, Moore’s films have grossed over $300 million worldwide. His highest grossing film was “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which critiques the Bush administration’s handling of the war in Iraq and earned over $200 million worldwide.

Moore reportedly was paid $21 million by Disney for producing, directing and creating the film.

Moore also earned 50 percent of the profits of his 2007 film “Sicko,” totaling $25 million plus DVD sales, according to Vanity Fair.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Moore would receive all of the profits made from DVD sales of “Sicko,” sales of which have been estimated at over $17 million. [source]

Over the past five years, Moore’s holdings have “included such evil pharmaceutical and medical companies as Pfizer, Merck, Genzyme, Elan PLC, Eli Lilly, Becton Dickinson and Boston Scientific,” writes Schweizer, whose earlier works include “The Bushes” and “Reagan’s War.”

“Moore’s supposedly nonexistent portfolio also includes big bad energy giants like Sunoco, Noble Energy, Schlumberger, Williams Companies, Transocean Sedco Forex and Anadarko, all firms that ‘deplete irreplaceable fossil fuels in the name of profit’ as he put it in ‘Dude, Where’s My Country?’

“And in perhaps the ultimate irony, he also has owned shares in Halliburton. According to IRS filings, Moore sold Halliburton for a 15 percent profit and bought shares in Noble, Ford, General Electric (another defense contractor), AOL Time Warner (evil corporate media) and McDonald’s.

“Also on Moore’s investment menu: defense contractors Honeywell, Boeing and Loral.”

Does Moore share the stock proceeds of his “foundation” with charitable causes, you might ask?

Schweizer found that “for a man who by 2002 had a net worth in eight figures, he gave away a modest $36,000 through the foundation, much of it to his friends in the film business or tony cultural organizations that later provided him with venues to promote his books and film.” [source]

Noam Chomsky:

[...] But trusts can’t be all bad. After all, Chomsky, with a net worth north of $2,000,000, decided to create one for himself. A few years back he went to Boston’s venerable white-shoe law firm, Palmer and Dodge, and, with the help of a tax attorney specializing in “income-tax planning,” set up an irrevocable trust to protect his assets from Uncle Sam. He named his tax attorney (every socialist radical needs one!) and a daughter as trustees. To the Diane Chomsky Irrevocable Trust (named for another daughter) he has assigned the copyright of several of his books, including multiple international editions.[...]

Chomsky’s business works something like this. He gives speeches on college campuses around the country at $12,000 a pop, often dozens of times a year.

Can’t go and hear him in person? No problem: you can go online and download clips from earlier speeches—for a fee. You can hear Chomsky talk for one minute about “Property Rights”; it will cost you 79 cents. You can also buy a CD with clips from previous speeches for $12.99.

But books are Chomsky’s mainstay, and on the international market he has become a publishing phenomenon. The Chomsky brand means instant sales. As publicist Dana O’Hare of Pluto Press explains: “All we have to do is put Chomsky’s name on a book and it sells out immediately!”[...]

Chomsky’s marketing efforts shortly after September 11 give new meaning to the term war profiteer. In the days after the tragedy, he raised his speaking fee from $9,000 to $12,000 because he was suddenly in greater demand. [source]

See also: Michael Moore’s antisemitism?; What’s wrong with Noam Chomsky?

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Tags: Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky

Gilad Atzmon and the twittering Greens

20Nov09

Rupert Reed, Green parliamentary candidate, pushes racism, then apologises. See Greens Engage, Modernity, and Engage.

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Tags: Gilad Atzmon, Green Party, Greens, Rupert Reed

Fighting for global justice while wearing Nike

20Nov09

From Engage:

Here are some boycotters of Israel after a successful campaign to rid Sussex University Student Union’s shelves of all those mounds of Israeli produce which were there before. But what is this? The feet of our international conscience appear to be clad in Nike. Haven’t these people read Naomi Klein from back when she was good?

And here’s a plan, by the Socialist Action-owned Palestine Solidarity Campaign, to smash Israeli growers and pickers on pretext of justice for Palestinians (who probably don’t want that kind of help).

Anybody who decides to participate in this boycott should understand that they are hurting modestly-remunerated Israeli growers and pickers.

///

Oh, and do you want an ethical microwave?

A further problem – the most recent issue of Ethical Consumer mag had a sunny ‘Boycott Israel Special’ news roundup, in which the only dissenting voice was a tiny expression of dismay from David Miliband. In this jolly little special, they promoted the academic, social and material boycott campaign without setting out what they hope to topple with the boycott (end Israel?), nor the ways in which they expect the boycott to effect this (clerical fascists win?), nor the endpoints for the boycott (Israel is cancelled), nor the difference between avoiding helping the settler movement on the one hand and boycotting all of Israel on the other (the difference is enormous), nor any history of the conflict (i.e. that there are two sides). I found Ethical Consumer deeply unethical, and am almost certain that they would have been promoting a boycott of Jews in 1930s Germany, simply because it was going on at the time and consumer boycotts make them happy. So I find this unsettling, as would you if you were trying to buy in such a way that you did the right thing by people, animals and the planet, and the organisation you turned to for serious input revealed some rather squalid practices of its own. To put it another way – I no longer have confidence Ethical Consumer’s judgement. Good Shopping’s write-ups are undated. Incidentally, I haven’t analysed the difference between Ethical Consumer and Good Shopping. Perhaps they split back in the day… rivalry at the top or something.

So, after toying with a Whirlpool model which cost £100 more and didn’t seem to promise any extra quality, we ended up going for a simple £64 Sanyo model.

Bonus links: Team Sweat, Nike Malaysia slave labour investigation on YouTube, Nike hooked on sweatshops, Nike FAQs, Nike sweatshop slavery in China, Global Exchange Nike campaign, E4J Nike campaign, Behind the swoosh,

Previous Naomi Klein posts: Handling complexity, Boycott Naomi.

Previous keffiyeh-clad hipster posts: Playing at revolution, Not kewl.

Filed under: the anti-Zionism of idiots   |  3 Comments
Tags: Naomi Klein, boycotts, Israel boycott, Socialist Action, BDS, Nike, No Logo, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Sussex University, Sussex University Student Union, Ethical Consumer, Sanyo, microwaves

Variousness 15

18Nov09

Boycott notes: Wim Wenders says no (via Engage).

Antifa notes: Andy’s latest edition focuses on the UK, and includes the Anarchist Federation on the useless liberal anti-fascists of Unite Against Fascism. Andy also has a moving tribute to murdered Russian anti-fascist Ivan “Vanya Kostolom” Khutorskoy, and a piece on the 9/11 Truth Cultists.

Added: Blood libel news: Philosemite on the Bostrom meme.

Filed under: Antifa, Truth Cult   |  2 Comments
Tags: 9/11, 9/11 Truth, Donald Boström, Israel boycott, Ivan Khutorskoy, Unite Against Fascism, Wim Wenders, Zahraa-Hassa

The far right/Islamist nexus

17Nov09

In this post, Adam Holland exposes the link between disgraced former Congressman (and John Demjanjuk supporter) Jim Traficant and both the far right and Islamic anti-Zionists. The key link is Michael Collins Piper, described as the far right’s emissary to the Muslim world. Among others, he is connected to Press.TV/Galloway associate/pro-Hezbollah Yvonne Ridley. He is also connected to Cynthia McKinney assoicate and conspirationist Matthias Chang.

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Tags: Cynthia McKinney, Jim Traficant, John Demjanjuk, Matthias Chang, Michael Collins Piper, Yvonne Ridley