Communism and Israel

14Oct10

Platypus has published an English translation of Communism and Israel, by the anti-German group Initiative Sozialistisches Forum (ISF). The piece is problematic in a number of ways, but interesting, and very out of joint with the orthodoxies of the anglophone left. If I ever have more time, I will write more about why it is problematic, but in short it is extremely metaphysical in its analysis.

UPDATE: Follow this debate at The Charnel House and Contested Terrain.

Filed under: Anti-Deutsche | 14 Comments

14 Responses to “Communism and Israel”

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1 d on October 15, 2010 said:

It reads like satire of the Anti-German position. Hilarious stuff, especially the parts about Sharon.

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2 negative potential on October 16, 2010 said:

Any discussion about the “Anti-Germans” today is essentially a historical discussion. The myriad groups that operated under the label no longer exist in the form they previously did, or have long since moved onto other ideologies. The “movement” is long past its zenith; in the major metropolitan centers one encounters at best Post-anti-Germans.

That being said, I just want to be a pissy hair-splitter and point out to D. that “the” Anti-German position doesn’t exist. The term once encompassed everything from the Post-Structuralist/Pop Left types around the journal 17 Grad Celsius, the orthodox old school communists at Konkret, the Adorno fanboys of Bahamas and the ISF, and the (post-)Antifas around Phase 2.

ISF and Bahamas scored a major coup, I suppose, when in the course of the conflicts around the Afghanistan and Iraq wars they started to erect a theoretical construct of “the” Anti-German position. But that doesn’t really do justice to the complexity of the movement as it existed for most of its history.

In any case, there’s something bizarrely necrophiliac about the fact that discussion is occuring in the Anglophone left around what is essentially a dead political current. Nobody in Germany gives a shit about the Anti-Germans anymore. Even groups that were once subject to the label (such as T.O.P. back when they were one half of KP-Berlin) have reoriented towards a more general anti-nationalism, and even contest the notion of any specificity to German nationalism. To the extent that some of their individual members might harbor sympathies for Israel, they are very careful not to make any such declarations in their official statements and documents.

And I think it’s just sad that Bob thinks promoting this crap is justified by its being “out of joint with the orthodoxies of the anglophone left”, as if an incredibly stupid position balances out another incredibly stupid position.

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3 d on October 17, 2010 said:

What about something like this? http://sinistra.copyriot.com/

The (now defunct) webzine http://yellowisthenewpink.com/ was a weird mixture of Anti-German and vegan hardcore music. From people I know who tour in bands, they still encounter Anti-Germans when in Germany.

Maybe the Anti-German milieu has shifted to cultural spaces you aren’t a part of.

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4 negative potential on October 18, 2010 said:

“Maybe the Anti-German milieu has shifted to cultural spaces you aren’t a part of.”

Vegan hardcore concerts out in the provinces. Sure, why not? That way disaffected middle class youths have a safety valve to vent their angst before going on to become dentists.

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5 entdinglichung on October 18, 2010 said:

ISF’s publishing house ça ira publishes deeply racist, pseudo-freudian stuff about “the Muslim in general” like the new book of Thomas Maul

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6 Who Cares on October 18, 2010 said:

Looking at the book cited above, it’s hard not to think about how ethnic caricatures of Arabs are still tolerated when it’s pretty much universally taboo to represent other ethnic groups in a similar manner. Just try and publish a book in the US featuring a Bosco-like representation of a black man, or maybe an equivalently “freudian” analisis of the Chinese with the Yellow Kid on the cover.

I wonder if it’s ok in the German speaking world to portray their biggest minority group (middle-eastern muslims, if you include the Turkish) in the same manner, or if it’s just ISF doing this kind of thing.

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7 entdinglichung on October 19, 2010 said:

you will not get these pictures in the mainstream and “centre-right” press, generally only in far right publications or in Bahamas

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8 Duncan on October 21, 2010 said:

What do you think about the crude, racist imagery published the Initiative Sozialistisches Forum?

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9 Duncan on October 21, 2010 said:

Apologies, I see entdinglichung beat me to it!

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10 Waterloo Sunset on October 21, 2010 said:

In any case, there’s something bizarrely necrophiliac about the fact that discussion is occuring in the Anglophone left around what is essentially a dead political current. Nobody in Germany gives a shit about the Anti-Germans anymore.

Well, possibly. But only if we take the position (and some do) that we should leave history to the historians and concentrate entirely on the current situation. While I lean towards that, I wouldn’t go quite that far, unless I’m feeling especially grumpy. I don’t see how discussing the Anti-German current is less relevant than talking about the Platform, Debord or Spain. The fact it’s no longer influential in Germany doesn’t really hold any bearing on that. Not only does it still have minor influence on the Anglophone left, some times we can learn as much from a negative example of what not to do.

And I think it’s just sad that Bob thinks promoting this crap is justified by its being “out of joint with the orthodoxies of the anglophone left”, as if an incredibly stupid position balances out another incredibly stupid position.

Aye. If that’s the case, we might as well all go and write for Spiked. It’s one of the reasons I think the discussion is still relevant though. Bob’s a minor example of this here, but it is illustration of my view that some anti-anti-Zionists have ended up just mirroring the stupidity and mistakes of their apparent opponents. The spectacle of opposition and other such cool sounding slogans.

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11 antigermantranslation on October 22, 2010 said:

I think the crude racist cartoon is reprehensible, and that is one of the problems with ISF.

But I think it is a red herring in relation to Platypus. Platypus had the responsibility to dig further before publishing, and should probably be making that clear now. But that does not make publishing this text reprehensible, especially as it is clearly sharply at odds with other things they have published, and thus presumably cannot be taken to represent their own views.

I think it would be more helpful (a) to provide a critique of this actual article (which I’d love to do if I had more time, although others, e.g. Angelus N, would be more qualified) and (b) to point to better texts that Platypus could have used.

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12 Ross Wolfe on October 23, 2010 said:

Platypus had the responsibility to dig further before publishing, and should probably be making that clear now. But that does not make publishing this text reprehensible, especially as it is clearly sharply at odds with other things they have published, and thus presumably cannot be taken to represent their own views.

I definitely agree, although I can see why if someone saw that Platypus had published a translation of an ISF article, and was familiar with that group’s Islamophobic tendencies, he might assume that Platypus tacitly agreed with the views it expressed. Clearly, given the number of different views Platypus has agreed to publish, it is not claiming that any one of them necessarily represents its own “position,” not even articles written by its members (though these probably are closer to the group’s general consensus). This kind of misunderstanding is perfectly understandable, however, since Platypus can’t expect that everyone has read through all its past issues.

This might seem like an unfair distantiation on the part of Platypus, or that it’s simply noncommittal, but I don’t think that’s the case. Platypus is looking to offer a forum for debate between positions that are quite often at odds with one another, and often takes a critical stance toward both positions.

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13 negative potential on October 24, 2010 said:

Back when I was on the Platypus email list (I have since not been allowed back on), I noticed a certain trait that I think goes a long way to explaining the affinity with ISF:

Chris Cutrone agressively pursues a perspective of constructing a theoretical lineage of Lukacs-Korsch-Frankfurt School-Postone, while damning anything outside of this tradition, particularly anything coming out of France, as “Heideggerian”, even in the case of thinkers where the relationship to Heidegger is non-existent (Althusser) or oppositional (Zizek).

A decade ago, the ISF engaged in a polemic in Jungle World against Post-Structuralist tendencies in the Anti-German movement along the same lines: anyone expressing an interest in Foucault, Deleuze, etc. was attempting a “Heideggerianization” of the left. This was about the same time that the post-structuralists at Bahamas split off to form the Jour Fixe Initiative (which is, these days, not “Anti-German” in the sense now conventionally used)

The particular irony in ISF’s case, apart from this perverse accusation that the real ideological “Germans” are all French (!), is that co-thinkers like Gerhard Scheit have no problem making positive reference to actual German Heideggerians like Hannah Arendt, Herbert Marcuse, or Günther Anders!

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14 schalom libertad on December 9, 2010 said:

might be of interest:

Towards a critique of anti-German “communism”
Raphael Schlembach
Interface: a journal for and about social movements.
Volume 2 Issue 2. November 2010. (pp. 199-219).

Abstract
The spectre of anti-Germans has easily become the Feindbild for activists of the Anglophone Left; yet rarely does this translate into fundamental or informed criticism of the anti-German premise. This article, then, offers an introductory description and a critical analysis of pro-Israeli, anti-German communism in its context within the post-war German Left and as a contemporary protest movement that sits oddly on the fringes of radical politics. Its origins and politics are examined to depict the radicalisation of a broad anti-nationalist campaign against German re-unification, and its evolution into a small but coherent anti-German movement, controversial for its pro-Israel polemics and provocations. Current debates within the anti-fascist German Left are reviewed to explore anti- German positions on the Holocaust, Israel, Islam, anti-imperialism and Germany’s foreign policy. Theoretical works that have heavily influenced anti-German communism are discussed to comprehend the movement’s intellectual inspirations. The purpose of the article is to introduce one of Germany’s most controversial protest movements to an English-speaking audience and to hint at the formulation of a critique that is more than a knee-jerk reaction to pro-Israeli agitation.

About the author
Raphael Schlembach recently graduated from the University of Manchester with a
PhD in Sociology. His research is based in social movement studies and critical
theory, with particular interests in anti-globalisation and environmental protest,
nationalist movements, and the Frankfurt School. He is also an editor of the
movement publication Shift Magazine. His email address is r_schlembach AT
yahoo.com.

Download article as PDF here: http://interfacejournal.nuim.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Interface-2-2-pp.199-219-Schlembach.pdf

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