Last Tuesday Antony Loewenstein, the Australian co-editor of the new collection, After Zionism, and I, one of the contributors, gave a talk at the Brecht Forum in NY. It’s below. Loewenstein, on a book tour that is taking him from Palestine to Los Angeles, starts it out, on the one-state reality of Israel and Palestine, and the absurdity of the two-state discourse; and how we are going to get to a just resolution of the matter. Some of the other highlights: We talk about the possibility of a handshake on the White House lawn in the second Obama administration– the creation of a Palestinian state– and what such a deal would entail for Palestinians. I talk some about the American Jewish politics of the matter (and tell the story I do in this post) and speak of the optimism inherent in the book’s title. And in Saree Makdisi’s statement in his essay about Palestinian power. “[W]hat do you call the ability, without any other inducement than an appeal to the imagination, to move hundreds and hundreds of millions of people around the entire world, who have over and over again, for six decades, steadfastly demonstrated their support and solidarity with the Palestinian people and their cause? What do you call that capacity, that potential?” Later on in the dialogue, Loewenstein and I differ about whether putting the star of David on rubbish bins in Gaza is anti-Semitic. I say it is (and the same sensitivity westerners are called on to exhibit in distinguishing between the pronouncements of Islamic states and Islam should be demonstrated by Middle Easterners in not conflating Judaism and the Jewish state); though the crowd is against me. Jane Adas, who went to Gaza with me, engages me on that point late in the video.
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Read your post have not watched the video yet.
Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler) has an interesting one up about documents etc taken from U.S. consulate in Libya, many CIA evacuated, lack of protection for Stevens. “Poking our eyes out in Libya”
Prof Cole rips Bill Maher a new… over at Informed Comment
Has MondoWeiss considered adding a calendar to the website? I’m sure this was publicized, but a calendar would make it quick and easy to check on upcoming events (those specifically related to MW and others).
Phil, I think you’re correct that at a certain point one has to realize that there are certain members of the Jewish (and Christian) community who simply aren’t going to be convinced, no matter how long and how hard one engages them on this issue. The story about the woman at the party is illustrative. No matter how many Jews are actively organizing and fighting for Palestinian rights, and an end to the implacable and destructive US policy towards the Middle East, as you’ve recognized, and others, this must be considered outside of any purely intra-Jewish conversation if there is going to be any major progress, even if there has been some. Indeed, that’s been one of the very positive aspects of this website.
Having family members from a relatively conservative Christian background, I know, and surely almost everybody experiences this in their own way, how it’s possible that otherwise rational, good people can seem to be irrational and incapable of incorporating new information on some subjects, being subject to dogma and years of education and indoctrination. The truth is that these otherwise rational, decent people aren’t irrational at all on these issues, and it’s a misunderstanding that they are incapable of apprehending them in an open, honest way. They are very capable of it, however, it’s a conscious decision (or subconscious) to simply refuse to do so. This is what I would call an “irrational space”, which many people create for such issues, where they decide they simply aren’t going to engage in an objective way, in a way blocking this “space” off from rational discussion and empathy. In politics, especially American politics, we see this constantly, especially in the culture wars which have all but consumed electoral politics – everybody choosing her camp, positions, and sticking with them no matter what, etc…
It is indeed an error and misconception to think that it’s sufficient to sit down and discuss this with someone who is entirely convinced of their point of view and turn them around only by the force of well-crafted arguments, no matter how iron-clad, because it is precisely their position to not consider such arguments in the first place. To think it’s possible to win everybody over in this way is just a total misunderstanding of the psychology behind their thinking.
There are also other psychological mechanisms at work:
The Backfire Effect
http://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/06/10/the-backfire-effect/
How facts backfire
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/11/how_facts_backfire/?page=full
The analogy with Catholics and abortion is good (if we had waited on Catholics to have an open, honest discussion about it, Roe vs. Wade would never have been decided), however not perfect, as there are real ethical, philosophical and scientific difficulties relating to abortion, it’s a more ambiguous, less clear cut issue, in my opinion.
It is no secret that the US major media is Jewish at the top in ownership and managemnt, i.e., the New York Times, NPR, CNN. Is their refusal to cover Jewish opposition to occupation and ethnic cleansing anti-Semitic?
Antony,
For what its worth, I agree that there may, I repeat, may be a glimmer of hope from some in the J-Street crowd. Someone I went with on birthright with who is a member of the group posted a story about how digusted she was about the lynching in Jerusalem in Zion Square. She definitely means well and I had a lenghty discussion with her on the busride from Jerusalem to Sderot about how sad and unfortunate and intractable the conflict is. I do think she can be convinced by me that the lynching that took place is in fact Zionism in a nutshell and I can prod her to adopt anti-Zionism. I have faith in her and she has a pretty high profile role at her university’s J-Street. Small glimmers of hope.