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Indeed RIP Yauch, the Beasties were to me a sort of soundtrack for me and my friends for several years... They began in the tradition of white appropriations of black innovations (and of course there's a fascinating Jewish presence in that history, ref. The Jazz Singer) but extended themselves into newer terrains as they went... while they played in Israel in 1995, they seemed distant if not disdainful about Israel overall, I have no recollection of them showing interest in Zionism or its American reflections...
Of course "Shake your rump" has what could be our own Adam's personal tagline: "Suckaz they be sayin they can take out Adam Horovitz!"
Interesting. Mike Leigh, who is Jewish, has been slowly shifting in his position on Israel. As of a few years ago, I have it on good authority that he was deeply against BDS, fairly hostile to the traditional UK anti-Israeli cultural activism. But in 2010 he withdrew from a planned visit to Israel and has slowly come to sit on the side of the cultural boycott and has spoken out against Israeli policies.
The implication here is that since both major Palestinian factions have elected to eschew militant tactics in favor of civil or diplomatic ones, therefore "Palestinians are irrelevant" -- which paradoxically seems to acknowledge that the militant dimensions of the Palestinian struggle are what have made Palestinians "relevant".
Nonetheless, this is clearly delusional talk. The majority of the Security Council and the General Assembly of the UN wish to recognize Palestine and UNESCO has given Palestine national recognition -- so tell us, o Commentary, again, how are Palestinians irrelevant?
Alexandrowicz is an interesting case of an Israeli director -- his earlier doc "The Inner Tour" is a stand-out work, one that goes to the heart of the right of return. However when I asked him once if he considered the film anti-Zionist he was very conflicted with the label. When the film screened at MOMA he similarly distanced himself from the label during the Q&A. I saw him as a kind of leftist Israeli artist I occasionally run into -- able to express a critique of Zionism almost unconsciously through his creative work, but very uneasy with socially and publicly embracing the critique he had just enacted or articulating it through available political frameworks of "anti-Zionism" or otherwise. His next film, James' Journey to Jerusalem, is a nice liberal film against racism directed towards African migrants in Israel -- nothing to complain of, but plainly and safely in the realm of acceptable critique, a film that is cozy with Zionism. As I recall, it doesn't even reference Palestine/Palestinians. I was disappointed seeing it, I felt he was moving away from edge into the soft center of Israeli public discourse. But I've held out hope and this film seems more promising... I look forward to seeing it.
i'm running late but a few translations...
the guy with the noose has a sign reading "mubarak is a mummy, not a pharaoh... execute [him]"
the lady in blue is holding a sign with a sura from the quran, "verily the victory of God is near..."
the sign with the star of david says, "film of the season, 'the embassy'..." and then goes on to celebrate the attack on the israeli embassy through mimicking a film poster.
the girl's sign says "riding prohibited" and the horse says "the jan 25 revolution"... but i can't really see what the figures are. if we had a higher-res version?
others can fill in!
While Dr Gonzo points to some great tracks, the significance of Lupe Fiasco is that his record debuted at #1 on Billboard, and his video for "Words I Never Said" (which was directed by the very successful Moroccan-American music video director Sanaa Hamdi, and which is much more explicitly political than even the lyrics are) has been viewed over 1 million times on YouTube in one week alone -- the scale is completely incomparable. While pop music's radicalism is often lost in the grind, I can't think of another #1 musician who references Gaza and calls out Israel (in another lyric) in the hit track of his/her album, and who then goes even further and highlights this in his video. I wonder if the video is having any play on cable TV?
Here's a link to the video:
link to youtube.com
For what it's worth, F Murray Abraham is Arab(-American), of Syrian origin, the F is for Fahrid.
Phil, I've been reading MW since the Observer days and I can't believe it's now been five years that I've been checking the site out on a nearly daily basis (sometimes many times a day). It was such a pleasure to read your reflections on how the site has evolved and grown. I'm proud in my small way to have been a quiet voice in this community. Many happy returns, and best wishes on the next five and ten years!
Great post... but please correct the title: Gandhis not Ghandis!!!
Not disputing the main point, Muhammad (possibly a pseudonym, it's true) should be the lead on the report -- but Shadid and Hicks are the best from among the NYT crew (along with Kareem Fahim). Shadid has been inserting some pretty critical stuff, and one or two of his 'analysis' pieces from Cairo were better than anything you'd find in the corporate press anywhere (Tony Karon's a close runner up).
The issue of the reference to Shadid's being shot in Palestine, it's clearly an editorial change from what he must have written. His own reporting from the time was unequivocal in saying it was IDF.
There's also this:
link to angryarab.net
>> A well-known Western correspondent in the Middle East sent me this (he/she permitted me to cite without identifying him/her): "It was the Israelis. Not surprisingly the wording is mealy-mouthed. I had a few drinks with Anthony and his wife in the bar of the American Colony the evening he was shot (it was not a serious wound). He said he clearly saw the shooter was an Israeli soldier, and if I recall correctly he was treated in an israeli field hospital. There never was any doubt who shot him."
Just for the record, there is no prohibition on entering the Zionist Entity with an Iranian visa (which is one of those huge one-page deals, so cannot be concealed), but one can't expect a warm welcome if you do have one. I'd take up Annie's suggestion and just get a new one. You can also petition for a second, blank, passport -- if you tell the passport office you need two for travel between Israel and other parts of the region they'll produce one for you.
Daily these pessimistic analyses are being upended by events on the ground. As I write again Cairo is filled by protestors in their millions, the same in Alexandria and other cities. Now, for the first time state employees are joining in with corporate identities: university professors and teachers, communication workers, journalists... the latter are now carrying out sit-ins of their own places of employment. The youth in Tahrir continue to exemplify their idealism by the creation of a beautiful commune where class divisions are dissolved, food is shared, music made. Stuffy American academics, even those sympathetic to the revolution, have no idea of what the real conditions are. They gauge events through diplomatic communiques, official pronouncements and press releases. Let's wait, and allow the events to unfold without rushing to judge or foresee the revolution's cooptation. I don't know, you don't know, none of us knows where the end lies, even the "Egypt specialists".
Thank you Ahmed, may your wounds heal quickly... and please keep us posted!
The tempered tone is appreciated, but the overall analysis is too totalizing, too "Chomskyist" in discounting the possibility that the US and its agents may well have lost the imperative in choosing the direction of events from here. Revolutions sometimes degenerate into counter-revolutions, but not always, and so far the Sulaymanists have not shown their hand: the key moments may come tonight, will the army be moved in, will they follow orders to use violence against the crowds not only in Tahrir Sq but also across the city? What will happen if parts of the military use violence, will they be challenged by other units? It's clear the military is divided, and this is why the Sulayman wing has not been able to take the reigns so far. As for US machinations in the opposition; the US has indeed toyed with supporting the opposition in Egypt for some time, but the relationship there -- with the exception, perhaps of the Saad el-Din Ibrahim case -- has been fraught and hardly comfortable. The Egyptian opposition and civil society has regarded US support very warily. In any case, there is no conspiracy behind US interest in developing links with the opposition, and the links do nothing to prove subservience to the US among the opposition.
The problem with this analysis (and I am a great admirer of Virginia Tilley's work) is that it's stuck in the past. US power in the region is on the wane, the US is running to catch up to events, rather than having the ability to machinate in the manner Tilley seems to believe. The story we need to absorb is: the US no longer is able to project a "grand Western design" for the region... the balance has tilted. We need to remain open to what will come.
Edit: "demolished an anchor's suggestion that the Muslim Brotherhood is not a terrorist organization." to "demolished an anchor's suggestion that the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization."
Crowley must be full of self-loathing. That was the most pathetic performance ever, but I guess there's not much you can do when you've bet all your chips on a doddering tyrant and the rising opposition knows who's paying for the guns pointed at them.
Corruption in Israel is endemic and ostentatious. Ehud Barak has been trying to sell (unsuccessfully I believe) a 30-million NIS property in Tel Aviv, and last year moved into a "modest" 8 or 10-million NIS apartment in a glitzy new development in the middle of the city.
link to globes.co.il
I wonder when we'll see the masses streaming through his living room, tearing the decorations from the walls?
I have to admit that the light that possibly betrays the calculus for the Post's neocon orientation esp on Israel was first shone by Phil himself in this blog, although somewhat tenuously. First I should say that even 'institutions' as significant as the Post are driven by very human weaknesses, and so the following account is not so much 'conspiracy theory' as the archaeology of human relationships that affect institutions. To understand the Post's stance requires us to revive the memory of Phil's former Harvard classmate (if I'm not mistaken), Eric Breindel, long deceased NYPost editor, and his long romantic relationship to Lally Graham-Weymouth, daughter of Katherine Graham, the WashPost's founder. Briendel, as a Marty Peretz protegee and an influential and deeply committed rightist on Israel (and many other issues) could well have given Lally and her family a push in this direction, with a legacy imprinted upon Lally's daughter, the present CEO and Publisher of the WashPost, Katharine Weymouth. (The only amusing point in all this is that Katharine's aunt is Tina Weymouth who is the bass player for the Talking Heads! But I see no imprint from that legacy upon the Post's cultural pages...) I would like to see a screenplay on all this... it would make for delicious Hollywood fare. Anyone?
i think they are all crapping. syria, egypt, algeria, jordan -- all are crapping. oh, and libya too, did you not see ghadhafi's video address condemning the tunisian revolution? it's not a matter of only the israeli-aligned tyrants. but the issue here is that in the west there is only celebration when there is an iranian revolt, but not when there are ones in tunisia or jordan.
oh and btw witty, jordan is a police state which carries out systematic discrimination against a majority (palestinian refugees) in favor of a minority (bedouin-tribals). "king" abdallah may be more savvy in his public appearances than some other tyrants, but ask the dissidents beaten in the torture cells and they will tell you in more colorful language what kind of ruler he truly is.
This story shows the functional role of the Israeli "left" (as in Labornik left) in Israeli politics. While the Labor party is nothing but a vanity label for a few doddering and/or opportunistic politicians, the right (read: mainstream) in Israel realizes that the US administration still sees there the allure of rational statesmanship and the pathway to a two-state deal. But in Israel the cat's been out of the bag a long time -- Barak has been exposed as a corrupt preener, a man who cares more for his suits and fancy Tel-Aviv apartments than for anything else. Every time he can he will fly first-class to Washington for a meeting with State or the White House to whisper in their ears that he has the key to Netanyahu's heart. Of course the Likud and co don't mind at all, they see his lies as a useful smokescreen for their own activities. And again and again the US falls for the charade.
Excellent post as usual, Ahmed. I have often tried to distinguish between the pernicious Zionism of the state of Israel and the kind of imaginary Zionism of Haber and others by referring to the latter as "sentimental Zionism." As a non-Jew who has often watched sensible and ostensibly non-Zionist Jewish friends recoil when having to hear the phrase "Zionism is Racism" I've had a sense of the emotional toll that is involved in disinvesting them from any aspect of the term Zionism. This is because they feel it's a term that was in the dreams and poems of their ancient forefathers -- which it was, but in a very different conception from what it has become. So while you're correct that Hebrew culturalism is perhaps a better aspiration, so polluted the term Zionism has become, I also do see why even folks such as Haber, who are demonstrated to be far beyond the absurd contradictions of liberal Zionism still cling to a potential positive essence in the term.
Is this the Hanitizer (of the excellent KabobFest blog) writing for MW? Welcome!
Susan, I'm so sorry to hear of your accident... I hope you recover soon! And don't feel badly for not entering Gaza... even your correspondence from Cairo, your insightful reports of the inhumane Egyptian bureaucracy (and that of the American Embassy) speaks volumes about the constellation of forces that keep the tragedy of Gaza continuing. The relationships you established with the people you met along the way -- Egyptians, Palestinians, and others -- were in their own way as valuable as anything you could have done inside the borders of Gaza. Sometimes we don't have to actually go somewhere to bear witness and to be a truth-teller about the horrors there. Come back home, recuperate, and then continue on your good work!
Bravo... I hope Peretz' memory of his being honored at his precious Alma Mater is stained by the echoing chants of these students. I can't wait to hear how things went inside... I can't believe that it could have been very comfortable on the stage for him. While it was pathetic of Harvard to keep his name on the fund, the small good that comes from this is that Peretz had to walk a few gauntlets to pick up his trophy, and I think now more people are aware of what a scumbag he is than was ever the case before. I certainly am, and I've always disliked the man.
Ed seems to be the best thing that could have happened to Labour, at least given the party's near destruction by Blair. Let's see how the Friends of Israel do with disciplining his critical disposition towards Israel. Has anyone else noticed that since entering the Tory coalition, Nick Clegg seems to be on a shorter leash as far as Israel is concerned?
Just to establish the point: Ezra Pound was derided for being antisemitic, but in his lifetime his denouement came primary from being convicted of treason for broadcasting anti-American statements from Italian radio when the US was at war with Italy (he was probably well into the mental illness he suffered for many years afterwards by then). Yet he was a fine poet despite being a racist.
I don't want to say too much about this, but I can tell you there's a lot of handwringing about the decidedly non-academic direction of the center. Lots of embarrassment and finger pointing. My understanding is that Small is not seen as part of Yale proper - no invitations to parties, no introductions at symposia - and not a few people there are unhappy about this outfit. We'll see what happens.
I saw Charles Small speak once at a public event and had a conversation of some length with him. A couple of things: first, he's not a member of Yale faculty. His academic position is with Southern Connecticut State University -- his role at Yale is purely administrative. Second, I didn't find him to be very intelligent at all. He had given a talk on "Islamic anti-semitism". The talk was ludicrously incoherent, leaping from a snippet of religious text from a medieval jurisprudent to a cartoon from a Syrian newspaper to some other random claim about dhimmis, dropping a decontextualized line about Edward Said and "postcolonialism" in for effect. The bottom line of his talk was: the second Holocaust is neigh, Jews will be slaughtered by Muslims, assisted by postcolonial scholars, if there is not immediate action (such as bombing Iran). One other solution he proposed was more funding of centers for the study of anti-semitism like his. The audience (this was at a public venue) was quite hostile to him, I don't think anyone there took a word he said seriously. A couple of us cornered him afterwards. One-on-one he was surprisingly deferential and seemed to quickly back off his previous bluster, eventually trying to get us to go for a drink with him.
Again, what was most surprising was how poorly he made his argument. In fact a smart approach could possibly paint a much more compelling picture for his thesis than he did. All his material was just cut and pasted from MEMRI, and the structure of his talk was childish, even moronic. Afterwards at the reception everyone I overheard was talking about how risible and laughable his presentation had been. Later I sent an email to a friend who teaches at Yale to ask about Small. He was embarrassed and said that there is not a little bit of upset among his colleagues there concerning Yale's affiliation with this center and with Small personally. But he said there was a lot of money at play and so everyone was just hoping he would cause the least amount of damage possible.
I'll probably incite a security investigation by saying this, but I met Sheikh Yassin once as a part of a delegation of foreign students and activists who were in Gaza in the late 90s. I was not (and am not) a supporter of Hamas, and so was expecting to find myself in strong disagreement with him. Instead I was totally surprised by the man -- he had an amazingly agile and sensitive mind locked in his wasted body. While many of our delegation challenged him (generally politely) with difficult questions about Hamas' Islamism, their resistance tactics, etc., he was clearly happy to genuinely debate each point without evasion. He assured us that Hamas was ready to participate in a secular political system as a party with an Islamic identity, recognized that Jews would have to be part of the eventual polity of a future Palestine (he was in this sense speaking of a one-state rather than a two-state solution), and so on. When asked about suicide bombings and attacks on civilians (which I deplore) he made an argument similar to that made in the text above. I don't want to seem to be an apologist for Hamas, given my fundamental disagreements with them, but I found Sheikh Yassin at least to be a very sincere, intelligent and engaging thinker, and Palestine was impoverished by his assassination (and Israel has lost an able interlocutor). I also must admit to being fairly impressed by Ismail Haniyeh, whom I've never seen, but who is an excellent orator and clearly a much more nuanced thinker than Abu Mazen.
... although I have to say it's pretty fucking cool that you can get the "Palestine Lives!" CD from the Smithsonian. It's more or less an underground classic (I got my copy a few years back from Rashid Music on Cort Street in Brooklyn, by far the best Arabic music shop in the area). It's a collection of anthems, poetry and interviews that was put together in the early 70s by the PLO's cultural offices. I'd recommend everyone go out and buy it...
And if you look carefully you'll see that one of the five "Palestinian" records -- "Folk Music of Palestine" (1951) -- is apparently a collection mostly of music by Mizrahi Jews living in Palestine (although the three penultimate tracks seem to be of Islamic-themed music).
Thanks for featuring Kattan's important book... he's done important archival work which illuminates a very different geopolitical disposition towards Israel in its early days than that which is often represented today, both by Zionists and their critics. Also the book is very persuasive in arguing that Israel's narrative between 48 and 67 should be seen as one of "original sin" (nakba) rather than "fall from grace" (occupation).
Btw, I would disagree w/ terming Kattan a "hackademic" -- he's finishing a PhD and has worked as a researcher and law advocate in the UK, not as a journalist -- his work is as well-researched as that of any academic of which I'm aware. But his talent seems to lie in writing clearly (and speaking lucidly) on these issues, which does distinguish him from the greater part of the "academic" rabble.
Interesting... as you note Phil, the significance of the piece is less in its content than in the author and his background. This is a bad day for Marty P and his club, it'll be interesting to see how they spin what will no doubt seem to them to be a defection from their ranks.
Sliwa and his beret... hahhahaha... is he still teaching karate chops to the A/V club guys and looking for thirteen year old black kids to intimidate?
Ahmed: Great post, as always. However, I'm a little agnostic on this debate -- I feel my spectrum of sentiment on this issue spans fully from aspects of Haber's stances (and I would generalize here since I've been reading his site for some time and think he's one of the best, despite his blog's name) to the passion of those expressed here. I move between impatience and anger directed at those who try to evoke the supposedly kinder and gentler elements of Zionism (or who are simply too ill informed to know better) so as to justify their continuing identification with the ideology, and with wanting to find a soft-glove way to coax at least some of them along the road to enlightenment.
In the end, I give credit to Haber's agenda from a tactical perspective, while reserving the right to make use of the ethical dimensions of Ahmed's demands. There are (sadly) many more 'liberal Zionists' than principled anti-/non-Zionists among the Jewish communities of the world (I'm eliding the anti-Zionist haredim, but few of them are political). Many 'liberal Zionists' also include non-Jews who simply have never known of a viable alternative to the Zionist narrative -- in fact, I'd say most non-Jewish Americans would fit this description. BDS will truly change the game when it begins to find legitimacy with these kinds of liberal Zionists. In this regard, I believe in the domino theory; from accepting BDS, many will come closer to finding the embrace of Zionism to be stifling. This, to me, is the promise of BDS in the long term.
I've advocated the use of hafrada in comments posted here some while back (under a different handle), and I think I may have picked it up from something I heard Jeff Halper say in a talk in the early part of the 2000s (I forget what year this was, it was at a Columbia University conference on comparing South Africa and Palestine/Israel organized by Mahmoud Mamdani). But things have moved on somewhat since then, and I'm all for it now.
When the apartheid analogy for Israel was still new, I felt that it was a weak tactical move to adopt it wholesale, as it both had a musty feel of of 80s leftist activism, and seemed possibly alienating where fence-sitters were concerned. Also, as many have said, the situation in Israel is both worse and different from South Africa in myriad ways. Hafrada was the term of art in Hebrew, and the irony that it means basically the same thing as apartheid always struck me as a useful entry into drawing out the analogy.
But it's clear that things have developed with apartheid as the general term of reference. Just the other day I was speaking to an family friend, an undergrad who is not very political in general, and was surprised when she very plainly used the word apartheid as an adjective in a discussion we were having about the Middle East. It brought home to me how much things have changed in just the last few years, and further convinced me that the term is valid and effective.