Greens Engage

In case Rupert Read remains unconvinced by the previous post and the comments on it, here’s a piece at Contested Terrain – read it, and the antisemitic post to which it links, as a case of the active conflation of Zionists with Jews. This is common practice in contemporary antisemitism.

Note what a good cover anti-Zionism makes for antisemitism, and think about why it might be that many Jews may feel it necessary to oppose anti-Zionism.

Read also Steve Cohen, left anti-Zionist campaigner against left antisemitism, on former attempts to “de-Zionise” Britain and their effects on Jews, in his book (republished free online by Engage in 2005) ‘That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Antisemitic‘. If you read nothing else from it, see particularly Chapter 3, ‘The Left Returns to Zion‘. After a review of the relationship between antisemitism and what currently passes for anti-Zionism, it ends:

“For zionists to believe that such a state is no longer necessary, it is vital to attack that which necessitated it—namely anti-semitism. When confronted by the spectacle of an arsonist firing a person’s home, it is not morally justifiable for a passive observer to blame that person for jumping—even if s/he lands on a complete stranger. Certainly the stranger may be justifiably aggrieved—and with equal certainty cannot be expected to take responsibility for a fire they did not create. However, if no other homes are to be burned then the arsonist must be stopped. Moreover, isolated householders cannot be expected to do this unaided. As long as passers-by remain observers then the sorry saga will continue. The analogy with the triangle of the anti-semite, the Jew and the Palestinian is obvious. The onus for resisting anti-semitism cannot be on Jews alone. Wherever there is anti-semitism the socialist and labour movements have to oppose it. Unfortunately these movements have, all too often, been either passive or complicit.”

I think most people would agree that things are going the wrong way at the moment.

Update: I go to my inbox and receive this news from Karl Pfeifer, libelled as party to a massacre of Palestinians in the ’40s. There is no evidence, but “He is a Zionist”. This is the grim essence of prejudice and discrimination. Are we looking at a prelude?

Peter Cranie is the prospective Green MEP candidate for the North West.

Still time to belatedly point to his Comment is Free piece, which begins:

“As 4 June approaches, a serious threat hangs over British politics. BNP leader Nick Griffin is a candidate in the North West England Euro election. If he is elected, this will be the biggest step forward for the far right in British history.

Anti-racist votes in the North West region for Labour, the Liberal Democrats or the Conservatives will certainly count. No one can dispute this, as those parties will claim seven out of the eight regional seats. But it’s the eighth seat that Griffin is aiming for. Calling on everyone to once again get out and vote for red/yellow/blue simply won’t work on voters already disillusioned with the Westminster parties. But those few extra thousand votes could keep the Greens ahead of the BNP – and that is the scenario with the best chance of keeping Griffin out.”

We’ve seen a lot of demos recently. Demos in defence of Palestinians. Demos against Israel. Demos in defence of Israel.

On Harry’s Place, David T calls for a picket in defence of Jews. For those unfamiliar with stimulus for this picket, I will try to post on why we should participate later. Meanwhile, read his piece, from which:

On 23-29 March 2009, the School of Oriental and African Studies is holding a conference on Political Islam. The conference, which costs  £1,890, has been ‘convened’ by Dr Khaled Hroub and Dr Sarah Stewart. Khaled Hroub is an academic at Cambridge who refuses to call suicide bombers ‘terrorists’.

There is value in the academic study of Islamism. This conference should certainly take place. However it should not take place without a non-disruptive protest. This is why.

There are two speakers at this conference whose participation should be marked by some action that ensures that attendees are fully aware of the obnoxious nature of their politics.

The first is  Dr Ibrahim Moussaoui, a Hezbollah spokesman who was Head of the foreign department at Al-Manar TV, the official media outlet of Hizbullah in Lebanon.

The second is Dr Kamal Helbawy, the senior Muslim Brotherhood officer in the United Kingdom, who now operates from his own Muslim Brotherhood front organisation, which he calls the “Centre for the Study of Terrorism”.