In the latest issue of Upping the Anti journal, two articles were published on the question, “How should Left groups relate to non-Left anti-Imperialist movements?”
The first article, “Challenges to Capitalism, Challenges for the Left: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and the Three Way Fight,” Michael Staudenmaier introduces the “three way fight” analysis, as an attempt to go beyond the bi-polar worldview that the author finds both widespread on the Left and an unsatisfactory analytical framework. As a response, the journal published the article “Islam and the Left: A Reply to Staudenmaier” by Rami El-Amine of Left Turn magazine.
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From The University of Chicago Press:
In 1978, as the protests against the Shah of Iran reached their zenith, philosopher Michel Foucault was working as a special correspondent for Corriere della Sera and le Nouvel Observateur. During his little-known stint as a journalist, Foucault traveled to Iran, met with leaders like Ayatollah Khomeini, and wrote a series of articles on the revolution. Foucault and the Iranian Revolution is the first book-length analysis of these essays on Iran, the majority of which have never before appeared in English. Accompanying the analysis are annotated translations of the Iran writings in their entirety and the at times blistering responses from such contemporaneous critics as Middle East scholar Maxime Rodinson as well as comments on the revolution by feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir.
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The following is the text of a talk I gave on the panel “Anarchism and Responding to Anti-Semitism,” at the 2006 conference, “Facing a Challenge Within: A Progressive Scholars’ and Activists’ Conference on Anti-Semitism* and The Left.”
In my short presentation, I laid out a very basic hypothesis about why U.S. anarchists have a blindspot regarding the issue of antisemitism. The hypothesis is by no means meant as a comprehensive theory to the topic. Rather, it focuses specifically on the limitations of an analytical approach based on a “generalized critique of hierarchy.” The inability of U.S. anarchists to address antisemitism is not meant to stem entirely from this explanation, as the topic is certainly complex. I am hoping that this short text contributes in some way to understandings of this under-analyzed topic. Feedback is certainly welcomed.
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I was told about this project by an acquaintance at a party and was quick to brush it aside as a ridiculous fantasy. When I looked into it, I came to appreciate it as a ridiculous fantasy and to find it positively provocative.
Medinat Weimar is a “movement for a Jewish State in Thuringia. Deutschland.”
From their 13 Principles:
2 > Medinat Weimar is a solution to overcome the present crises and heal Jewish trauma, German guilt, East Mediterranean conflicts, East German troubles and many other problems in the world.
Maybe they’re overshooting this a little bit, but OK, it’s worth a read. Don’t get discouraged yet.
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Here are some links to articles about the connections between the Secessionist group, Second Vermont Republic, and racist and neo-confederate groups.
The recently published “Vermont Secessionists Meet with Racist League of the South,” is the latest article on the topic. The issue was made public last year, in
“Second Vermont Republic/Vermont Commons Tied to White Supremacists.”
After learning about these links, the Green Mountain Collective, a Left group which had worked together with the SVR, wrote a statement “Concerning the Alleged Racism of the Second Vermont Republic Organization”.
Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe:
comparisons/contrasts/connections
22nd - 24th June 2008
Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies
University College London
Organised by: Edge Hill University, Goldsmiths College, UCL
Aims
The aim of this conference is to explore the connections, commonalities and differences between Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe through a broad geographical and historical lens.
Papers will focus on contemporary and historical flashpoints, such as Britain, Germany, France, Iberia, Austria, Russia, the Balkans, and the Netherlands. In addition to ‘national’ case studies, the conference will attempt to gain a broad ‘European’, transnational perspective on this complex question or will at least consider whether such a thing can or should be attempted.
Given the acute relevance of the subject today, we aim to give equal attention to contemporary as well as historical research. At the same time, however, the importance of looking at Antisemitism/Islamophobia in the longue durée is critical, and papers will be included that go back to the medieval period.
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In the ongoing debate about the relationship of antisemitism to anti-zionism, historical case-studies can serve as useful material. The anti-zionist campaign in Poland, of 1967-1968, offers the ability to examine the relationship in detail. Below are links to some recent contributions on the topic.
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from the essay:
“There are other dictatorships in the world. But only in Iran are the fantasy-worlds of antisemitism and religious mission linked with technological megalomania and the physics of mass destruction.
“The specific danger presented by the Iranian nuclear option stems from the unique ideological atmosphere surrounding it – a mixture of Holocaust denial and weapons-grade uranium, of death-wish and missile research, of Shiite messianism and plutonium.
“We are dealing here with a phantasmagoric parallel universe in which the reality principle is constantly ignored: a universe from which the laws of reason have been excluded and all mental energy is harnessed for the cause of antisemitism.”
read the essay here
Matthew N. Lyons
April Rosenblum. The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere: Making Resistance to Anti-Semitism Part of All of Our Movements. Self-published, 2007. Download at www.thepast.info
In July of 2006, Bluestockings bookshop in New York City announced it was hosting a workshop for social justice activists on “opposing anti-Semitism in the movement.” The announcement sparked a heated online discussion on New York’s Indymedia website. Some people asked if the workshop was going to be “some Zionist bullshit” and why it wasn’t going to address other forms of discrimination, such as “Zionist anti-Semetism [sic]” against Palestinians. Critics doubted the existence of any real anti-Semitism on the left, or they suggested that it was caused by “right-wing Jews” having “cried wolf too many times.” One charged that “whining about anti-Semitism is like whining about ‘anti-white,’ or ‘reverse racism.’” They added that “Jews are one of the wealthiest groups in the world with the most privilege.”
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