Left antisemitism

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Anniversary of the Balfour declaration

Today is the 95th anniversary of the Balfour declaration, the promise made by the British government to support a Jewish state in Palestine. The anniversary is already the subject of letters to the Guardian and no doubt will prove a fillip for discussion on the self-defined “anti-imperialist” left...

The Morning Star, Pussy Riot and Israel Shamir

From the Tendance Coatesy blog The Morning Star , Britain’s ‘Communist’ paper, publishes in its print-edition today a page written by Holocaust denier, Israel Shamir. It begins, "Who’s behind Pussy Riot? An unholy alliance of big business and media barons..." Shamir observes, "Pussy Riot’s two-year sentence is quite in line with prevailing European practice. For much milder anti-Jewish hate talk, European countries customarily sentence offenders to two to five years of prison for a first offence." We have already blogged on this. Israel Shamir’s concern about sentencing for anti-Jewish actions...

The incoherence of anti-Zionism

Rebels Against Zion, edited by August Grabski is a collection of Jewish left “anti- Zionism” essays that ultimately shows the descent into incoherence of anti-Zionism over the twentieth century. The sheer panorama of perspectives in the book renders a consistent thread of anti-Zionism implausible. And the closer one gets to today, the clearer it becomes that much of anti-Zionism is merely a cover for left anti-semitism. The principal virtue of the book is the long essay by Workers’ Liberty member Stan Crooke, which forensically deconstructs the politics of the boycott, divestment and sanctions...

Munich and the left

This may be news to some, but what is today commonplace was once quite rare. I’m referring to anti-semitism on the far left — and am reminded of what some of us saw as a turning point back in 1972. For a quarter of a century following the defeat of Nazi Germany, anti-semites everywhere were laying low — especially in the west. The Soviet leadership was growing increasingly anti-Jewish and anti-Israel, and anti-semitism was rife in the Arab world, but in countries like the USA, it was quite rare for Jew-hatred to be expressed openly. And certainly not on the left. So while there were various...

"A bit anti-Jewish"?

Why do some people think that campaigning in solidarity with the Palestinians is “a bit anti-Jewish”? This is the question (supposedly) addressed by an article in the spring newsletter of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC). There are many reasons why some people think that the dominant form of what passes for Palestinian solidarity is “a bit anti-Jewish” (or maybe rather more than just “a bit”). Some people may have found it “a bit anti-Jewish”, for example, when the SPSC marked Holocaust Memorial Day by reading extracts from a play (“Perdition”) which claimed that the Holocaust...

The "Perdition" affair

In early 1987 there was a public controversy about "Perdition", a play by Jim Allen, a radical writer with a Trotskyist background, which was scheduled to be directed by Ken Loach at the Royal Court Theatre in London. Critics claimed that the play, representing Zionists as collaborating with the Nazis in the massacre of Jews in Hungary, was anti-Jewish, and designed primarily to "delegitimise" Israel; defenders argued that it was being banned for highlighting awkward truths. The Royal Court cancelled the production at a late stage. Later, the play, in an amended version, was published, and in...

The "Perdition" affair

When the Royal Court Theatre decided at the last minute not to go ahead with its scheduled production of Jim Allen's play about the massacre of the Jews of Hungary in 1944, 'Perdition', a flood of discussion, polemic and recrimination was unleashed in the press. It had already been the subject of protests by various prominent Jews and of publicity in the press. The "Perdition" Affair There are at least two issues involved in the 'Perdition' affair: artistic freedom and its limits; and whether or not 'Perdition' is anti-Jewish. Allen and the director, Ken Loach, immediately raised an outcry...

Tony Greenstein's first polemic on "Perdition"

Jim Allen is accused of being "vainglorious, boastful" and the campaign against the banning of Perdition is described as being "smart" and "disingenuous" ("The Perdition Affair" by John O'Mahony, WL6). The "Perdition" Affair Far be it from me to accuse John O'Mahony of these sins, despite setting himself up as some form of expert on the subject under discussion. But where O'Mahony is wrong is when he equates freedom of speech for anti-Zionists and socialists with the right of those who disagree with Perdition to campaign for its banning. It's like saying that a film on police violence against...

Sean Matgamna takes a second look at "Perdition"

Tony Greenstein praises and justifies 'Perdition' by pointing to some of those who are against it. That's altogether too crude. Yet it is the normal standard of judgement used by the two-camps left in world politics. The "Perdition" Affair Here, as on everything else, the serious Marxist left needs an independent judgement. On a second reading, I think I was too soft on 'Perdition', much too soft. The factual accuracy of Allen's account of Hungary has been contested on a number of important points. Here I will discuss what Allen makes of what he says are the facts. A 'Hungarian Zionist leader'...

Tony Greenstein's second polemic on "Perdition"

I would be the last person to complain that the reply to my letter in Workers' Liberty 7 was more than four times the length of the original. The "Perdition" Affair However, it might have been helpful, to say nothing of honest, if John O'Mahony had explained that the chunks of Perdition quoted were early drafts that were, as with most plays, articles, etc, discarded, amended, deleted and added to. For example, the phrase 'Zionist knife in the Nazi fist' does not appear in the play, having been deleted at an early stage. Whatever its dramatic effect, politically it would not have been justified...

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