Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Statement from Multiple Organizations on Christopher Bollyn Event at the Brooklyn Commons | The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * The general gist of Sieradski /Jewschool's racism is summed up in this admittedly dated article: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/abraham-greenhouse/palestinians-express-solidarity-nyc-occupy-camp-raid-activist-tweet He is very active as a blogger and internet troll, and the views he has expressed through those means (which I do not care to promote) make it clear his worldview has not changed significantly since the article above was written. His statements about "left anti-Semitism" are included in the previous article which Louis sent to the list. The point about Jewschool's issues with Bollyn are that the former takes issue with what you are calling the "figleaf" of anti-Zionism, rather than any of the content that appears genuinely aimed at promoting anti-Jewish prejudice. The advertised talk appears to be a standard "9/11 was an inside job" conspiracy lecture aimed at blaming Israel and America. I don't dabble in those theories but I think it is fairly obvious what kinds of suspicions and distrust lead others to do so, and I don't think it is anti-Americanism or anti-Semitism. So what's wrong with the staffer asking for specifics? As for "the struggle against anti-Semitism," the simple fact is that the kind of Jew-baiting lunacy that Bollyn and others like him traffick on the internet has long since been replaced in Western parlance with Muslim-baiting. That kind of rhetoric about Jewish takeovers and the like is the subject of ridicule and stigma in virtually every part of Western politics -- while "creeping Sharia Law" conspiracism continues to dominate one major American political party. So even given that Bollyn is little more than a crypto-anti-Semite, I fail to see the significance of his insignificance. He is an irrelevant crank and the people / person who called attention to him hold repulsive views that reflect the dominant prejudices in America. This seems to be a trend; either genuinely anti-Semitic morsels that appear in lefty spaces are picked out and given immense significance by the people railing about Left Anti-Semitism; or they simply fabricate accusations of anti-Semitism altogether. Sounds awfully silly to me. -- - Amith _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Statement from Multiple Organizations on Christopher Bollyn Event at the Brooklyn Commons | The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * This is a very short-sighted dismissal of the struggle against anti-Semitism that is necessary wherever it raises its vile and reactionary head. Bollyn doesn't talk about the easter bunny or the Illuminati it is clear anti-Semitism with a sometime flimsy fig-leaf of anti-Zionism. The organisations that have denounced the use of their space for the spouting of his views have done something necessary and central to their work. Anti-Semitism is never a silly affair and those who have stood against it are to be congratulated if the Jew School guy has written what AGR says he has then he should also be condemned . Unfortunately AGR doesn't give us any links to that apart from rather airily informing us that he has dealt with all of that on another forum On Mon, Sep 5, 2016 at 12:10 PM, A.R. G via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > POSTING RULES & NOTES > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > * > > It's kind of sad that they are expected to clear their names like > this. Obviously it is not worth their time to have to deal with mud slung > at them for hosting their orgs in the same physical location that this loon > is speaking in, given that they don't share his worldview. So > disassociation is perfectly appropriate. > > But the people making an issue out of Bollyn are worse. As I pointed out on > another forum, the guy who wrote the article sounding the alarm about > Bollyn (Daniel Sieradski / "Jewschool") holds genocidal views about > Palestinians, arguing that their return to present-day Israel would be > "demographic suicide" (compare white supremacists who believe non-whites in > America are a source of "white genocide"). > > He has doubled down on those views in recent times, chastising the BDS > Movement for rejecting Israel in an op-ed in the NYT, citing his close > familial ties with the Jewish settler population (the ones at risk of > commiting "demographic suicide," I suppose). He was also one of the trolls > attempting to rationalize the cancellation of the Nakba Tour at Stanford. > > His article itself repeats the smears of the Left as a bastion of > anti-Semitism, a canard that traces back decades, and attempts to portray > Jews in America and Israel as simply another minority group, with no actual > engagement of Jewish history and the dramatic rise of Jewish people in the > 70s in the US (to say nothing of their colonial conquest in Palestine). > Seeing Jews as perpetual victims, he has whitewashed all but the most > violent abuses Israel has carried out. Compare white liberals who defended > segregation but were appauled by the fire hoses and dogs. > > Had he not sounded the alarm, it would just be another irrelevant crank > showing up at a small venue, a staple of the Left. Now everyone else who > works there has to go out of their way to remind the public that they are > not, in fact, Nazis or 9/11 conspiracists. > > Also note that Jewschool's primary objection to Bollyn was that his > allegations about 9/11 were directed at "Zionists" and "neocons". Perhaps > if Bollyn had blamed the Easter Bunny or the Illuminati, Jewschool would > feel more at ease? > > A very silly affair. > > > -- > - Amith > _ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/ > options/marxism/gregadler502%40gmail.com > _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Statement from Multiple Organizations on Christopher Bollyn Event at the Brooklyn Commons | The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * It's kind of sad that they are expected to clear their names like this. Obviously it is not worth their time to have to deal with mud slung at them for hosting their orgs in the same physical location that this loon is speaking in, given that they don't share his worldview. So disassociation is perfectly appropriate. But the people making an issue out of Bollyn are worse. As I pointed out on another forum, the guy who wrote the article sounding the alarm about Bollyn (Daniel Sieradski / "Jewschool") holds genocidal views about Palestinians, arguing that their return to present-day Israel would be "demographic suicide" (compare white supremacists who believe non-whites in America are a source of "white genocide"). He has doubled down on those views in recent times, chastising the BDS Movement for rejecting Israel in an op-ed in the NYT, citing his close familial ties with the Jewish settler population (the ones at risk of commiting "demographic suicide," I suppose). He was also one of the trolls attempting to rationalize the cancellation of the Nakba Tour at Stanford. His article itself repeats the smears of the Left as a bastion of anti-Semitism, a canard that traces back decades, and attempts to portray Jews in America and Israel as simply another minority group, with no actual engagement of Jewish history and the dramatic rise of Jewish people in the 70s in the US (to say nothing of their colonial conquest in Palestine). Seeing Jews as perpetual victims, he has whitewashed all but the most violent abuses Israel has carried out. Compare white liberals who defended segregation but were appauled by the fire hoses and dogs. Had he not sounded the alarm, it would just be another irrelevant crank showing up at a small venue, a staple of the Left. Now everyone else who works there has to go out of their way to remind the public that they are not, in fact, Nazis or 9/11 conspiracists. Also note that Jewschool's primary objection to Bollyn was that his allegations about 9/11 were directed at "Zionists" and "neocons". Perhaps if Bollyn had blamed the Easter Bunny or the Illuminati, Jewschool would feel more at ease? A very silly affair. -- - Amith _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: Statement from Multiple Organizations on Christopher Bollyn Event at the Brooklyn Commons | The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Statement from Multiple Organizations on Christopher Bollyn Event at the Brooklyn Commons As organizations that work out of the Brooklyn Commons, we reject the antisemitic politics of Christopher Bollyn. We do not have any say in event booking and management at the Commons but agree that such politics should have no place in leftist spaces. Signed: Ajay Singh Chaudhary (Brooklyn Institute for Social Research) Bhaskar Sunkara (Jacobin Magazine) Michael Lardner (Marxist Education Project) John Tarleton (The Indypendent) https://thebrooklyninstitute.com/2016/09/04/statement-from-multiple-organizations-on-christopher-bollyn-event-at-the-brooklyn-commons/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
