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Did Oprah Pick Another Fibber? Truth and Fiction in Elie Wiesel's Night In his special report Alexander Cockburn interviews former Wiesel colleague and Holocaust survivor Eli Pfefferkorn. What Raul Hilberg, the Holocaust's greatest historian, really thinks about Wiesel's "Night". Also in this special issue: Is Hugo Chavez Hitler or Father Christmas? Larry Lack tells the full story of Venezuela's hand-outs to Uncle Sam's Shivering Poor. Plus, Jeffrey St Clair profiles the Endangered Visigoth and traces the rise and possible fall of Rick Pombo, destroyer of nature. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! |
Today's Stories March 13, 2006 Paul
Craig Roberts March 11 / 12, 2006 Alexander
Cockburn Ralph
Nader Paul
Craig Roberts Ben
Tripp John
Strausbaugh Landau
/ Hassen Robert
Bryce Gary
Leupp Fred
Gardner Ron
Jacobs Jonathan
Scott Ramzy
Baroud Jordan
Flaherty John
Chuckman Joe
Allen Julia
Kendlbacher St.
Clair / Walker / Pollack / Vest Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
March 10, 2006 Ben
Rosenfeld Lila
Rajiva Saree
Makdisi Elena
Shore Joshua
Frank Dave
Zirin Aura
Bogado
March 9, 2006 John
Walsh Annie
Zirin Brian
McKenna Chris
Floyd Rachard
Itani Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Wylie
Harris Alexander
Cockburn Website
of the Day
March 8, 2006 Patrick
Bond Brian
Concannon, Jr. Pat
Williams Lance
Selfa Mokhiber
/ Weissman Walter
Brasch Vijay
Prashad Website
of the Day
March 7, 2006 Werther John
Blair Dave
Lindorff Mike
Whitney Warren
Guykema Sen.
Russell Feingold Robert
Jensen Norman
Solomon Bernie
Dwyer Website
of the Day
Ralph
Nader Dave
Zirin Vanessa
Redgrave Walter
A. Davis Joshua
Frank Nate
Mezmer Paul
Craig Roberts Website
of the Day
Alexander
Cockburn Jennifer
Van Bergen Steven
Higgs Winslow
T. Wheeler Ron
Jacobs Rev.
William E. Alberts Colin
Asher Fred
Gardner "Pariah" John
Scagliotti Seth
Sandronsky Joan
Roelofs Arjun
Makhijani Ardeshr
Ommani Diana
Barahona Ben
Tripp St.
Clair / Socialist Worker Staff Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend March 3, 2006 Laura
Carlsen John
V. Whitbeck Chris
Floyd Mohamed
Hakki Pratyush
Chandra John
Scagliotti Website
of the Day
March 2, 2006 Paul
Craig Roberts Dave
Lindorff Ramzy
Baroud Saul
Landau Joe
Allen Steve
Shore Denise
Boggs Norman
Finkelstein Website
of the Day
March 1, 2006 Mairead
Corrigan Maguire Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Faheem
Hussain Antony
Loewenstein Elizabeth
Schulte Mike
Whitney John
Ryan Michael
Donnelly Tom
Reeves Website
of the Day
February 28, 2006 Sen.
Russ Feingold Ralph
Nader Joshua
Frank Aziz
Haniffa Benjamin Dangl Norman Solomon Mike
Ferner Sharon
Smith Website
of the Day
February 27, 2006 Buncombe
/ Cockburn Paul
Craig Roberts Ingmar
Lee Ron
Jacobs Dave
Lindorff Pat
Wolff Lila
Rajiva Website
of the Day
February 25 / 26, 2006 Alexander
Cockburn Lila
Rajiva Lee
Sustar Jennifer
Van Bergen / Madis Senner Justin
E.H. Smith Paul
Craig Roberts Jason
Leopold Gilad
Atzmon Zahid
Shariff Fred
Gardner Dick
J. Reavis David
Stocker John
Bomar Mike
Marqusee Pratyush
Chandra Ben
Tripp Dr.
Susan Block Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
February 24, 2006 Alan
Maass William
S. Lind Dave
Lindorff Pierre
Tristam Meg
Bannerji Robert
Jensen Mark
Engler Jennifer
Loewenstein Website
of the Day
February 23, 2006 Chet
Richards Jonathan
Feldman Joshua
Frank Ron
Jacobs Amira
Hass Samah
Sabawi Norman
Solomon Christopher
Reed Website
of the Day
February 22, 2006 Robert
Pollin Phil
Doe Pirouz
Azadi Saul
Landau Brian
McKinlay Sam
Smith Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Diane
Farsetta Website
of the Day
February 21, 2006 Paul
Craig Roberts Franklin
Spinney Dave
Lindorff Alevtina
Rea Bruce
K. Gagnon Dave
Zirin Bill
Quigley Website
of the Day
February 20, 2006 Jennifer
Van Bergen Rachard
Itani Gideon
Levy Joshua
Frank Newton
Garver Pratyush
Chandra Seth
Sandronsky Cockburn
/ St. Clair Website
of the Day
February 18 / 19, 2006 Werther Uzma
Aslam Khan Joe
DeRaymond Edward
F. Mooney Paul
Craig Roberts Elaine
Cassel P.
Sainath Thomas
P. Healy Brian
Concannon, Jr. Fred
Gardner Rep.
Cynthia McKinney Brian
Tokar Chan
Chee Khoon Andrew
Freedman St.
Clair / Walker Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
February 17, 2006 Floyd
Rudmin Gervasio
Rodríguez Gary
Leupp Ramzy
Baroud Amira
Hass Matthew
Koehler Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Debbie
Nathan Website
of the Day
Febrauary 16, 2006 Lila
Rajiva Norman
Solomon Ron
Jacobs Paul
Craig Roberts Website
of the Day
February 15, 2006 Brian
Conacnnon, Jr. Dave
Lindorff Saree
Makdisi Joshua
Frank Amira
Hass CounterPunch
Wire Robert
Bryce Website
of the Day February 14, 2006 John
Sugg Don
Santina William
A. Cook Ray
McGovern John
Ross Website
of the Day
Lila
Rajiva Christopher
Brauchli Dave
Lindorff Ron
Jacobs Mike
Whitney Michael
Neumann Website
of the Day
February 11 / 12, 2006 Alexander
Cockburn Ralph
Nader Paul Craig
Roberts Pat Williams Fred Gardner Saul Landau John Chuckman Roger Burbach Seth Sandronsky Website of
the Weekend
February 10, 2006 Carl
G. Estabrook Sen.
Russell Feingold Roxanne
Dunbar----Ortiz Saree Makdisi Website of
the Day
February 9, 2006 Dave Lindorff Mike Marqusee Paul Craig Roberts Peter Phillips William S. Lind Christine Tomlinson Innocent Targets in the "Long War": False Positives and Bush's Eavesdropping Program Will Youmans Robert Robideau Richard Neville Peter Rost Website of the Day
February 8, 2006 Ron Jacobs Stan Cox Sen. Russ Feingold Robert Jensen Rep. Cynthia McKinney Niranjan Ramakrishnan Don Monkerud David Swanson C.L. Cook Christopher
Fons Jeffrey Ballinger Website of
the Day
February 7, 2006 Edward Lucie-Smith Robert Fisk Paul Craig Roberts Neve Gordon Joshua Frank Peter Montague Jackie Corr Jeffrey St.
Clair Website of the Day
February 6, 2006 Christopher
Brauchli Robert Fisk John Chuckman Jenna Orkin Paul Craig
Roberts
February 4 / 5, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Mike Ferner James Petras Alan Maass Fred Gardner Ralph Nader Bill Glahn Saul Landau Laura Carlsen James Brooks Mike Roselle John Holt Sarah Ferguson William S.
Lind Niranjan Ramakrishnan Seth Sandronsky Derrick O'Keefe Michael Donnelly Ron Jacobs Elisa Salasin St. Clair / Vest Stew Albert Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
February 3, 2006 Toufic Haddad Heather Gray Tim Wise Conn Hallinan Eva Golinger Daniel Ellsberg Dave Zirin Robert Bryce Website of
the Day
February 2, 2006 Winslow T.
Wheeler Stan Cox Rachard Itani Mike Whitney Amira Hass Norman Solomon Michael Simmons Christopher
Reed Website of the Day
February 1, 2006 Sharon Smith Jason Leopold Cindy Sheehan Joseph Grosso Earl Ofari Hutchinson Steven Higgs Robert Robideau R. Siddharth Jim Retherford Rep. Cynthia
McKinney Paul Craig
Roberts Website of
the Day
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March 13, 2006 Blacks and Jews in Neo-Con AmericaQuestions of SolidarityBy DAVID GREEN Since I began intensively studying the Israel-Palestine conflict nine years ago, I have (as a Jew) also been concerned with its historical and current effect on relations between Blacks and Jews in this country. I have become increasingly aware of the influence that neoconservatism, both in its domestic and global versions, has had on mainstream (liberal) Jewish institutional life and political culture in America, and the manner in which specifically Jewish-identified aspects of neoconservatism (opposition to the welfare state, support for Israel) have been adapted by a broader culture of white racism and class privilege, with obvious dire effects both domestically and globally. It is clear to me that what began as one aspect of the white ethnic backlash primarily among anti-communist Jewish intellectuals in the 1960s has evolved, been appropriated, and become central to the domestically ruthless and globally violent ideology of the current administration. It is in this context that I was intrigued to discover a massive 527-page work of scholarship called Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America by UCLA English professor Eric Sundquist (Belknap-Harvard, 2005). Upon obtaining this book, however, I was quickly disappointed to find-in spite of many insightful analyses of literary works-a clear unwillingness to seriously engage the central issues noted above. While I will leave it to others to judge whether Strangers in the Land succeeds as a work of cultural/literary criticism, I would suggest that it is an utter and insidious failure of political criticism. Moreover, I think that it is as a work of political criticism that it will be (and should be) primarily received. As such, this book stands as an apology for neoconservatism and its support for white privilege in America, as well as its support for the Zionist project in all its aggressive criminality, now coming to a head as any possibility of viable Palestinian state is being destroyed. In this context, Sundquist shows a marked lack of compassion for the dire plight of the Palestinian people, and-given his obviously considerable scholarly skills-demonstrates a seemingly willful innocence of the implications of historical scholarship, human rights reports, and diplomatic records now freely available, most recently summarized by Norman Finkelstein. In summary, Sundquist views neoconservatism as rather benignly emanating in the 1960s from liberal Jewish intellectuals understandably caught amongst a dedication to the meritocracy, Jewish group interests, and the threatening demands of what he sees as anti-Zionist and incipiently anti-Semitic advocates of Black Power. Sundquist reduces Black Nationalist, Black Power, Pan-African, and Third World Liberation movements, and specifically the leadership of Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael, to demagogic, venal, anti-Semitic opportunism and bigotry. Sundquist adopts a boilerplate Zionist narrative of the history of Palestine and Israel that would not pass muster in any college classroom worth its name, which romanticizes Israelis and denigrates Palestinians. While maintaining a scholarly tone and engaging in prodigious amounts of research, Sundquist ultimately refuses to seriously engage the critical scholarship which he references, from the work on Jewish whiteness of his UCLA colleague Karen Brodkin, to Manning Marable's careful scholarship on African-American political movements, to the new Israeli historians, and to Edward Said and Rashid Khalidi. All this is done in the framework of a purportedly unbiased treatment of Black-Jewish relations. But two examples will be quoted of Sundquist's peculiarly jaundiced notion of "balance" in his treatment of black-Jewish and Israeli-Palestinian issues: (Meir) Kahane's views were all the more remarkable for being borrowed from the same black nationalism the JDL (Jewish Defense League) meant to oppose. The paperback jacket of Kahane's "Never Again!," an exposition of JDL militancy, rightly compared the book to Cleaver's "Soul on Ice" and "The Autobiography of Malcolm X." The JDL's symbol, a clenched fist issuing from a Star of David, mirrored the clenched fist of Black Power. Consciously styling themselves "Jewish Panthers," members undertook armed community patrolsUnderscoring the parallel, Kahane declared that the JDL did not differ from the Panthers in wanting to instill self-assurance and pride in young people" In the face of Black Power's demand that Jews acquiesce to policies inimical to their own interests, and wary of their precarious position in a nation still for the most part ruled by a Protestant elite, many Jews may well have felt hemmed in by the "politics of powerlessness." (p. 357-59) This passage is reflective of Sundquist's tone throughout the relevant sections of the book: blacks threaten innocent Jews, who do not partake in the racism of other whites, and just want a "color-blind" society based on merit. Some Jews understandably react negatively to black betrayal. Black Power-the basis of this betrayal-was an insidious force sui generis, and a corruption of Martin Luther King's movement which was supported by most Jews. Some Jews have of course over-reacted. But Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X are to be equated (or worse) to Meir Kahane, and Kahane was simply reacting to their provocations. These black leaders-viewed by Sundquist as stereotypes of threatening black males rather than evolving socialist revolutionary political leaders, are more deserving of harsh criticism and dismissal than someone who immigrated to Israel to lead the most vicious and openly racist aspect of the Jewish settler movement. Whether or not the massacre (at Deir Yassin in April, 1948, during which Zionist forces led by Menachem Begin killed 100 Palestinian villagers, including old men, women, and children) was intended-at least some dimension of it, such as killing all the men of the village apparently had been discussed-remains a vexed question. Whatever the explanation for the killings at Deir Yassin, there is little doubt that the Palestinian Jews, soon to be Israelis, used the threat of other Deir Yassins, coupled with less fearsome raids on individual villages, as psychological warfare. If the killings led to wild rumors about Jewish determination to exterminate Arabs, however, such rumors were made credible less because of the way Jews conceived of the war than because of the way a number of Arabs did. Ahmed Shukeiry, aide to the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, envisioned "the elimination of the Jewish state," while Abd al-Rahman Azzam Pasha, the secretary general of the Arab League, looked forward to "a war of extermination and momentous massacre" and declared that "it does not matter how many (Jews) there are. We will sweep them into the sea." Joined with other factors-the early flight of the wealthy elite, Arab calls for women and children to evacuate, and the dissolution of Palestinian military leadership-fears that Israelis were bent on waging such a war, a mirror image of the declarations of Arab leaders, were a decisive factor in the momentous outflow of Arab refugees in the months to come. Responding to concerted attacks by five Arab nations bent on destroying the Jewish state, Israel captured some 30 percent more territory than it had been granted by the United Nations. With the exodus of the Arabs, a Jewish majority was created. So too, the "Palestinian problem," the approximately 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in Palestine, most expecting to return after Arab nations had driven out the Jews (p. 374-375) This virtually propagandistic obfuscation is typical of Sundquist's treatment of Israel and Palestine throughout his historical account, from 1948 to 1967 to 1973, with Israel's survival always assumed to be at stake from Arab hateful Arab nations. The most significant and brutal Jewish massacre of Arabs is buried in a sea of equivocation (including a veiled reference to the myth of "Arab broadcasts") in a selective and distorted historical context-without regard, for example, to what is now known about Zionist plans for transfer (carried out before and after Deir Yassin), collusion between Zionist leaders and the leader of Trans-Jordan (Emir Abdullah) to prevent the formation of a Palestinian state, or the tepidness of Arab intervention, arguably not a serious threat to the nascent but already well-armed Jewish state. Again, in spite of the Sundquist's references to new Israeli historians like Avi Shlaim and to Rashid Khalidi, he seems unwilling to seriously address the implications of what is now conventional scholarly wisdom, which well explains the ongoing destruction of Palestinian national aspirations. In his narrative context, both American and Israeli Jews-including the worst sorts of neoconservatives and Likudniks (although not always clearly distinguishable from liberals and Laborites)-maintain an essential innocence and humanity; black Americans and Palestinians, on the other hand, are seen as easily manipulated by the demagogic appeals of their leaders, who ultimately undermine whatever legitimate aspirations their followers might have, which can best be served (according to Sundquist) by traditional liberal activism (as defined by Jews). In tracing what he sees as the naïve and unwarranted affinity of black nationalists for the Palestinian cause, Sundquist casts aspersions on third world liberation movements as antithetical to the centrist, domestic liberalism with which he, and in his view most Jews, rightly identify. African-Americans, according to Sundquist, have been betrayed by their leaders, whose criticism of Jews is self-serving and impractical at best, and anti-Semitic and violent at worst. Ultimately, Sundquist collapses James Baldwin, Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael onto Louis Farrakhan, Leonard Jeffries, and Tony Martin. At bottom, Strangers in the Land fails as a work of political criticism not only due to a careless rendering of reality in the Middle East, but due to an unwillingness to entertain the notion of a peculiarly Jewish intellectual and ideological contribution to white racism and the maintenance of white privilege in this country, including the projection of racist attitudes onto the Israel-Palestine conflict, and onto western relations with the Arab and Muslim worlds. While the notion of Jewish racism is absent from this book (as if the experience of discrimination and the Holocaust makes such a thing unthinkable and impossible), an indigenous anti-Semitism is assumed to be long-standing, central, and substantial in African-American culture. Sundquist has thus written a book that accepts the basic assumptions of neoconservative ideology, with all of the racist baggage that that implies at home and abroad. In these narrative confines, there is no objective place to stand from which to understand the peculiarly Jewish-American contribution to this ideology, and to propose a new interpretation of Black-Jewish relations based at least partly on Jewish self-criticism, including criticism of what has turned out to be a morally disastrous Jewish state. David Green lives in Champaign, Illinois. He
can be reached at: davegreen84@yahoo.com
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org. |