Reply #71: Well...

[LeftishBrit]

I have to admit that I'm not an expert on Finkelstein, and I may be missing certain things. My question on 'how can he be considered a left-winger?' was a real one, not a rhetorical one. He may really be a left-winger in certain ways but I don't know what they are.

And where I get my views of him as 'right-wing' comes from the following sources:

(1) His comments on p.85 of 'The Holocaust Industry'. Note: I have not read the book in its entirety but only seen excerpts. I do realize that the book is about frauds concerning Holocaust claims, and that he is NOT, as sometimes alleged, a Holocaust denier; that is a slander. However, I'm referring to his statement:

'As already noted, Jewish elites in the United States enjoyed enormous prosperity. From this combination of economic and political power has sprung, unsurprisingly, a mindset of Jewish superiority. Wrapping themselves in the mantle of the Holocaust, these Jewish elites pretend - and in their onw solipsistic universe perhaps even imagine themselves- to be victims, dismissing any and all criticism as manifestations of antisemitism. And from this lethal brew of formidable power, chauvinistic arrogance, feigned (or imagined) victimhood and Holocaust-immunity... alongside Israel, they are the main fomenters of antisemitism in the world today.'

The *main* fomenters? Not just that they could help to foment antisemitism, but that they are the main cause today? And this idea that it all stems from 'power' and sense of 'superiority' seems rather nasty.

(2) On a different sort of note, his comments on Hezbollah in an interview on Lebanese TV:

' I am not telling you what to do with your lives, and if you’d rather live crawling on your feet, I could respect that. I could respect that. People want to live. How can I deny you that right? But then, how can I not respect those who say they would rather die on their feet? How can I not respect that?...

Interviewer: Is there no other way than military resistance?

Norman Finkelstein: I don’t believe there is another way. I wish there were another way. Who wants war? Who wants destruction? Even Hitler didn’t want war. He would much prefer to have accomplished his aims peacefully, if he could. So I am not saying that I want it, but I honestly don’t see another way, unless you choose to be their slaves – and many people here have chosen that. I can’t really say… I can understand it – you want to live. I can’t really say I respect it. You know, so many dead, so much destruction… Before the bodies are even buried, before the buildings are even rebuilt, the person who is responsible for it all – you can’t wait to welcome him (Bush). You can’t wait to roll out the red carpet. I can’t respect that.

In that respect, I like the Jews much more. I like their attitude. Do you know what the Jewish attitude is? Never to forgive, never to forget. I agree with that. Who roll out the red carpet less than two years after your whole country was destroyed by them? ...They are trying to figure out what the Americans are thinking. They can’t wait for their banquets. How can anyone respect that? I respect the Jews a thousand times more - never to forgive, never to forget. All the death and all the destruction – and you can’t wait to welcome him.

... How can you expect other people to respect Arabs, if you show no respect for yourselves?

<...>

If the Lebanese people overwhelmingly vote to let the Americans and Israelis have their way, I guess you have to accept that. I could see that. I couldn’t possibly say that they don’t have the right to make that choice. Listen, in Nazi-occupied Europe, you have to remember, most of the populations made the choice to live under the Nazis. All this talk about a French Resistance is just a joke – it never happened. The French Resistance… About 20% of the French population read the Resistance’s newspaper. There were maybe 10% of the French who resisted. The rest said: “Don’t resist,” because the Nazis were ruthless. You resist – four hundred are killed for each soldier who’s killed. That’s how the Nazis operated. So most of the French said, like you: “We want to live.” “Don’t resist.” But now I have to ask you, in retrospect: Who do we honor? Do we honor those who say: “Let us live,” or do we honor those who said: “Let’s resist”?'


Note that this is *not* a conversation with an American or Israeli interviewer, pointing out the case for the other side. It's a conversation with a Lebanese interviewer, promoting hawkishness over dovishness. and frankly to me reminiscent of the Israeli hawks who criticize Israeli governments for 'appeasement' and not being sufficiently tough.


'I would like to add here that I do not understand what the purpose is, of identifying and relying on political labels. You seem to expend a
great deal of effort explaining how to identify who or what is left wing, right wing.'

The reason for this, is that I think that the political right wing is causing a lot of problems in the world. Note that I do not equate 'right' and 'left' with party labels, and I most certainly do not equate 'left' with 'Democrat'. In my country, both of the parties for which I voted have at various times let me down by collaboration (I do not mean compromise; I mean very active collaboration) with the right: first New Labour with the Bushies, and now the LibDems with the Tories. I have come across, and been outraged by, arguments on DU and IRL that argue that 'the left have no monopoly on truth; sometimes right-wing ideas are valid; etc.' in defending individuals with racist or anti-minority policies (specifically on DU, I've seen this used to defend both Pat Buchanan and Dan Pipes!) Basically, I consider that - to expand, and try to avoid political labels - those who support building up the 'strong' over the 'weak', and harshness toward poor or otherwise vulnerable people; harshness toward minority groups; or foreign policy based on hawkishness and military might - are a big danger to the world. And I suppose I have a visceral reaction to such phrases as 'imagined victimhood', in part because of the frequent use of such phrases to denigrate the genuine grievances of poor people and minorities.

It may be true that Finkelstein in particular cannot be defined clearly as 'left' or 'right'. And to clarify another point: I don't think that he, or anybody, should have been denied tenure on account of his political views. Nonetheless, I find him a rather unpleasant person at least as regards his public persona.