Why we must reclaim antiracism from the far left

[shira]

On January 27, Rowan Laxton, a senior British diplomat who is the deputy head of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's South Asia group, was watching the news from Gaza, while exercising in his gym. In the words of the Daily Mail, the diplomat is reported to have "launched a foul-mouthed antisemitic tirade" during the course of which he cursed the "fucking Jews". Laxton is reported to have refused to quieten down when approached by fellow gym users. He was ultimately arrested by the police for a public order offence.

The day that Rowan Laxton was arrested was Holocaust Memorial Day. This country's largest anti-racist organisation, Unite Against Fascism commemorated that event by encouraging people to light candles. It had nothing to say, in the following weeks, about the "fucking Jews" allegation against Laxton. Neither was the story reported in the Guardian, on the BBC website, or the Independent; although the centre-right Telegraph and Times had it.

I have to admit, I was initially slightly surprised to see how little concern on the antiracist left the spectacle of a senior British diplomat, arrested for a "fucking Jews" rant, had engendered. While it is important to note that Laxton denies making any antisemitic remark, it isn't as if antiracist organisations normally shy away from responding to complaints about public servants. For example, on the day following the publication of the story, Unite Against Fascism managed to organise a rally against a teacher who was a British National party member. But then, I shouldn't have been surprised. The last couple of months has seen the worst year on record for antisemitic incidents in the United Kingdom. Yet Unite Against Fascism has had nothing to say about that, either.

<snip>

The problem, I think, is this. Although opposition to racism is now an article of faith for all mainstream political parties, the left has been the driving force in those organisations that set the antiracist agenda. There is a part of the left that is very comfortable condemning historical racism against Jews, at the hands of Nazis, back in the 1940s. It is, however, ambivalent when it comes to contemporary antisemitism: particularly when it can be "contextualised" within the Israel/Palestine conflict.

<snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/18/race-raceandreligion

[MADem]

1. What's bad for the goose is bad for the gander.

If he'd used the same invective against Palestinians, Pakistanis, Catholics or Sikhs, he'd be excoriated across the tabloid void.

It's just wrong, period. That should be a given but it isn't.

And you've got to wonder what quality of 'diplomat' is treading the halls of power lately, if that's an example of our Special Friend's finest....

[LeftishBrit]

2. I'm not sure he would have been excoriated in the tabloids, if it had been another group

If it had been Prince Harry who said it, yes; but I don't think that most of the British Press is that interested in diplomats.

And many of the tabloids are themselves very much into attacking those of Pakistani or other immigrant origin.

'you've got to wonder what quality of 'diplomat' is treading the halls of power lately'

Less than wonderful, I am sure. People in the diplomatic service in Britain are often super-establishment types: people who are either upper-class twits, or aren't but wish they were. And those in some other countries tend to be political hacks.

[MADem]

3. Well, they're interested in them if they're engaging in lurid affairs!

http://www.vanityfair.com/fame/features/2007/02/wolcott200702


http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2001/apr/10/past.derekbrown

Sex sells. The odd expletive, less so.

[LeftishBrit]

4. True. That's how to interest the tabloids. Or eat someone's hamster!

[MADem]

5. .....!!!!.....

:rofl:

[hack89]

6. Is hamster eating a common occurrence? nt

[LeftishBrit]

9. No, but...

one of the most notorious headlines in the Sun, from the 80s I think, was "FREDDIE STARR ATE MY HAMSTER"!

[azurnoir]

7. But but but

we've been told here time and time again that Jews are not a race do you believe differently? Or is it is what we say it is when we say it

[shira]

8. nice deflection

would you have opposed Gilad Atzmon or Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi?


"For years, the Socialist Workers party promoted and toured the self-described "ex-Jew" Gilad Atzmon. When SWP supporter and Childrens' Laureate Michael Rosen criticised the party for giving a platform to a performer who, he argued, voiced racist and antisemitic ideas, he was slapped down by central committee member Lindsey German and others. Socialist Action activists led the charge, with Ken Livingstone, to defend the Muslim Brotherhood Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, after the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell had outed him as an inciter of terrorism, antisemitism and homophobia. "

[azurnoir]

14. Not "deflecting" anything

simply pointing out the semantic gymnastics being performed here, but obviously you agree antisemitism is racism

[Vegasaurus]

10. The "progressive" far-left is as anti-semitic as white supremacists

Very strange bedfellows.

[LeftishBrit]

11. There is no such thing as 'the' progressive far-left

The left, especially the far left, is as factionalist and split between small groups as it's possible to get.

I honestly think that there is a lot of conflating of the anti-war movement with 'the left'. Most left-wingers are anti-war, but not all ant-war people are left-wingers.

Moreover, some who currently pass as 'far left' are really generally anti-establishment, anti-government types, who differ little from right-libertarians; are often given to elaborate conspiracy theories (some of which feature Jews/'Zionists'); and will IMO find it harder to pass as left-wingers now that Bush has gone.

There are antisemites in all groups, including left-wing ones, but I definitely disagree that 'the left' or 'far left' is antisemitic as a whole.

The person featured in the OP, Mr. Laxton, is probably not a left-winger.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

12. Does anyone find this article incomprehensible?

I can't make heads or tails of who said what.

Is this by design?

what does Gilad Atzmon have to do with al-Qadarawi?

Seriously people! Does anyone think the Rowan Laxton would have been arrested if he'd said "Fucking Arabs?" Imagine this phrase is uttered pretty continuously without arrest.

ROTFLOL!

[ProgressiveMuslim]

13. And shouldn't this be posted in the "religion" section?

Is all anti-semitism by definition an I/P thing?

I thought that Zionism was NOT synonymous with Judaism?

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jim Sagle]

16. Here's a direct quote from the Nazi shit site you linked to:

From http://whitewraithe.wordpress.com/:

When the Jews attacked the Monarchies, many leaders warned of the faults inherent in a “democracy”. From the Russian Czars, the attack on the concept of “democracy” was then championed by the Fascists, for many of the same reasons proposed by the Monarchists.

These forces argued that “democracies” are a fatally flawed system of government, in that they grant Jews equal rights, which affords the Jews the opportunity to use their stolen money to corrupt the government. Jews, acting together, can subvert the will of the majority, by buying up and otherwise controlling the press, and by placing compromised politicians in power through the use of the Jewish controlled press. These are indeed real problems.

However, no system of government is bullet proof and safeguards must always be put in place and updated to protect society from corrupting forces. Fascist states can also be tools of the Jews. Consider Franco’s Spain, as in Frankist Spain. Fascist states can work against the best interests of the nation. Consider Hitler’s warmongering and the destruction and Balkanization of Germany.

I argue that the Jews have an easier time controlling the will of one man, than they do of controlling the will of an entire People. If we were to remove the Jews from public life, they would have a much more difficult time manipulating the American People, than if we were to fall into a dictatorship even if it removed the Jews, which dictatorship could potentially be easily controlled by the Jews from outside and be from the outset a product of their machinations.

Straight-up gutter antisemitism.

[bemildred]

17. It's so rare when we agree.

That guy is a real piece of work. One wonders what sort of mushrooms he likes to eat.

[Jim Sagle]

18. I love it when diverse minds come together.

:hi:

[shira]

22. perfect example that proves the point of the OP, huh?

[PerfectSage]

Zionism is an ideology hijacked by psychopath's.

I found that article by googling political ponerolgy and gaza. I looked up on wikipedia to see whether or not Naeim Giladi's claims had been debunked or not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naeim_Giladi#Cover_Banner:_.22This_book_banned_in_Israel_and_United_States.22

Then posted on it DU.

Only after posting did I read other articles at that website and realized it was an antisetite website.

My hypothisis is still correct. Zionism, like all ideologies has been hijacked by psychopath's and that warfare is ritualized mass murder of non psychopath's by psychopath's.




http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2008/01/02/02073.html

Twilight of the Psychopaths by Dr. Kevin Barrett


“Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it.” – John Lennon, before his murder by CIA mind-control subject Mark David Chapman

When Gandhi was asked his opinion of Western civilization he said it would be a good idea. But that oft-cited quote, is misleading, assuming as it does that civilization is an unmitigated blessing.

Civilized people, we are told, live peacefully and cooperatively with their fellows, sharing the necessary labour in order to obtain the leisure to develop arts and sciences. And while that would be a good idea, it is not a good description of what has been going on in the so-called advanced cultures during the past 8,000 years.

Civilization, as we know it, is largely the creation of psychopaths. All civilizations, our own included, have been based on slavery and “warfare.” Incidentally, the latter term is a euphemism for mass murder.

http://www.ponerology.com/evil_2a.html

[Jim Sagle]

20. Your hypothesis is a VICIOUS LIE.

Ponerology is antisemitic poison dressed up as junk science. Anyone can verify the truth of that by Googling to find ponerology sites and then reading them in depth - a worthwhile exercise for anyone so interested.

[PerfectSage]

21. Ponerolgy is anti ideology and anti psychopath. Not a viscious anti semitic lie.

According to political ponerology theory, America itself is in the grip of a pathocracy. How is that anti semitic poison?

Your misunderstanding is that you fail to distinguish between antisemitism and anti zionism. Zionism is an ideolgy. All ideologies fail in the longrun because psychopath's are incompetent.

"The only conspiracy that matters is the conspiracy of the psychopaths against the rest of us."

Why does the pathocracy fear it is losing control? Because it is threatened by the spread of knowledge. The greatest fear of any psychopath is of being found out. As George H. W. Bush said to journalist Sarah McClendon, December 1992, “If the people knew what we had done, they would chase us down the street and lynch us.”

http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2008/01/02/02073.html

[LeftishBrit]

24. Ponerology is certainly junk science...

and it is certainly popular on sites which do spread antisemitic lies, e.g. whale.to.

ETA: it is of interest that the journal, to which you link, has a whole section on 'exopolitics' about extra-terrestrials! Doesn't really inspire confidence.

[PerfectSage]

25. Just look at Dick Cheney, Bush and the neo cons and tell me it doesn't apply.

Adolph, Lenin and Stalin. What your overlooking is ideology being hijacked by psychopath's for their own selfish motives.

I'll tell you how it will end. Zionism will die like Nazism because it created too many external enemies. The US capitalist globalism ideology will die like the Soviet Union through economic mismangement. They will monetize their debts and that will be the end of the US dollar as the world's reserve currency.

Why do you think gold and gold mining stocks are hitting 52 week highs? The psychopath's are going to print money. Bet your ass on it.

[PerfectSage]

23. The enemy is experienced as the force that destroys our love object

This is why men see war as a duty and why it is considered one of the basic human values. Those who make war are not driven by a hate need, but by a love need. Moreover, they feel they must accept the need for self-sacrifice so that their love objects might live.

The fact that men see war as a duty toward their love object has been, I think, neglected even in Kleinian literature. The problem (if there is one) is to disclose the ambiguous character of war as an experience of love, for it is based on the alienation of the bad parts of the self which are projected onto the enemy, who is consequently experienced as the destroyer of one's love object.

The paradox on the basis of which the instinct of self-preservation becomes inoperative in war—so that men no longer seem to care about death but, on the contrary, accept it as an essential part of the game—seems to find its explanation in the fact that in war the instinct of self-preservation does not function on the individual level but rather on the level of the collective love object.

Thus the essential function of war is the preservation of the common love object, and the reason why men see war not as a collective armed aggression but as a duty to risk death and to kill, to become simultaneously hunters and prey, sacrificers and victims, is that what is at stake in war is not so much the safety of the individual as the safety of the collective love object.

http://www.psych-culture.com/docs/fornari1.html

Could that love object that men are willing to die for; be an ideology created or hijacked by psychopath's for their own selfish motives?

Nazism, communism, zionism, American exceptionalism, racism, terrorism religion, nationalism, patriotism etc etc All ideologies hijacked by psychopath's for thier own selfish motives.

[PerfectSage]

19. accidental double post deleted.