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June 18, 2002
Edward Said
Palestinian
Elections Now
June 17, 2002
Jack McCarthy
Watergate
and All That
Philip Farruggio
A Maximum
Wage Law
Ron Sullivan
Law
and Orders:
The Assault on Trial by Jury
Rev. Charles Booker-Hirsch
Taking
on the School
of the Americas
Joan Smith
G.W. Bush:
The Man is Stupid
Dave Marsh
Corporate
Buy Outs and the Decline of Teen Jive
Robert Jensen
Rhetoric
Distorts Realities
June 15 / 16, 2002
Tanweer Akram
A Review
of Noam Chomsky's 9-11
Daniel Wolff
The Day
They Shot a Wolf in the Ghetto and What It Meant
Ralph Nader
A Corporate
Crime State
David Vest
Have You
Been Serviced?
Karl Kraus
A Minor
Detail
Alexander Cockburn
The
Terrorism of Everyday Life
June 14, 2002
Mark Weisbrot
US Trade
Policy:
"Do as We Say, Not as We Did"
Starhawk
The Boy Who Kissed the Soldier
David Krieger
Farewell
to the ABM Treaty
Tom Turnipseed
The Fear Factor to Promote
War and Trample Truth
Steve Perry
How the
Bush Adminstration Buried Coleen Rowley
June 13, 2002
Linda Belanger
Israeli-Palestinian
Conflict:
The Story Behind the Headlines
Amira Hass
Indefinite
Siege
Mokhiber / Weissman
Time to Put Lives Over Patents
Robert Fisk
Bush's Weird
War
Stanton / Madsen
Democracy
in Crisis:
What is to be Done?
Roldan Tomasz Suárez
Venezuela:
Five Facts
About the Coup
June 12, 2002
Fran Shor
Dirty Bombs, Blowback
and Imperial Projections
Dave Marsh
Shelley
Stewart, Radio and the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement
Chris Floyd
Murder, Inc.
June 11, 2002
Omar Barghouti
On Dance, Identity and War
Robert Fisk
The Bush
Afghan Gang:
Murderers, Gangsters, Stooges
Minerva Wright
The Donkeys of the Holy Land
David Krieger
Stopping
a Nuclear War
in South Asia
June 10, 2002
Jeffrey St. Clair
Executioner's Last Songs
June 8/9, 2002
Gavin Keeney
Mademoiselle
M.
Or Getting Screwed in Paris
Susan Davis
Sleepless
in the Suburbs
Curing Insomnia: a new use for The Nation?
George Sunderland
"Send
in the Weekly
Standard": The Screaming Pundits Assault Corps
June 7, 2002
Michael Colby
Bush to the Nation:
You're All Cops Now
Tanweer Akram
Howard
Zinn's "Terrorism
and War": a review
David Krieger
New Security Challenges
Sam Bahour
The Palestinian
Intifada:
A Very American Struggle
Tom Turnipseed
A Crisis of Confidence
in US Leadership
June 6, 2002
Michael Colby
White House
vs. EPA:
Political Hot Air and
Global Warming
Ron Jacobs
The Indo-Pakistan Conflict:
It's Just a Shot Away
Francis Boyle
Take Sharon
to The Hague:
Prosecute Israeli War Crimes
at Jenin
CounterPunch Bulletin
60 Minutes and President Chavez's
Censored F-Word
Mark Weisbrot
Spying
and Lying:
The FBI's Shameful Past
June 5, 2002
Robert Fisk
Berlusconi the Censor
Danielle Brian
Nuclear
Plants and Terrorism
Ardeshir Cowasjee
For What Do We Fight?
George Monbiot
Kashmir
on the Brink
Michael Neumann
What is Antisemitism?
June 4, 2002
Dave Marsh
Bono the Useful Idiot
William Evan / Francis
Boyle
Kashmir:
Invoking Intl. Law to Avoid Nuclear War
Cockburn / St. Clair
The Future Wellstone Deserves
June 3, 2002
Ramdas / Makhijani
India,
Pakistan and Nukes:
A Road Map to Peace
Fran Shor
Meanwhile, Back in Afghanistan
Neve Gordon
The Caterpillar
Effect
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
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Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
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This Explosive
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Reviews of Gore:
a User's Manual
|
June 18,
2002
Is It Possible to "Understand"
the Rise in "Anti-Semitism"?
by Ben White
Recently there have been a number of articles
written on the subject of anti-Semitism. Some of them have sought
to distinguish between criticism of the state of Israel and genuine
anti-Semitism. A greater number have warned of an apparent alarming
rise in attacks on Judaism in Europe so serious that it is reminiscent
of the 1930s.
In any debate there is usually a conflict
in definition, and this is particularly important when dealing
with something as sensitive as racism or religious hatred. An
article in the Guardian on Monday 17th June provides an intriguing
insight into the confusion surrounding the current discussions
on anti-Semitism.
The article in question concerns a rise
in Israelis seeking to obtain German citizenship, through a clause
in the constitution over Holocaust compensation, for insurance,
"should the conflict with the Palestinians worsen."
As background to the situation, the report
cites the controversy in Germany over alleged anti-Semitic remarks
made by Jürgen Möllemann, the deputy leader of the
FDP party, when he compared the Israeli government's actions
to those of the Nazi regime. Since his remarks Jewish groups
have taken to the streets to call for Mr Möllemann's resignation.
Comparisons between the Israeli government
and the Nazis is unwise and unsound, since the Israelis have
not (at the time of going to press) exterminated in a systematic
fashion an enormous percentage of the Palestinians. Cold-blooded
killings, beatings, house demolitions, vandalism, occupation,
military assaults, and two historical pushes at ethnic cleansing--yes.
Full fledged genocide--no.
However, the comparison is not anti-Semitic.
It does not make racist assumptions, nor does it smack of bigotism.
Whether you agree with him or not, Mr Möllemann's comments
cannot, on their own, be called anti-Semitic.
The Guardian article concludes with the
most attention-grabbing section of the piece. It cites a poll
undertaken by the Sigmund Freud Institute in Frankfurt, in which
thirty-six per cent of participants said they would agree with
the statement "I can understand very well that some people
are unpleasant towards Jews." This was taken to indicate
an increase in anti-Semitism, since it was a dramatic increase
from 20% three years ago.
I was somewhat startled by this, since
I do not consider myself an anti-Semite, yet I can also understand
why some are. There are, in fact, a number of reasons. One is
the state of Israel, its ideology of racial supremacy and its
subsequent crimes committed against the Palestinians. It is because
Zionists have always sought to equate their colonial project
with Judaism that some misguidedly respond to what they see on
their televisions with attacks on Jews or Jewish property.
Secondly, and related to the first point,
is the widespread bias and subservience to the Israeli cause
in the Western media. Once again, due to the (theologically false)
mergence of Zionism with Judaism, unconditional support for the
state of Israel in the media can lead some to misguidedly respond
with charges of a 'Jewish conspiracy'. Thirdly, European culture
has a history of anti-Semitism (as it has also been guilty of
racism to other peoples) that has been, and probably still is,
embedded in collective consciousness. Its roots can be traced,
at least to some extent, to the shameful teachings of many in
the Church.
Of course, the common denominator in
all forms of racism is the disturbed emotional profile of the
protagonist. I do not pretend to be a psychologist, but I imagine
factors could be ignorance, a dominant influential personality
in their life, low self-esteem and numerous other religious,
socio-economic dynamics.
I have just provided a by no means comprehensive
list of reasons why "I can understand very well that some
people are unpleasant towards Jews." I do not agree with
them, but I can understand.
To interpret agreement with this statement
as an indication of anti-Semitism is wrong and intellectually
flawed. It can only contribute to real anti-Semitism by the creation
of hysteria and polarisation that real racists thrive on, whether
they are in a slum in Marseille, a dinner party in Berlin, or
the Knesset.
Ben White
can be reached at: benwhite1983@yahoo.com
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