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Talk:Gilad Atzmon/Politics draft

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Politics

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Atzmon describes himself as a political artist.[1] He has said that his band, the Orient House Ensemble, plays music for the Palestinian cause.[2] After Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the prime minister of Turkey, cited Atzmon during a debate with Israeli president Shimon Peres, music critic John Lewis wrote in The Guardian: "It is Atzmon's blunt anti-Zionism rather than his music that has given him an international profile, particularly in the Arab world, where his essays are widely read."[3]

Atzmon has disseminated his political views through his performances, speaking engagements and publications like CounterPunch[4], Al Jazeera[5], Uruknet[6], Middle East Online[7] and Dissident Voice.[8] Many of his published papers are available on his personal website.[9] He is a co-founder of and contributor to the web site Palestine Think Tank.[3][10]

Atzmon has been described as an anti-Zionist.[1][2][3][11] Atzmon attributes his opposition to Israel to his military service during the 1982 Lebanon War: "Watching my people destroying other people left a big scar. That was when I realised I was completely deluded about Zionism."[2] He compares Israeli actions to that of the Nazis and has described Israel's policy toward the Palestinians as genocide.[12] He believes Israel's actions are a "danger to world peace” and “sow hatred throughout the world.”[12]

Atzmon says that he does not attack Jews or Judaism but Zionism and what he calls “Jewishness” which he say is "very much a supremacist, racist tendency."[2] He blames “Jewish ideology” for Israel’s “brutality” against the Palestinians and says “I think Jewish ideology is driving our planet into a catastrophe and we must stop.”[12][13]

In May 2005 the Board of Deputies of British Jews characterized as an example of antisemitism this comment of Atzmon's: "I'm not going to say whether it is right or not to burn down a synagogue, I can see that it is a rational act."[14] Atzmon responded in a letter to The Observer that he meant “since Israel presents itself as the 'state of the Jewish people’” that "any form of anti-Jewish activity may be seen as political retaliation" for Israel's actions.[15]

In 2007 the Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism criticized the Swedish Social Democratic Party for inviting Atzmon to speak at a seminar, saying Atzmon had worked to "legitimize the hatred of Jews.” The party responded saying “when the Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism starts calling Jews anti-Semites there is a risk that they undermine the term anti-Semite and do the fight against anti-Semitism a disservice."[16]

Atzmon denies he is an antisemite.[12] He and others characterize charges of antisemitism as an attempt to silence his criticism of Israel and Zionism.[17][18][11][12] Atzmon labels the term "antisemitism" as an empty signifier, holding that "criticism of Jewish nationalism, Jewish lobbying and Jewish power can only be realised as a legitimate critique of ideology and practice."[19] He states that "antisemitism is a spin, it is a myth...there is no such a thing as antisemitism."[20]

References

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  1. ^ a b Stuart Nicholson, "Cry freedom", The Spectator, 9 August 2003.
  2. ^ a b c d Gilchrist, Jim (22 February 2008). "'I thought music could heal the wounds of the past. I may have got that wrong'". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
  3. ^ a b c John Lewis, "Manic beat preacher", The Guardian, 6 March 2009.
  4. ^ Examples of Gilad Atzmon in Counterpunch: Collective Self-Deception: The Most Common Mistakes of Israelis, August 28, 2003; [http://www.counterpunch.org/atzmon07102009.html The Left and Islam: Thinking Outside of the Secular Box, July 10-12, 2009.
  5. ^ Examples of Gilad Atzmon in Al Jazeera: Caught between sobbing and war chants, , July 30, 2008;Deception, spin and lies, October 22, 2009.
  6. ^ Gilad Atzmon, Purim Special, From Esther to AIPAC, Uruknet, March 3, 2007.
  7. ^ Examples of Gilad Atzmon in Middle East Online: Vengeance, Barbarism and Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, Middle East Online, September 22, 2009; Autumn in Shanghai, October 20, 2009.
  8. ^ Examples of Gilad Atzmon in Dissident VoiceWho Is a Jew?, October 6, 2009; The Pathology of Evil:PM Netanyahu’s UN Speech, September 29, 2009.
  9. ^ Politiks at Gilad Atzmon web site.
  10. ^ About PalestineThinkTank.com page.
  11. ^ a b Mary Rizzo, "Who's Afraid of Gilad Atzmon?", CounterPunch, 17 June 2005.
  12. ^ a b c d e Gibson, Martin (23 January 2009). "No choice but to speak out - Israeli musician 'a proud self-hating Jew'". Gisborne Herald. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
  13. ^ In Lexicon of Resistance Gilad Atzmon explains his definitions of Jew, Judaism, Jewish ideology and other charged phrases.
  14. ^ Polly Curtis, Soas faces action over alleged anti-semitism, The Guardian, May 12, 2004.
  15. ^ Atzmon, Gilad (24 April 2005). "Letters to the Editor". The Observer. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
  16. ^ Social Democrats invited known anti-Semite to seminar, The Local, March 23, 2007.
  17. ^ Gilad Atzmon interview, in "Eleftherotypia" (Greek Sunday Paper), 11 January, 2009; and Barnaby Smith, Sax With An Axe To Grind, Interview with Gilad Atzmon in London Tour Dates magazine, October 5, 2006
  18. ^ Oren Ben-Dor, 'The Silencing of Gilad Atzmon', CounterPunch, March 15, 2008.
  19. ^ Gilad Atzmon, The Wandering Who?, Palestine Think Tank, September 9, 2008.
  20. ^ Gilad Atzmon, Aaronvitch's Tantrum and the Demolition of Jewish Power, Palestine Think Tank, April 7, 2009.
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