I'm suffering a bit of Gilad Atzmon fatigue so I didn't noticed this email to the Just Peace list until someone sent it to me. Atzmon had someone post it for him because he doesn't approve of people identifying as Jews so he won't join a "powerful lobby" like
Just Peace UK. Anyway here it is:
This is to confirm that I am not a Holocaust denier, I have never denied the Nazi Judeocide and I do not have any intentions to do so in the near future. [not sure who's accused him of being a holocaust denier but he does admit - though not in this email - to distributing an article by holocaust denier Paul Eisen, albeit with slight disagreements] For me racism and Nazism are categorically wrong and it is that very realisation that made me into a devoted opponent of Israel and Zionism. For me, Zionism, being a racist expansionist movement, is no different from Nazi ideology. [standard anti-zionist stuff] In my writings, I try to suggest some alternative philosophical and ethical realisation of historical narratives and current world affairs. [he rambles and contradicts himself and he denounces Jews as Jews] This of course applies to the Holocaust. I would argue that atrocities should be realised in ideological terms rather than in measurable positive terms. Rather occasionally I question the impact of the Holocaust as a "mean of justification". I try to scrutinise its role within western politics and discourse. [don't we all? Now get to the point]In fact, I am not interested at all in the debate concerning the scale of Jewish casualties. As we all know, it wasn't only Jews who died in that bloody war and it isn't the number that makes the difference. For me the Holocaust isn't a question of quantity but rather a moral lesson, it is search into the essence of being amongst others. These ideas make me very unpopular amongst Zionists and their supporters.[thanks for that - all anti-zionists are unpopular with zionists and if anything Atzmon has got off very lightly when it comes to zionist denunciations. The problem with zionists is that they have been falsely accusing good people of anti-semitism for so long now, they don't notice the real thing - anyway, get to the point]
I may mention as well that I am a Jazz musician and a novelist. I am not a politician; [nebach!]I have never been a member in any political party. I am acting independently. I am not associated with any political body and I do not intend to be associated with one in the foreseeable future. I deeply believe in an open intellectual exchange in which people with many different and opposing views can hear and be heard. I do believe that we must learn to listen to our opponents. Unless we do that we will never win. I would argue that any form of discourse is acceptable as long as it doesn't bridge the elementary ethical barrier i.e. endorsing violence and discrimination.[and of course Israel Shamir's reiteration of the medieval blood libel and Paul Eisen's holocaust denial and sympathy for Hitler are elementarily ethical?]
I do believe that those who try to block me at the moment are in fact the gravest opponents of our society. [Tony Greenstein, Deborah Maccoby, Roland Rance and me] They are fighting against the most basic notion of human liberty.[we are fighting against anti-semitism in this instance] Their tactics which include: censorship, defamation and smear campaigns, [examples?]are the essence of Zionist political practice.[well we are Jews after all] For those who already managed to forget, burning books and exclusion were Nazi common strategies. [The nazis weren't noted for their discernment over who should or shouldn't attend socialist gatherings and they positively approved of anti-semitism] Those who try to stop me from appearing in Marxism 2005 next month and Bookmarks later this week are in fact reactionary forces who aim to shatter the most intrinsic notion of intellectual life. They fight against freedom of speech, freedom of interpretation and ideological diversity. They are trying to forcefully implant their obscure views
in the very core of British left discourse.[I think I'm going to be sick - excuse me] It is devastating to find out that those non-progressive calls are expressed under the banner of British Jewish left (Anti Zionist Jews, JPUK etc'). [this is a complete lie from Atzmon - check this "By contrast, I really do not understand those who fight Zionism in the name of their secular Jewish identity. I have never understood them. I have never really understood what secularism means for the Jewish people. Do they refer to a hidden core of Jewish secular ethic philosophy? I have always failed to understand those secular Jews who declare "not in my name", those who claim to be "atheists" and "enlightened humanists" but at the same time talk in the name of a strange tribal brotherhood."] - I would rather prefer to believe that after such a long history of Jewish suffering, left Jews would position themselves of the forefront of the battle against discrimination and defamation. [this is why he calls Tony Greenstein and Roland Rance "under-cover zionists"] - No doubt many Jews do and I am very thankful for that.[but how will you know they're Jewish? they have to renounce it remember?]
I am engaged here in a ferocious battle against a very powerful and influential lobby of people who lack any sense of moral awareness or intellectual integrity. [as already said, the zionist movement, probably through ignorance, has been very kind to Atzmon so he is referring to Jews like myself] I may as well mention that I don't have any plans to give up.[it's the SWP who should be giving Atzmon up] And yet, I use this opportunity to call my opponents to attend the coming events and to engage themselves in a fruitful dialogue with me and everybody else.
Gilad Atzmon
Sorry to repeat on previous posts but Gilad Atzmon doesn't explain how one engages in fruitful dialogue with someone who says
Even though the Jews only make up 2.9 per cent of the country's population, an astounding 56 per cent of Clinton's appointees were Jews. A coincidence? I don't think so. . . we must begin to take the accusation that the Jewish people are trying to control the world very seriously. . . American Jewry makes any debate on whether the 'Protocols of the elder of Zion' are an authentic document or rather a forgery irrelevant. American Jews do try to control the world, by proxy. . . the Jews were responsible for the killing of Jesus
and then that
to act as a Jew against Zionism is just a silly mistake that leads nowhere
and again that
If Israel is the state of the Jewish people and the Jewish people themselves do not stand up collectively against the crimes that are committed on their behalf, then every Jewish person, Jewish symbol and Jewish object becomes an Israeli interest and a potential terrorist target. It is up to the Jewish people to take a stand against their Jewish state and to disassociate themselves from their zealous national movement
He can say one thing, then the opposite thing, both with equal conviction. Let him engage in "fruitful dialogue" with himself. There's still time to call this thing off.
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