[Peace-discuss] American Jews Call for Immediate Ceasefire, End of Gaza Blockade

[Marti Wilkinson]

This brings to mind the work of Stuart Hall who has examined the
intersection of culture, media, and identity.

http://books.google.com/books?id=EPENAAAAQAAJ&dq=Stuart+Hall&printsec=frontcover&source=an&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result#PPP1,M1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTzMsPqssOY



On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 9:24 AM, David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Well, OK, perhaps it should. But Jewish opposition to the invasion of Iraq
> doesn't translate into any active opposition to Israel's behavior. Even if
> 2/3 were opposed, it would be interesting to know how many lifted a finger,
> especially in relation to the Jewish milieu, whose leaders were outspoken in
> favor. And it doesn't mean much in terms of Israel or the general war in
> soutwest Asia that 75% of Jews voted for Obama, because there's little
> evidence that the majority would support a firm and principled movement
> towards peace in I/P, or that they expect Obama to. Having said that, I take
> heart from Finkelstein's perspective that Jews are overwhelmingly liberal
> and that they are beginning to distance themselves from Israel, because they
> can see that Israel's state policies are anti-liberal in the best sense of
> liberal. Referring to Carl's recent post, I suspect that Jews for Obama are
> disproportionately represented among the co-opted.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Robert Naiman <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com>
> To: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
> Cc: Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 12:26:07 AM
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] American Jews Call for Immediate Ceasefire,
> End of Gaza Blockade
>
> Perhaps it "shouldn't" matter, in some abstract sense, but it does
> matter, a great deal, whether one likes it or not.
>
> On Tue, Dec 30, 2008 at 9:29 PM, David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> > Bob,
> >
> > You say that 2/3 of American Jews opposed the invasion of Iraq. I've had
> it in my head all these years that 2/3 supported it, that same as in the
> general population. What Finkelstein has stressed is that Jewish
> institutional leadership was 100% behind it. Perhaps there's a way to look
> this up, if it matters.
> >
> > In any event, promoting Jewish opposition to American-Israeli crimes
> shouldn't undermine a pointed challenge to Jewish institutional leadership,
> including locally, in the context of the larger antiwar movement. It
> shouldn't matter one whit if Jews have a minyan in opposition to these mass
> murders. As has already been noted on this list, both JStreet and Brit
> Tzedek are playing politics more than principles.  Basically, they're
> Zionism lite. They're trying to mute a more principled critique of Jewish
> institutions and American  support for Israel with what amounts to insider
> political posturing. I think it's called triangulation.
> >
> > Jewish Voice for Peace, which incorporated Not in My Name (Chicago),
> takes a principled approach, and is actually connected to the antiwar
> movement. JStreet and Brit Tzedek are clearly not, insofar as I can tell.
> >
> > I think that the peace movement needs to avoid identity politics. We all
> get to oppose anyone on the basis of their behavior. The institutional
> support for American-Israeli atrocities extends from religious to secular to
> academic in this community, especially with an "Israel Studies" program as
> part of the Program for Jewish Culture and Society that in the most
> blatantly racist fashion is assumed to be referring exclusively to Jewish
> Israelis.
> >
> > The N-G, in almost a caricature of pro-Israel bias, carries a large front
> page picture of the funeral of the one Israeli who has died in these events.
> They also have a picture of a wounded Palestinian boy, but not one of the
> hundreds dead.
> >
> > In any event, as things develop, the antiwar movement needs to make it
> clear that Israel, our own government, and Jewish institutional leadership
> are promoting crimes against humanity. There should be  a huge fuss at the
> local level, implicating all aspects of support for Israel. Let's not worry
> about predictable charges of anti-semitism. We have a newspaper that at
> least prints all letters, and we should exploit that. One minor consequence
> might be that some Jews wake up to what "Jewish culture and society" really
> is about at the present time, academic self-absorption aside.
> >
> > David
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----
> > From: Robert Naiman <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com>
> > To: Peace-discuss List <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
> > Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 6:03:36 PM
> > Subject: [Peace-discuss] American Jews Call for Immediate Ceasefire, End
> of Gaza Blockade
> >
> > Here I summarize what some of the different groups are saying.
> >
> >
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/american-jews-call-for-im_b_154353.html
> >
> > http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/12/30/184135/96/699/678667
> >
> > http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/38577
> >
> > --
> > Robert Naiman
> > Just Foreign Policy
> > www.justforeignpolicy.org
> > naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
> >
> > Promote Concrete Steps to Engage Iran
> > http://www.change.org/ideas/view/take_concrete_steps_to_engage_iran
> > (follow the link, click the blue box at left to vote for this idea to
> > be presented to President Obama)
> > _______________________________________________
> > Peace-discuss mailing list
> > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> > http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Robert Naiman
> Just Foreign Policy
> www.justforeignpolicy.org
> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
>
> Promote Concrete Steps to Engage Iran
> http://www.change.org/ideas/view/take_concrete_steps_to_engage_iran
> (follow the link, click the blue box at left to vote for this idea to
> be presented to President Obama)
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
>
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