[Peace-discuss] German Greens, Die Linke embarrass themselves

[C. G. Estabrook]

Yeah. There's a longish analysis (in German) in the anti-Zionist left paper, 
junge Welt, at <http://www.jungewelt.de/2010/03-02/022.php>.


Morton K. Brussel wrote:
> Ach!
> 
> --mkb
> 
> On Mar 5, 2010, at 9:22 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> 
>> 	Germany: Left Party, Greens cancel appearances
>> 	by historian Norman Finkelstein
>> 	By Stefan Steinberg
>> 	27 February 2010
>>
>> On short notice, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (RLS), which has
>> close links to the German Left Party, has canceled a meeting that
>> was to feature the American academic and expert on Israeli
>> politics and history, Norman Finkelstein. The meeting was due to
>> take place February 26th at the Berlin headquarters of the foundation.
>>
>> Professor Finkelstein, an American Jewish scholar, is known for
>> his trenchant criticism of Israeli policy. The son of Holocaust
>> survivors, Finkelstein is one of a growing number of Jewish
>> scholars who have made valuable contributions to the study of
>> Israeli history. He has been the target of relentless opposition
>> from right-wing and pro-Israeli forces.
>>
>> In particular, Finkelstein has been singled out for his opposition
>> to using the charge of antisemitism as a means of suppressing
>> criticism of Israel’s violations of human rights and international
>> law.
>>
>> The 55-year-old political science professor is best known for his
>> 2000 book, The Holocaust Industry, which argues that the Holocaust
>> has been exploited for ends—support for the Israeli state and
>> calls for reparations—that have nothing to do with historical
>> truth or the exposure of the Nazis’ genocidal policies.
>>
>> Finkelstein has also written critically of Daniel Goldhagen’s
>> book, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, which argued that the
>> Holocaust was the outcome of the inherent antisemitism of the
>> German people as a whole.
>>
>> In 2007, Finkelstein was denied tenure at Chicago’s DePaul
>> University, where he had been lecturing for six years, despite
>> support from his department, his students and the faculty of the
>> university, following pressure from opponents of his views, first
>> and foremost, prominent Zionists.
>>
>> One year later, in 2008, Finkelstein was denied entry when he
>> attempted to visit Israel. He was banned from entering Israel for
>> a period of year 10 years, allegedly for “security reasons.”
>>
>> Finkelstein was due to speak at two meetings in Berlin on the
>> current situation in the Middle East. The title of both meetings,
>> which were advertised at the end of January, was "Israel,
>> Palestine and the Goldstone Report on the Gaza War" (The Goldstone
>> report was commissioned by the United Nations and concluded that
>> Israel was guilty of war crimes in its assault on Gaza during the
>> winter of 2008-2009).
>>
>> The first meeting was planned at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation on
>> the afternoon of February 26, the second on the evening of the
>> same day at the Trinitatis Church in Berlin.
>>
>> Finkelstein had been invited to speak at the second meeting by the
>> Heinrich Böll Foundation, a think tank of the German Green Party
>> named after the famous German author, who was a founding member of
>> the Green Party. One of the co-sponsors of the meetings in Berlin
>> was the group Jewish Voices for a Just Settlement in the Middle East.
>>
>> The first organization to announce that it had canceled
>> Finkelstein’s appearance was the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Just a
>> few days ago, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation also announced it was
>> withdrawing its offer of facilities for Finkelstein to speak.
>>
>> One member of the RLS executive, Heinz Vietze, justified his
>> organization's cancellation of the meeting by arguing that the
>> foundation "had underestimated the political explosiveness" of a
>> lecture by Finkelstein.
>>
>> Another representative of the RLS, Erhard Crome, was more
>> explicit. Crome had supported Finkelstein's right to speak in
>> Berlin. In a contribution published in the newspaper Junge Welt,
>> Crome explained that the meeting was canceled after the organizers
>> learned that pro-Israel Left Party supporters were planning to
>> lobby the meeting in protest. In the face of this internal
>> opposition, the RLS immediately canceled the meeting.
>>
>> These actions by organizations affiliated with the Greens and the
>> Left Party represent blatant and cowardly acts of political
>> censorship. By canceling the meetings, both the Green Party and
>> the Left Party have made clear their opposition to any discussion
>> of the policies of the Israeli government and the consequences of
>> its invasion of Gaza.
>>
>> There is a long record of political support for the Israeli state
>> by the Greens, particularly from the period when it shared power
>> at the federal level in a coalition with the Social Democratic Party.
>>
>> Left Party support for the Israeli state is more recent, but
>> leading members of the party have made clear their determination
>> to back Israel and provide apologetics for its crimes.
>>
>> In January 2009, the chairman of the Left Party in Berlin, Klaus
>> Lederer, spoke at a demonstration in support of the Israeli
>> assault on Gaza. Echoing Israel’s propaganda in support of an
>> indiscriminate attack on defenseless Palestinian civilians,
>> Lederer declared at the time, "Nothing, absolutely nothing
>> justifies the firing of shells and rockets on populated areas of
>> the [Israeli] civilian population… For me, that is the starting
>> point of any discussion in our country…." He was referring to
>> scattered shelling attacks carried out by the Palestinian Hamas
>> organisation.
>>
>> Lederer made no mention in his speech of the destruction of
>> densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip by Israeli troops,
>> planes and armor.
>>
>> The pro-Israel course of the Left party is sanctioned by its top
>> leadership. It was the chairman of the Left Party parliamentary
>> faction, Gregor Gysi, who set in motion the party's new course in
>> the spring of 2008, when he made a speech calling for a
>> reorientation of the party's political line with regard to Israel.
>> Gysi rejected the term "imperialistic" in characterizing Israeli
>> policy, and called upon the “left” to acknowledge the right of
>> existence of the state of Israel.
>>
>> Now the principal think tank of the Left Party has acted to censor
>> a leading critic of Israeli policy.
>>
>> Unconditional support for Israeli policy is a cornerstone of
>> German foreign policy. The Left Party's "reorientation of
>> political line" with regard to Israel, including its censoring of
>> Professor Finkelstein, is a clear signal by the party leadership
>> that it is prepared to accept and defend all of the military and
>> security priorities of the German Foreign Ministry.
>>
>> http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/left-f27.shtml
>>
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