With radicalized students setting up Gaza solidarity encampments across America, our attention is being drawn to inevitable police crackdowns rather than Bibi Netanyahu's plan to invade Rafah.
Good work, Micah, sustaining the conversation, argumentation, and learning (the "tradition"). I can't help reflecting on how Berkeley 64 was used by Reagan 66 or Chicago 68 used by Nixon 68.
Thanks, Marshall! Ted Morgan, who wrote What Really Happened to the 1960s, makes this point especially regarding how mainstream media covers protests by highlighting the most spectacular and inflammatory content, creating the impression that they're all violent and disorderly and fueling demand for "law and order" crackdowns.
The term "genocidal zionists" has now entered the public discourse. "Jewish intellectuals" like Naomi Klein are disavowing the entire "delusional" concept of zionism, citing the pre-Shoah lukewarm reception of a "Jewish national home in Palestine." Where did the Bundists go? Hmm, what happened to those people? She, like others, cites Hannah Arendt's questioning of the efficacy of the Zionist project (like the mythical Golem in German-speaking Prague) but leave the part out about the exiled philosopher's years in Paris working for Youth Aliyah to get as many young Jews out of the Reich as possible. The bitch - as many Jews saw her post-Eichmann in Jerusalem - was actively engaging in displacing future indigenous Palestinian grandchildren & great-grandchildren. Klein, whom I have admired, is on the board of Jewish Voice for Peace. Setting aside the improbability of there being a singular (Jewish) Voice, I found years before October 7 that it expressed boundless anger but not one ounce of sadness, i.e. heart. (Five years, their benevolence towards the "great unwashed" Sephardi & Mizrahi communities for some reason didn't sit well: https://www.jimena.org/sephardic-and-mizrahi-communal-response-to-jewish-voice-for-peace/ )
JFREJ - with an inestimable domestic rights record - hired two ex-JVP staffers for policy posts. IfNotNow, which is much needed now, began to precisely match that single Voice, despite maintaining a different, more thoughtful essence on its website. I ceased my recurring monthly donations to those two - as all three now seem to really be one & also wonder how the Jewish Right - which tends to be wrong - snuffed out Open Hillel. Talk about a suffocating institution. There should be no surprise when the Netanyahu (& Smotrich & Ben-Gvir) loving Chabad's campus reps urge all Jewish students to flee.
This is from today's Haaretz: Israel at War newsletter:
"Israel's universities should be seething with protests just as much as Columbia and Yale. If not, Israel's ostensibly enlightened and liberal academia will remain identified with Israel's government and its destructive policies. As long as the universities and the students remain placid, there is no point calling on academics around the world to relate any differently to official Israel and the country's academics who want to be perceived as peace seekers" - Shany Littman
Micah, this is another informative and well-thought-out piece, with historical perspective. What I find most remarkable about this campus "wave" is how narrow it is and how common sense seems to have evaded the administrations of Columbia, UCLA, and others. You can't just let noisy and aggressive sectarians take over the campus and university agendas. These are schools with 30,000 students or more and a few hundred on a few campuses become hailed by mainstream press and others as a "wave of student unrest" when really they are just noisy ripples in the student population, Does every sincere student group with a noble cause (animal rights, Syrian rebels against Assad, Ukrainians, native Americans, green energy wonks, etc) get to pitch tents and stop all the other music? If one group preempts space with a tent camp, does another sincere group get to occupy the occupiers' occupation? Do the last of the Mohicans have equitable title to the Columbia campus? And where does this go? A sad irony is that these folks are creating campaign fodder for Trump.
In relation to parts of this article and most of your previous article (anti-imperialism of fools), I contend that it is not the left that will block or destroy a movement like Standing Together. The history of the labor, civil rights anti-war and feminist movements provides ample evidence that the presence and strength of radicals and revolutionaries enabled the emergence and success of progressive change. I think you know that it is the armed, right wing Zionists now in power that will crush the “moderate” movement for peace and justice especially if the “moderates” are not protected on their left flank. By way of example, JVP, by default, enables J-Street. AIPAC would like to brand J-Street the radical left. Hail then to those with alternative and equitable and radical vision. Bbess their souls that they firmly believe that Palestinians and Jews can live together in the promised land from the river to the sea.
Howard: I get the "SNCC to the SCLC" point of radicals and moderates each working parallel channels, holding different roles and enabling progress against the status quo. This works if they're indeed working toward the same goal. You suggest that JVP and J St want the same thing. Perhaps they are. I don't think SJP is.
Howard, That a JVP or an If Not Now may be a good thing for J Street (in some ways) is a merely a consequence; it does not speak either to the merits of their positions or other consequences of their conduct. For the avoidance of doubt, this post is not intended to be a criticism of such merits or consequences (perhaps reserved for another time); it merely addresses the logic of your argument.
Thanks Micah, Reading it from my perch in Tel Aviv, your article really helps me understand both the developments and the dynamics of the current protest movement. I particularly appreciate the distinction between what should be a call to "stop the war" and the call to "stop the genocide". What a true Palestinian solidarity movement should be doing is calling for an end to the war, an end to the occupation and a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for the sake of both peoples. That of course requires empathy for both Palestinians and Israelis, something that the majority of the protesters don't seem to have.
You tend to focus too much on extremes, and your piece is too long. There are plenty of rational, moderate people out there. We also don't need a blow-by-blow of everything you know. I'm not motivated to be a paid subscriber.
Good work, Micah, sustaining the conversation, argumentation, and learning (the "tradition"). I can't help reflecting on how Berkeley 64 was used by Reagan 66 or Chicago 68 used by Nixon 68.
Thanks, Marshall! Ted Morgan, who wrote What Really Happened to the 1960s, makes this point especially regarding how mainstream media covers protests by highlighting the most spectacular and inflammatory content, creating the impression that they're all violent and disorderly and fueling demand for "law and order" crackdowns.
The term "genocidal zionists" has now entered the public discourse. "Jewish intellectuals" like Naomi Klein are disavowing the entire "delusional" concept of zionism, citing the pre-Shoah lukewarm reception of a "Jewish national home in Palestine." Where did the Bundists go? Hmm, what happened to those people? She, like others, cites Hannah Arendt's questioning of the efficacy of the Zionist project (like the mythical Golem in German-speaking Prague) but leave the part out about the exiled philosopher's years in Paris working for Youth Aliyah to get as many young Jews out of the Reich as possible. The bitch - as many Jews saw her post-Eichmann in Jerusalem - was actively engaging in displacing future indigenous Palestinian grandchildren & great-grandchildren. Klein, whom I have admired, is on the board of Jewish Voice for Peace. Setting aside the improbability of there being a singular (Jewish) Voice, I found years before October 7 that it expressed boundless anger but not one ounce of sadness, i.e. heart. (Five years, their benevolence towards the "great unwashed" Sephardi & Mizrahi communities for some reason didn't sit well: https://www.jimena.org/sephardic-and-mizrahi-communal-response-to-jewish-voice-for-peace/ )
JFREJ - with an inestimable domestic rights record - hired two ex-JVP staffers for policy posts. IfNotNow, which is much needed now, began to precisely match that single Voice, despite maintaining a different, more thoughtful essence on its website. I ceased my recurring monthly donations to those two - as all three now seem to really be one & also wonder how the Jewish Right - which tends to be wrong - snuffed out Open Hillel. Talk about a suffocating institution. There should be no surprise when the Netanyahu (& Smotrich & Ben-Gvir) loving Chabad's campus reps urge all Jewish students to flee.
This is from today's Haaretz: Israel at War newsletter:
"Israel's universities should be seething with protests just as much as Columbia and Yale. If not, Israel's ostensibly enlightened and liberal academia will remain identified with Israel's government and its destructive policies. As long as the universities and the students remain placid, there is no point calling on academics around the world to relate any differently to official Israel and the country's academics who want to be perceived as peace seekers" - Shany Littman
Micah, this is another informative and well-thought-out piece, with historical perspective. What I find most remarkable about this campus "wave" is how narrow it is and how common sense seems to have evaded the administrations of Columbia, UCLA, and others. You can't just let noisy and aggressive sectarians take over the campus and university agendas. These are schools with 30,000 students or more and a few hundred on a few campuses become hailed by mainstream press and others as a "wave of student unrest" when really they are just noisy ripples in the student population, Does every sincere student group with a noble cause (animal rights, Syrian rebels against Assad, Ukrainians, native Americans, green energy wonks, etc) get to pitch tents and stop all the other music? If one group preempts space with a tent camp, does another sincere group get to occupy the occupiers' occupation? Do the last of the Mohicans have equitable title to the Columbia campus? And where does this go? A sad irony is that these folks are creating campaign fodder for Trump.
Dear Micah,
In relation to parts of this article and most of your previous article (anti-imperialism of fools), I contend that it is not the left that will block or destroy a movement like Standing Together. The history of the labor, civil rights anti-war and feminist movements provides ample evidence that the presence and strength of radicals and revolutionaries enabled the emergence and success of progressive change. I think you know that it is the armed, right wing Zionists now in power that will crush the “moderate” movement for peace and justice especially if the “moderates” are not protected on their left flank. By way of example, JVP, by default, enables J-Street. AIPAC would like to brand J-Street the radical left. Hail then to those with alternative and equitable and radical vision. Bbess their souls that they firmly believe that Palestinians and Jews can live together in the promised land from the river to the sea.
Howard: I get the "SNCC to the SCLC" point of radicals and moderates each working parallel channels, holding different roles and enabling progress against the status quo. This works if they're indeed working toward the same goal. You suggest that JVP and J St want the same thing. Perhaps they are. I don't think SJP is.
Howard, That a JVP or an If Not Now may be a good thing for J Street (in some ways) is a merely a consequence; it does not speak either to the merits of their positions or other consequences of their conduct. For the avoidance of doubt, this post is not intended to be a criticism of such merits or consequences (perhaps reserved for another time); it merely addresses the logic of your argument.
Thanks Micah, Reading it from my perch in Tel Aviv, your article really helps me understand both the developments and the dynamics of the current protest movement. I particularly appreciate the distinction between what should be a call to "stop the war" and the call to "stop the genocide". What a true Palestinian solidarity movement should be doing is calling for an end to the war, an end to the occupation and a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for the sake of both peoples. That of course requires empathy for both Palestinians and Israelis, something that the majority of the protesters don't seem to have.
You tend to focus too much on extremes, and your piece is too long. There are plenty of rational, moderate people out there. We also don't need a blow-by-blow of everything you know. I'm not motivated to be a paid subscriber.