Literature

NOVANEWS by David Swanson   Sibel Edmonds’ new book, “Classified Woman,” is like an FBI file on the FBI, only without the incompetence. The experiences she recounts resemble K.’s trip to the castle, as told by Franz Kafka, only without the pleasantness and humanity. I’ve read a million reviews of nonfiction books about our government that referred to them as “page-turners” and “gripping dramas,” but I had never read a book that actually fit that description until now. The F.B.I., the Justice Department, the White House, the Congress, the courts, the media, and the nonprofit industrial complex put Sibel Edmonds through hell.  This book is her triumph over it all, and part of her contribution toward fixing the problems she uncovered and lived through. Edmonds took a job as a tr...

NOVANEWS By Mazin Qumsiyeh www.redress.cc Palestinian academic Mazin Qumsiyeh argues that Gilad Atzmon’s book The Wandering Who? provides invaluable insight into the ideology of Jewishness – crucial for understanding Israeli behaviour and the conflict in the Middle East – and urges people to engage with the ideas laid out in the book rather than dismiss it or seek to censor it. About nine years ago I entertained the notion of writing a book on “group identities” so that I can explain the concepts that cause a lot of society’s ills. Both World War I and World War II emanated from interpretations of nationalism (a group identity), and the conflict in Palestine mostly emanates from another group identity called Zionism. The horrors of the Crusades came from the group identity of Christen...

The dysfunctional ideology of Jewishness By Mazin Qumsiyeh Palestinian academic Mazin Qumsiyeh argues that Gilad Atzmon’s book The Wandering Who? provides invaluable insight into the ideology of Jewishness – crucial for understanding Israeli behaviour and the conflict in the Middle East – and urges people to engage with the ideas laid out in the book rather than dismiss it or seek to censor it. About nine years ago I entertained the notion of writing a book on “group identities” so that I can explain the concepts that cause a lot of society’s the ills. Both World War I and World War II emanated from interpretations of nationalism (a group identity), and the conflict in Palestine mostly emanates from another group identity called Zionism. The horrors of the Crusaders came from the group...

NOVANEWS GILAD ATZMON Introduction by Gilad Atzmon When I met Paul Eisen back in 2001, he was the most respected Palestinian solidarity activist in Britain. At the time Eisen was the UK director of Deir Yassin Remembered (DYR) – an organization which memorialises the seminal massacre of the Palestinian villagers of Deir Yassin. Eisen transformed the solidarity discourse. He managed to locate the Palestinian plight in general and DYR, in particular, at the very centre of the public discourse. He also managed to gain the support of the Palestinian and Arab communities  - something most other Palestinian solidarity organisations have singularly failed to achieve. But, in the proximity of Deir Yassin to the Jewish Holocaust memorial at Yad Vashem, DYR and Eisen found meaning. Jewish s...

NOVANEWS Gilad Atzmon, The Wandering Who? A Study of Jewish Identity Politics (Ropley, Hampshire, UK: Zero Books, 2011). Pp.177. Paperback. ISBN-13: 9781846948756. Review by Mazin Qumsiyeh Copy Right: Holy Land Studies, May 2012, Vol. 11, No. 1 : pp. 99-101 About nine years ago, I entertained the notion of writing a book on “group identities” so that I can understand these concepts that cause a lot of the ills of society.  Both WWI and WWII emanated from interpretations of nationalism (a group identity) and the conflict in Palestine mostly emanates from another group identity called Zionism. The horrors of the Crusaders came from the group identity of Christendom. There is an issue now with the notions of (Political) “Islamism" ala Osama Bin Laden.  I am still exploring and reading on thi...

NOVANEWS Historical parallels are never exact. But it is not unusual for us to see moments from the past resonating with moments of the present. by James M Wall “Throw Their Dirty, Filthy Ships Out of the Water!” In the 2006 movie, Amazing Grace, John Newton shouts these words at William Wilberforce, a member of Parliament who was the leader of  a 19th century fight to  force the British government to bar British ships and ports from participating in the slave trade. The “dirty, filthy ships” to which Newton refers are slave ships which sailed from England to Africa and then to the New World. Newton (Albert Finney) delivers his demand to his younger friend Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd) at a time when the younger man was faltering in his struggle against pro-slavery members of  Parliamen...

NOVANEWS Angelina Jolie’s film interrupted in Moscow    Accused of Aiding War Criminals   Angelina Jolie’s film “In the Land of Blood and Honey” has already  flopped in Serbia – the film’s premiere attracted just 13 people. Jolie’s work has invoked severe criticism of Serbian public, because  they considered that film as a biased, which reflects Muslims’ viewpoint  on the war. In Moscow, on the 31st of March, 2012, the film’s demonstration was interrupted by the Russian patriotic organization “Russky Obraz”, the members of which burst into  the showing room, unrolled a transparent reading “Killed Serbs? No, we  didn’t hear about it” with Angelina Jolie’s face depicted with blood at  her mouth. Two activists chanted slogans “Stop lies!”, “Serbs are  brothers!” and “Bosnia i...

NOVANEWS http://www.deliberation.info/ The Brighton-based ‘Wandering Who? Reading Group’ met for the third time on Wednesday 11th April, this time in a tower block with a fantastic, if dizzying, view over Brighton & Hove. We were considering Chapters 4 and 5 of Gilad Atmon’s book, ‘The Sabra, the Settler and the Disapora Jew’, and ‘Fagin vs. Einstein’ respectively. Atzmon makes an interesting distinction between the Sabra, a native born Israeli whose ideal is to be tough outside and tender inside, and the Settler, who dispenses with any idea of compassion. The Sabra ‘can ethnically cleanse the entire Palestinian nation on Friday and then attend a “Peace Now” demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening.’ In this he is the negation of the soft Diaspora Jew. While he resembles a G...

NOVANEWS GILAD ATZMON http://www.silviacattori.net/ An Interview with Gilad Atzmon La Parabole d'Esther : Anatomie du Peuple Élu to buy on Amazon.fr click here Following the publication of the French edition of the “The Wandering Who ?” we asked the jazz star Gilad Atzmon to respond to some charges made against him by those who relentlessly try to stop him from speaking and spread his thoughts.   In his book Gilad is critical of Jewish identity politics. He is also highly critical of Jewish political domination within the Left and the Palestinian solidarity movement in particular. Collected by Silvia Cattori, Gilad’s answers expose the vacuous arguments employed by those who are determined to silence him by way of deception, intimidation and slander. Silvia Cattori: Your ...

Who are these men? What are they to me, These dead men From a land across the sea? They dared against the British Raj To raise their hand. If my own countrymen decreed their death Why should I take a stand? But The British Ruling Class That these men defied Plundered with sword and gun and sly intrigue. Their modern spawn Smile with imperialist pride And, guns behind their backs And lackeys in their league, Plunder away still more And keep the plundered poor. That Class, Born in my land of birth, Are not my kith and kin! My eyes must not be dazzled By shared whiteness of their skin! For the great imperial heel, That straddles o’er the globe And tramples the oppressed of foreign lands, Takes balance from the other boot we feel. On both its feet imperialism stands. Small comfort th...