National PSC and Gilad Atzmon
Last November, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign was forced to distance itself from Gilad Atzmon. Its director, Sarah Colborne, told the Jewish Chronicle:
PSC has made clear … that we have no links with Gilad Atzmon, and that Palestine Solidarity Campaign does not work with him.
You can read more details on the background here, here and here.
This message, however, didn’t appear to get through to the Bristol branch who organised a meeting with Atzmon for the 29th of January 2012. Then, last week, a comment appeared from a representative of Bristol PSC stating:
Gilad is well known for his outspoken criticism of Israel and Zionism which will be of interest to many people. However his book focuses primarily on Jewish identity and is not directly relevant to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. For this reason this event is now organised independently.
I think it’s fair to say that the statement is far from being a denunciation of his anti-Semitism. It doesn’t enlighten us as to who is now organising the already organised event. The only people involved in the original arrangements were Bristol PSC, why did they not cancel the event?
More interestingly, it appears that nobody told Gilad that Bristol PSC was no longer organising the event. After an article written (published 28th January by Atzmon), defending expelled Holocaust denier Francis Clark-Lowes, he makes the following comment (left the following day):
Interestingly enough I give a talk today at Bristol PSC. I will probably end up discussing those issues…
It certainly seems like an odd situation. First the PSC claims that it has nothing to do with Atzmon and then one of its branches organises an event entitled “Tea with Gilad Atzmon”. Then the branch apparently has a change of heart but doesn’t cancel the event, instead telling everyone that it is being organised by someone else. Yet Atzmon still thinks he’s talking to the PSC.
Would it be going too far to suggest that the organisers of the event are still Bristol PSC and the attendees are still going to be PSC supporters and members and the only thing that has changed is that the PSC has tried to pretend that it isn’t organising it?
Maybe someone from Bristol PSC can clear this up?
Osman at 10:43 pm
the complete oosppite. I ask: How is it that people living today feel accountable or chased for a crime committed by their great great ancestors almost 2,000 ago? In other words, I find it astonishing that people today happen to be offended by such accusations.Lenni: Am I responsible? Do I have to atone for his death? Do I have to accept that he rose from the dead?Gilad: Lenni, do I look like a shrink? I really leave this question to you. It is you who should answer whether you feel’ responsible or not. By no means does my text imply that you or anyone else is responsible. The text says that those who are offended are those who identify themselves with Jesus’s killers. Those who would commit this murderous act today. Accordingly, it is you who should ask yourself whether you would commit such a crime today.Once again, you may want to refine your question. The question you want to ask is whether I BELIEVE that you are responsible.No is the answer. I don’t BELIEVE that you are responsible; moreover I KNOW that you are not responsible. Nevertheless, my text implies as well that you MAY not be as innocent as you wish to be.In my text I stress that I assume that those Jews who get angry when blamed for killing Jesus are those who identify themselves with Jesus’s killers. Those who would commit this murderous act today. Seemingly, you are angry’, you feel accused of something without even being accused of anything. On the face of it, the question you have to ask yourself is whether you identify yourself with Christ’s killers? I am pretty sure that you don’t and you shouldn’t be. However, I must tell you that the cyber kangaroo courts that you and your friends hold on a daily basis reminds me too much of the Sanhedrin. I suggest that you think about that as well for a while.Somehow you and those like you know what is good for the Palestinians, the Jews, the working class. I occasionally ask myself what it is that makes you so confident. You and your followers indeed have managed to silence some of the most interesting intellects around just because you do not approve their politics or religion. I am afraid to inform you Lenni, that these days are over. Your six UK disciples are working day and night for more than three years doing their very best to silence me, I am afraid to tell you that they fail. In fact they achieve the oosppite instead.I do not feel sorry for them because they have really zero reputation to defend. But I really feel sorry for you Lenni. You are an important contributor to the Israeli-Palestinian discourse. Your books are more than valuable. You have a reputation to defend. I would like to see you in the midst of the discourse rather than surrounded by the last shadows of echoes of tribal socialism.Just before closing this email I will sharpen the differences between us.Unlike you Lenni, I believe in freedom of speech. Unlike you Lenni, I am against gatekeeping, I am also against any form of dogmatic or monolithic discourses of hegemony. Unlike you and your friends, I believe that every human subject is entitled to human rights. Unlike you Lenni, I approve of the Hamas. Unlike you Lenni, I understand that working class politics has very little relevance in Arabia.Yet, I have never tried to silence anyone, on the contrary. I will fight for your right to speak your mind.Lenni: Thanks, in advance, for your time and trouble in this regard,Gilad: It was my entire pleasure.London, February 11, 2007