PeaceNews' Book Review - The Wandering Who?

Gilad Atzmon: The Wandering Who? A Study of Jewish identity Politics

http://peacenews.info/

Zero Books, 2011; 215pp; £8.99.

Gilad Atzmon has created a firestorm of controversy with this examination of Jewish identity, so I read it with some trepidation.

In the end I found it an engaging read, simply written, about complex ideas. He refuses to hedge words, to compromise in order to create allies, and in some cases he seems to have gone over the top, intentionally provoking friends and enemies alike.

Atzmon grew up in Israel, the grandson of one of the radical founders of Israel. As a youth, his burgeoning fascination with the saxophone and jazz music led him to a different understanding of Zionism - something cemented by his experiences in the Israeli Defence Force.

Now a well known international jazz musician, his irrepressible, emotional style flows through this book.

Atzmon’s main target is Jewish exceptionalism, and he dissects the phenomenon using the tools of his education in philosophy. And while one suspects that Atzmon is more comfortable as a musician than as a philosopher, what he discovers is critical in understanding Jewish identity and the continuing evolution of Israel.

This book is directed primarily at Jews, but anyone interested in identity politics – or in any aspect of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict – will find it fascinating, if a little bit like watching someone smashing windows.

Jazz Education this summer..

http://www.international.jazzwerkstatt.de/

Come and study Jazz with legendary saxophonist Bobby Watson, myself and an exceptional roster of 14  internationally acclaimed artists/teachers, Intensive study - some 6 hours tuition per day, including supervised rehearsals, instrumental classes, group workshops and ensemble sessions, free admission to all concerts given by members of the faculty and guest artists, a stimulating programme of activities to develop musicianship skills and awareness

International Jazzworkshop:
Workshop 10 - 14 august 2012

Saarwellingen, Germany

To book click here

http://youtu.be/5oY_qB9pIZU

Teachers and performers

• Gilad Atzmon - UK, Israel (alto sax, clarinet)
• Bruce Barth - USA (piano)
• Deborah Brown - USA (vocals)
• Garrison Fewell - USA, Italy (guitar)
• Eddie Hick - UK (drums)
• Duncan Hopkins - USA (guitar)
• Stephen Keogh - Ireland (drums)
• Claus Krisch - Germany (piano)
• Francesco Petreni - UK (drums, percussion)
• Guillermo Rozenthuler - Argentina (vocals)
• Arnie Somogyi - UK (bass)
• Luciano Vida - Italy, Spain (body coordination, taiji)
• Thilo Wagner - Germany (piano)
• Bobby Watson - USA (alto sax)

On Choseness and Kosher Independence

By Gilad Atzmon

Last week the Canadian Jewish Independent  decided to look into the notion of “choseness” only to find that Jewish supremacy is actually “kosher” since everyone else also wants to be chosen. “Is there any religion on earth that does claim its adherents are chosen as God’s special children?” asks this Jewish outlet. So, rather than look into the mirror, the Jewish Independent simply blames the Goyim for wanting to be Jews  “Our (Jewish) ancient ancestors may have trademarked the term, but when we look at the theology and behavior of other major religions, it is they, as much or more so than Jews, who behave as if they are God’s chosen.”

The Jewish Independent writes: “In both Islam and Christianity, entrance to heaven is available only to those who adhere to the word of the earthly messengers of the divine.” But for some reason, the Jewish outlet fails to inform its readership that unlike Judaism that is tribal, uniquely nationalist and racially exclusive, Christianity and Islam are inclusive, universal and open to all.   

But it isn’t just Judaism that the Canadian Jewish Independent is there to vindicate. After all, the Jewish Independent is also a devoted Zionist outlet. For the sake of defending Israel, the Jewish paper would slander every nation on the face of our planet. “Nations too, are founded on a form of chosenness, a chauvinism that manifests in forms ranging from harmless football rivalries to war. And yet, who gets the guff for being uppity? Oh yeah, this century, like others, it’s still the Jews.”

It seems as if, for some peculiar reason, the Jewish Independent has failed to notice that the Zionism and the ‘Jews-only state’ have been celebrating Jewish choseness at the expense of the Palestinians and Arabs for more than a century. However, In case independent Canadian Jews fail to notice, I must remind them that seven million Palestinian refugees are still waiting for the Jewish state to allow them to return to their homes, villages, cities and land.

Click to read more ...

Family Guy Offends Hollywood Jews

Israeli Summer- Thousands of Israeli protesters clash with police

 

When the summers comes, it is too hot for Israelis to stay at home. This is when the Israelis are awaken to their 'social problems'.

Haaretz reported this morning

"Police arrested 89 demonstrators after more than 6,500 people converged in and around Tel Aviv's Habima Square on Saturday night, protesting the arrest on Friday of Daphni Leef, a leader of last summer's social protest movement.

The protesters blocked Ibn Gabirol Street north to Rabin Square, before moving and blocking Ayalon highway. Around 20 demonstrators were removed by police after breaking into branches of Hapoalim, Leumi and Discount banks."

I guess that the only way to calm the Israelis protesters down is to award them with an escalation in Gaza..

Hebonics Declared a Second Language at New York Public Schools

GA: The following self-loving satire appears on various Jewish websites. I didn't manage to identify the source.

The New York City Public Schools have officially declared Jewish English, now dubbed Hebonics, as a second language. Backers of the move say the city schools are the first in the nation to recognize Hebonics as a valid language and a significant attribute of American culture. According to Howard Ashland, linguistics professor at Brooklyn College and renowned Hebonics scholar, the sentence structure of Hebonics derives from middle
and eastern European language patterns, as well as Yiddish.

Professor Shulman explains, "In Hebonics, the response to any question is usually another question with a complaint that is either implied or stated."

Thus "How are you?" may be answered, "How should I be, with my bad feet?" Shulman says that Hebonics is a superb linguistic vehicle for expressing sarcasm or skepticism.

An example is the repetition of a word with "sh" or "shm" at the beginning: "Mountains, shmountains. Stay away. You should want a nosebleed?"

Another Hebonics pattern is moving the subject of a sentence to the end, with its pronoun at the beginning: "It's beautiful, that dress."

Shulman says one also sees the Hebonics verb moved to the end of the sentence. Thus the response to a remark such as "He's slow as a turtle," could be: "Turtle, shmurtle! Like a fly in Vaseline he walks."

Shulman provided the following examples from his best-selling textbook, Switched-On Hebonics:

Question: "What time is it?"
English answer: "Sorry, I don't know."
Hebonic response: "What am I, a clock?"

Remark: "I hope things turn out okay."
English answer: "Thanks."
Hebonic response: "I should be so lucky!"

Remark: "Hurry up. Dinner's ready."
English answer: "Be right there."
Hebonic response: "Alright already, I'm coming. What's with the 'hurry business?'
Is there a fire?"

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5 BROKEN CAMERAS - must watch!!!

Gilad Atzmon à Bruxelles !

 

Gilad Atzmon  à Bruxelles !

Le Mouvement Citoyen Palestine

A le plaisir d'accueillir

Gilad Atzmon saxophoniste de jazz et auteur de nombreux essais politiques.

Le Samedi

 rue du Chevreuil   8

23 Juin a 20h00

Si le temps nous le permet petit barbecue à 18h00 : ) 

Rencontre autour du livre

La Parabole d'Esther

Anatomie du Peuple Élu

Réflexions sur la politique identitaire juive de Gilad Atzmon Aux Éditions Demi Lune

L'identité juive est associée à certaines des questions les plus complexes et conflictuelles de notre époque. Ce livre a pour propos d'ouvrir au débat un grand nombre de ces problématiques ; il étudie la politique identitaire et l'idéologie juives contemporaines en partant à la fois de la culture populaire et de textes théoriques.

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Ed Milliband And His Phony Populism

By Gilad Atzmon

In a desperate attempt to capture the imagination of patriots and nationalists, Labour leader Ed Miliband today promised new measures to prevent the British people being "locked out" of their own jobs by foreign workers. But what jobs is he talking about? Everyone knows there are no jobs. For forty years now, all British governments have gone out of their way to dismantle any manufacturing in this country and with devastating results - British industry and engineering belong to the past and the British governments have done little to change the situation.

Desperate to maintain his political relevance, Milliband distances himself from his predecessor, Gordon Brown’s, rhetoric. He (Brown) went on record saying: "I am not going to promise 'British jobs for British workers'”. Here, I must mention, that the reference to ‘British workers’, used so often by Labour politicians, is obviously and completely out of date. Our elected politicians care nothing for the ‘worker’. They are far more interested in transforming those who used to be workers, into consumers. In fact, all Western governments are there to regulate consumption and are therefore, openly and completely submissive to big monopolies and global interests.  Accordingly the rest of us, immigrant or a native, have but one simple role in life: to buy, or more accurately, to spend money we don’t have.

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New Home for Afrikaners (must watch)