Celebrating Palestinian Resistance and Resilience

By Eva  Bartlett & Ali Mallah 

You may rob me of the last span of my land

You may ditch my youth in prison holes

Steel what my grandfather left me behind:

Some furniture or clothes and jars,

You may burn my poems and books

You may feed your dog on my flesh

You may impose a nightmare of your terror

On my village

Enemy of light

I shall not compromise

And to the end

I shall fight....

--Samih_al-Qasim

With the passing of the 64th anniversary of the Nakba, (the establishment of the illegal Zionist state on the land and homes of Palestinians), should
we mourn or celebrate? Professor Nurit Peled–Elhanan wrote of her mourning:

“I will mourn on Nakba Day. I will mourn for vanished Palestine most of which I never knew. I will mourn for the holy land that is losing its humanity, its landscape, its beauty and its children on the altar of racism and evil. I will mourn for the Jewish youngsters who invade and desecrate the homes of families in Sheikh Jarrah, throw the inhabitants into the street, and then sing and dance in memory of Baruch Goldstein, the infamous murderer of Palestinian children, while the owners of the desecrated houses with their children and old people are sleeping in the rain, on the street, opposite their own homes. …All these things I will mourn on Nakba Day. I will join the millions of dispossessed, downtrodden and humiliated who have not given up on the future and who still believe there is a chance, who stand as witnesses and as firebrands of the true human spirit.…”

For the last 64 years, Palestinian women, men, elderly, and youth have steadfastly and spiritedly resisted the occupation and the Zionist state. It is a resistance that continues flourishing among Palestinians from all walks of life both inside and outside Palestine, be they farmers, workers, students, poets, or intellectuals.

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Cartoon of the Day: God Save The Queen

By Enzo Apicella

Stopped By Apartheid on the Way to Madonna's "Peace Concert"

The Amira Brothers of Ni'lin villege try to get to Madonna's "Peace Concert".The road is long, but they are determined. Through the apartheid wall, to the checkpoint' to the DCO's office, will they make it?

Hope not (Jewish) Racism

The true reality of the 'Jews only State' . It isn't just the Palestinians. Segregation and ethnic cleansing are at the heart of Israeli and Zionist cultures. If we want to understand it all, we must elaborate on the real meaning of Jewish identity politics...

Watch the Israeli mob celebrating their symptoms...

The Wandering Who? A Study Of Jewish Identity Politics

The book can be  ordered  on Amazon.com  or Amazon.co.uk

The BDS Cultural Boycott and Integrity

By Sarah Gillespie

If we are ‘humanists’ we cannot be lured into suppressing or vandalizing art or ideas. 

Last week I went to see an excellent play at the National Theatre called The Collaborators by John Hodge. The play explored Josef Stalin’s unlikely admiration for dissident playwright Mikhail Bulgakov and the complex bond between art and ‘the State’. The play was a reminder that historically, even when culture has been puppeteered by an authority, unapproved and unintended meanings have a way of leaking out. Had the horror of Stalin’s Holodomor been contemporaneous today, we may well have been called upon to boycott the works of Bulgakov. This would do a great disservice, not only to the cannon of great literature, but also to the counter-revolutionary spirit evoked by Bulgakov’s work. I don’t claim that all art originating from criminal or repressive states, is loaded with subversive messages, but that art has the capacity to transcend the binary world of ‘placard politics’ (‘for’ this or ‘against’ that) and deliver the transforming might of pathos, spirit, sadness and beauty.

Reflecting on this reinforced my reluctant opposition to the cultural and academic boycott of Israel and, in particular to the call by the BDS to sabotage or ban any mode of expression delivered by state-enforced Israeli artists, musicians and thinkers. While the motives of many activists speaking out against Israeli artists and intellectuals are well intended and heart-felt, any action that seeks to abolish freedom of expression or thought is not winning any prizes for tolerance. Jews had their books burnt by Nazis & Israelis continue this dubious tradition by banning writer Gunter Grass, composer Daniel Barenboim and academic Norman Finkelstein. Surely, if we are ‘humanists’ we cannot be lured into suppressing or vandalizing art or ideas.  If we do, we enter the supremacist domain of those we claim to oppose.

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Anthony Lawson: International Bureau of Double Standards (Must Watch)

Sarah Gillespie Quartet feat. Gilad Atzmon at Black Mountain Jazz 27/05/12

 Reviewed by: Ian Mann  Live Review

The best Sarah Gillespie show I've yet seen, with the emphasis more firmly upon the singer.This was her most convincing and assured performance to date.

Sarah Gillespie Quartet featuring Gilad Atzmon, Black Mountain Jazz, Kings Arms, Abergavenny, 27/05/2012.

Tonight’s performance represented a very welcome return for singer/songwriter/guitarist Sarah Gillespie who last visited the club in January 2011 attracting one of the largest crowds seen at BMJ for some time. This evening’s event was less crammed but the attendance was still gratifyingly healthy with Gillespie and the quartet earning a warm reception for their distinctive music. This was the third time I’ve seen Gillespie appear live and for me this was her most convincing and assured performance to date.

Gillespie seemed to emerge from nowhere in 2008 with her acclaimed début album “Stalking Juliet”, a stunning release that also featured the playing, arranging and production skills of multi instrumentalist Gilad Atzmon, a significant recording artist in his own right. This was followed by 2011’s “In The Current Climate”, another strong collection which cemented Gillespie’s reputation as a skilled and highly literate songwriter. Her current tour comes in the wake of the release of “The War On Trevor”, an EP containing a mini suite of four songs which has recently been reviewed elsewhere on this site.

It’s something of a mystery to me that Gillespie is still only a “cult” artist. Her songs are excellent, she possesses a distinctive voice, striking good looks and fronts a characterful band of superb musicians but to date mainstream success seems have eluded her. Perhaps it’s because her songs are too wordy, too musically exotic and too politically uncompromising. Her tunes have great choruses but they’re a far cry from Coldplay’s anodyne stadium anthems, I guess the great British public just doesn’t like to be challenged too much. Their loss is my gain, one of the joys of being a fan of jazz or any other so called “minority” music is getting the opportunity to witness artists of this calibre performing in intimate situations such as a jazz or folk club. Whilst I wish Sarah every success there’s still a part of me that’s grateful that she’s still playing in venues like this. 

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Ed, David and Glenn

By Gilad Atzmon

http://www.deliberation.info/

A few days ago, in a New Statesman special Jewish edition article, Labour leader Ed Miliband explored his Jewish heritage.

As expected, Ed Miliband confessed that his father, the Marxist historian Ralph Miliband, and his mother, Marion, “raised him to appreciate various aspects of his Jewish heritage. “

But what is Jewish heritage for Ed Miliband, is it the Torah, the Ten Commandment or any particular ethical universal teaching? Not at all, Ed is not a religious Jew and is actually innocent enough to admit that  his “relationship with  Jewishness is complex.”  In fact, it amounts to a combination of suffering mixed with Woody Allen and matzo balls.

On the one hand we follow the standard trail of Jewish anguish and trauma.

“So how can my Jewishness not be part of me?” he says. “It defines how my family was treated. It explains why we came to Britain. I would not be leader of the Labour Party without the trauma of my family history.”

But for Ed suffering is just part of the story, Ed’s Jewishness has some cultural elements in it too:

“My mum got me into Woody Allen; my dad taught me Yiddish phrases, and my grandmother cooked me chicken soup and matzo balls.”

Profound indeed.

Young Miliband is also deeply immersed in Jewish ‘rituals’.  Like Zoey, Dictator Aladdeen’s Wife in Sacha Borat Cohen’s new Hasbara film, Justine, Ed’s new wife, also “broke a glass” under their wedding canopy.

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The United Jewish Kingdom

By Gilad Atzmon

http://www.deliberation.info

The Telegraph reported yesterday that “ministers have criticised Britain’s biggest exam board after pupils were asked to explain ‘why some people are prejudiced against Jews’ as part of a GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education).

Apparently more than 1,000 teenagers are believed to have sat the religious studies test papers, which challenged pupils to assess the reasons behind anti-Semitism.

The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, which set the exam, rightly said that the question acknowledged that “some people hold prejudices” – they probably expected the students to examine the reasons that lead to anti Jewish feelings rather than simply justifying them.

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary who is notorious for his pro Israeli stand and his intimate relationships with the Jewish lobby, has managed to produce a particularly lame statement that should disqualify him from any holding any position related to education.

To suggest that anti-Semitism can ever be explained, rather than condemned, is insensitive and, frankly, bizarre,

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The First Jazz Review-“The Wandering Who?”

http://www.thejazzmann.com/

By Ian Mann -TheJazzMann

GA: Ian is one of my favourite Jazz writers, I am delighted to see he liked my book and noticed the bebop in it.

This book is a fascinating insight into what makes Atzmon tick. Yes, it's a polemic but it's a very insightful and entertaining one.

Book Review

Gilad Atzmon

“The Wandering Who?”  (A Study of Jewish Identity Politics)

(Zer0 Books)

To jazz fans Gilad Atzmon is best known as a dynamic multi-instrumentalist playing saxophones, clarinets and accordion with equal brilliance. His music encompasses both jazz and middle eastern influences and from time to time he unleashes his rock and roll persona as a member of The Blockheads. Atzmon is one of the hardest working men in the music business, touring and recording constantly both with his own Orient House Ensemble and with singer/songwriter/guitarist Sarah Gillespie. He’s also an in demand producer and his involvement with any project is guaranteed to enhance the end result and grant it a certain frisson.

Atzmon’s music is inextricably linked to his background. Born in Israel into an orthodox Jewish family Atzmon’s grandfather had been a Zionist terrorist in the aftermath of World War 2. The young Gilad was brought up to believe in the supremacy of the Jewish “race” but soon learned to question this notion, embarking on a course that was to lead to his eventual self imposed exile from the state of Israel and the writing of this book subtitled “A Study Of Jewish Identity Politics”.

The book is a political argument and although little of the content is concerned directly with music the latter subject is still a significant factor in Atzmon’s life choices. He first began to question the values of his family and peers at the age of seventeen when he heard Charlie Parker on a late night jazz programme. “Bird With Strings” was literally the record that changed Atzmon’s life and he later paid homage to Parker with his own album “In Loving Memory Of America”(reviewed elsewhere on this site).

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