INDYMEDIA REDUX:

SLANDERS ON ANARCHISM:

Regular readers of this blog will be fully aware on my opinion about the disgraceful state of Winnipeg Indymedia and the Indymedia network in general (see our archives for Dec. 20, 2007, Dec 14, 2007, Feb 24, 2007, Jan 15, 2007 and Dec. 22, 2006). In a time when anarchism has basically become the radical left, at least in North America and most of Europe, various flotsam from the shipwrecks of history inevitably try their hand at dipping into this pool in hopes of recruiting. This includes not just the old laundry list of Marxist-Leninist parties, desperate to get a recruit, any recruit, for their failed dreams of becoming a new ruling class. Even more repulsively it includes various neo-Nazi outfits and individuals who have exploited the vague leftism that too many anarchists hold to to try and turn opposition to Israeli state policies into outright anti-semitism. One of the major playpens of these reptiles is the Indymedia network, and they have been instrumental in not just corrupting the original ideal of Indymedia- an alternative news source for thoise who make news locally but are not reported by the mainstream media- but have also been the cause of the shutdown of many Indymedia sites. Unfortunately the "moderators" of most Indymedia sites, while they may claim "sympathy" for anarchism, simply don't have the ideological (and personal moral) "backbone" to reject this infiltration outright. Not surprising given the fact that far too much of what they see as "anarchism" is barely-thought-out leftist fashion (Israel Bad-Palestinian organizations Good).

Molly has been fighting this since before she started this blog in 2006, and she intends to keep on going in her own uniquely nasty way. For a statement about "leftist anti-semitism" and just how repulsive it is see 'Making Resistance to Anti-Semitism Part of All Our Movements' in the TEXTS section of our links. What is "new" in this is that some have come to take the example of what happens with Indymedia to slander anarchism, as if it was responsible for this mess rather than vague leftism. My comrade Larry Gambone of the Porkupine Blog has sent a circular about one instance of this on the Socialist Unity site. Larry has responded as has Molly. If you are an anarchist reader of this blog think about popping over and adding your own two cents worth. The basis of the accusation is that "anarchism doesn't believe in organization", that the Indymedia types are "anarchists of a sort" (yeah, "a sort" but not part of the historical tradition of anarchism), and that , therefore, anarchism is implicated in anti-semitism. As Molly has said above, the anti-semitism that such sites allow (and the very allowing of it) comes much more from mindless leftist crowd following than from anything that could be described as "anarchism". Anyways, have a look.

A PALESTINIAN SPEAKS ON IRANIAN HOLOCAUST DENIAL:
I was recently graced by contact by an old friend who had noticed this blog. This guy once had what I considered the best comment I have ever heard on my own bastard ethnicity. He opined that the Russian half of me made me capable of walking 30 miles in bare feet through a blizzard to acquire a frozen potato, but the Irish half of me guaranteed that I would cry, whine and complain every inch of the way. Truer words were never spoken.
My friend is Jewish, and he wrote me about something that is bothering him about what he sees in the anti-war movement today, its often ill-disguised anti-semitism. I'm still in the process of composing a personal letter to him, but like so many other things in Molly's life this has taken on the character of a project that goes on to say, "and besides that, and besides that and besides that". This may come from the Irish side or it may come from the fact that the other side of the family's original point of wander to the Crimea was from Alsace-Lorraine. The French have as bad a habit of the Irish of never saying anything in one word when 50 will do.
In the interests of brevity I can answer my friend's question with the observation, "no fucking shit", and this attitude amongst leftists is one amongst dozens of the offputting ways of leftism. But a recent article in the Toronto based libertarian socialist site Autonomy and Solidarity (http://auto_sol.tao.ca or see the Links section in this blog) has a reply from a Palestinian militant that criticizes the Iranian government's sponsorship of anti-semitic "scumminess" in far better terms than I ever could.
Mahmoud Al-Safadi is a Palestinian who served 16 years in Israeli jails. To his surprise he found that the freedom to read and educate himself in detention was greater than when the "ideology and social norms" of Palestinian society prevented him from self-education outside of prison. He read the works of Palestinian intellectuals such as Edward Said and Azmi Bishara, and he learned that the simple black and white version of the "Zionist conspiracy" was a fabrication. In other words he grew up.
He also learned that the Holocaust did indeed happen, whatever the lies of Islamic ideology. As such he recently wrote to the Iranian president saying that, "I am furious about your insistence on claiming that the Holocaust never took place and about your doubts about the number of Jews who were murdered in the extermination and concentration camps,organized massacres, and gas chambers,consequently denying the universal historical significance of the Nazi period."
He goes on to say that, "The more I learned the more that I realized that the Holocaust was indeed an historical fact and the more I became aware of the monumental dimension of the crime committed by Nazi Germany against the Jews, other social and national groups, and humanity in general."
The author goes on to question the so-called evidence that the Iranian regime uses to justify its anti-semitism and to call into question the views of the Iranian regime on the resistance to Nazism. He points out that the Iranian regime has fallen to a "two worlds" fallacy where they are under the mistaken impression that any weapon at hand against "Zionism" is useful even if it is a total fabrication. He says that such propaganda, "does a great disservice to popular struggles the world over" and that, "at best you cover your people and yourself with ridicule in the eyes of political forces who reject imperialism but cannot take your ideas and arguments seriously"
To read this essay in its entirety visit the Autonomy and Solidarity site given above. It should be pointed out that Mr. Al-Safadi has paid dues that the bloated rulers of Iran never have and never will. His decision to come to an accommodation with truth is admirable and gives hope that there are many more like him amongst the Palestinian People who are capable of working out ways of living together with their Jewish neighbours in the Middle East. Sorta restores your faith in humanity. On the other side there are also many Israelis who reject the imperial designs of their government.
Mr Al-Safadi concludes by asserting that the Iranian regime does the Palestinians no favours with its attitude. It actually works against their struggle. If only "the left" could learn from this example of one brave man who can see history in its truthful complexity rather than demonizing opponents.
Molly