I am glad people with your views have no power.

Can you believe this fucking guy????…I believe you are a zionazi, where is your respect 4 human life?, the holocaust was a tragedy…a dark period in the history of mankind…so was the slow but sure genocide inflicted on the indigenous peoples of america…>when will we get our own state at the expense of human lives

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If the boycott is done and it spreads to other countries what will happen? Conveniently, a terrorist act wil take place (committed by agent provocateurs) and Israel will say “We told you so.” These terrorist acts (whether it was the killing of the Isrealis at the 1972 Munich Olympics, or the hijacking of Air France Flight 139, where hostages were held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda, or the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro), benefit Israel more than it does the Palestinians

This also goes to the Americans on the radical left who want to talk about Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, but do not want to discuss the United States’ war crimes around the world.

Pham Binh has a good article about this topic as well http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/glasglow-murderous-masterminds-or-hopeless-idiots/

Mahmood Mamdani crystallizes the thesis of “Good Muslim, Bad Muslim” predicated on deterministic “culturetalk”.

This was around the time when policy wonks were casting about for some new paradigm to replace that of the Cold War which had ended rather abruptly and whose departure was beginning to expose the finery of the rulers at home (anyone remember the “peace dividend”?).

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed in the bombings by the U.S. and its allies during the two invasions. (Note: Israel was one of those countries that provided fake evidence about the WMDs, inorder to convince the U.S to invade Iraq, Iran may be next) That hasn’t stopped the terrorist attacks in Iraq. There are agent provocateurs helping to fuel the violence. See http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20051015&articleId=1089

Max, many thanks! As for the question you raise, an academic boycott is one tool, to be used where it can work. It is not the ultimate weapon. We are in no position to initiate the one true strategy, since we do not command an army. We are a multitude and our only way of fighting is by mobilizing through our diversity, each from the specific opportunities afforded by one’s position. An academic boycott is powerful because it attacks Israel from a position deeply implicated in the production of the narrative of Western progress, the very narrative that is operative in the inoculation of Zionism. It is a contribution radical European academics can and should make and an important educational tool, no more but also no less.

Rowan, that is an interesting point, probably worth a full article. I am not sure however that “objective sociology” is the most appropriate term, in so far as an objective account of elites is a contradiction in terms. I’d say objectivity is fixed by the elitist gaze.

Bill, of course you are right, but being right is not enough. Real change cannot be the result of pure moralizing. The categories through which one cries about injustice tend to be implicated in its production. “Human rights,” which is the usual category though which Israel is criticized as an offender, is also the term that produces the Enemy that sustains Israel’s power.

Steven, thank you! And these are some great examples that add flesh to the point. As for your criticism, I did not mention anti-globalization, mostly for reasons of space. But I never said neo-liberalism is not haunted, only that the haunting is no way near the stresses capitalism experienced in the inter-war period, a view you seem to share.

As for the apparent stupidity and transparency of the neo-conservative language: on the one hand, I cannot but agree, the usual cliché of tragedy returning as farce is operative here. But I also note that what appears transparent and crude to us makes sense to millions of people. We forget the way stupidity itself is manufactured at our peril. We also forget that the purpose of hegemonic discourse is not necessarily to convince, but chiefly to foreclose and to disempower.

Thank you all! And note also two administrative comments:

1. Republication with attribution is welcome.
2. Trolls need a special low-content diet. Please, please, those of you who feed the trolls–you know who you are–don’t!

Terry Greenwood,

As the “noble Zionist” narrative unravels daily, and the verbal contortionism involved in rationally defending its position increases to absurd and ridiculous heights, Israeli apologists are increasingly reduced to spam posting cascades of hyperventilating nonsensical gobble-de-gook — often in 1-shot, hit-and-run damp squibs that illuminates only their paranoid and feverish Hasbara fuelled imaginings…

These of course warn us that if any form of Palestinian statehood is implemented, the next inevitability will be cattle wagons of Israelis being “extraordinarily renditioned” to some imaginary Middle East Auschwitz … ad nauseum…

After a bizarre geography lesson notable only for its infantile stupidity, Limerick then concludes that we all should “put [ourselves] in the shoes of a country that every day faces the threat of extinction, and the death of all of its citizens….”

Where, Dear Reader, have we encountered these sentiments before… [yawn….]

…perhaps contained within Terry Greenwood’s invitation to consider his deep concerns and sincere heartfelt sympathy for the fate of

“Jamal Abu Jadian, a top Fatah commander seeking aid at Kamal Udwan Hospital when he was discovered by Hamas thugs…”

Before inviting us to applaud the benign and benevolent Israeli health care system, Terry’s post is remarkable for remaining utterly and stupefyingly oblivious to the Zionist High Command and the ‘Murikan medias’ 50-plus years of comparing Yasser Arafat to Hitler whilst bombing, assassinating, starving and Satanizing his PLO-Fatah “thugs” and “terrorists” – and their civilian-refugee civilian population — at each and every opportunity…

Terry intones about numerous “convenient silences…” [yawn]

Here’s another recent “convenient silence” Terry – straight outa the Jerusalem Post

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1180527966693&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

– and splashed across every front-page of every major western mass media outlet…

er… NOT…!

Moral of the Story
When the ANC and the collaborationist Zulu-Inkhata movement battled to control the black ghettos during the local untermenschen’s fight to end racist minority rule in white Sth Africa [passim], no doubt Terry and Limerick would also have applauded the local Ubermenchen’s health care system…

Moreover, this [formerly] beleaguered, tormented and eternally persecuted outpost of “democratic civilisation” — similarly living in abject daily fear of being “driven into the sea” [sic], and of which the Zionist “thug” and “terror” state entered into numerous mutual defence and security pacts as a protection against their native, indigenous, defenceless “thugs” and “terrorists” — is without doubt a past model for the current depraved state and government of Israel…

I pretty much concur with what you’ve said, but I don’t think the subject has changed regarding globalization. Neoliberalism is a failure. Latin America is demonstrating nation by nation an alternative. Now whether the alternative will find a way to develop and flurish is a question. The US is more or less absorbed in the Middle East and it’s CIA tricks are frequently ineffective in toppling governments, though they are fomenting as much mayhem as possible in Venezuela.

I think the anti-corporate/capitalistic globalization movement is alive. Again, can it be sustained? That is always the question. What changes the subject domestically is the divide and conquer routine of immigation. The invisible hand of NAFTA has dissipated and racist immigration psyches are stirred on the ground. But that’s not new in Amerika. I see transformative forces even here (however nascent these forces are).

To the larger issue of boycott. An acedemic boycott - that is one that targets Israeli acedemics - seems to be the wrong lever, particularly in the US where it would surely backfire (and I don’t think there are many Israeli acedemicians in the US anyway). The issue is Israel’a colonialism vis-avis US/West hegemony and apartheid. In other words, the state of Israel must be the target of an all out boycott. That’s why I think Oren Ben-Dor speaks to the heart of the matter (within the Israel/Palestinian context).

Mr. Ash takes the narrative in a much broader direction. And for that I too think he has written and excellent piece.

There is one serious error in this article. You say that the rallying around the ‘far enemy’ of Islam comes at a time when no spectre haunts the West. Yet just before 9-11, the anti-global (or whatever you’d like to call it) movement was gaining strength. While not on the verge of producing revolutionary change in the US or Europe, it was raising serious questions about neoliberalism and ultimately capitalism. How convenient to completely change the subject to the ‘defence of civilization’ against the Islamic ‘threat’.

If anyone’s interested, here’s another interesting audio interview of Shadia Drury in which in addition to the “Enemy” bogeyman, she talks about the Neoconservative typology of the Wise Men, Gentlemen, and the hoi polloi.