Jim C's unreliable "simple test"

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jim Craven writes, summarizing his "simple test": "Anyone who refers to 'The
Jews...' is not
worth listening to and most certainly is not any kind of potential ally.":

Sounds good.  Certainly, I admit that my nose for trouble starts twitching
instinctively whenever I hear that phrase.  But I don't think the rule of
thumb is going to work in determining who we fight with and who we fight
against and what the real road forward is in the fight against anti-Semitism
as part of the general fight for human liberation.

On the West Bank today, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a best
seller.  References to "The Jews...this" and "The Jews...that" are simply
common parlance. The generalizations of Mahathir (and I think that both Alam
and Krugmnan have a good fix on his reasons for talking this way) are common
on the streets of  Palestine.  They are common, in my opinion, among people
who are not Jew haters and are quite willing to live in peace with Jews
should a real opportunity to do that in a just society offer itself.

On the other hand, the top leaders of imperialism today talk this way only
when drunk, demented, or otherwise caught extremely off guard.  Yet they are
antisemites, the creators and beneficiaries of the world which made the
anti-Semitic holocaust possible and in which another one, among other
horrors, is still possible.

I'm afraid there is no way around making these choices on an essentially
class-against-class and oppressed-against-oppressor basis. We stand with out
Palestinian brothers and sisters no matter what they think today about the
Protocols or "the Jews."  The imperialist system, including Israel,  is the
root and mainstay and spreader of anti-Semitism in the world today.  The
fight to destroy it is the way forward in the fight against every form of
exploitation and oppression.

And by the way, I think Fidel was right to collaborate with Mahathir in
organizing and building the Non-aligned meeting and I don't think any of us
should hesitate to work with him, with all the appropriate awareness of who
we are dealing with, if that will advance the struggle.
Fred Feldman


~~~~~~~
PLEASE clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.