Israel

Women’s March

An Islamophile intervention against women’s rights

March 8, 2018 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

“WE CAN DISAGREE AND STILL LOVE EACH OTHER, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist,” Linda Sarsour proudly announces on her Twitter account.1 Sarsour is a self-proclaimed human rights activist and supporter of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. She and her Women’s March (WM) colleagues were named Women of The Year 2017 by Glamour magazine.2 However, for Sarsour, Trump’s so-called “white supremacy” seems to be the only phenomenon deserving of the term “oppression. [Read More]

feminism women's march islam anti-semitism palestine israel islamism iran anti-deutsch

Walking on two legs

Israel, Palestine and the Middle East from a Matzpen perspective. An interview with Moshé Machover

October 13, 2015 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

MOSHÉ MACHOVER was a founder of the Israeli Socialist Organisation in 1962, better known by the title of its journal, Matzpen (meaning “Compass” in Hebrew). The journal became known for its anti-Zionism and anti-nationalism from a Marxist perspective. Machover was interviewed on 17 September 2015 by Platypus members Thomas Willis and Richard Rubin. What follows is an edited transcript of their discussion, focussing on its potential lessons learned for the present. [Read More]

Moshé Machover Israel Palestine Matzpen Middle East

To know the worst

Anti-Semitism and the failure of the Left on Iran

September 1, 2012 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

DESPITE THE CREATION OF AN AUTOCRATIC and anti-Semitic regime after the Khomeneiite revolution of 1979, the European Community and later the European Union continued to deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran; and even with new, insufficient sanctions in place, trade with Iran continues until today. It is the capitalist state’s primary task to allow the further realization of capital, but there is a certain sense in which politics surpasses this function. [Read More]

Anti-Deutsche Anti-semitism Iran PR Iran Islamism Israel Israel-Palestine Conflict Khomeni Middle East Zionism

Antisemitism and the Left

A German-US comparison

November 28, 2011 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Description From accusations directed towards Occupy Wall Street to arson attacks in Brooklyn, antisemitism has reemerged as a concern of the left in recent months. This talk will look at the relationship between the left and antisemitism, giving an overview of different historical forms, analyzing divergent theoretical explanations, and comparing the U.S. and German cases. Special attention will be given to examining the particular relationship of antisemitism to political economy and critiques of capitalism, the political implicationst of viewing antisemitism as a form of prejudice versus an ideology, and left debates around antisemitism and Israel post-9/11. [Read More]

Anti-semitism Antisemitism Germany Israel Zeena Arnold

Marxism and Israel

Left perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

May 5, 2011 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

LAST NOVEMBER PLATYPUS hosted a roundtable discussion between Alan Goodman from The Revolutionary Communist Party USA, and Richard Rubin from Platypus entitled “Marxism and Israel: Left Perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” at Hunter College in New York City. Panelists were asked to speak on the role the Left has played in the development of Israel, the Left’s analysis of the role of American intervention in the Middle East, and what a critical Marxian approach to the conflict currently looks like, compared to what it might look like. [Read More]

Alan Goodman Israel-Palestine Conflict Public fora RCP Israel Palestine Middle East

German psycho

A reply to the Initiative Sozialistisches Forum

March 1, 2011 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

MOISHE POSTONE ONCE REMARKED about the German left: “No western Left was as philo-Semitic and pro-Zionist prior to 1967. Probably none subsequently identified so strongly with the Palestinian cause. What was termed ‘anti-Zionism’ was in fact so emotionally and psychically charged that it went far beyond the bounds of a political and social critique of Zionism.”1 Postone’s diagnosis, that the Israeli-Arab conflict served as a projection-screen for the psychological needs of the German left, is just as valid for the new political current which, since the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in autumn 2000, has come to identify itself completely with the state of Israel. [Read More]

Anti-Deutsche Germany ISF Israel Palestine Ulrike Meinhof Zionism

Marxism and Israel

Left Perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

November 15, 2010 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

A roundtable discussion between Alan Goodman from The Revolutionary Communist Party USA, and Richard Rubin from Platypus entitled “Marxism and Israel: Left Perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” at Hunter College in New York City. Panelists were asked to speak on the role the Left has played in the development of Israel, the Left’s analysis of the role of American intervention in the Middle East, and what a critical Marxian approach to the conflict currently looks like, compared to what it might look like. [Read More]

Hunter College Israel Israel-Palestine Palestine RCP RCP (USA) Revolution Communist Party USA Revolutionary Communist Party Zionism

Communism and Israel

October 8, 2010 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

This text was written collaboratively and originally published by the anti-Deutsch group, Initiative Sozialistisches Forum (Socialist Initiative Forum) as “Der Kommunismus und Israel” in the collection Furchtbare Antisemiten, ehrbare Antizionisten. Über Israel und die linksdeutsche Ideologie, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, 2002. Translated and reprinted with permission of the authors. COMMUNISM, ACCORDING TO MARX, is the “riddle of history solved.” The riddle consists in the fact that, with the establishment of the capital-relation, the division of the human race into those who dominate and those being dominated, exploiters and exploited, has been exacerbated to such an extent that, caught between complete reification, on the one hand, and the transition to the “association of free individuals,” on the other, revolution seems imminent even as it recedes ever farther into the distance. [Read More]

Anti-Deutsche Zionism Israel

Which way forward for Palestinian liberation?

April 8, 2010 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

ON FEBRUARY 23 2010, Platypus hosted an event entitled Which Way Forward for Palestinian Liberation? in which Joel Kovel, author of Overcoming Zionism and frequent commentator on the Israel-Palestine conflict, and Hussein Ibish, political analyst and senior fellow at The American Task Force on Palestine, answered questions posed by Richard Rubin of Platypus. An audience question and answer session followed. Below is an edited transcript of the event. The Platypus Review encourages readers to listen to the full audio of the event, available online at the above link. [Read More]

Israel Palestine Public fora Middle East

Which Way Forward for Palestinian Liberation?

April 4, 2010 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

On February 23, Platypus hosted an event entitled Which Way Forward for Palestinian Liberation? in which Joel Kovel, author of Overcoming Zionism and frequent commentator on the Israel-Palestine conflict, and Hussein Ibish, political analyst and senior fellow at The American Task Force on Palestine, answered questions posed by Richard Rubin of Platypus. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Joel Kovel, right, and Hussein Ibish, left, discussing which way forward, at the event. [Read More]

Palestine Israel Palestinian liberation Zionism Israel-Palestine conflict Israel-Palestine The American Task Force on Palestine