Perhaps one of the Socialist Workers Party members or apologists who reads this blog can explain this:
The outspokenly antisemitic Gilad Atzmon— who spoke at the SWP’s Marxism 2004 conference– has accepted an invitation to speak at Marxism 2005, along with some of our other Harry’s Place favorites.
Oliver Kamm cites examples of Atzmon’s rhetoric which, as he notes, would not be out of place at a white nationalist or Klan rally:
Where would you go to hear a speaker commend the rationality of arson against synagogues? Or declare that we must take very seriously the accusation that the Jews are trying to control the world? Or explicitly identify today’s Palestinians as the new Christ (and we know – oh yes – who was responsible for the Crucifixion)? Or denounce the outraged response to Ken Livingstone’s crass comparison of a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard as a ‘Jewish clannish demand’ for an apology? Or observe that ‘the J’s [i.e. Jews] are the ultimate chameleons, they can be whatever they like as long as it serves as some expedient’?
Does being antiwar and anti-Zionist now wash away all sins as far as the SWP is concerned? Are they in fact sins (if I may use such a non-political word) as far as the SWP is concerned?
Can we expect David Duke to appear on the speakers’ list for Marxism 2006? You know, just for the sake of debate.