I apologise for having ignored Gilad Atzmon of late, and I thought now would be a good time to remedy the situation.
Atzmon, as you recall, is a jazzebo who has rendered himself persona non grata with the softer end of the anti-Israel movement, who object:
– to Atzmon’s claim that “American Jewry makes any debate on whether the ‘Protocols of the elder of Zion’ are an authentic document or rather a forgery irrelevant“. You’ll notice that the original article has clumsily inserted the word “Zionists” to disguise his original, undiluted, racism;
– to Atzmon’s ahistoric claim that “Carpet bombing and total erasure of populated areas … has never been a Nazi tactic or strategy“; and
– Atzmon’s advocacy of the views of the racist, Paul Eisen and his distribution of material by the racist “Israel Shamir”.
Atzmon has long been a guest of honour of the Socialist Workers’ Party; to the chagrin of some its members. “Lenin” of Lenin’s Tomb expressed the view that Atzmon’s website showcases “stomach-churning bullshit” which makes him “sick to recite” and concluded that “it was a mistake to invite Atzmon to speak at Marxism”, where – according to “Meaders” – he was “criticised“ by some party members.
In the past few weeks, you may have noticed, Atzmon has launched a new project: “Artie Fishel and the Promised Band”, which sees Atzmon dressing up as a “shmuck” Jew, whose backing band contains a drummer called “Peter Foreskin” and a pianist called “McGoy Tyner”. The only other joke in the Artie Fishel show is that the band leader insists that Jazz belongs exclusively to Jews, who now want their music back.
It’s a classic Atzmon project: a slightly deranged, Jew-fixated wind-up.
Ditto another recent Atzmon article: an Al Jazeera magazine piece which argues that British people like muslims because they sell kebabs, which are nice, while jews tend be shrewd and dishonest:
At least stereotypically, ‘the Jew’ is there to do the things the Briton hesitates doing on his own. Surely this shouldn’t be a problem. ‘The Jew’ has an established role in British society. He is there to trace the legal loopholes, to teach you how to save on your taxes, how to work less and earn more. He’s there to set up your ‘off-shore bank accounts’, to help you win a legal case even when you yourself aren’t so sure you deserve such a victory. Stereotypically at least, ‘the Jew’ is the ultimate in shrewdness and this is exactly where the Jewish modern tragedy starts. The better the job ‘the Jew’ is doing on your behalf, the less highly you think of him as a fellow human being. The more successful he is at winning your case, the less trustworthy he becomes. The better he serves you, the less you want him to be your friend.
This is the sort of thing which you’ll get if you go to a forthcoming RESPECT event: where for only eight quid, you will be entertained with:
Live music and spoken word with Gilad Atzmon and his band, George Galloway MP, Martin Smith [a member of the Socialist Workers’ Party Central Committee]
Perhaps they’ll have Frank Rennicke to their next fundraiser.
The event is entitled, accurately enough, “Jazz, racism and resistance”
I hope that Socialist Workers’ Party members enjoy their jazz and racism, as they resist the innate contradiction between being a self-described socialist party that actively promotes racists.