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Eamonn Fingleton gives a stunning account of how the elite press – the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, the New York Times and Washington Post - pilloried US autworkers while systematically concealing the hidden subsidies which have allowed Japan and Korea to destroy Detroit. All this with the connivance of the US government. Also in our latest newsletter: Michelle Obama comes to Merced. Bill Hatch, the Balzac of the Central Valley, gives an uproarious account of Michelle’s state visit to UC’s new campus. Get your new edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
How the U.S. Press Helped Destroy the Auto IndustryOrder CounterPunch By Email For Only $35 a Year !
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Today's Stories June 16, 2009 Patrick Cockburn June 15, 2009 Michael Hudson Reza Fiyouzat Patrick Cockburn James Ridgeway Marjorie Cohn Rannie Amiri Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Leonard Schwartz Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day June 12-14, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Gareth Porter Mike Whitney Mark Ames Esam Al-Amin Franklin Lamb Patrick Cockburn Andy Worthington Heather Gray Felice Pace Ron Jacobs George Wuerthner Jeffrey Buchanan / David Ker Thomson Renaud Lambert Kevin Zeese David Macaray Evelyn Pringle Chris Genovali David Michael Green Brian J. Foley Charles R. Larson Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
June 11, 2009 Kathy Kelly / James Bovard Tristan de Bourbon Dave Lindorff Kevin Zeese Ralph Nader Harvey Wasserman Nicole Colson Mark Weisbrot Dan Bacher Website of the Day June 10, 2009 Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Jennifer Van Bergen / Douglas Valentine Kathy Kelly Paul Craig Roberts Rev. William E. Alberts Peter Lee Carol Miller Emily Ratner Robert Weissman Dave Lindorff Website of the Day June 9, 2009 Winslow T. Wheeler Mike Whitney Stan Cox Sibel Edmonds Jonathan Cook David Macaray Robert Jensen Nadia Hijab Mark Weisbrot Website of the Day June 8, 2009 John Ross Paul Craig Roberts Franklin C. Spinney Franklin Lamb Uri Avnery Jonathan Cook Eric Toussaint Jim Goodman Norman Solomon Reza Fiyouzat Website of the Day June 5 -7, 200 Alexander Cockburn George Galloway Paul Craig Roberts Jennifer Loewenstein Franklin Lamb Mike Whitney Andy Worthington Missy Comley Beattie Farzana Versey Stanley Heller John V. Whitbeck Robert Weissman Lee Sustar Dave Lindorff William Blum Ernest Callenbach / Greg Moses Ron Jacobs David Yearsley Tim Stelloh Belén Fernández David Ker Thomson Karyn Strickler Christopher Brauchli Charles R. Larson Kim Nicolini Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend June 4, 2009 Arno J. Mayer Mike Whitney Gareth Porter Ayesha Ijaz Khan Mouin Rabbani Jordan Flaherty Adam Turl Nikolas Kozloff Yifat Susskind Website of the Day June 3, 2009 Paul Craig Roberts Kathy Kelly Alan Farago Franklin Lamb Bill Hatch Nadia Hijab Dean Baker Binoy Kampmark Manuel Garcia, Jr. Remi Kanazi Behzad Yaghmaian Website of the Day June 2, 2009 Uri Avnery Robert Weissman Conn Hallinan Gideon Spiro Roger Burbach Dylan Quigley Dave Lindorff Ray McGovern Belén Fernández Martha Rosenberg Willie L. Pelote, Sr. Website of the Day June 1, 2009 Pam Martens Yitzhak Laor Mark Weisbrot Ramzy Baroud Saul Landau Eugenia Tsao Afshin Rattansi Debra Sweet Abdul Malik Mujahid Bill Quigley John Wright Website of the Day May 29-31, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Patrick Cockburn Vijay Prashad Gary Leupp Ray McGovern Rannie Amiri Bill Hatch Chellis Glendinning, Stephanie Mills and Kirkpatrick Sale Phyllis Pollack David Yearsley Jean-Christophe Servant Dave Lindorff James McEnteer Missy Beattie James C. Faris David Macaray Harvey Wasserman Adam Federman David Ker Thomson Mark Seth Lender Stephen Martin Joseph Nevins Sophia Mihic Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 28, 2009 Joan Roelofs Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Mouin Rabbani Joe Bageant James McEnteer Dedrick Muhammad Richard Morse David Macaray Harvey Wasserman Website of the Day May 27, 2009 Joanne Mariner Paul Craig Roberts Walden Bello Dave Lindorff Brian M. Downing Carlos Villarreal Nadia Hijab Adam Federman Laray Polk Isabella Kenfield David Michael Green Website of the Day May 26, 2009 Manuel Garcia, Jr. Mike Whitney Sharon Smith Marjorie Cohn Dean Baker Deepankar Basu Fred Gardner Jordan Flaherty Josh Ruebner Brian Cloughley Website of the Day May 25, 2009 Diane Christian John Ross Kenneth Hartman Uri Avnery Fred Gardner Cindy Sheehan Sen. Russell Feingold Sibel Edmonds Franklin Lamb Dave Lindorff Daniel Wolff Website of the Day May 22-24, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Michael Teitelman Mike Whitney Ray McGovern Sonia Cardenas / Clive Hamilton Conn Hallinan Fred Gardner Carlo Cristofori Dean Baker Rannie Amiri Andy Worthington David Macaray Nadia Hijab Franklin Lamb Ted Newcomen David Ker Thomson David Rosen Mark Weisbrot Robert Fantina Heather Gray Farzana Versey Chris Genovali Ron Jacobs Jay Diamond Dr. Susan Block Ben Sonnenberg David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 21, 2009 Jeffrey St. Clair / Paul Craig Roberts Chris Floyd Gerald Paoli Zach Mason Uri Avnery Andy Worthington Niranjan Ramakrishnan Norman Solomon Dave Lindorff Website of the Day May 20, 2009 Michael Hudson Gary Leupp Michael D. Yates Jonathan Cook Peter Lee Binoy Kampmark Peter Zinn William Loren Katz Gary Lapon Trudy Bond Website of the Day May 19, 2009 Kristoffer Rehder Mike Whitney Ray McGovern Vijay Prashad Mirjam Hadar Meerschwam Mustafa Barghouthi Andy Worthington Binoy Kampmark John Walsh David Macaray Website of the Day May 18, 2009 Dave Lindorff Abdul Malik Mujahid Jonathan Cook Ben Rosenfeld Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader Stephen Soldz Eugenia Tsao Walter Brasch Roberto Rodriguez Charlotte Laws Website of the Day May 15-17, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair David Rosen Mike Whitney Bruce Page Jeremy Scahill Fred Gardner Tom Barry Mats Svensson Ramzy Baroud Mark Engler Mark Weisbrot Farzana Versey Ron Jacobs Hannah Wolfe Cal Winslow David Macaray Christopher Brauchli Mark Seth Lender Robert Fantina David Ker Thomson Stephen Martin Charles R. Larson Chase Madar Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 14, 2009 Michael Hudson Andy Worthington Paul Craig Roberts Jonathan Cook Ray McGovern Lance Selfa David Green Dave Lindorff Frida Berrigan Sue Udry Website of the Day May 13, 2009 Brian M. Downing Gareth Porter Robert Sandels Ricardo Alarcón Eric Walberg Dave Lindorff Deepak Tripathi William S. Lind Kevin Zeese Franklin Lamb Website of the Day May 12, 2009 Gary Leupp Richard Neville Wajahat Ali Dean Baker Franklin Lamb Norman Solomon Paul Craig Roberts Lisa M. Hamilton Bob Fitrakis / David Macaray Website of the Day May 11, 2009 Andrea Peacock Michael Hudson Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader John Kelly Saul Landau Dave Lindorff David Michael Green Anthony Papa Paul Krassner Website of the Day
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Bloomsday Edition Why American Jews Should Resist the US's Blind Support of IsraelIsrael's Angels in AmericaBy MERLE LEFKOFF When I was a very little kid growing up in New York City just after World War II, my mother took me to the Imperial Theater in the heart of Broadway on W. 45th Street to watch a new musical comedy, “Annie Get Your Gun.” Held spellbound by Buffalo Bill introducing Ethel Merman to her new life in “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” I was hooked for life after my first theater experience in 1946. I was transformed by a picture-book story, the story about frontierswoman Annie Oakley, coming to life before my eyes. Teased by my family for being a “tomboy,” I understood what that meant for the first time—and I was proud! Stella Adler, the famous theater teacher, once said, “The word theatre comes from the Greeks. It means the seeing place. It is the place people come to see the truth about life and the social situation. “ Forty-seven years later I entered the Walter Kerr Theater in New York to see theater history being made again. Using the AIDS epidemic as a metaphor for an America on the march to a new millennium worn thin by the ascendancy of the Reagan revolution, a young gay Jewish playwright, Tony Kushner, forged a searing vision of the possibility of community in an age of moral and political deformity. “Angels in America” didn’t run as long as “Annie” (367 vs. 1,147 performances), but it won the Pulitzer Prize for best drama, and the Tony Award for best play, rewarded for how it captured personal and political decay and renewal in an increasingly diverse and rapidly changing America. Celebrated and honored for more than a decade because of his profoundly humane, compassionate, and hopeful view of our survival in a complex world, Kushner accepted an invitation in 2006 to receive an honorary doctorate from Brandeis University. Attempting unsuccessfully to have the invitation rescinded, the Zionist Society of America savagely and publicly attacked Kushner for his expression of alleged anti-Zionist views. They noted his publication of Wrestling With Zionism, which Kushner had co-edited a few years earlier, presenting a case for the so-called “one-state” solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Palestinians and Israelis living together with equal rights in one democratic state. Facing a growing storm of criticism from Zionist Americans who feared the Arab demographic majority in the one-state scenario, Kushner subtly protected his notion that the most important task of any artist is “to tell the truth.” He did his best to mitigate damage to his reputation and defend his position as a friend of Israel, protesting that characterizing his position as supporting the “one-state” solution was a misreading of his feelings:
Tony Kushner’s contorted mea culpa was emblematic of the task facing many conflicted Jews in America, bleeding on the horns of a much-discussed dilemma: how to publicly speak out against the most egregious excesses of Israeli government policy and America as an enabler in those excesses. Until the publication in 2006 of Harvard Academic Dean Stephen Walt and U. of Chicago Political Scientist John Mearsheimer’s landmark attack on the power of AIPAC, America’s pro-Israel lobby, to influence U.S. foreign policy toward Israel, Jews in America who valued their public image, with very few exceptions, were afraid to voice any opinions that countered the pro-Israel party line. Followed closely by the publication of former President Jimmy Carter’s book examining the plight of the Palestinians, Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid, the dam of silence at last burst open. There are good reasons for American Jews to organize resistance to America’s unexamined support of Israeli impunity. Institutions built on fundamental inconsistencies – whether companies such as Bear Stearns or countries such as Yugoslavia –tend to have a relatively short shelf life in the marketplace of history. History does not progress in a linear fashion, and the most successful nations, institutions and individuals are those best able continually to reexamine and reduce the inconsistencies between their historic myths and their guiding realities. The Israeli myth of Zionist settlement in a dry and dusty land empty of people and agriculture is collapsing under the weight of young Israeli historians detailing a different story, one based on facts and data unearthed in recently-released Israeli archives. The “new historians” recount the story of the Palestinian exodus from their lands in 1948 in chilling detail, noting forced removal of Palestinians by a superior Zionist armed force often resorting to mass murder. Living in hope past the horror of the Holocaust, most recently highlighted once again by President Obama’s visit to Buchenwald Concentration Camp, many American Jews watch the grisly news accounts coming from Gaza and the Occupied Territories and grieve for the loss of the closely held Jewish values that survived the Holocaust, including social justice, peace, and freedom from oppression. Combined with the efforts of the post-Zionist Israeli historians and the Administration’s tough line on the West Bank settlements, unprecedented media attention to Palestinian suffering has shifted the mental models of many American Jews, resulting in a profound reassessment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and an eagerness to revisit America’s strategic relationship with Israel. A national organizing effort spreading across America’s Jewish Diaspora is approaching critical mass, still underappreciated by reporters and bloggers. I was asked to facilitate the public discussion following a recent rollout of a local organizing effort in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I live. The new group, comprised mainly of New Mexico Jews, named itself “Another Jewish Voice.” It promotes an unapologetic mission that goes beyond the common vision shared by innumerable “peace” organizations around the world to end the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem and affirm the national aspirations and human rights of the Palestinian people. AJV states that it “recognizes the powerful role of U.S. policy in the region and believes that the United States’ unconditional support of Israeli government policy is profoundly harmful to the cause of peace with justice. We will work to promote a U.S. policy that is consistent with international law and human rights. We will work to combat the myth of American Jewish consensus in support of Israeli government policy.” This mission statement would have been unimaginable just one year ago. It is a call to direction action, and it is gaining traction across the country. The Santa Fe meeting unexpectedly attracted 75 public attendees to learn about Another Jewish Voice. Held in the community room of the Santa Fe Public Library, I led a discussion among folks who were mostly Jewish and surprisingly angry at Israeli policies and U.S. government complicity. The average age in the room was about 55, Jews of a generation who had internalized the Zionist story from early childhood. And yet they expressed over and over their anguish about losing Israel, destroying itself by its political decisions and military actions, assisted in the suicide by U.S. military aid. They left the meeting hall ready to take the next step beyond confronting the pro-Israel lobby. They left ready to storm the halls of Congress to stop the $30 billion in aid to Israel over the next ten years. A few months ago on the stage of the New York Theater Workshop, Tony Kushner had his second chance. Leading an audience discussion after the performance of playwright Caryl Churchills’s emotionally explosive ten-minute play, Seven Jewish Children, and later in an article written for “The Nation” magazine, Kushner summed up the troubling and complex structure of a play about Jewish children questioning the ambiguous responses of their parents:
Perhaps the American Jews who are now, at last, allowing themselves to speak out, will become Israel’s Angels in America, assisting young Israeli girls to work for justice in their own country, and helping to save Israel from it’s fatal flaw of denying the Jewish imperative of truth and moral conduct. Merle Lefkoff, Ph.D. is President of The Madrona Institute, applying the science of Complexity to the transformation of peacemaking and diplomacy. |
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