Let a thousand flowers bloom
Arthur Neslen
February 10, 2007 3:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/arthur_neslen/2007/02/let_a_thousand_fl=
owers_bloom.html
Andre Breton once wrote that the surrealists broke open all the doors
only to find themselves in a circular corridor. The Independent Jewish
Voices initiative is currently facing a similar predicament.
Having burst through the rusty eruv of acceptable discourse on Israel,
the territory has quickly morphed around them. Ripostes on this
website and elsewhere have denounced them as splitters, luvvies and
traitors, comparable even to the Neturei Karta Rabbis who attended the
Holocaust denial conference in Tehran. But the various dependent
Jewish voices levelling the charges have united around one bone of
contention: the absurdity of claiming that the Jewish establishment is
stifling debate on Israel. Perish the thought.
A lesson in diplomacy
Conor Foley
February 10, 2007 2:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/conor_foley/2007/02/bad_arguments_1.html
One of the ironies of the debate about the future of humanitarian
interventions is how frequently the responsibility to protect is cited
by those who argue the precise opposite of what the doctrine actually
says.
Both Tony Blair and John Reid have cited it as retrospective
justification for the invasion of Iraq. Other supporters of Nato's air
strikes over Kosovo also often throw it into their more general
arguments.
Let us coexist
Azzam Tamimi
February 10, 2007 1:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/azzam_tamimi/2007/02/ijv_a_noble_jewish=
_initiative.html
Until the Zionist project of creating an exclusively Jewish state in
Palestine began in earnest in the latter part of the 19th century,
Jews lived in many parts of the Muslim world and enjoyed living
conditions not available to their fellow European Jews until
recently.
For many centuries, and apart from the first two or three decades of
Islamic history when Muslim-Jewish relations were plagued with a
series of crises, Jews constituted a natural component of Muslim
societies.
Cracks in the wall
Richard Silverstein
February 10, 2007 11:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/richard_silverstein/2007/02/cracks_in_t=
he_wall.html
Reading the Independent Jewish Voices manifesto and other posts
written by signatories, I've been struck by the similarity in themes
and similarity of political developments within the American and
British Jewish communities.
Over the past six months, two notable developments have set Israel and
diaspora Jewry adrift. The first was Israel's war in Lebanon, whose
failure caused grave paralysis both in the military and within the
government. The second was publication of the Walt-Mearsheimer essay
about the Israel lobby's influence on US Mideast policy.
Turning tides
Joseph Stiglitz
February 10, 2007 10:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/joseph_stiglitz/2007/02/the_changing_cl=
imate_on_climat.html
The message, it seems, has finally gotten through: global warming
represents a serious threat to our planet. At the recent World
Economic Forum in Davos, world leaders saw climate change, for the
first time, topping the list of global concerns.
Europe and Japan have shown their commitment to reduce global warming
by imposing costs on themselves and their producers, even if it places
them at a competitive disadvantage. The biggest obstacle until now has
been the United States. The Clinton administration had called for bold
action as far back as 1993, proposing what was in effect a tax on
carbon emissions; but an alliance of polluters, led by the coal, oil,
and auto industries beat back this initiative.
What's it all about?
Benjamin Pogrund
February 10, 2007 9:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/benjamin_pogrund/2007/02/whats_it_all_a=
bout.html
After five days of reading/skimming thousands of words I am as puzzled
as I was on the first day when I read the Independent Jewish Voices
statement. What is it all about?
So the Board of Deputies is conservative and follows an "Israel right
or wrong" policy. Who stops anyone putting other views? Who stops
anyone making clear, if they want to do so, that the board does not
speak for them?
We want a divider, not a uniter
Ezra Klein
February 9, 2007 11:55 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ezra_klein/2007/02/obamania_in_check.ht=
ml
Saturday morning, at 11am EST, Barack Obama will stand in Springfield,
Illinois, where Abraham Lincoln served as a legislator, and announce
his candidacy for president of the United States. Like his choice of
announcement venue, Obama's campaign promises to be inspiring,
historic, and uplifting. But that shouldn't distract liberals from
watching to make sure it's progressive, too.
I hate the position of Obama skeptic, as I, like everyone else, see
his boundless potential for greatness. One day, I may tell my kids I
wrote softly critical articles of President Obama. (Stunned by my
youthful indiscretions, they will stop caring for me, and I will be
shipped to the most dingy nursing home in town, my transgressions too
great for forgiveness.) Even at such risk, though, I'll say it: The
question many Democrats must ask before they hitch themselves to the
Obama bandwagon is whether he is a progressive or a uniter. Some may
believe this to be a false choice, but it matters nonetheless.
No faith in Feith
Spencer Ackerman
February 9, 2007 8:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/spencer_ackerman/2007/02/no_faith_in_fe=
ith.html
Unless he had a dentist's appointment late this afternoon, it would be
hard for Douglas J Feith to have had a worse Friday. Already, one of
the first neoconservative officials to have been jettisoned in the
second Bush administration, the former undersecretary of defense for
policy - the number three position in the Pentagon - just had his
legacy torn apart by an official investigation by the Defense
Department's inspector general. The long-awaited report, released
Friday morning, found that a unit set up in Feith's bureau known as
the Office of Special Plans engaged in "inappropriate" intelligence
work on the case for war with Iraq.
The Office of Special Plans (OSP) is a murky thing, and, in Washington
as well as on the internet, it's taken on a life of its own. Feith has
been right to complain that entire conspiracy theories have sprung up
around it - like, according to some perfervid views, the claim that
the OSP's work was an effort to invade Iraq on behalf of Israel. The
inspector general's office didn't dignify that with a response, but it
did confirm, in broad outline, much of what has appeared in
investigative reports: that Feith's office "developed, produced, and
then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and
al-Qaida relationship, which included some conclusions that were
inconsistent with the consensus of the intelligence community, to
senior decision-makers."
The urge to surge
Paul McLeary
February 9, 2007 7:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/paul_mcleary/2007/02/surge_numbers.html
As the United States Congress covers itself in glory by debating the
merits of having a debate over escalating the war in Iraq, the Bush
administration moves forward, unimpeded, with its "surge".
The impotence of both houses of Congress to merely debate the issue on
its merits - let alone flex its legislative and oversight muscle -
ain't exactly a high point in the history of the republic. But even by
our current debased standards, what is being left out of the equation
is in many respects more important than what is being included.
Attack of the 'Christofascists'
Eric Alterman
February 9, 2007 7:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/eric_alterman/2007/02/john_edwards_blog=
ging_farrago.html
The John Edwards/blogger/Catholic League kerfuffle is complicated but
important, so it's worth paying attention.
Here's what happened. Edwards hired two liberal bloggers, Amanda
Marcotte of the Pandagon blog site and Melissa McEwan, of
Shakespeare's Sister, to work for his campaign, as all the campaigns
are now doing. After they were hired, rightwing pressure groups and
opposition researchers turned up a few posts that, read out of context
- and perhaps even in context - struck many Catholics as offensive.
According to the New York Times: "Ms Marcotte wrote in December that
the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to the use of contraception
forced women 'to bear more tithing Catholics'. In another posting last
year, she used vulgar language to describe the church doctrine of the
Immaculate Conception." McEwan, meanwhile, "referred in her blog to
President Bush's 'wingnut Christofascist base' and repeatedly used
profanity in demanding that religious conservatives stop meddling with
women's reproductive and sexual rights. Multiple postings use explicit
and inflammatory language on a variety of issues."
Unity is not enough
Daoud Kuttab
February 9, 2007 3:55 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/daoud_kuttab/2007/02/unity_is_not_enoug=
h=2Ehtml
The reconciliation between the leaders of the two major Palestinian
groups, Hamas and Fatah, that has just been negotiated in Saudi Arabia
is being hailed as a major political breakthrough. But the national
unity government created as a result of this agreement faces many
daunting challenges. The agreement needs to be followed by an effort
to end the economic and administrative siege of Palestine, as well as
serious peace talks with Israel aimed at ending the 39-year occupation
of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. At home, the new government needs to
pay its civil servants, restore law and order, and end the chaos that
has become the norm in the Palestinian territories.
The internal fighting in Palestine began in part as a result of the
political impasse caused after Israel and the international community
imposed an economic embargo on the Palestinian Authority. This
economic siege, zealously enforced even by Arab and Islamic banks,
followed the new Hamas-led government's refusal to accept the demand
by the "quartet" - the United States, the European Union, the United
Nations, and Russia - that it recognise Israel, accept all previous
agreements with Israel, and renounce terrorism.
Doing things by halves
AC Grayling
February 9, 2007 3:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ac_grayling/2007/02/house_of_lords_refo=
rm.html
The government's proposal to reform the House of Lords by turning it
into a half-elected, half-appointed chamber is not a good one. It adds
scarcely anything to the legitimacy of the house, and invites serious
problems, exemplified by what would happen if a bill were defeated by
a majority dependent on appointed members.
The flanking options, of a wholly elected House of Lords and a wholly
appointed one, are individually far better; and one of them is best.
To see which, consider the options.
What did you call me?
Sunny Hundal
February 9, 2007 2:55 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sunny_hundal/2007/02/what_did_you_call_=
me.html
The Sun newspaper recently published a picture of children holding up
placards painted with racial insults. For a follow-up they may want to
consider terms such as Brown Sahib, Uncle Tom, self-hating Jew or Sell-
out Muslim. In case it isn't obvious, these are more commonly used
when commentators within minority groups dare to challenge their own
establishment.
I had a conversation only weeks ago with a Muslim writer/thinker who
expressed a wish that Muslims could be more like Jews - able to have
intense internal disagreements but present a united face to the world.
I disagreed then, as I do now.
I know what you're thinking ...
Open Thread
February 9, 2007 1:44 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/open_thread/2007/02/now_i_know_what_you=
re_thinking.html
According to a team of world-leading neuroscientists we could soon
have the ability to look inside a person's brain and read their
intentions before they act. John-Dylan Hayes, a scientist at the Max
Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, attempted to
simplify functional magnetic imaging resonance techniques by saying,
"It's like shining a torch around, looking for writing on the wall."
Reinventing dissent
Mitch Simmons
February 9, 2007 1:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mitch_simmons/2007/02/mitch_simmons.html
The repeated, increasingly desperate reinvention of dissenting Jewish
groups, this time in the guise of Independent Jewish Voices, which is
invariably accompanied by the admiring cooing of the left-liberal
press, throws up the obvious question: why not engage productively
with the democratic structures within the Jewish community?
Of course, the debate will be robust. Israel inevitably raises
passionate opinions but to characterise fervent opposition to anti-
Israel and anti-Zionist views as vilification is simply cant. Setting
up a self-congratulatory group and reinforcing your isolation is
unproductive. Playing the perpetual victim, an accusation often flung
at Israel by its critics, is now being used by these critics out of
frustration at their marginality.
Tonight a climate of fear will be sweeping in from the west
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2009905,00.html
Lateral-thinking terrorists could learn a lot from the way we can turn
ordinary winter weather into a rolling-news extravaganza
Marina Hyde
Saturday February 10, 2007
The Guardian
'How many minutes do you think the six o'clock news will devote to
this snowfall?" a post on the BBC's website mused sarcastically on
Thursday. "Two minutes? Four?" The answer, predictably, was some way
in excess of the latter. Had you been left unsated by the headline
reports of normal winter weather, the bulletin ended with a voiced-
over montage of emailed pictures, featuring at least one cat in the
snow and several viewers' children with their snowmen - which I
suppose we must dignify with the phrase "user-generated content".
What do Sarkozy, Disraeli and Hitler have in common?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2009913,00.html
To read some politicians' mind-numbing books is to wish they hadn't
bothered. But the clearer the writer, the clearer the doer
Martin Kettle
Saturday February 10, 2007
The Guardian
Did Disraeli really respond "We authors, ma'am," when Queen Victoria
gave him a copy of her Highland Journal? The story is so much in
character that it deserves to be true. Unfortunately the biographers
are unsure. What is certain is that Disraeli himself was that
surprisingly rare creature in this or any other age, the senior
politician who can write.
It is odd, when you stop and think about it, that most political
leaders write so little and so badly, especially in the years when
they are struggling for attention and are climbing their way up the
greasy pole. Ideas and words, after all, are the hard currency of
their trade. And, in defiance of many stereotypes, most politicians
remain in some way idealists who think that politics is not solely
about getting and holding power. Part of why they are in politics is
to promote ideas and projects, to achieve objectives, to do good and
change things for the better - purposes which inevitably entail trying
to persuade the public and their colleagues that they, pre-eminently
among their rivals, have the answers to the questions of the age.
We are being suffocated
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2009907,00.html
The outside world has to grasp that Palestinian infighting is the
product of an intolerable blockade
Sami Abdel-Shafi in Gaza City
Saturday February 10, 2007
The Guardian
It was a surreal but telling reflection of how lonely Palestinians
have become as their leadership has seemingly been pushed into
breakdown and failure, while Israel watched from the sidelines. Late
one night, I was suddenly yelled at to stop my car, turn the lights
off and roll down the windows. Two masked men, without any identifying
insignias, closed in from the sides; one pointed his machine gun at me
while the other, two steps behind, shouldered a loaded rocket-
propelled grenade launcher. That was a week last Thursday, hours after
fierce clashes erupted between Hamas and Fatah, ending the seventh
ceasefire between the factions, and ushering in the deadliest power
struggle yet.
Face to faith
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2009937,00.html
Anglican dioceses should be more expressive of their catholic
identity, says Martyn Percy
Saturday February 10, 2007
The Guardian
An apocryphal tale tells of someone writing to the Archbishop of
Canterbury to thank him for something he had said on the radio. The
correspondent kindly enclosed a cheque for =A310, made payable to "the
Church of England". But it could not be cashed, for there is no
organisation or bank account bearing that name. True, there is the
Church of England Pensions Board, various divisions concerned with
ministry and education, several dozen dioceses, and of course the
Church Commissioners - all of which refer to the Church of England.
But no bank account bears the sole nomenclature. The cheque had to be
returned with a note: "Thank you - but could you be more specific?"
Target Iran: US able to strike in the spring
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2010087,00.html
Despite denials, Pentagon plans for possible attack on nuclear sites
are well advanced
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Saturday February 10, 2007
The Guardian
US preparations for an air strike against Iran are at an advanced
stage, in spite of repeated public denials by the Bush administration,
according to informed sources in Washington.
The present military build-up in the Gulf would allow the US to mount
an attack by the spring. But the sources said that if there was an
attack, it was more likely next year, just before Mr Bush leaves
office.
Neo-conservatives, particularly at the Washington-based American
Enterprise Institute, are urging Mr Bush to open a new front against
Iran. So too is the vice-president, ***** Cheney. The state department
and the Pentagon are opposed, as are Democratic congressmen and the
overwhelming majority of Republicans. The sources said Mr Bush had not
yet made a decision. The Bush administration insists the military
build-up is not offensive but aimed at containing Iran and forcing it
to make diplomatic concessions. The aim is to persuade Tehran to curb
its suspect nuclear weapons programme and abandon ambitions for
regional expansion.
Surprising partners among Tehran's layer of alliances
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2010016,00.html
Julian Borger, diplomatic editor
Saturday February 10, 2007
The Guardian
When Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed this week to
hit back at American interests around the world if Iran was attacked,
it was no empty threat.
More than at any time in the life of the Islamic republic, Iran is
positioned to inflict significant pain on the US and its allies in
many places at the same time.
US stumbling in the Middle East has strengthened and emboldened Iran.
On top of an array of patron-client relationships with powerful Shia
groups, like Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Badr brigades and the Mahdi
army in Iraq, Tehran has built a new layer of alliances with some more
surprising partners among the Sunni jihadists. It has forged a
relationship with Hamas in Gaza, and even appears to have developed
links with the Taliban.
Pentagon unit defied CIA advice to justify Iraq war
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2010013,00.html
.. 'Alternative' agency set up to link Saddam to al-Qaida
=B7 Mainstream intelligence was cast aside, Senate told
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Saturday February 10, 2007
The Guardian
An "alternative intelligence" unit operating at the Pentagon in the
run-up to the war on Iraq was dedicated to establishing a link between
Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida, even though the CIA was unconvinced of
such a connection, the US Senate was told yesterday.
A report presented to the armed services committee by the Pentagon's
inspector general, Thomas Gimble, exposes the Bush administration to
new charges of manipulating intelligence to make its case for going to
war against Saddam nearly four years ago.
Behind the camera - secret life of man who saved Jews from Nazis
http://www.guardian.co.uk/secondworldwar/story/0,,2009986,00.html
Honour for German Leica manufacturer who sent prewar apprentices to
US
Kate Connolly in Berlin
Saturday February 10, 2007
The Guardian
He was responsible for bringing to the world a high-quality compact
camera that changed the face of 35mm photography. But after dogged
research by a British rabbi it has emerged that Ernest Leitz II had a
secret but possibly greater claim to fame - saving Jews from Nazi
persecution in prewar Germany.
Days after Hitler's rise to power, Leitz, who manufactured the Leica
camera, began taking on a string of young Jewish apprentices from the
town of Wetzlar where his optics factory began producing Leicas in
1925. He purposely trained them so that he could transfer them to New
York to work in the Leica showroom on Fifth Avenue or at distributors
across the US and thus rescue them from the fate that was to befall
many other Jews.
France's elite enjoy more =E9galit=E9 than most
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2010027,00.html
=B7 Thefts from leaders' sons spark costly inquiries
=B7 Police admit famous get special treatment
Kim Willsher in Paris
Saturday February 10, 2007
The Guardian
If you are a victim of crime in France better that your name is Johnny
Hallyday, Johnny Sarkozy or Johnny Royal than the Gallic equivalent of
John Smith.
French police have confirmed what many have long suspected: there is
more libert=E9, =E9galit=E9 and fraternit=E9 for some than for others.
The admission that the rich, famous and influential are likely to get
preferential treatment to ordinary mortals came after revelations that
a full police investigation complete with DNA tests was launched when
the offspring of a politician had his scooter stolen.
The power of hope
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,2008422,00.html
Six years ago, Barack Obama's political support consisted of 50
friends and acquaintances. Today, he has a serious chance of becoming
the next US president. Gary Younge goes on the campaign trail of the
black candidate who makes white voters feel at ease
Saturday February 10, 2007
The Guardian
In the autumn of 2003, Barack Obama gathered his supporters together
in Chicago to announce his decision to run for the Illinois senate
seat. The consensus in the room was that he didn't stand a chance. At
that time Obama was a local politician with a small base of support
seeking not only to win the Democratic nomination, but then to unseat
an incumbent Republican. Three years earlier, he had stood for the
Democratic nomination for a local congressional seat and been soundly
trounced. Around 50 friends showed up, more out of personal loyalty
than political devotion, according to one.
Family fortunes
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2009434,00.html
David Landes's Dynasties tells the story of the great business empires
built on relative values
Martin Jacques
Saturday February 10, 2007
The Guardian
Dynasties: Fortune and Misfortune in the World's Great Family
Businesses
by David Landes
380pp, Viking, =A325
The title is alluring, the subtitle only adding to the sense of
temptation. It is difficult not to be intrigued by the stories of
great business families such as the Rothschilds, Morgans,
Rockefellers, Toyodas and Agnellis. They have helped to shape the
world as we know it, enjoyed wealth beyond imagination and often lived
highly colourful lives, whether by virtue of extraordinary frugality
(JD Rockefeller) or flamboyant luxury (Gianni Agnelli).
The Great Black Hope: Obama sets out on his mission to excite and
unite a divided nation
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2255654.ece
By Rupert Cornwell
Published: 10 February 2007
A gaffe, they say in politics, is when someone inadvertently blurts
out the truth. Thus it was when Joe Biden, the incorrigibly loquacious
senator from Delaware, held forth the other day about Barack Obama,
his fellow aspirant for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
"Look," he declared, "you got the first mainstream African-American
who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean,
that's a storybook, man."
The remark was of course profoundly politically incorrect, and profuse
apologies were instantly on their way to Jesse Jackson, Alan Keyes,
and Al Sharpton, all blacks who have run for the White House in recent
years, and all of presumably impeccable personal hygiene and boasting
impressive rhetorical skills.
Hillary fights to retain pole position
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2255655.ece
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 10 February 2007
If there's one man in Washington who is not swayed by Barack Obama it
is Terry McCauliffe. The former chairman of the Democratic Party is
backing their other star to take the nomination. "She is winning," he
said at a party in Washington to launch his newly-penned book. "It's
her turn."
Then again, he would say that as he is leading her campaign team but
the numbers are, for now, on his side. The polls suggest Mrs Clinton
is pulling well away from her nearest rivals, Senators Obama and John
Edwards.One published earlier this week by Rasmussen put her on 34
points, Mr Obama on 18 and Mr Edwards on 10.
Robert Fisk: Conspiracy of silence in the Arab world
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2255669.ece
Where are the sheikhs when the Iraqi dead are fished out of the
Tigris?
Published: 10 February 2007
Could Rifaat al-Assad's day in court be growing closer? Yes, Rifaat -
or Uncle Rifaat to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria - the man whose
brother Hafez hurled him from Damascus after he tried to use his
special forces troops to stage a coup. They were the same special
forces who crushed the Islamist rebellion in Hama in February 1982,
slaughtering up to - well, a few thousand, according to the regime, at
least 10,000 according to Fisk (who was there) and up 20,000 if you
believe The New York Times (which I generally don't).
Either way, I've always regarded it as a war crime, along with the
massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatila camps in Beirut by
Israel's Lebanese militia allies a few months later. Ariel Sharon, who
was held personally responsible by Israel's own court of enquiry, is
an unindicted war criminal. So is Rifaat.
Leading article: A symbolic moment for America as Obama sets out for
the White House
http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article2255652.ece
His many fans - and perhaps his rivals too - believe he could be
elected the first black President of the United States
Published: 10 February 2007
Today's announcement by Senator Barack Obama that he will seek the
Democratic nomination for the US presidency should be an inspiring
occasion, and a highly symbolic one, too. The 45 year-old senator for
Illinois has chosen to stake his claim at the same State Capitol
building in Springfield where Abraham Lincoln, the liberator of
America's slaves, served his political apprenticeship. Mr Obama's many
fans - and perhaps some of his rivals too - believe he could be
elected the first black President of the United States.
Much can happen between now and November 2008. The public announcement
is the very first step on a testing marathon of a campaign. Even to
have a realistic shot at the presidency, Mr Obama has to raise a
mountain of money and continue to raise it. He has to recruit a
veritable army of advisers. He has to tailor his appeal separately to
the states where the early primaries are held, and then broaden it
again for the states whose delegates will decide the party convention.
Only then will his name even figure on the presidential ballot. He
then has to possess the reserves of energy necessary to criss-cross
the country many times until the final exhausting and exhilarating
coast-to-coast sprint to get the vote out.
Howard Jacobson: Independent Jewish Voices can carry on talking to
themselves. I don't want to know
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/howard_jacobson/article2255=
682.ece
Its fantasy of itself as a doughty band confronting the might of
official bias is self-indulgent
Published: 10 February 2007
How is it that people you admire individually look considerably less
admirable the minute they become signatories to a public letter? Why
is it that a list of prominent names embracing a cause - any cause -
invariably adds up to less than its constituent parts, that what was
beautiful as a single bloom looks preposterous in a bunch? I am only
pretending not to know the answer. The answer smacks you in the face.
It is because you have admired them individually for their
individuality, and the minute they sign up to something, they agree to
think alike.
The particular consensus of folly I'm referring to - which contains
people I know and like personally as well as people whose work I would
go so far as to say I revere - calls itself, oxymoronically,
Independent Jewish Voices and has been declaring its guiding
principles left, right and centre, though mainly left, all week. These
principles bear, of course, on the Middle East and are, on the face of
it, unexceptionable. Human rights indivisible, Palestinians and
Israelis have same right to peaceful and secure lives, no
justification for racism, etc etc. To which your response, like mine,
will be: There needs no letter, come from Stephen Fry and Janet
Suzman, to tell us this.
.
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