“David North’s three lectures, delivered amidst the war, are a remarkably concise, historically informed, and politically devastating indictment of Zionism and the Israeli assault on Gaza.”
Charles Thorpe, Professor of Sociology, University of California, San Diego.
The lectures presented in this volume are not only a sharp
Marxist analysis of the reactionary ideological and political foundations of
Zionism, but they are also an antidote to poison and bile being spewed out by
the capitalist media, who not only print lies and cover-up a genocide going on in
Gaza, they label any opposition to the Israeli regime as being anti-Semitic.
As Charles Thorpe, Professor of Sociology University of
California, San Diego, states, “David North’s three lectures, delivered amidst
the war, are a remarkably concise, historically informed, and politically
devastating indictment of Zionism and the Israeli assault on Gaza.” Thorpe is
to be commended for raising his head above the parapet to defend a clear-sighted
Marxist analysis presented by North and the ICFI(International Committee of the
Fourth International).
It is not in the realm of this short review to cover
everything contained in this excellent book. One of the most important aspects
of the book has been to oppose the charge that any opposition to the Israeli
regime is tantamount to antisemitism.
As North writes, “Ten years ago, I was barred from attending
a seminar at Humboldt because I intended to challenge historian Robert Service’s
falsifications and his use of antisemitic slurs. Now, the university, posturing
as an irreconcilable opponent of antisemitism, forbids the inclusion of a
reference to the Gaza genocide in the name of fighting antisemitism.
I recall this incident from the not-so-distant past because
it exemplifies the cynicism, hypocrisy, demagogy and unrestrained lying that
drives the campaign to discredit opposition to Israel’s onslaught against Gaza
as “antisemitic.” The use of this slur has become a critical weapon in the
efforts of Israel and its imperialist accomplices to intimidate and isolate all
those who are protesting the genocide of Palestinians.
Suddenly, and from so many surprising quarters, warriors
against antisemitism have emerged. Last week, in the United States, university
presidents were summoned to Washington D.C. and questioned on their failure to
suppress allegedly antisemitic protests on American college campuses. Leading
the inquisitorial questioning was Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a Republican
from a district in New York State. She demanded to know why the presidents of
the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and other major universities were tolerating calls for
“genocide”—which the congresswoman identifies as any student protest that
demands an end to the apartheid regime that deprives Palestinians of their
democratic rights.”[1]
From a personal viewpoint, the most fascinating aspect of
North’s lecture at the Humboldt University in Berlin was his adding to the more
well-known public personal background by producing a family history that is not
only extraordinary but which North uses to counter the slanders that have come
not only his way but the Trotskyist movement itself.
He writes, “I do not have any personal obligation to answer
the claim that I and my comrades in the Trotskyist movement are antisemites. As
the saying goes, my record speaks for itself. But, unfortunately, that is not
generally true. The accusation of antisemitism requires the ignoring and
distortion of a given individual’s political record. So I will, for the first
time, respond to the accusation, by adding to my well-known public political
record information relating to my background. Now, having reached a somewhat
more advanced age, just a little more than a year away from what will be my
75th birthday, I think the time has come to do this. I do not do so because it
will have any effect on the slanderers but because there are elements of my
personal experience that may resonate with a younger generation and encourage
them to intensify their struggle in defence of the Palestinians and against all
forms of oppression.”
While the book stands independently in its meticulous
research and erudition, North's book is not just a catalogue of the crimes of
the Israeli regime, nor is it “Two Minutes of Hate”, which was the charge by an
audience member at the London lecture given by North. It is a call to action, especially
aimed at the young.
As David North declared in his third lecture, delivered in
Berlin on December 14, 2023: “The ongoing war, for all its horrors, has made
one significant political contribution. It has awakened the youth. It has
opened the eyes of the world. It has exposed the Zionist regime and its
imperialist accomplices for the criminals they are. It has set into motion a
tidal wave of outrage that is sweeping across the world and will sweep across
those responsible for this genocide”.
The book deserves a wide readership. I would encourage all readers
and non-readers of the World Socialist Web Site to buy the book.
[1]
The Israeli state’s fascist ideology and the genocide in Gaza-https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/12/19/pers-d19.html
