Jonathan EmmesediKenan Malik rightly notes both the courage of the Iranian protesters and the contemptible commentary from campists and conservatives alike.
https://observer.co.uk/news/columnists/article/the-left-and-right-are-spinning-irans-story-for-their-own-ends-while-its-people-suffer
>> ...a system that has generated vast profits for private corporations while undermining the decision-making capacity of the state and leaving unheeded the aspirations of ordinary people. <<
Can you hear, Keir?
#Privatisation #UKPolitics #Politics #StateCapacity #KenanMalik
CheshireWithout a two-state solution or single state with equal r...
https://observer.co.uk/news/opinion-and-ideas/article/without-two-state-solution-or-single-state-with-equal-rights-what-hope-palestine
#KenanMalik
https://observer.co.uk/news/opinion-and-ideas/article/without-two-state-solution-or-single-state-with-equal-rights-what-hope-palestine
#KenanMalik
Malik is right to note that "the bald declaration that 'anti-Zionism is antisemitism' " has been used to deflect legitimate criticism of Israel.
Yet although he also notes that " anti-Zionism can be a cover for antisemitism", he appears not to recognize how widespread the use of this cover is.
So many of the antisemitic canards of old -- the malign fantasies of Jewish control of the media, the vindictive cruelty of the Jews, or the Jews as parasites -- have reappeared under the guise of "antizionism".
A parallel with opposition to affirmative action in the USA highlights the problem.
Although a significant number of African Americans oppose affirmative action,* can any serious observer of US politics and society doubt that much of the opposition was driven by racist resentment directed towards African Americans in particular?
Clear thinking about zionism and antizionism is further obstructed by the eagerness of both the Israeli right and doctrinaire antizionists to equate "zionism" with the policies of the current Israeli government. I wrote about this misconception here: https://c.im/@jemmesedi/114825390064375529
*See, for example, Gallup -- January 16, 2024 -- "Age Plays Key Role in Black Views of Affirmative Action Case"
We should also remember that right wingers, whether within the government or just cheering it on, are reveling in their creation of a climate of fear.
Just like McCarthy, Trump spreads fear everywhere before picking off his targets | Kenan Malik | The Guardian
LyncazuKenan Malik on Shakespeare, decolonization and universal human rights: "The trend for cultural reappraisal could risk upholding the very ideas it aims to dismantle"
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/dec/06/sale-of-observer-to-tortoise-media-agreed-in-principle
I don't know how confident one can be of The Observer's future.
I'm also sad that two of my favourite columnists, Kenan Malik and Martha Gill, will now be behind a paywall.
##UKPress #UKMedia #TheObserver
#KenanMalik #MarthaGill #Newspapers #BritishNewspapers #SundayNewspapers #TortoiseMedia
Strypey"However, these arguments also lay traps for the unwary. Just as social justice campaigners have abandoned the struggle for material betterment for that of cultural empowerment, so many of their critics have come to see the new 'cultural elite' as the main problem, ignoring the real material roots of power in our society."
#KenanMalik, 2024
Along these lines ...
"[Catherine Liu and Olúfémi Táíwò] explain, for instance, why the Democratic party in the US (and many social democratic parties in Europe) is increasingly a club for the rich and educated, while many working-class voters have abandoned it. They illuminate, too, our culture’s obsession with the minutiae of symbolic representation and the policing of language but disregard for real material inequalities."
#KenanMalik, 2024
...the other being Kenan Malik, here skewering the hypocritical humbuggery of Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/24/allison-pearson-right-to-be-obnoxious