The German Left and Israel
Written by Yossi Bartal
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Recently, the office of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the foundation
of the German left-wing party Die Linke, was ceremoniously opened in
Tel Aviv. In the wake of this event, I wish to share with my friends
in struggle against the Israeli occupation a brief review of the
relation to Israel of the German Left, particularly the political
parties, and to raise several queries concerning the desired
cooperation with said parties.
In Germany, the public discourse concerning Israel and its policies is
understandably a most sensitive matter. Open criticism toward the
state of Israel and its policies is very quickly classified as
anti-Semitic, and the primary media outlets openly declare their
support of Israel. The politics of the German regime, whether from the
“Left” or the Right, openly acknowledge that protecting the security
of the state of Israel (as a Jewish state, of course) is part of the
raison d’etat of Germany, and provide almost unconditional support for
Israel in international forums. Germany represents one of the most
important countries for Israel from the perspective of international
politics, the trade and supply of weapons and perhaps only with Italy
under the current neo-fascist regime can it compete for the title of
Israel’s most loyal partner in the European Union, and prevent any
attempt to increase pressure on Israel and enthusiastically promotes
the upgrade of EU-Israel relations.
One of the reasons for the love affair between Germany and Israel is
further connected to the weakness of the German Left in criticizing
Israel. Here, German history serves as an insufficient explanation for
the overall general resistance to supporting the Palestinian (and
Israeli) struggle against the occupation. Islamophobia and racism, in
addition to a complete lack of dealing with the colonial past of
Germany further represent for the Left ground in which the lack of a
desire to criticize Israel rests. Although I do not wish to go deeply
into this matter here, the existence of a dubious ideological strand
which dubs or dubbed itself “anti-German,” and from its objection to
German nationalism supported the Iraq War and the invasion of
Afghanistan and demands “unconditional solidarity” with the state of
Israel (yes, this is as crazy as it sounds), also impacts the various
left-wing circles and inhibits any type of critical discussion toward
the state of Israel or even the United States from within the radical
Left.
The German left-wing political party, Die Linke, is a very new party
in Germany, founded just two years ago from a combination of the
Democratic Socialist party (a reincarnation of the ruling party in
East Germany, which founded the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in 1990), a
group of dissenters from the Social Democratic Party (headed by Oskar
LaFontaine) and several other groups from the radical Left. Since its
establishment, the party has enjoyed numerous successes in local and
regional German elections, but it remains in West Germany a partially
boycotted party with which the Social-Democrats refuse to establish a
government.
Since its establishment, the party has conducted numerous ideological
and political discussions, whether consciously or unconsciously,
around the attempts of many of its leaders to integrate into the
German political system through “moderation” and a renunciation of
“extreme” positions. An internalization of the German consensus
against “extremism from Right and from Left” is also expressed in that
criticism sharper than that of the director of Peace Now against
Israeli policy would be considered by many party leaders as an extreme
position that will threaten the chances of the party to be perceived
as legitimate for partnership in the government.
Indeed, also within the Left party there are politicians who openly
declare their support for the state of Israel and its policies: within
the youth movement of the party there exists a group that calls itself
by the Hebrew word “shalom” and with funding from the party organizes
events on behalf of Israel, distributes racist and militaristic
propaganda and terrorizes any party member who dares to criticize
Israel. One of the party leaders, Gregor Gysi, declared already one
year ago his solidarity with Israel and called for the dumping of the
Left’s anti-Semitism into the trash of history. A party member of the
Berlin Council participated in a demonstration in support of Israel
during the “Cast Lead” massacre and a mayoral candidate in the city of
Duisburg, who expressed his support for the international campaign of
boycott and sanctions against Israel, was forced to resign from his
position after the party refused to continue supporting him.
The range of discussions within the German Left about Israel can
perhaps interest the few of us who reside in Germany or those
interested in left-wing polemics. However, the weakness of the German
Left in expressing solidarity with our struggle further impacts
Germany’s foreign policy and the international campaigns against the
Israeli occupation. The opening of the Rosa Luxemburg office in Tel
Aviv can provide an opportunity to express our protest at the lack of
solidarity from the German Left and represent the first step in
establishing a direct and honest dialogue with left-wing forces in
Germany.
There are few members of the Israeli Left active in Germany: apart
from the dear Uri Avnery (who defines himself as a Zionist and is not
from the radical Left), there exist almost no critical voices of
activists against the occupation. German speaking Israeli
intellectuals are often interviewed for the left-wing papers, but they
generally do not make a clear call for political action against the
Israeli occupation and speak too much in interviews.
The German Left and the left-wing political party need a clear and
strong voice from our side in order to facilitate the existence of an
active and critical discourse toward Israel. Racism and anti-Semitism
play here a substantial role, and our voice as Israeli citizens or
Jews possesses a stronger effect than that of our partners in the
occupied territories. Our right and obligation as left-wing activists
in Israel is to demand clear explanations from the left-wing German
party for its statements in support of the Israeli regime by party
leaders. Public statements by the Israeli Communist Party or Hadash
can be regularly sent to the German party institutions with a demand
for involvement in the anti-occupation protest. A call to vote against
an upgrade of EU economic relations with Israel coming from left-wing
activists from Israel can convince the party in the European
parliament to do something in the matter, and a letter of support for
the former mayoral candidate of Duisburg from the Women’s Coalition
for Peace can perhaps lessen the level of animosity directed at him.
Our intervention as Israelis in the discussion being conducted about
our state in Germany is essential and does not require prior knowledge
of the specific conditions of the German Left. I do not believe that
knowing the ins and outs of the various left-wing groups is essential
to the topic and I would not recommend to anyone to dive into the
depths of the ideological nonsense created by the Left, known for its
love of theory and reticence from praxis.
The long and tiring ideological discussions concerning German-Israeli
relations can be left for the day that the occupation ends. In the
meantime, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation should fulfill its obligation
and support those groups that continue in the path of that same
stubborn Polish Jew in Palestine and Israel and work to promote her
messages throughout Germany.
________________________________
Yossi Bartal, a former staff member of the Alternative Information
Center (AIC), is active in Anarchists against Walls and has been
residing in Berlin for the past two years. This article originally
appeared in Hebrew in Haokets and was translated to English by the
AIC. The article generated substantial discussion amongst Israeli
activists, such that Bartal later added the following clarifications:
Already from the beginning this article is clearly directed to my
friends in struggle against the racist separation regime of Israel. I
did not attempt to speak with the general public, I did not attempt to
convince anyone and I did not try to save the moral image of my dear
people; I only wished to share with those close to me in my worldview
things happening in another part of the world that impact us.
I also did not try and provide a complete description of the Rosa
Luxemburg Foundation or the left-wing party. I simply attempted to
clarify one problematic aspect of their activities, in my view. In
both the party and foundation there are people close to the radical
Left in Israel, people who support putting international pressure on
the Israeli government and promoting a just peace, and I wished to
clarify that these people are coming under increasing pressure from
senior members of the party.
It amuses me that talk about foundations can set certain people off.
Foundations are large, bureaucratic bodies, where mutual back
scratching occurs and political and personal pressures play a large
role. For the Israeli Left, even the radical Left, it is often
convenient to ignore the problematic of the relations of donors and
recipients: who here doesn’t know stories of “well phrased” and
pleasing words to foundations, the foggy language used to describe a
project so that it won’t sound too political, political conditions or
prohibitions…the activities of large foundations and non-governmental
institutions often act as a type of hidden colonialism that attempts
to act where the army cannot …or the interest is to push for a
de-politicization of a social movement, or to quash guilty feelings at
the lowest possible cost.
In summary, large foundations, political parties and NGOs, even the
most left-wing amongst them, are not innocent and nice like in their
brochures. It is important to recognize this reality before working
with them and to know their political location, internal conflicts,
with what mandate and for what purpose they are acting. It is most
important to know how to overcome, if only a little, the absolute
inequality in such relations. Knowledge of the politics, the various
pressures and the funding sources of the foundations themselves can
assist.
I never wrote anywhere that the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation should not
support Israeli organizations, only that it should support radical
groups that continue Rosa’s tradition of opposition to the regime, the
struggle against militarism and racism and her support for militant
workers’ struggles. I have no idea how my article could have been
interpreted in any other way.
What is true is that I would prefer that not one Euro would come to
Israel or Palestine in exchange that they would boycott the Israeli
government, kick out its ambassadors and enforce international
isolation until Israel retreats from the occupied Palestinian
territories or provides to all living under its rule equal rights. To
my sorrow this is not so realistic at the moment. I do believe that
all the European financial contributions are worthless without
political pressure, and here in my opinion is the primary failure of
the Israeli human rights and left-wing groups, that they do not
clarify this point to the donors.
The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation has just begun working in Israel. We
must see how it will behave, what it intends to do and what political
pressures it directs at the organizations it supports. I do believe
that its first conference in Israel could have been organized closer
to the spirit of Rosa than that of the Meretz party leaders, and
perhaps it was possible to allow not such white people to speak on
stage. However, at least the representation of women speakers was
higher than at most academic conferences.
Source: http://www.alternativenews.org/content/view/1644/104/
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Recently, the office of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the foundation
of the German left-wing party Die Linke, was ceremoniously opened in
Tel Aviv. In the wake of this event, I wish to share with my friends
in struggle against the Israeli occupation a brief review of the
relation to Israel of the German Left, particularly the political
parties, and to raise several queries concerning the desired
cooperation with said parties.
In Germany, the public discourse concerning Israel and its policies is
understandably a most sensitive matter. Open criticism toward the
state of Israel and its policies is very quickly classified as
anti-Semitic, and the primary media outlets openly declare their
support of Israel. The politics of the German regime, whether from the
“Left” or the Right, openly acknowledge that protecting the security
of the state of Israel (as a Jewish state, of course) is part of the
raison d’etat of Germany, and provide almost unconditional support for
Israel in international forums. Germany represents one of the most
important countries for Israel from the perspective of international
politics, the trade and supply of weapons and perhaps only with Italy
under the current neo-fascist regime can it compete for the title of
Israel’s most loyal partner in the European Union, and prevent any
attempt to increase pressure on Israel and enthusiastically promotes
the upgrade of EU-Israel relations.
One of the reasons for the love affair between Germany and Israel is
further connected to the weakness of the German Left in criticizing
Israel. Here, German history serves as an insufficient explanation for
the overall general resistance to supporting the Palestinian (and
Israeli) struggle against the occupation. Islamophobia and racism, in
addition to a complete lack of dealing with the colonial past of
Germany further represent for the Left ground in which the lack of a
desire to criticize Israel rests. Although I do not wish to go deeply
into this matter here, the existence of a dubious ideological strand
which dubs or dubbed itself “anti-German,” and from its objection to
German nationalism supported the Iraq War and the invasion of
Afghanistan and demands “unconditional solidarity” with the state of
Israel (yes, this is as crazy as it sounds), also impacts the various
left-wing circles and inhibits any type of critical discussion toward
the state of Israel or even the United States from within the radical
Left.
The German left-wing political party, Die Linke, is a very new party
in Germany, founded just two years ago from a combination of the
Democratic Socialist party (a reincarnation of the ruling party in
East Germany, which founded the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in 1990), a
group of dissenters from the Social Democratic Party (headed by Oskar
LaFontaine) and several other groups from the radical Left. Since its
establishment, the party has enjoyed numerous successes in local and
regional German elections, but it remains in West Germany a partially
boycotted party with which the Social-Democrats refuse to establish a
government.
Since its establishment, the party has conducted numerous ideological
and political discussions, whether consciously or unconsciously,
around the attempts of many of its leaders to integrate into the
German political system through “moderation” and a renunciation of
“extreme” positions. An internalization of the German consensus
against “extremism from Right and from Left” is also expressed in that
criticism sharper than that of the director of Peace Now against
Israeli policy would be considered by many party leaders as an extreme
position that will threaten the chances of the party to be perceived
as legitimate for partnership in the government.
Indeed, also within the Left party there are politicians who openly
declare their support for the state of Israel and its policies: within
the youth movement of the party there exists a group that calls itself
by the Hebrew word “shalom” and with funding from the party organizes
events on behalf of Israel, distributes racist and militaristic
propaganda and terrorizes any party member who dares to criticize
Israel. One of the party leaders, Gregor Gysi, declared already one
year ago his solidarity with Israel and called for the dumping of the
Left’s anti-Semitism into the trash of history. A party member of the
Berlin Council participated in a demonstration in support of Israel
during the “Cast Lead” massacre and a mayoral candidate in the city of
Duisburg, who expressed his support for the international campaign of
boycott and sanctions against Israel, was forced to resign from his
position after the party refused to continue supporting him.
The range of discussions within the German Left about Israel can
perhaps interest the few of us who reside in Germany or those
interested in left-wing polemics. However, the weakness of the German
Left in expressing solidarity with our struggle further impacts
Germany’s foreign policy and the international campaigns against the
Israeli occupation. The opening of the Rosa Luxemburg office in Tel
Aviv can provide an opportunity to express our protest at the lack of
solidarity from the German Left and represent the first step in
establishing a direct and honest dialogue with left-wing forces in
Germany.
There are few members of the Israeli Left active in Germany: apart
from the dear Uri Avnery (who defines himself as a Zionist and is not
from the radical Left), there exist almost no critical voices of
activists against the occupation. German speaking Israeli
intellectuals are often interviewed for the left-wing papers, but they
generally do not make a clear call for political action against the
Israeli occupation and speak too much in interviews.
The German Left and the left-wing political party need a clear and
strong voice from our side in order to facilitate the existence of an
active and critical discourse toward Israel. Racism and anti-Semitism
play here a substantial role, and our voice as Israeli citizens or
Jews possesses a stronger effect than that of our partners in the
occupied territories. Our right and obligation as left-wing activists
in Israel is to demand clear explanations from the left-wing German
party for its statements in support of the Israeli regime by party
leaders. Public statements by the Israeli Communist Party or Hadash
can be regularly sent to the German party institutions with a demand
for involvement in the anti-occupation protest. A call to vote against
an upgrade of EU economic relations with Israel coming from left-wing
activists from Israel can convince the party in the European
parliament to do something in the matter, and a letter of support for
the former mayoral candidate of Duisburg from the Women’s Coalition
for Peace can perhaps lessen the level of animosity directed at him.
Our intervention as Israelis in the discussion being conducted about
our state in Germany is essential and does not require prior knowledge
of the specific conditions of the German Left. I do not believe that
knowing the ins and outs of the various left-wing groups is essential
to the topic and I would not recommend to anyone to dive into the
depths of the ideological nonsense created by the Left, known for its
love of theory and reticence from praxis.
The long and tiring ideological discussions concerning German-Israeli
relations can be left for the day that the occupation ends. In the
meantime, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation should fulfill its obligation
and support those groups that continue in the path of that same
stubborn Polish Jew in Palestine and Israel and work to promote her
messages throughout Germany.
________________________________
Yossi Bartal, a former staff member of the Alternative Information
Center (AIC), is active in Anarchists against Walls and has been
residing in Berlin for the past two years. This article originally
appeared in Hebrew in Haokets and was translated to English by the
AIC. The article generated substantial discussion amongst Israeli
activists, such that Bartal later added the following clarifications:
Already from the beginning this article is clearly directed to my
friends in struggle against the racist separation regime of Israel. I
did not attempt to speak with the general public, I did not attempt to
convince anyone and I did not try to save the moral image of my dear
people; I only wished to share with those close to me in my worldview
things happening in another part of the world that impact us.
I also did not try and provide a complete description of the Rosa
Luxemburg Foundation or the left-wing party. I simply attempted to
clarify one problematic aspect of their activities, in my view. In
both the party and foundation there are people close to the radical
Left in Israel, people who support putting international pressure on
the Israeli government and promoting a just peace, and I wished to
clarify that these people are coming under increasing pressure from
senior members of the party.
It amuses me that talk about foundations can set certain people off.
Foundations are large, bureaucratic bodies, where mutual back
scratching occurs and political and personal pressures play a large
role. For the Israeli Left, even the radical Left, it is often
convenient to ignore the problematic of the relations of donors and
recipients: who here doesn’t know stories of “well phrased” and
pleasing words to foundations, the foggy language used to describe a
project so that it won’t sound too political, political conditions or
prohibitions…the activities of large foundations and non-governmental
institutions often act as a type of hidden colonialism that attempts
to act where the army cannot …or the interest is to push for a
de-politicization of a social movement, or to quash guilty feelings at
the lowest possible cost.
In summary, large foundations, political parties and NGOs, even the
most left-wing amongst them, are not innocent and nice like in their
brochures. It is important to recognize this reality before working
with them and to know their political location, internal conflicts,
with what mandate and for what purpose they are acting. It is most
important to know how to overcome, if only a little, the absolute
inequality in such relations. Knowledge of the politics, the various
pressures and the funding sources of the foundations themselves can
assist.
I never wrote anywhere that the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation should not
support Israeli organizations, only that it should support radical
groups that continue Rosa’s tradition of opposition to the regime, the
struggle against militarism and racism and her support for militant
workers’ struggles. I have no idea how my article could have been
interpreted in any other way.
What is true is that I would prefer that not one Euro would come to
Israel or Palestine in exchange that they would boycott the Israeli
government, kick out its ambassadors and enforce international
isolation until Israel retreats from the occupied Palestinian
territories or provides to all living under its rule equal rights. To
my sorrow this is not so realistic at the moment. I do believe that
all the European financial contributions are worthless without
political pressure, and here in my opinion is the primary failure of
the Israeli human rights and left-wing groups, that they do not
clarify this point to the donors.
The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation has just begun working in Israel. We
must see how it will behave, what it intends to do and what political
pressures it directs at the organizations it supports. I do believe
that its first conference in Israel could have been organized closer
to the spirit of Rosa than that of the Meretz party leaders, and
perhaps it was possible to allow not such white people to speak on
stage. However, at least the representation of women speakers was
higher than at most academic conferences.
Source: http://www.alternativenews.org/content/view/1644/104/
sdaj.muc - 19. Apr, 20:30