28 January 2013

Sodastream – 5th month of protests

Julie Burchill - the Anti-Transgender Bigot - Participates in the Zionist Counter-Demonstration

In the past 7 weeks, for various reasons, as readers of this blog may have noticed, I haven’t been able to attend the picket of Sodastream on Saturday.  This week was the first time I could get there.
The latest recruit to the Zionist counter-demonstration - Julie Burchill whose online version of her column attracted more than 2,000 comments. Photograph: Gary Calton for the Guardian
At the beginning of December the shop seems to have told the Zionist counter-demonstrators that they were adding to the impact of what was already an effective demonstration and should go across the road and demonstrate there.  As with Ahava in London, the presence of Zionist counter-demonstrators energised the Palestine Solidarity demonstrators and created such a mayhem outside the shop that even less people were inclined to go inside!  In fact the only people shopping there were Zionist counter-demonstrators!
Zionist and Christian Fundamentalist Demonstration Across the Road
Last week there were just 7 demonstrators, including the racist anti trans-gender bigot, Julie Burchill whose article attacking transgender people was withdrawn from the Observer’s Internet edition.   It also merited an unprecedented protest at the Observer and Guardian premises.    And the Zionist are getting desperate when they rely on the likes of Burchill.  In fact yesterday it would appear that half the Zionists were Christian Fundamentalists who in past years (and in other countries today) are the most vociferous anti-Semites.  In Britain and the USA their pro-imperialism and belief in the return of Jesus leads them to support Zionism as being part of god’s design.  This week there about 10 counter-demonstrators, as the weather was warmer! 
 
 If All Else Fails - Play the 'Anti-Semitism Card'
 A couple of weeks ago a new group, Sussex Friends of Israel was formed.  Ronnie Bloom, who chaired the group, was quoted as saying that “With the unparalleled level of antisemitism in the town, we feel our organisation will be able to make people understand the truth about Israel.” Strange that.   Anyone at all familiar with the time when there was indeed a great deal of anti-Semitism, or who has read accounts of that time, will know that Jews were afraid to go out of their homes at nightThere there were certain areas like Ridley Road in the East End of London where Jews would never venture and attacks were frequent.  
Some of the people we have been abusing!
 I’m not aware of any upsurge in what most people understand as anti-Semitism.  Instead the Zionists deliberately confuse and conflate anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism.  Apparently ‘understanding the truth about Israel’ (i.e. accepting its propaganda) has something to do with ‘the unparalleled level of antisemitism in the town.’  Strange then that the leaders of the fascist EDL, whom Simon Cobb is believed to be close to, deny the holocaust but march with Israeli flags!  Clearly they understand the linkage.

Even stranger is the fact that none of the Zionists prominent in the campaign to support Sodastream has any record of having ever taken part in anti-fascist demonstrations or actions.  When the National Front held a march against Shechita, (Jewish Ritual Slaughter) in Hove and Brighton nearly 20 years ago, there was no participation from the Jewish community or its leaders.  Some young Jews participated but that was despite being told not to.  When I went to Ralli House, at the height of the Anti-Nazi League, some 30+ years ago, I was told that if I wanted to combat anti-Semitism I should go to Israel! And no, we couldn’t put a poster up.
Empty apart from the odd Zionist demonstrator
Likewise in the magnificent victory that we had over the EDL/March for England last April, there was no visible presence from any section of the Jewish community, still less the Zionists, although many secular Jews of course took part.
Sodastream have a new bouncer - rumoured to be from the Community Security Trust.  It must be the only shop in Brighton with its own doorman!
The real problem the Zionist counter-demonstrators face is that people now know the truth about how Sodastream operates on stolen land from which the Palestinians have been ethnically cleansed.  Most people have ethics and principles and don't like buying stolen goods.  Knowing the weakness of their case, Cobb and co. have resorted to outright lying.

In an article Brighton MP Lucas challenges IDF at pro-Israel lobby Cobb bleated that “Her constituents, the people who get spat at and abused from members of the PSC for supporting EcoStream, should be her priority.”  The suggestion that the Zionists have been spat at is absurd.   Even the Police, who have been pro-Zionist in their sympathies, haven't made that allegation.  Indeed most of the abuse has been from passers-by, incensed at their support for Israel. Yet 'After people told the Green Party MP of the antisemitic abuse they suffered from PSC protestors outside the environmentally-friendly shop, Dr Lucas said she would need “real hard evidence” of the abuse.  “If I get evidence of it, then I am more than delighted to completely oppose it,” she said.
Since the incidents alleged have never happened, it will be impossible to secure any evidence.  Indeed the only anti-Semitism has come from Cobb himself, who thought it a wonderful ‘joke’ to start shouting ‘Jews Out’.  Caroline Lucas was told ‘Dr Lucas rejected claims that if the protests did not move from directly outside EcoStream, the store would close.’  This is, indeed, good news.
The desultory ranks of the Zionist counter-demonstrators.  Most of those shown are Christian fundamentalists who believe that only a massacre of Jews at Armageddon will ensure the return of Jesus!
The mad Christian in the blue jacket has found a new role in life
The Zionists managed to bring along one Roman Fox, ‘a gay Jewish member of SFI’ who told Ms Lucas of the ‘antisemitic and homophobic abuse.’ he had suffered.  Of course even gays can lie about what they experience and Fox is one of those liars.  Indeed there has been homophobic abuse, but it has been of gay PSC members.  Caroline Lucas said that she “would be happy to come and stand with you and see what abuse you face,” She’ll be having a very long wait if that’s the case!


Tony Greenstein

13 comments:

  1. Nice to have you back on Saturday Tony.

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  2. Julie Burchill: another symptom of the irrationality of Zionism's supporters. She's positively unhinged...

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  3. I am not familiar with Ms. Burchill, but if that is her on the couch in the photo, she is barking up the wrong tree in her article.

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  4. The mad Christian ??
    How about the mad Jew . Not that it would bother you too much . Christians are passive targets for people like you . You are a disgrace .

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  5. The Christians I'm talking about are mad fundamentalists, who believe that the rest of us should die to fulfill their messianic dreams of 'rapture'.

    If someone is Jewish and mad then calling them a mad Jew, if they are asserting their Jewishness or defending the indefensible, is not racist. What is racist is if someone were to suggest that all Jews are mad.

    Nowhere have I stated that these fundamentalist nuts represent all Christians. Thank god (!) they represent a tiny handful of bigots in this country - anti-gay, anti-abortion, pro-Zionist, anti-Arab.

    Yes criticising one particularly obnoxious and yes mad Christian has clearly got your goat up. Maybe you are one of those who support Israel in the hope that all Jews go there.

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  6. "When the National Front held a march against Shechita, (Jewish Ritual Slaughter) in Hove and Brighton nearly 20 years ago, there was no participation from the Jewish community or its leaders"

    That's because the National Front were an organisation Jews were frightened of. They were directly violent towards Jews, whereas PSC simply advocated the annihilation of Middle Eastern Jewry. We find PSC disgusting, sure, but not actually *worrying*.

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  7. The racist 'Anti Fascist' says that the reason that the Jewish community did nothing when the NF marched against shechita was because they were an organisation Jews were frightened of.'

    The Zionist is of course a liar. The reason was because the leadership of the Jewish community told them, as they had always told them, to keep their heads down. Unlike in 1936 at the time of the Battle of Cable Street they obeyed because Zionism had permeated the community.

    And Zionism says that Jews don't belong outside Israel, anti-Semitism is inherent in non-Jews and the only way to fight it is to escape to Israel/Palestine.

    The Jews of the East End were also frightened but they fought back, with communists, socialists and trade unionists - all Zionisms' enemies.

    Our racist 'anti-fascist' can't help lying again. At no time has PSC advocated the annihilation of Jews in the Middle East, merely the dismantlement of the Apartheid 'Jewish' State.

    Is a state the same as the people under it? Well that was always the fascist conception. THe people were there to serve the state, so our 'anti-fascist' ends up in bed with this and a few other fascist ideas.

    But as the poster is probably EDL supporting Simon Cobb then it is unlikely he'd have wanted to oppose the NF anyway.

    Or is our Cobbian 'anti-fascist' saying that Jews today are cowards compared to the 1930's? Well Zionism is certainly cowardly when it comes to real anti-Semitism but not when it comes to the fake variety.

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  8. "At no time has PSC advocated the annihilation of Jews in the Middle East, merely the dismantlement of the Apartheid 'Jewish' State."

    As you are well aware Jews wouldn't last five minutes in an Islamic "Palestine", particularly one ruled by the PSC's friends in HAMAS.

    Jews haven't been allowed to live anywhere else in the middle east for decades.

    Removal of Israel = removal of Jews from the Middle East.

    Oh and I don't know who Simon Cobb is. However you are well aware that I am not an EDL supporter because of my comments about them which I posted under your leader article about an anti-Fascist book launch - but you won't publish that comment, with your typical duplicity.

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  9. Who is calling for an Islamic Palestine? Who has built up the forces of confessionalism and sectarianism if not those who are Zionists and believe in a 'Jewish' state.

    Why are you so ignorant (apart from being a Zionist!)?. Jews have lived longer in the Middle East outside Palestine. The Iraqi community was 2,500 years old when Zionist leaders at its inception decided they wanted the Iraqi Jews, over 100,000 and 1/3 of Baghdad, to become the new working class of Israel. Hence they did nice little things like plant bombs outside a synagogue and Jewish cafes. It's all been documented in Israel by papers like Haolem Hazeh. If there's no anti-Semitism then why not simulate some - an old Zionist tradition.

    It is typical of your ignorance to describe Hamas as PSC's friends. More to the point most European fascists - Kaminski of Poland, Ziles of Latvia etc. etc. EDL & so on are your friends. They even make Ziles, friend of the veterans of the Latvian Waffen SS to Yad Vashem, despite him marching with the Nazis each year. As Rudolph Vrba, a real Jewish hero and the co-author of the Auschwitz Protocols said, Israel is a state of Judenrats and collaborators.

    Jews haven't been allowed to live anywhere in the ME for decades? Really. They've been invited back to all Arab countries. Their position was of course destabilised in 1948 when 3/4 million Palestinians were expelled or butchered, and given it was in the name of all Jews, of course it produced some reaction against local Arab Jews. That is what Zionism does. It creates anti-Semitism amongst those who would have not tolerated it before.

    The removal of the Jewish state means the removal of privileges from Jews. It's called equality dunderhead, not that Zionists know much about such things, since you traded oppression of Jews in the diaspora for the right to oppress others in Israel.

    You don't know who Simon Cobb is. Strange you should post under the Sodastream article then. It's true I don't post the usual abusive Zionist comments, you know things like 'pity you and your family didn't die in Auschwitz' stuff. It's very difficult to tell Zionists and fascists apart these days, except fascists deny the holocaust so they are hardly likely to say they wished you died in it. That's a Zionist speciality because most of you are racist scumbags.

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  10. One could waste ages of time trying to educate ignoramuses like 'anti fascist'. Personally I don't think theyr're worth the time. With 'anti-fascists' like that, who needs Fascists?

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  11. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  12. Mr Greenstein,

    I may not like the way you have digs at Gilad Atzmon, viz because I wish there was a unified front against the zionistas, but you certainly know your history. For that I applaud you and I must say I have learned a lot from your blog. Much appreciated.

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  13. Thanks for your kind comments.

    I can assure you that I too would like to see a unified anti-Zionist front, but not with someone who expresses only racist and anti-Semitic views and who treats the praise of white supremacist David Duke as an accolade.

    If one opposes racism then one has to oppose anti-Semitism. I don't say that because I'm Jewish, because anti-Semitism is marginal these days, as I will make clearer when I post on my appearance on Big Questions earlier today.

    Anti-semitism is no danger to Jews these days but it is of great danger to the Palestinians. Atzmon seeks the answer to Zionism, not in colonialism or big power politics but in his version of Jewish identity. Which is the real reason he opposes BDS.

    It is unfortunate that we have the Atzmon phenomenon but it is a symptom of a wider malaise. Namely when people despair they look to racist answers and solutions as a short-cut. I've seen this with Frances Clarke-Lowes who was expelled from PSC for being a holocaust denier. I don't doubt Frances supported the Palestinians but he despaired of the solidarity movement.

    Unfortunately he didn't realise that Israel is only what it is because US and western imperialism (coupled with the collaboration of the Arab regimes) allows it to get away with what it does. Focussing on Jews as Jews simply makes no sense. He looks through the telescope from the wrong end!

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