Two Anarchist Jews Talk Zionism and War

Uri Gordon is a long-time anarchist activist, researcher, writer, and organizer. He is well known for his book, "Anarchy Alive!: Anti-Authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory" and his work with Anarchists Against the Wall. His writings have been translated into 13 different languages and can be read online following the links in the description.

Today, he joins us to discuss the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict and international relations, Zionism, and being an anarchist Jew ...or Jewish anarchist.

Watch here: https://anarchy.tube/w/fBqVNSHW5gjY2G9ejK8Vyc

Freedom Magazine:
https://freedomnews.org.uk/

Uri Gordon's The Anarchist Library Texts:
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/category/author/uri-gordon

Uri Gordon's Academia.edu Texts:
https://independentscholar.academia.edu/UriGordon

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https://www.972mag.com/

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There are 30 Comments

thanks Cyber & Uri for this. great discussion. i like Uri's point about vertical antagonism being the thing, rather than the horizontal antagonism that happens all too much.

I'm not familiar with Uri Gordon's ideas, so I checked out his very long and boring essay, Anarchism and Nationalism. It was the usual pseudo-intellectual leftist blather about "intersectionality", "ethnocultural identity", "decolonisation", etc. It is so impersonal and so oriented toward political organizing and action that there is absolutely nothing in it for anyone to get excited or passionate about. I am an anarchist first and foremost because I detest coercion or manipulation in any form, and the more it affects me personally, the more passionately I fight against it.

He should be focused more on the broader Judeo/Christian (in one word Abrahamic) merchant culture and its materialistic values and destruction of Nature in the pursuit of its eschatological destiny, but hey, he identifies as Jewish, so there you go *sigh*.
Yeah, I'm anti-Abrahamic ;)

anti-Semite much? Yeah, all day every day with your shitty dog whistles. Fuck off.

Settle down son, he's baiting you to show how vehemently even a philosophical idea is attacked with abusive expletives by just the mention of a religion, which all anarchists know causes binary war situations to arise. Take a deep breath son and move on.

Economics, more than religion is behind all wars. But if Property and Capital is religion, then I can understand...

Dude, if I said "He calls himself a Viking, there you go" that doesn't mean I'm anti-Scandinavian, I'm critiquing white nationalist identity-politics. Stop playing the victim, Hitler was 80yrs ago.

have absolutely nothing to do with white nationalism. Gamer white nationalists, and "pagan" white nationalists, just use them to appear stronger than they actually are. That's genuine fascism or superiority complex 101.

22:55 is being called antisemitic for the complete non-sequitur about Abrahamic religion's supposed merchant culture and destruction of nature, both of which it doesn't even have a monopoly on. In that sense, it's a bit like commenting "what about civ tho" every time someone engages with an issue that is more specific than it. Also, 80 years is only a single human lifetime! Pretty much the entire Jewish community is still affected by it, this is obvious, come on. You come off as so eager to expose people as seeking victim status for some kind of advantage.

Well, whoever made the 22.55 comment using the term "Abrahamic" has certainly opened a can of worms, and I think both trolls AND scholars have been drawn into defending and condemning its usage. Maybe it's the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Israel that has sparked both anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic feelings throughout the world, but for me, being an anarch of the highest quality, I don't care about any religions or their believers, they all live hateful, judgemental and ignorant lives, and it's just a word loaded with a history of war, terror, slaughter and arrogance.

Abrahamic religions include Islam brah, it's not just Judean or Christian.

People who say "Abrahamic" are not interested in Muslins or Baha'is or Druze or Samaritans or other near eastern monotheist religions. I reckon you don't know that "Abrahamic" is a dog whistle for racist Jew baiters.

Wikipedia statex in its opening paragraph about Abrahamic religions the following "The Abrahamic religions are a group of religions, most notably Judaism, Christianity and Islam, centered around the worship of the God of Abraham. Abraham, a Hebrew patriarch, is extensively mentioned in the religious scriptures of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, and the Quran."
I don't know where your paranoia comes from towards the use of this linguistic descriptive term, but oh my Odin, (I'm a Viking pagan ) I wish you would not make blind accusations and single out Judean as being the only Abrahamic religion.
And anyway, this is an anarchist site, no gods, no bosses, no authority, so why so protective of Abrahamic god worshippers?

Psst, your ignorance bordering on racism is showing. There's no such thing as a "Judean" any more. If you mean Jew, say Jew. I'm not protecting anyone; I'm calling out racism among so-called anarchists. Not all Jews are religious, just like not all pagans adhere to an explicitly hierarchical and authoritarian type of paganism. Fuck the god of Abraham and fuck Odin and all the other stupid Asgardians.

so i was curious and started searching, most of what i found says the opposite?

"judeo-christian" is the sus term with white nationalist undertones and "abrahamic" is the term that somebody would use while viewing religion through a secular lens and ... not doing a racism about it.

you seem to have it backwards for some reason? blowing in to the wrong end of the whistle?

oh great, now here comes dumpy to add his own particular brand of incoherence to the mix. well done. so you looked into how dog whistles work? or you just did some lame tooling around the cesspool of google and came up with your "own research" on how racists manipulate language and find ways of skirting common meanings to impart layered meanings to their racism? jfc

would be nice if the two of you, lumpy and cranky pants, would talk about where you got your information. you can surely do that and still call each other names. we believe in you.

There are plenty of leftist dog whistles out there as well, but I never see them challenged as such on A-News, which seems to be completely in support of empty buzzwords like: "capitalism", " WHITE SUPREMACY", "hetero-normative", "cis", ect......Whenever I hear these phrases I know I'm dealing with a leftist...

That's not how dog whistles work, doofus. What you're describing is jargon, pure and simple.

I'm a philologist lumpy, incase you don't know what that is, I study texts and the meaning of socio/ religious terminology as well as the belief systems of past societies.
Sure, some scholars say Judeo/Christian was only pertinent during the brief life of Jesus and referred to his small group of followers during his life, but I probably should have said Judeo/Christian/Islamic but for convenience the term Abrahamic does the job nicely. It's only a reference and has nothing to do with race.

You are quite correct. You seem to be the outcaste on this site!

Dude, if I said "He calls himself Abrahamic, there you go" that doesn't mean I'm anti-Semitic, I'm just saying he believes in either a Christian, Judean or Islamic god.
You're trying to start a war of words, typical.

If words and their meanings are so unimportant to you, then why do you use them? Obviously you impute layers of meaning to the words you've chosen; that's how dog whistles work. That way when someone calls you out on your racism, you can say something like "well, gee don't you know that words aren't actually important?" Nice try, but most of the rest of us are smarter than that, and you.

I think I've explained enough above to defend my usage of the term Abrahamic. I'm amazed that so many victims take offence at my comment, I am only concerned about anarchism and the absurdity of ALL religious belief systems and the toxic authoritarian control they exert upon the innocent mind.
I would just like to return to my thesis on "Abrahamic Authoritarian Societies" and not by politicized by their adherents, thx.

Because "nature-worshipping" non-Abrahamic Vikings just fucking cut them all off for a (failed) agricultural project. Then they had to resort to fishing, coz they weren't into invading and colonizing anymore. Yes yes, you're a moron but your proud Suburban Viking genes won't make you admit it!

You're being silly now son, The Vikings were a religious people, ever heard of Valhalla and the eschatological pursuit of death whilst standing up fighting with a sword? This martyrdom was required to be worthy of entering Valhalla, full of wenches. Sound familar? That's spooky AND very Abrahamic-esque, wouldn't you say?

I highly recommend CD's interview with Djene Bajalan, for a more nuanced and sharp take on the Israel/Palestine situation... especially for adding to the theory of how these nationalisms are both products of Western interference in the region.

i am makhno is one of those people who gets removed so much that most people don't know how fucked up he is. he's also told people here various times that he's done with the site, since he's not wanted here.

just some backstory for those who didn't already know.

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