Music mixed with conspiracies and blatant anti-Semitism
Reuben Bard Rosenberg reviews Gilad Atzmon's website
Up until last night my interest in the debate over Gilad Atzmon had largely been
informed by articles and statements and by extracts I had seen of his speeches
and writing. And so it was with interest that I finally came to look through his
website, to see Atzmon's public image, his thoughts and his ideas laid out
exactly as he wanted.
The front page could be that of any other major
artist - it contained a large picture of Gilad looking serious above a slightly
smaller a picture of his new album. Much of the site also seems fairly typical
of what you would expect of a top notch musician - pages filled with good
reviews, gig listings, places to click if you want to 'Buy Gilad's Music'. Yet
intertwined with all this is mixture of political thought and cultural
criticism. In discussing his new album Musik, Atzmon meditates - albeit in
slightly blunt and clichéd terms - on the commercialisation of music and art. In
appealing to fans to vote for Musik as the Album of the years his website reads
'You can vote for us now,
you can oust Tony Blair on 05.05.05, why not do both.'
What is really interesting however is the politics section. This section
contains many essays by Atzmon mostly focused on the middle east. An article
which is immediately eye catching - given the current debate on Atzmon in one
entitled 'The J word, the J people and the J spot '. Playfully written (Atzmon
throughout refers not to the Jews but to 'the J's') the article moves from cheap
shots about Jews being not particularly good looking to textbook Jewish
conspiracy type ideas. 'You can see them running the show' he writes 'running
American political life, running American show business, running the ‘new Middle
East’, running the Communist revolution'. After reading this particular summary
of everything Atzmon dislikes about the Jewish people I was left astounded. Not
astounded that he had nasty things to say about us - that much I had already
gathered - but surprised by how blatant he was. Given the number of people on
the left who seem to have a hell of a lot of time for Atzmon I had always
assumed he was a fairly cryptic anti-Semite who buried his less defensible
opinions deep in articles. ' The J word, the J people and the J spot ' proved
otherwise.
It would be wrong to pretend that such articles are all that Atzmon's site has
to offer to somebody interested in Middle Eastern politics. His article 'On
Sharon' is an interesting exposition of the political and military doctrines
that have dominated Israel since Ben Gurion. The article is nonetheless marred
towards the end by his sweeping assertion that 'world Jewry and American
administration prevent themselves from criticizing Sharon publicly, hence, we
can conclude that Sharon is committing his war
crimes both in the name of the Jewish people and the American nation.' In fact
Sharon has been heavily criticized not only by the Jewish hard left but by
liberal rabbis both inside and outside Israel.
To conclude, while Atzmon may have attached himself to worthy causes, both in
supporting the Palestinian people and in attempting to provide an alternative to
music as a commodity, his site does not contain any particularly fresh insights
into either. More to the point those interested in the question of peace and
justice in the Middle East can find a whole range of other websites and blogs
which support Palestinian rights and explore the problems with Zionism, but do
not resort to the anti-Jewish rhetoric which sadly crops up on the Atzmon site.
If your a big fan of Atzmon's music you may wish to check it out. But if you are
a socialist and an anti-racist its not a corner of the web in which you'll want
to spend too time.
