Following a screening of “American Radical: the trials of Norman Finkelstein, Antony Loewenstein, Peter Manning and Peter Slezak gave a “Q&A” – a real “Q&A”, Reuben Brand put together a short montage. The Pig’s Arms is pleased to republished it here for your consideration.
First published by Antony Loewenstein at http://antonyloewenstein.com/
Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle 
Zark nose mate!
LikeLike
And Israel isn’t the only ‘lunatic state’…
Sadly as ‘global citizens’ this state would appear to me almost ‘normative’… We (ie. ‘we’ modern western, capitalist-colonial-imperialist states) appear to tolerate behaviour from ourselves as countries that we would never tolerate from an individual within our own society. As ‘global citizens’ we behave as lunatics; as I point out in my book, Aesthetics of Violence, our whole culture(s) is inherently and even essentially abusive; until we learn to recognize this fact and admit its truth, we will never solve the current problem of global, political violence…
The problem stems from an ideological or ideational hangover from the imperialist paradigm in its constant struggle against the modern ‘democratic’ ideology. We do not yet see that ‘democracy’ applied in terms of global citizenship; we do not yet treat other countries as if they were our equals, but still tend to think in terms of a hierarchy (nowadays it is reflected in a ‘hierarchy of technology’; a hierarchy of ‘development’) in which those at the top assume the privilige of treating the other ‘ranks’ as they please; their weakness itself is seen as an excuse to attack them and the attack itself represents a physical statement of ‘superiority’ as well as a warning to the rest of the world, ‘back off, or you’ll get some of the same!’
In short; Israel is a psychotic, bully-state; a fascist state.
Personally, Israel saddens me; where it had the opportunity to become an example to the rest of the world as the world’s first (or maybe second; remember Japan!) state devoted to peace, it has chosen the path of the imperialist oppressor; having apparently learned nothing from the Holocaust except Adolf Hitler’s methodology, at the excercising of which it has evidently become a past-master.
I do not believe Israel’s current leadership want any kind of peace; they will not stop pounding away at Palestine until the latter no longer exists… they want to ‘ethnically cleanse’ the whole of ‘Eretz Ysrael’, at least of Palestinians… for now… Wonder who they’ll pick on once they’ve found a ‘final solution’ to the ‘Palestinian Problem’?
😉
LikeLike
Would love to get a copy of your book, “Aesthetics of Violence,” if you could point me in the right direction that would be great – am nearly finished devouring Norman G. Finkelstein’s “The Holocaust Industry” (brilliant and highly recommended) and would love to continue filling my spare time with literary gold.
LikeLike
Reuben, “Aesthetics of Violence” may be purchased only from its author and publisher at present; if you email theseustoo@dodo.com.au I will reply sending my physical address, to which you may send a cheque or postal order made out to either, DL Rowlands, or ‘Independent Anthropological Publications”, upon receipt of which I will immediately forward your copy, handsigned by yours truly.
Speaking of the latter organization, I received my first official order from a library supplier the day before yesterday, and as they proposed in their order-letter to withold 48% of the price on their order (on top of the usual trade discount!) unless there was an ABN on the tax invoice, I felt obliged to apply for, and was awarded an ABN; so not only is ‘Independent Anthropological Publications’ now a legal entity for trading purposes, but it is Australia’s newsest, and undoubtedly smallest, publishing company!
Orders to encourage this fledgling company would be much appreciated; its stock consists currently of only two titles:
“Cyrus” by DL Rowlands (normal retail price: $29.95; special piglet discount price: $25.00); and:
“Aesthetics of Violence”(normal retail price: $36.00; special piglet discount price: $29.95), by the same author.
Helvi, please note, hard copies of ‘Cyrus’ have been printed and are now available; please feel free to place your order at
theseustoo@dodo.com.au
Same goes for any other enquiries.
🙂
LikeLike
asty, yes, we would like to get a copy of Cyrus, the soft-cover will do us…but only if it will be signed by the Author. 🙂
We’ll send you our details tomorrow…how exciting!
LikeLike
They’re all ‘soft covers’ Helvi; by ‘hard copies’ I meant ‘physical’ as opposed to ‘digital’ copies… which don’t exist anyway; as I have yet to find a reputable digital distributor and am still reluctant to open a ‘Paypal’ account or do business online due to security concerns.
I’m told I need to investigate ‘Amazon.com’ and I must get around to it sometime… and I suppose I may soon have to reconsider my attitude to Paypal; the rest of the world is not so old-fashioned, nor quite so neo-Lluddite as myself! Oh well, time to join the 21st century I suppose, will-I, nil-I…
But anyway, I’m looking forward to processing your order; it IS exciting, isn’t it?
Now I’ve accidentally given birth to a publishing company I rather hope I can keep it alive and make it thrive… I’m already thinking of what my next project will be; ‘Bilitis’ perhaps, or maybe, ‘Iphigenia’… we’ll just have to wait and see.
🙂
LikeLike
‘we’ modern western, capitalist-colonial-imperialist states
This is discriminatory. I say, equal time for ancient Eastern colonial imperialist States!
LikeLike
I answered your post, Voice, but I think it may have been lost in transmission somehow as I had a problem with my ‘connectivity’…
Anyway, you’re quite right, of course, and indeed, we originally learned our own ‘imperialism’ from the east (at least east as far as Babylon, Ashur, Chaldaea etc, not to mention Egypt).
But it is the modern form of imperialism and its capitalisitic nature, with its inevitable ‘potlatch’ mentality, which I find of particular concern at the moment, although the rise of ‘ancient eastern states’ who are also currently latching onto the capitalist-colonial-imperialist methodologies of the west, is also something of a worry…
Frankly, I’ve given up on modern politics; from now on, I’m just ignoring it and hoping it will go away…
😉
LikeLike
Emmjay appears more places in the new PA than Mao Tse Tung on the side of a Peking building during the cultural revolution. Or Justin Bieber on the wall of a pre-teen girl.
LikeLike
“Chairman Mike” has a certain ring to it, but I’m not so sure that hanging in teenage girl’s bedrooms is a good idea. Hung and I will attempt to get the contributors all up in their own right – to reduce the Emmjay saturation problem, Voi.
Otherwise people will only feel more justified in taking me for granted.
LikeLike
We would never do that, Emmjay… would we, piglets?
😉
LikeLike
Deeply off the record asty; no.
LikeLike
How about ‘more places than John Howard’s photo-ops’?
😉
LikeLike
Or more frequently than Mr Burns in Smither’s dreams.
LikeLike