ANARCHO-ZIONISM : AZ IMC

One of the terms that is gaining wide-spread currency among those who support Israel is 'Anarcho-Zionism'. It names one of the more interesting movements, and shows that left-wing ideology need not be slavishly pro-Palestinian, nor witless, gutless, and insane.

Pursuant this concept, I would bring the intellectual heritage of Sam Dolgoff to your attention.

Sam Dolgoff was born in Russia during the Czarist period, and raised and educated in the United States, to which his family moved when he was three. He became politically active in his early twenties. Throughout most of his life he was involved in both organizing and formulating the political thought of the Anarchist movements, and represented a more intellectually rigorous approach to political theory than has been evident in recent decades.
As was common for many on the left until fairly recently, he saw national movements of liberation as great advances in human history, and particularly derived inspiration from those struggles which brought about genuine social change, such as the Cuban revolution in its early years until Stalinism took over, and most particularly the Zionist movement, which culminated in the re-birth of the Jewish homeland and the re-assumption by Jews of the rights of nation-hood, which had been in abeyance since Roman times and repressed by all subsequent imperialisms.

It must have been a matter of keen disappointment to so driven a revolutionary that Arab nationalism never acquired a strain of social liberation, becoming instead merely another authoritarian and imperialist ideology - albeit one that allows its adherents great latitude in political expression, due to the rivalries of the various societies in the Middle-East - from Nasserite and Baathist at one extreme to classic Fascism in the style of Hitler or Mussolini at the other - often combining both, and almost always shaped by the personality cults of great opportunists.

Sam Dolgoff, along with other thinkers in progressive circles, felt that Zionism was not only possibly the only counter to the dangerous tendencies in Arab Nationalism, but the best. Zionism represented an ideal which Anarchists could well support - an enlightened social movement, a national liberation movement, and a revolutionary change from the tired ideologies of social and economic control which for millennia kept the population in chains.

To quote from a key tract:
In anarcho- Zionism, Zionism is approached not as a political ideology necessarily but as a system of collective self defense and with the belief that resisting the forces of globalization and capitalism by definition includes resisting the forces of Islamic- empire building. As in all anarchist movements, anarcho-Zionism is opposed to racism, sexism and the intolerance that is often seen in Islamic areas. Islamic empire building cynically uses the religion of Islam as a means of control , both keeping the Moslem population subservient to their capitalist overlords while at the same time providing a philosophical justification for the under classes to submit to institutionalized oppression. "Zionism" provides a necessary protective stage until the Islamic world progresses through the necessary revolutionary stage.
[Nation Building as the means of Social Liberation, Passover 2008]

And to quote Sam Dolgoff himself on this issue:
".... the Israeli comrades are forced, like the other tendencies, to accept the fact that Israel must be defended. The day after the proclamation of the state of Israel (15 May 1948) Assam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League, threatened that: "This will be a war of extermination and momentous massacres like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades." In discussion with Israeli anarchists it was emphasized that the unilateral dismantling of the Israeli state would not at all be anarchistic. It would, on the contrary, only reinforce the immense power of the Arab states and actually expedite their plans for the conquest of Israel."

It is interesting to note that anti-Zionism, like all classic bigotries, knows no class or caste, and occurs across the entire spectrum of political action. The Nazis were anti-Semitic, the Stalinists were and are still anti-Semitic, and the Arab Nationalists have always been anti-Semitic. That anti-Semitism reaches its fullest modern expression in anti-Zionism.
That anti-Zionism is a destructive poison which the sympathizers and collaborators of Arab Nationalist Movement on both the left and right, in America, in Europe, and in the third world, have infected the political discourse.

It is time to put paid the corrupting of social movements. To take back the discourse. To weed out the ideology of hate, and to remove anti-Zionists from the causes that they have crippled.

It is time to recognize Zionism as the great movement of social change that it is; one that should serve as an example to all progressives.

Related
atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/

Anarcho-Zionism
http://aaronvanpraag.livejournal.com/#entry_749
Nov. 3rd, 2008 | 01:16 pm

I see that some body has posted an article discussing anarcho-zionism today on the internet. This is a subject worthy of some discussion, and I fear that there may be some misunderstandings current about it.

This article:
ANARCHO ZIONISM

It is not quite the contradictio in terminis that you could think.

In the thirties the Spanish civil war attracted thousands of committed activists who joined the partisans. Certainly the ellimination of national boundaries in favor of the greater family of man was not a part of the program at that time. All societies must go through a period of national identity, even if in service of the progressive ideal, before the stage of nationalism can be eradicated.

The Backwardness of Arab Society
For the Arab nations, that stage has not come yet. Arab societies, and Muslim countries in general, are stuck in a pre-nationalist emotivve and political state, their aspirations are territorial and imperialistic, as has been evident in every conflict that the Arabs have been involved in since the colonial period, most aggressively towards the free nation of Israel, which represents a contrast, a conflict, a disagreement with the repressive drang of Arab society. Israel naturally is not a perfect state - no state can be perfect, statehood is by it's nature a repression. But statehood in reaction to imperialism is valid, and is a necessary structure for defense.
Israel is a contrapunkt against the imperialism of the Arab world, the colonialism of Europe, and against the dominant social controls of both the old world and the new. Israel represents a bright new developement of social progress.

Untill the Arabs cast off the shackles of their primitive social constructs, Israel must continue to exist. Only when the entire Arab world reaches a more advanced niveau of developement will it be realistc, or even possible, to discuss an eradication of the national boundaries.

The Zionist as Revolutionary
The revolutionary is, without a form of common organization, a doomed man. Within a common organization, a framework of common cause, the revolutionary must set aside his private interests, affairs, sentiments, ties, and even property. Even his name belongs to his common organization, and his entire being must be slated to one single purpose - the betterment of the fates of his community and the transformation of the social order. This is called revolution.

Public opinion and the social morality of the time will dispute the validity of the ideals of the revolutionary, yet everything which promotes the succes of that revolution is moral, everything which hinders it, immoral. Zionism as the expression of an advance towards the eventual dissappearance of government is the first step in a individual and collective advancement.

Samuel Dolgoff, Anarchist and Zionist
The article on Atthebackofthehill quotes from some of the writings of a truly great man: Samuel Dolgoff. Despite his unfortunate loyalties to more traditional forms of political expression and the rigid hierarchies of social conformity necessitated by organization concerns, he was a truly great visionary, and more people should explore his patrimony. I'm not sure if the backofthehill intends to correctly interpret, but even some deviance is acceptable in service of a more perfect realization of Zionism. More so as the majority of vaunted activists have fallen prey to the propaganda of Arab fascists, and traditional religious points of view.

I hope there will be more on this subject. It will be an improvement. Much else is absurd.

I saw a talk on Anarcho- Zionism at Revolution Books about a year ago- they emphasized that Islam is a political system masqurading as a religiion, with religious, legal, political, economic and military components.

Islamization occurs when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their so-called "religious rights"- or in other words, for "sharia" law

When politically correct and culturally diverse societies agree to "the
reasonable" Muslim demands for their "religious rights," they
also get the other components under the table.

Here's how it works (percentages source CIA: The World Fact Book (2007).

As long as the Muslim population remains around 1% of any given country they
will be regarded as a peace-loving minority and not as a threat to anyone.

In fact, they may be featured in articles and films, stereotyped for their
colorful uniqueness:

United States -- Muslim 1.0%
Australia -- Muslim 1.5%
Canada -- Muslim 1.9%
China -- Muslim 1%-2%
Italy -- Muslim 1.5%
Norway -- Muslim 1.8%

At 2% and 3% they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and
disaffected groups with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs:

Denmark -- Muslim 2%
Germany -- Muslim 3.7%
United Kingdom -- Muslim 2.7%
Spain -- Muslim 4%
Thailand -- Muslim 4.6%

From 5% on they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their
percentage of the population.

They will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic standards) food,
thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims.

They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature it on their
shelves -- along with threats for failure to comply. (United States).

France -- Muslim 8%
Philippines -- Muslim 5%
Sweden -- Muslim 5%
Switzerland -- Muslim 4.3%
The Netherlands -- Muslim 5.5%
Trinidad & Tobago -- Muslim 5.8%

At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to
rule themselves under Sharia, the Islamic Law.

The ultimate goal of Islam is not to convert the world but to establish Sharia
law over the entire world.

When Muslims reach 10% of the population, they will increase lawlessness as a
means of complaint about their conditions (Paris -- car-burnings) .

Any non-Muslim action that offends Islam will result in uprisings and threats
(Amsterdam -- Mohammed cartoons).

Guyana -- Muslim 10%
India -- Muslim 13.4%
Israel -- Muslim 16%
Kenya -- Muslim 10%
Russia -- Muslim 10-15%

After reaching 20% expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations,
sporadic killings and church and synagogue burning:

Ethiopia -- Muslim 32.8%

At 40% you will find widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks and ongoing
militia warfare:

Bosnia -- Muslim 40%
Chad -- Muslim 53.1%
Lebanon -- Muslim 59.7%

From 60% you may expect unfettered persecution of non-believers and other
religions, sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide),

use of Sharia Law as a weapon and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels:

Albania -- Muslim 70%
Malaysia -- Muslim 60.4%
Qatar -- Muslim 77.5%
Sudan -- Muslim 70%

After 80% expect State run ethnic cleansing and genocide:

Bangladesh -- Muslim 83%
Egypt -- Muslim 90%
Gaza -- Muslim 98.7%
Indonesia -- Muslim 86.1%
Iran -- Muslim 98%
Iraq -- Muslim 97%
Jordan -- Muslim 92%
Morocco -- Muslim 98.7%
Pakistan -- Muslim 97%
Palestine -- Muslim 99%
Syria -- Muslim 90%
Tajikistan -- Muslim 90%
Turkey -- Muslim 99.8%
United Arab Emirates -- Muslim 96%

100% will usher in the peace of "Dar-es-Salaam" -- the Islamic House
of Peace -- there's supposed to be peace because everybody is a Muslim:

Afghanistan -- Muslim 100%
Saudi Arabia -- Muslim 100%
Somalia -- Muslim 100%
Yemen -- Muslim 99.9%