In Defense of Gilad Atzmon

Herodotos is an historian who trains you as you read. It is a process of asking, searching, collecting, doubting, striving, testing, blaming, and above all standing amazed at the strange things humans do’ Poet and translator of ancient Greek, Anne Carson, Nox (2011)

Gilad Atzmon photo courtesy: birminghamjazz.co.uk

(LONDON) - Gilad Atzmon’s intellectual expedition into the daunting terrain of Jewish identity politics has always evoked a storm of controversy.

Still, when I first met Gilad, it was hard not to suspect he was exaggerating the extent of abuse he received from various UK pressure groups.

Primarily, it’s not easy to wrap your head around the notion that a person can plausibly be branded as ‘a racist’ when they tour the world with a gypsy violinist, a black drummer, a Jewish bass player and a token English white boy on piano.

However, as I began to understand the full complexities of Gilad’s arguments – a process, which, for me, required as much unlearning as it did learning – I reluctantly grasped the problem. And, to my utter horror, I also fathomed the full measure of pathological bile wielded against him. Indeed, some of it hemorrhaged in my direction.

After the 2009 Israeli assault on Gaza I organized a concert for ‘Medical Aid for Palestinians’ featuring iconic violinist Nigel Kennedy. Campaigners launched an onslaught from all sides - the right, the left, the Zionists and the anti-Zionists - individually and collectively, lobbied the owner of the venue, the director of MAP and myself, demanding that we cancel the event.

Some even accused us of mobilising art to fund rocket attacks on Jews. I was shocked, upset and embarrassed that I had inadvertently dragged my friend, who owns the club, into such a shameful debacle.

After the concert (a huge success) I was labeled a Holocaust denier. Not only was this accusation ludicrous and totally unfounded it was potentially damaging to me. It is clear that in this culture, you could query the extent of the Holodomor, the Nakba or the annihilation of American Indians without raising much of an eyebrow in the public domain, but to do the same with the deaths of Jews in the Second World War is tantamount to career suicide. My lawyer advised me to get the accusation removed from the Internet but I think it best serves as a small, cyber monument to the preposterous and baseless sewage in which some people are content to swim.

More recently the cacophony of hysteria we are subjected to since Gilad’s polemic The Wondering Who;crowned him a has shot off the richter scale. Gilad puts up with it almost daily.

Yesterday the Jewish Chronicle demanded that the Arts Counsel of Britain withdraw funding from the Raise Your Banner Festival that we are playing at together on 25^th November.

They failed of course, but have now resorted, in a separate piece, to simply comparing Gilad to a pedophile. I too have been inundated with hostile youtube comments, messages and emails insisting I either drop my gigs with Gilad, or issue a statement denouncing his views.

This inspired me to do the exact opposite, to state here categorically how much I support and admire Gilad Atzmon’s work, both as an artist and as a humanist, how much I cherish freedom of thought and speech and to declare that the day I withdraw from a festival because a few campaigners threaten to wreck my reputation, will be a cold day in hell. We are artists. We are entitled to express ourselves as we wish, we are entitled to sing, ask, dance, write and reflect. It would be advantageous for Gilad’s opponents if he were, as they claim, a banal biological determinist who simply dislikes people according to the lottery of their DNA. If this were the case, I’m sure they would be slightly more successful in dismantling our concerts and banning Gilad’s talks.

Unfortunately for them, too many people understand that Gilad is on an intellectual quest for truth. According to the Greek historian Herodotos, quoted above, this is most humane thing you can ever hope to do. We can not be banned from playing, from writing or form ‘wondering who’ we are. Lest we forget, the word ‘history’ comes from an ancient Greek verb meaning ‘to ask’. So, alas dear agitators, even if we dropped dead tomorrow someone somewhere would still listening to our albums and reading Gilad’s book. I’m afraid the battle might continue but the war is already won.

Sarah Gillespie is a singer songwriter based in London. She will be discussing the role of politics in music on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Start the Week’ on Monday 21^st November. Hear How The Might Fall here. www.sarahgillespie.com

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Pro - Palestinian November 21, 2011 4:58 am (Pacific time)

Editor

Keep on defending the racist Antisemite Nazi Atzmon, it will blow in your face.
All the world knows already who he is, just another Nazi.

Editor: Chris, Jack and Dave, you are using all of those names while leaving comments.  Maybe the anti-Gilad crowd is just a couple of paid Zionists and not as fierce as it seems.  At any rate, it is clear that you are using deceptive tactics to attack my friend who loves all human beings but is critical of war crimes and thus receives your wrath.   

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Disgusted November 20, 2011 11:02 am (Pacific time)

I can only guess that you must be one of the following: Someone so intimidated and bewildered by Atzmon´s absurd, pretentious, pseudo-intellectual posturing that you have convinced yourself what he says must be worth listening to, or Someone very young and immature who has fallen in love with the absurd lie that Atzmon´s politics are daring, convention-defying, taboo-breaking and authority-deying, or Someone who has grown up with either a conscious or subconscious dislike for Jews whch they are delighted to have now found a "legitimate" outlet for. Whichever it is, your justification of holocaust revisionism("you can query the extent of the Nakba but, etc") is every bit as greasy and bigoted as the rhetoric promulgated by the BNP.

Editor: Do you have any idea how prejudice this makes you seem?  And ego, why on earth do you think anyone caress about your religion?  It is unfortunate that much of what is taking place is thanks to fanatical religious teaching.  I don't care if a person is a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew, a Buddhist or a Hindu.  It is terribly vain of you to suggest that people don't care what Jewish Zionists are doing, that they aren't concerned about the crimes toward children, the apartheid walls; you suggest Gilad and others are not troubled by that, and that they are simply working to help those downtrodden occupied people because they hate Jews?  Honestly, that might be the stupidest charge ever.  Sarah Gillespie is more than a talented musician and writer, she's smart and observant.  Gilad Atzmon is a prince among men, he is a humanitarian. 

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J-Ray November 20, 2011 9:29 am (Pacific time)

It's true that being called a holocaust denier can be bad for your career. But, unless you live in Germany or Austria, it's not as bad as it used to be. Slowly, the allegation is turning into a compliment. Zionists accused me of being a 'holocaust denier' on a blog. I pointed out that I have never estimated the holocaust at all, so why the allegation? I didn't try to get it removed either, just left it there with my response so people can see how desperate the Zios and the crypto-Zios are.

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Jack November 20, 2011 2:04 am (Pacific time)

The next once to defend him will be Daid Duke and David Irving......
If Hitler was around he would be one of those too.
Atzmon is dommed

Editor: You really should learn how to spell before leaving comments, but the apparent confusion in your writing is certainly backed by your philosophical agenda about life itself.  Gilad is a thousand times the man you will ever be Jack, so give it up.  We don't need any fucking Nazi's, keep them for yourself.  You do know Hitler and your founder Hetzel have a great deal in common right?  Free FREE Palestine! 

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