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Is it the guy who asks you after the meeting about how the antiwar movement needs to get "serious" and asks you lots of questions about terrorism and "fighting back"? Jennifer Van Bergen reports, first-hand. Part 2 of our series on what really happened on 9/11/2001: the physics of collapse, and how not to make a "pancake" by Manuel Garcia, PLUS Engineer Pierre Sprey on why "controlled demolition" theories are off target. What you just missed, but can still get, in our last newsletter: Paul Craig Roberts on the Collapse of America. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation towards the cost of this online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! |
Today's Stories October 23, 2006 Werther October 20 / 22, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Gary Leupp Brian Cloughley Dave Zirin William Blum Christopher
Brauchli Winslow Wheeler Michael Donnelly Fred Gardner Susie Day Lucinda Marshall Fred Wilcox Alan Maass Lee Sustar Ariadna Theokopoulos Missy Beattie CP News Wire CP News Services Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
October 19, 2006 Elaine Cassel Col. Dan Smith Manuel Garcia, Jr. Josh Gryniewicz Amira Hass Eric Holt-Gimenez Jesse Hagopian Sam Husseini John Weisheit CP News Service Website of
the Day Art Gallery
of the Day
October 18, 2006 Joshua Frank Dr. Curran
Warf, MD Saul Landau Tom Barry Bruce Jackson Dave Lindorff Frederico Fuentes Michael Simmons Daryll E. Ray Kate Doyle Website of
the Day
Michael Neumann Manuel Garcia,
Jr. Stephen S.
Pearcy Sharon Smith Al Krebs David Underhill Daniel Wolff James Brooks Website of the Day
October 16, 2006 Gary Leupp Patrick Cockburn David Wilson Robert Fisk Robert Jensen Ingmar Lee
/ Krista Roessingh Mike Whitney Jake Whitney Sanho Tree Website of
the Day
Uri Avnery John Walsh Jean Bricmont Jennifer Van Bergen Ralph Nader Floyd Rudmin Mark Weisbrot Laura Carlsen Hani Shukrallah Dr. Susan Block John Chuckman Lucinda Marshall Don Monkerud Missy Comley
Beattie Ron Jacobs Website of
the Weekend
October 13, 2006 Jorge Mariscal Stephen Philion John Blair Col. Dan Smith Alastair Crooke / Mark Perry Stephen Fleischman Charles Perroud Anne E. Brodsky Website of the Day
October 12, 2006 Jonathan Cook Norman Solomon M. Shahid Alam Paul Craig
Roberts Meredith Schafer / Chris Kutalik Carl Gelderloos Alastair Crooke / Mark Perry Charles Sullivan William S. Lind CP News Service Website of
the Day
October 11, 2006 John Feffer Dave Lindorff Jackson Katz April Howard / Ben Dangl Michael Carmichael Ken Couesbouc Gregory Afghani Alexander Cockburn Website of
the Day
October 10, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Robert Robideau Joshua Frank Dave Lindorff Dave Zirin Heather Gray James Knotwell Missy Beattie Mike Whitney David Rosen Website of the Day
Robert Fisk Norman Solomon Ron Jacobs Gideon Levy Walter Brasch Mickey Z. John Holt Lucinda Marshall Saul Landau Website of the Day
October 7 /
8, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Peter Kwong Ralph Nader Mark Donham Dave Lindorff Peter Bosshard Ron Jacobs Lawrence R.
Velvel Fred Gardner David Green Jim B. Missy Beattie Michael Donnelly Jackson Thoreau Jon Hung CounterPunch
News Service Tom D'Antoni Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
Alison Weir Tiffany Ten
Eyck / Mark Brenner Corporate Crime Reporter Juan Antonio
Montecino Walden Bello Christopher
Brauchli Brynne Keith-Jennings Jonathan Cook Website of the Day
John Walsh Carol Norris Paul Craig Roberts Ricardo Alarcón James Abourezk Nicola Nasser Kirkpatrick Sale Uri Avnery Website of the Day
Elizabeth Terzakis Paul Wolf Sean Penn Dave Lindorff Diane Farsetta Sharon Smith Felice Pace Sara Roy Website of
the Day
Jennifer Van
Bergen Greg Moses Stan Cox Niranjan Ramakrishnan Evelyn Pringle Fred Wilhelms Michael Abelman Gary Leupp Website of the Day
October 2, 2006 Eric Hazan Mike Whitney Norman Solomon Assaf Kfoury Missy Beattie Arthur Neslen Paula J. Caplan Website of the Day
Sept. 30 /
0ct. 1, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Marjorie Cohn Ben Tripp Ron Jacobs Ralph Nader Mike Whitney Christopher Reed Seth Sandronsky Fred Gardner Mokhiber /
Weissman Michael Dickinson Alan Gregory Poets' Basement
September 29, 2006 Bruce Jackson Michael J.
Smith Emira Woods William S.
Lind David Swanson Jonathan Cook Website of the Day
Sen. Russ Feingold Ron Jacobs Mokhiber /
Weissman Lee Sustar Robert Jensen John Chuckman Evelyn Pringle Nicola Nasser Uri Avnery Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Camilo Mejia Ben Terrall Ridgeway /
Ng Joe Allen Andrew Wimmer Franklin C. Spinney Website of
the Day
Hani Shukrallah William Blum Niranjan Ramakrishnan Barbara Becnel Paul Rockwell Dave Lindorff Rich Gibson Anthony Papa Nate Mezmer Uri Avnery Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Jonathan Cook Joshua Frank Paul Craig
Roberts Robert Jensen Dave Lindorff Norman Solomon Dr. Charles
Jonkel Michael Dickinson Alexander Cockburn Website of
the Day
September 23
/ 24, 2006 Jonathan Cook Jeffrey St.
Clair Dr. Anon Tom Barry Carl G. Estabrook Laura Carlsen Todd Chretien Dr. Charles
Jonkel Debbie Nathan Fred Gardner Fred Wilhelms Seth Sandronsky Ralph Nader Rev. William
Alberts Jon Van Camp Heather Gray David Vest Jeffrey St.
Clair Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend Video of the Weekend
September 22, 2006 Patrick Cockburn Michael Donnelly Ramzy Baroud Evo Morales Stanley Howard Sarah Leah
Whitson JoAnn Wypijewski Website of the Day
Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad Justin E. H.
Smith Mike Roselle Amira Hass Deborah Rich Mickey Z. Saul Landau Website of
the Day
Sharon Smith Christopher
Reed John Ross Joshua Frank Arthur Neslen Norman Solomon Michael Carmichael Evelyn Pringle Hugo Chavez Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Jeff Leys Brian M. Downing Col. Dan Smith Liaquat Ali
Khan Ron Jacobs Nik Barry-Shaw
/ Yves Engler Lucinda Marshall Saul Landau Photo of the Day Website of
the Day
Carl Boggs Uri Avnery Mike Stark / Jim Bullington Joshua Frank John Murphy Ramzy Baroud Dave Lindorff Bill Quigley Website of the Day
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October 23, 2006 Surviving the Board of DeputiesWhat Do Ken Livingstone and a Fictional Character Named Artie Fishel Have in CommonBy GILAD ATZMON
The idea behind Artie Fishel took some
time to evolve. Originally, I planned on creating an online chat
box featuring an artificial Zionist. I thought that we could
all benefit from a proper chat with a proper articulate Zionist.
A man who understands Israeli wisdom and can morally defend the
merciless tendency entangled with Jewish Nationalism. Artie is indeed a funny bloke - he is far from being violent; in fact he loves peace, he loves his people, his people love him, but more than anything, he really loves himself. Artie is predominantly an entertainer. A Zionist Jew may see a reflection in Artie, others may see him as a glimpse into the Israeli and Zionist mindset, others may just laugh. Throughout the production process, my band, my management and I worked very hard to remove any traces of elements that might be considered offensive. We thought that Artie must stand out as a perfect example of cultural resistance without challenging the boundaries of legitimacy. We are very happy and proud of our final product, Gilad Atzmon Presents: Artie Fishel and The Promised Band. But, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, a self-proclaimed representative of British Jewry, decided to kill Artie before he was even born. A week prior to our launch concerts at the prestigious London's Pizza On The Park I learnt that Pizza Express's Head Office had been subject to some heavy pressure. They were blitzed by 'alleged customers' who expressed outrage that Pizza Express "could give a stage to Gilad Atzmon, a 'racist', an 'anti-Semite' and a 'Holocaust Denier'." The orchestrated campaigners, as I learned, spoke as a single voice. Though I have written hundreds of pages of articles about Israel, Palestine and Jewish identity, the 'alleged customers' all seemed to be quoting from the same four quotes. Passages that were either re-worded or taken out of context, and they even put the words of others saw into in my mouth. Pizza Express did what they had to do; it took its time and evaluated the accusations. Yet, despite enormous pressure decided that the performance would go ahead as scheduled. A spokesperson for Pizza On The Park said: "Gilad Atzmon has been hired for his musical talents as an internationally recognized, respected and award-winning saxophonist and composer and who has performed to audiences all over the world as well as London's premiere jazz venues. His performances at Pizza On The Park have attracted great interest." Indeed representatives of Pizza Express also attended the opening night and failed to find any reason that my shows should be cancelled. Yet, Pizza Express was not alone. On Friday, five days ahead of Artie's debut concert, both The Guardian Guide and The Independent Information chose 'Gilad Atzmon Presents: Artie Fishel and The Promised Band' as amongst the recommended jazz concerts of the week. I assume that for those making the decisions at Pizza Express this can only have helped convince them that my concerts should go ahead. Surely if I were indeed a racist, as the BOD outrageously argues, the British national press would refrain from promoting me in a positive way and endorsing either me or my latest project. During the days leading to the concert, BBC Radio 3 and London Metro joined in. In fact, I have never received so much support in such a short time for any of my previous albums or acts. This was far too much for the BOD. Unwisely, rather than surrendering their case and admitting that they may have been mistaken, they decided to escalate the battle. The Zionist Federation was pulled in. Together they moved towards moderate verbal violence. Telephone calls to the Pizza became rather abusive and a picket was planned in front of the venue. Pizza Express was left with no other choice than to hire bouncers to protect its customers from Zionist zeal. Surely, this doesn't seem to be the kind of behaviour that might give a shining image to those who operate in the name of Jews. I am here to confess that at that stage I was rather embarrassed about the entire saga. At the end of the day, Pizza Express has nothing to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I felt guilty as well for the young telephone woman at the venue reservation desk who was forced to endure daily dozens of the ugliest vulgar manifestations of Zionist verbal brutality. When I entered the venue on Wednesday I felt pretty apologetic, but to my great surprise, the entire staff were on my side. In fact neither the band nor I can recall any warmer welcome at a music venue. The staff went out of its way to look after us and to make us feel at home. On the opening night of our four night run at Pizza On The Park we noticed more than a few Israelis and some other people that didn't look to us like our usual followers. Despite being unsettled we didn't make any changes to our show, we just got on with it. Both sets went smoothly and there was zero interference. By the end of the first set I felt more at ease, and I realised that the Israelis in the audience were having good time; many of them bought the album and some even asked for a personal dedication. However once we had finished the concert I learned from an Al Jazeera producer who was there to cover the event that a confused Evening Standard journalist had approached him at the end of the set wondering what was going on. Apparently, the BOD approached local and national media promising a performance of a 'Holocaust Denier' or at least a 'racist' warmonger. The Evening Standard journalist was confused, he just couldn't find anything to write about. There was no story, just a satirical show. Clearly, the BOD got themselves caught in their own embarrassing trap. In the same week as their most recent victim the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone won his appeal against suspension for what was claimed to be a 'Nazi' slur, they failed in the attempts to have the quality press slander me. Indeed, on Friday morning The Guardian reviewed my new album favourably as did London's Evening Standard, indeed the Standard's reviewer noted the 'Jewish' humour behind the project. By then it was clear that the infamous BOD failed to provide the British Media with a new slander. Totally humiliated, the only outlet left for the BOD smear was the Jerusalem Post, an English language ultra-rightwing Israeli paper. But the fiasco for them didn't end just there; on Friday the 21st a senior member of the Labour Government attended our performance. As if this was not enough, we now happen to be getting some great, encouraging support from young members of the Jewish community. A young Jewish promoter who saw Artie Fishel in action this week insists upon putting a big concert of Artie Fishel in Golders Green (the London Jewish Shtetl). Another young conservative Jew who attended our concert decided to organise a discussion of my ideas. This event is already scheduled for mid November. Artie Fishel was there to launch a debate, to let people look into Zionism and culture from a different perspective. He's there to let Jews look at themselves with no fear and to let others look into Zionism and cultural colonialism without losing their dignity. The BOD insisted upon silencing Artie, his creator and the message: at least momentarily, their campaign hasn't been very successful. Gilad Atzmon was born in Israel and served in the
Israeli military. He is the author of two novels: A
Guide to the Perplexed and the recently released My One
and Only Love. Atzmon is also one of the most accomplished
jazz saxophonists in Europe. His recent CD, Exile,
was named the year's best jazz CD by the BBC. He now lives in
London and can be reached at: atz@onetel.net.uk
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org. The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn |