Comrade Dennis' point about Friedman is very well taken --- In an area where I believe I have some significant knowledge (economics), my collaborator Howard Sherman and I made sure to debunk Friendman's very sophistical "analysis" of the new world economic order in his book THE WORLD IS FLAT --- That book is an example of a journalist not really being aware of how LITTLE he/she really KNOWS ----
There are some insights in the book but mostly it's a very slipshod and in detail actually wrong attempt to "say something new!" in a kind of breathless way that journalists like to do in order to pump up their latest "schtick" --- BUT --- I have to remind ourselves that the last sentence is very problematic On Wed, Jun 16, 2021 at 9:29 AM Dennis Brasky <[email protected]> wrote: > Thomas Friedman’s recent column > <https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/25/opinion/israel-palestine-two-state-solution.html> > in > the *New York Times* reflecting on Israel’s 11-day destruction of Gaza is > a showcase for the delusions of liberal Zionism: > ./... > His fear is that the debate is quietly shifting outside this framework – > towards the recognition that Israel is a belligerent apartheid regime, and > the conclusion that one democratic state for Palestinians and Jews is now > the only viable solution. > ONE DEMOCRATIC STATE FOR PALESTINIANS AND JEWS is the only viable option? BUT IS IT IN FACT A REALISTIC OPTION?? Using the apartheid analogy, I think the difference between South Africa and Israel is that the apartheid regime had a very strong politically united opposition (the United Democratic Front and the ANC-SACP --- the former "legal" the latter two "banned") which explicitly accepted White South Africans as "Africans" --- (The PAC was more nationalist and it was unclear if they believed White People --- Afrikaners and English speakers --- had a "right" to full citizenship in a post-Apartheid South Africa). They also were very strong on reconciliation rather than hoping to defeat the apartheid regime. Meanwhile, because Israel made sure Hamas would be a powerful counterweight to the secular Arab opposition, the rejectionist Israeli Jews have a perfect foil. Hamas has never recognized the rights of Jewish Israelis --- Meanwhile, the continued action of settlers and the Israeli government has eroded the "reconciliation" impulses of larger and larger and larger percentages of the Palestinian Arab populations -- including those who are "citizens" of Israel. Which brings me to a question I asked over a month ago --- Is there a chance of a snowball in Hell of Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs living together in a democratic polity? It may be the only VIABLE option --- but is it a REALISTIC option? That is the tragedy that leaves many people like me despairing ... > > https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/99 > > > _. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#9226): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/9226 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/83580356/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
