Posts Tagged ‘David Miller’
David Miller’s Trusty Friends, Chris Williamson and Tony Greenstein.
Miller’s True and Trusty Allies.
David Miller is deserving of our solidarity in his battle against Zionism and McCarthyism
Tony Greenstein Middle East Monitor (MEMO)
Extract, “JVL and also Bricup (British Universities Palestine) have used the occasion of Miller’s tweet in order to distance themselves from him. See for example this week’s The Jewish Chronicle, Academic support for David Miller starts to wane after ‘Jews are over-represented’ claim. In so doing both JVL and Bricup have given comfort to the ardent supporters of Israeli apartheid and Zionism.”
And so it goes…
MEMO is regarded as an outlet for the Muslim Brotherhood and its website strongly promotes pro-Hamas related content. MEMO is financed by the State of Qatar. Daud Abdullah, former assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, serves as the director of the organization.
Greenstein’s full original post (the Monitor article is edited no doubt for reasons of intelligibility and to remove some of the hallmark hysteria of Greenstein’s writing as well as references to the details of the UK Left), is being circulated by fringe groups.
AEO is thrilled to welcome Tony Greenstein!
Defend David Miller Against Both the Zionists & their Apologists on the Left – There are Many Criticisms That Can Be Made of Miller but Anti-Semitism Isn’t One Of Them
JVL’s Attack on Miller is Jewish Exceptionalism – The SWP’s Attack is Political Cowardice.
It is difficult to discern the motives of those who drew up this abysmal statement. The suspicion must be that some on JVL’s Executive were never happy about supporting Miller in the first place because of his trenchant opposition to Zionism, his focus on Zionist power networks and its role in fostering anti-Muslim racism.
There follows a detailed attack on figures of the JVL (Jewish Voice for Labour) and the SWP. In fact one could say that this post is largely about Monster Raving giving vent to a long series of grudges against the rest of the British left, a confederacy of dunces who have failed to recognise a true genius, him.
“(David) Rosenberg’s attack on Miller were based on amnesia. “
Then the SWP,
It is no surprise that the latest issue of Socialist Worker, has attacked David Miller as anti-Semitic. The SWP has always taken the line of least resistance. Opportunism and social chauvinism are the SWP’s distinguishing feature.
In the 1950s its forerunner, Socialist Review, came up with the slogan ‘Neither Washington nor Moscow’ as a means of avoiding having to challenge McCarthyism. It took a neutral stance on the Korean War even though the United States was in Korea in order to roll back the Chinese revolution which had shocked US imperialism. Being neutral was easier than supporting the enemy.
If you wish to read a serious article on Miller this is excellent,
David Miller’s Antisemitic Ideology.
Extracts:
As raw data, statistics suggesting “overrepresentation” of a particular group in positions of power do not necessarily illuminate much. The richest person in the country is British-Indian; does his “disproportionate” power protect all Indian-background people from experiencing racism? Is it, in any case, an aim of progressive politics to aspire to strictly proportionate ethnic representation? If Black representation in any sphere exceeds 4% , is that to be taken as evidence of the disproportionate social power of Black people?
Some “overrepresentation” may also have identifiable roots. As a sociologist, Miller might be expected to at least be interested in what those roots are. Jewish “overrepresentation” in banking and finance, for example, has at least partial origins in the way in which Jews were forcibly siloed into commercial and mercantile trades by antisemitism in mediaeval Europe. That history does not seem to concern Miller. To him, any overrepresentation seems to be merely evidence of the success of a conscious drive to accumulate power on the part of “Jews”.
Jews have also been historically “overrepresented” in the ranks of radical and revolutionary political movements. That might tell us something interesting and important about Jewish history and experience; it might not. Miller doesn’t seem to care. Only “evidence” that supports his claims of Jewish power is presented.
…
(White) Jews in the west have been substantially integrated into the constructed social category of “whiteness”. But that integration is both recent and revocable. Trumpism, a political movement with latently, and sometimes overtly, antisemitic themes about the conspiratorial power of “global financial elites” at the centre of its worldview, was in power in the USA from 2016-2020, and may return to power in 2024. Conditions in which white Jews could be expelled from whiteness are not unimaginable, and anti-racists should not be complacent about the risks of antisemitism, to repurpose a phrase from Marx, “descending from language into life.” Miller, however, seems uninterested in meaningful analysis of the shifting boundaries of historic racialisation. Given his Press TV appearances include him promoting claims of a Jewish conspiracy to “colonise” Odessa in the early-20th century (which, for Miller, makes Ukraine, like Israel, partially a “Zionist settler-colony”), we can conclude that he believes that what he sees as the Jewish drive for power is transhistorical and perhaps innate.
..his association with neo-Nazi figures such as Kevin MacDonald, whose work he has promoted, and his amplification on social media of Trumpist accounts, suggests he sees the white-nationalist far right as a potential partner in opposition to Jewish power.
“It would be vulgar economic determinism of the kind I have already criticised in this article to suggest Miller’s apologism for Islamism is a crude consequence of the money he presumably receives from the Iranian state’s international broadcasting arm to produce “Palestine Declassified”, hosted by the former Labour MP Chris Williamson. I have no doubt Miller would provide the apologism for free. In his worldview, no matter how materially oppressive the Iranian state is – to women, national minorities such as Kurds and Azeris, LGBT+ people, atheists and religious dissidents, and others – its “anti-Zionism” means it is a force for progress. Everything about Miller’s politics proceeds from his antisemitic ideology, based on feverish opposition to “Zionism” as the reification of an imagined monolithic Jewish power.”
See also:
Socialist Worker attacks toady of Iranian Regime David Miller over anti-Semitism.
SWP, “We say that the tweets which the academic David Miller posted on 7 August are examples of antisemitism.”
Socialist Worker, What We Think
Why David Miller is wrong about antisemitism
Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. Saying Jews are ‘over represented’ in positions of power is.
The writer and activist David Rosenberg wrote that Miller “casually removes antisemitism from ‘actually existing racism’ and seems to homogenise and stereotype Jews as if they have a common and nefarious political agenda. He seems to ignore socio-economic differentiation among Jews, and their political, cultural and ethnic diversity.”
“We say that the tweets which the academic David Miller posted on 7 August are examples of antisemitism.
He wrote, “Jews are not discriminated against,” “They are over-represented in Europe, North America and Latin America in positions of cultural, economic and political power,” “They are therefore in a position to discriminate against actually marginalised groups,” and, “Judeophobia barely exists.”
Such allegations lump together all Jews without any recognition of class or other differences. Miller targets Jews, not the actual ruling class, and plays on the idea of Jews as ultra-rich and manipulative.
And he refuses to see the very real existence of antisemitism which, along with Islamophobia, has become a standard feature of far right propaganda.
One example is the repeated antisemitic speeches from Hungarian prime minister—and Tory favourite—Viktor Orban. But Orban is far from the only political figure who unleashes antisemitic attacks. Donald Trump has said Jews who vote for Democrats are “disloyal”.
The writer and activist David Rosenberg wrote that Miller “casually removes antisemitism from ‘actually existing racism’ and seems to homogenise and stereotype Jews as if they have a common and nefarious political agenda. He seems to ignore socio-economic differentiation among Jews, and their political, cultural and ethnic diversity.”
Bristol University sacked Miller in 2021 after some students attacked the content of his teaching.
Socialist Worker, while even then not agreeing with all of Miller’s views, defended him against the attack. A university investigation by a leading lawyer found there was no evidence that he was guilty of antisemitism or “unlawful speech”.
But he has crossed a line with these tweets. Those who stand in solidarity with Palestine, and face constant unfounded accusations of antisemitism, have nothing to gain by not accepting the facts about what Miller has done.
A dozen academics who backed controversial lecturer David Miller after he was sacked by the University of Bristol amid allegations of antisemitism have withdrawn their support, with some expressing their “regret” and “embarrassment”.
Miller was dismissed in 2021 after a long-running investigation into his conduct and remarks, including his claim that the university’s Jewish society was “being used as political pawns by a violent, racist foreign regime engaged in ethnic cleansing”.
At the time, more than 300 academics from across the UK and abroad signed an open letter objecting to his treatment by the university.
However, in the wake of a number of recent statements from Miller, including claims that Jews are over-represented in positions of power and do not face discrimination, the support seems to be waning.
Last week the JC contacted a number of the signatories to the letter, some of whom expressed “regret” for previously defending the sociology lecturer.
Former backer Dr Andrew Chitty, a philosophy lecturer at the University of Sussex, said it was now “impossible” to support Miller.
“In a context in which antisemitism is widespread and typically trades on stereotypes of Jews as rich and powerful, these assertions amount to antisemitic hate speech,” Chitty said.
“On the basis of everything I knew at the time, I supported Miller… in 2021. But in light of these assertions, it is impossible to support him now.”
Another signatory, David Emmons, a professor of history at the University of Montana, said: “I signed that letter because Miller’s scholarship was known to me, I respected it, and I assumed that he was being critical of Israeli policies.”
However, he continued, Miller’s latest statements “are not just ‘provocative’, they are bigoted. What can he possibly mean by Jews being ‘over-represented’?”
Emmons said his comments should be taken as a “disavowal of Miller… and my previous expression of ‘solidarity’ with him”.
Dr Nick Cimini, a sociology lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University, described Miller’s recent statements as “outrageous” and said they “mark a collapse in David’s thinking from slightly muddled comments about the state of Israel into conspiracy theory and antisemitism”.
Another signatory, Dr Conor Kostick, a historian at Trinity College Dublin, said: “I will defend any colleague who I think is being treated unfairly by their employer. But… it is unacceptable to promote antisemitism and I do believe Professor Miller is doing that.”
David Miller Attacks Jewish Socialist Group.
You attack Julia Bard and David Rosenberg and Women against Fundamentalism, which was founded by the beloved comrade Gita Sahgal, and Southall Black Sisters, matey – at your bleeding peril!
Tendance Coatesy 