This time the Zionists are attacking Joel Kovel, the University of Michigan Press and Pluto Books. Again they are behaving as if the whole world was their oyster with no one else to share it with them. They behave as if they were accountable to no one but their inner voices which tell them to go ahead and have it all because no one will dare to stand in their way.
Anyone who is familiar with the writings of Joel Kovel and who reads my articles would realize how far apart we are on some of the issues facing the World today. But here I am engaged in an activity the purpose of which is to advocate that Joel Kovel be left alone to reach out to his audience and to speak freely without being harassed. And I am certain he would do the same for me, as indeed we would both do for anyone who may come under the kind of attacks he is enduring today.
Here is what Mr. Roger Zwanenberg, Chairman and Editor of Pluto Books says in an open letter published by The Palestine Chronicle:
"About three weeks ago Pluto books and the University of Michigan Press - our US distributor - came under attack by Stand With Us (a Zionist lobby group) who were objecting to the publication of Overcoming Zionism by Joel Kovel which resulted in the book being withdrawn in the US. The vitriolic attack questioned the University's relationship with Pluto generally and denigrated Overcoming Zionism. Since then the Executive Board of the University has considered the matter and issued a public statement. Joel's book has now been reinstated but they plan to review the ongoing relationship between Pluto and UMP in October. Pluto Press's importance and presence in the US is under threat."
We face two important points when we encounter an issue of this kind. The first point is that it is normal for someone to promote their interest or to defend themselves against a perceived threat. Thus we should not be surprised that a Zionist Lobby called Stand With Us felt threatened by a book called Overcoming Zionism and tried to do something about it. The second point flows out of the first because it asks three relevant questions: What should they be allowed to do? What should they be forbidden from doing? Indeed what should anyone be allowed to do or be forbidden from doing when defending their interests?
Things are done differently under different regimes of governance. We live in a democracy and the rules that govern the way we communicate with each other as citizens or as commercial entities are collectively called freedom of speech, of assembly and of association. They are represented by the icon that is the First Amendment of the American Constitution even to those of us who do not live in the United States.
When people sit around a table and speak freely with each other, they are governed by rules which are duplicated in the public arena. For example, I cannot use a noise making device to disrupt someone at the table who says something I do not like. Similarly, I cannot use a megaphone such as the facilities that are at the disposal of the Zionists to disrupt someone in the public arena. Also, if two individuals at the table coordinate their efforts and speak with one voice, I cannot force them to end their arrangement. And neither can someone like the Zionist Lobby force two commercial entities such as Pluto and UMP to break their arrangement.
Yet this is what happens every time someone says something that goes contrary to what the Israel-Zionist establishment likes to hear. To do this, they whip up an ad hoc group for the occasion, they give it a name such as Stand With Us which suits the current circumstances, they disrupt the dialogue between people and they threaten the commercial relationship such as they are now doing with Pluto and the university press.
Have they gone so far now that we should invoke the law ourselves and put an end to these activities? The answer is yes they have gone far. And we know this to be the case because our legal system is based on the Common Law which derives its legitimacy from the precedents that were set at an earlier time. And there are at least three precedents which can be invoked here.
First, Canada stood up to The US - its most important ally and commercial partner - when the latter tried to force American Companies operating in Canada to deal with Cuba according to US laws and not Canadian laws.
Second, at the behest of that same Israel-Zionist Lobby, America passed laws which prohibit companies from being influenced by the Arab boycott of Israel.
Third, Canada’s province of Ontario, under the Premiership of Bob Rae who has a close and intimate relationship with the Canadian Jewish Congress, passed a similar law.
Consequently, if American or Canadian companies cannot tailor their behavior with regard to a foreign country to honor the laws of another foreign country then surely, no interest of a foreign country such as Israel can take precedent over the fundamental rights of freedom that the American and Canadian citizens enjoy. Nor can the interests of Israel be rated higher than the right of American and Canadian companies that establish commercial relations among themselves.
In consideration of the aforementioned, the University of Michigan Press should therefore be put on notice that knuckling under the Israel-Zionist blackmail would violate American law and shall be prosecuted to the fullest extent of said law.
The point has been made over and over again that the threat to Western Civilization comes from the ad hoc terrorist groups of youngsters who are brought together by a freedom hating organization called Al Qaeda, a name that means The Base. It is further said that these youngsters would sacrifice their own lives to destroy the freedom of others, yet no one has ever produced a youngster who would admit to this.
By contrast, the stated and often repeated purpose of the ad hoc groups which are put together by the Zionist Base is to destroy the right of Americans and Canadians to speak to each other and to disrupt the commercial relations between their companies. And if the Zionist groups would not go as far as die for their cause, they are willing to destroy the livelihoods of others, those like Joel Kovel who wish to exercise their right to think and to publish as free citizens.
There is no doubt that Western Civilization is under attack from without by the Al Qaeda Base and from within by the Zionist Base. What we must keep in mind, however, is that no country or empire has ever perished by a few kids blowing themselves up as they take down a building or two. By contrast, mighty empires have disintegrated when they were "eaten up" from within by what controlled them when they neglected to control it.