The Mbembe Affair: Mbembe and Uniqueness

In this final installment of the series on the Achille Mbembe affair, we'll look at how Mbembe has been incorporated into the debate over the uniqueness of the Holocaust.

By early summer, the controversy over Mbembe's invitation to the Ruhrtriennale had blown over, at least in part because the event was canceled due to COVID. However, two essays on the affair have appeared since then. The first, a short piece by Jonathan Lanz, a doctoral student in history and Jewish Studies at Indiana University, was published by Open Democracy at the end of May. In that essay, Lanz addresses some of the topics noted in this series. The second, "The Attacks on the Uniqueness of the Holocaust" by Manfred Gerstenfeld, appeared in July on the website of the Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies of Bar-Ilan University in Israel. Had Lanz wished to see the issues addressed in his piece reified in written form, he could have asked for no better example than the Gerstenfeld essay.

The Mbembe Affair: BDS and the Holocaust

In this installment on the Achille Mbembe affair, we'll examine how the battle over the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement has engaged the issue of the Holocaust. It's necessary, however, to state some important things right off the bat.

First and foremost, although it should be obvious, antisemitism is a very real and very deadly phenomenon. Many Jews, particularly those living in places that are unsafe -- Israel among them -- are right to fear it and to be proactive about opposing it. The mistake is not one of magnitude but one of kind; i.e., Jews (and their purported allies) who identify antisemitism in BDS are to a large extent driven by this fear, and it would be wrong to dismiss it out of hand. Overcoming the current problem requires understanding where the other side comes from and comprehending its narrative. That means acknowledging the very real concerns of Jews everywhere about antisemitism.

The Mbembe Affair: What Has Mbembe Written?

Our first order of business must be determining whether Achille Mbembe's writings reflect antisemitism and Holocaust relativization. As noted in the article from Deutsche Welle, the claims are based on two pieces of writing: his book Necropolitics (originally published in French as Politiques de l'inimitié -- Politics of Enmity); and the introduction he wrote to a volume of essays entitled Apartheid Israel: The Politics of an Analogy.

There are several mentions of the Holocaust in Necropolitics. The first includes a reference to Jews who "managed to escape the gas chambers" (p. 39) among other populations deemed undesireable in a world increasingly characterized less by equality and more by separation. Less than ten pages later, Mbembe continues this examination of separation: "The apartheid system in South Africa and the destruction of Jews in Europe—the latter in an extreme fashion and within a distinct context— constitute two emblematic manifestations of this fantasy of separation" (p. 46). Note that this juxtaposition of apartheid with the Holocaust clearly notes which of the two was worse.

The Mbembe Affair: Introduction

Nick Terry named this blog "Holocaust Controversies" nearly 15 years ago, but we don't do much here on actual controversies regarding the Holocaust in our public discourse as much as we do attacking the perceived or imagined controversies about the history of the Holocaust cited by Holocaust deniers in their writing.

This series seeks to remedy this shortcoming. I want here to discuss the recent (last few months) controversy that emerged over the Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe, who is currently professor at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mbembe's academic work focuses on postcolonial studies regarding Africa and has contributed to the concept of necropolitics, i.e., the power over life and death.

Back in the spring, in "The Before Times," Mbembe found himself in the German news cycle, accused of antisemitism and relativization of the Holocaust. The backstory is that Mbembe had been invited to give a speech at the Ruhrtriennale -- a triennial music and arts festival held in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The center-right Freie Demokratische Partei in NRW criticized the Ruhrtriennale's organizer, Stephanie Carp, for inviting Mbembe given the latter's signing of a petition supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement to coerce Israel to disengage from the Palestinian territories. Carp was apparently already on notice for already having done the same two years earlier. A pile-on of sorts then began, with Felix Klein, Germany's Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Anti-Semitism -- a position created two years ago -- demanding that Mbembe be disinvited because he had relativized the Holocaust.

The summary of the controversy at Deutsche Welle notes the attempts to mine Mbembe's writings for quotes to support the allegations of antisemitism and Holocaust relativization. The article provides some quotations without judging them one way or the other. It also notes that Mbembe has utterly rejected the charge, citing his longstanding commitment to universal human rights and his assertion that the Holocaust cannot be equated with the crime of apartheid in South Africa.

In this series, I intend to do the following: (1) examine Mbembe's writings for evidence of the charges of antisemitism and Holocaust relativization; (2) investigate the politicization of the Holocaust in the context of increasing pressure on Israel via BDS; and (3) have a look at some of the bad historical writing that has come out of the Mbembe affair.

Should be fun.

Intro: The Mbembe Affair
Part I: What Has Mbembe Written?
Part II: BDS and the Holocaust
Part III: Mbembe and Uniqueness

"Russian Insider" Lies about the Spread of Holocaust Denial in Hungary and Poland

"Only 17% of Hungarians Believe the 'Holocaust' Happened, 21% in Poland"

Would you believe this headline? I mean that Holocaust denial - one of the world's least appealing and alluring conspiracy theories - gained such a momentum in Hungary and Poland (two countries that saw a large part of its Jewish population systematically mass exterminated by the Nazis during the Second World War) that only a small minority still believe the Holocaust happened? Seriously?

Source of the claim: the antisemtic web site "Russian Insider". Enough said.

What the CODOHites are saying when they think nobody is watching.

Remember how CODOH is supposed all to be about rationality, arguments and no hidden agenda whatsoever?

Except they used to have this hidden subforum called VIP Lounge, accessible only to the "time honored & trusted Revisionists", to quote Jonnie "Hannover" Hargis.

Well, here's what they really write when they think the Traditional Enemy is not watching.

Holocaust Deniers and the Donald Trump Phenomenon: Some Observations

Holocaust denial lurks in the shadows of Donald Trump's support, alongside 9/11 conspiracy theories and other Alt-right memes. This present article is prompted by this Snopes.com report of the death last week of Victor Thorn, who was both a Holocaust denier, as shown here, and 9/11 Truther, as shown here. Last year, Thorn was a main source of the anti-Clinton diatribe co-authored by JFK conspiracist Roger Stone and despicable racist Robert Morrow, which was endorsed by Trump in this tweet, discussed here. The connections that link Thorn to Stone and Morrow, such as those raised by Media Matters for America here, can cast light on the netherworld in which Alt-right characters work.

Kollerstrom's Rabid Antisemitism

Kollerstrom seems to be channeling Streicher in this post:

The poor Jews, what they had to put up with in the German labour camps, why they actually had to WORK! Yes they had to do MANUAL LABOUR! so deep was their suffering that it became transmitted through their genes, as Jewish science has shown:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... -find.html
at New York’s Mount Sinai hospital led by Rachel Yehuda.
"“The gene changes in the children could only be attributed to Holocaust exposure in the parents,” "

Verily, the suffering of God's chosen People has been transmitted even unto the great- grandchildren viewtopic.php?t=8929

Germar Rudolf's True Feelings about Jews

Can be read on page 39 of this report, which quotes Germar thus:

If the Holocaust is seen as a unique collection of lies, then the sole pillar supporting international Judaism's legitimacy will collapse. The idol of substitute religion will disintegrate. The possibility of extorting more billions from Germany on account of its alleged obligation will likewise collapse. The possibility of obligating America to eternally rescue the Jews from new Holocausts through endless donations of money will likewise collapse. World sympathy for the greatest liars and swindlers in the history of mankind will likewise collapse. Europe's second attempt to establish a lasting enclave in Palestine against the will of the Arabs, similar to the crusades, will likewise collapse. And finally, the future Arabia, which will be unified and self ruling without Jewish, American or European occupiers and colonial powers, will develop irresistibly. This explains why the Jews and Jewish dominated media and politicians everywhere defend these (Holocaust) lies and repress the prophets of truth by all means possible.

Violence and Threats against Jews 1923-1931 as reported by the JTA

In the 1920s, a steady stream of antisemitic threats, some of an exterminatory nature, were made across central Europe, as reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. On February 4, 1923, the JTA reported from Bucharest that: 

Wholesale pogroms on Jews are urged as a means of providing corpses [for] the dissection rooms of the Klausenburg University, in an article appearing in the students’ publication there. The writer predicts that the pogroms will serve a two-fold object: the extermination of the Jew, and the supply of corpses. The University authorities have taken the student publication’s assertion under advisement. 

"Dalton" (again) shows what makes him tick

"White Nationalism", from that I have seen of it, is the domain of somewhat-less-than-recommendable individuals like Greg Gerdes – losers who seek to console themselves by taking pride in their "White" ethnic background and attacking all perceived threats to supposed "White" interests. The largest such threat is obviously held to emanate from Jews, who for some reason are not considered to be "White". Hence "White Nationalists" tend to be rabid, paranoid anti-Semites.

Max Weber on Jewish Communal Identity

Max Weber's Theory of Social and Economic Organization, originally published in German in 1920 and in English in 1947 (see here), contains a section entitled "Types of Solidary Social Relationships". This divides relationships into 'communal' and 'associative', defined here. On contemporary German Jews, Weber (p.138) refutes the assumption that Jews were an inward-looking close-knit community:

In the case of Jews, for instance, except for Zionist circles and the action of certain associations promoting specifically Jewish interests, there thus exist communal relationships only to a relatively small extent; indeed, Jews often repudiate the existence of a Jewish 'community'.

Antisemitism at CODOH

Finding antisemites on CODOH is like shooting fish in a barrel, but it is worthwhile to collate the cases that Jonnie Hargis permits to stand on the forum. I post them without commentary because their hatred and venom should be obvious to any sane reader.

Nazi 'Projection' of Extermination Goals

'Projection' is a process whereby someone accuses another of possessing negative traits that actually belong to himself. It is therefore significant that Nazi propaganda policy was to accuse Jews of wishing to exterminate Germans. On February 5, 1943, the Deutscher Wochendienst issued these instructions to German media:

Stress: If we lose this war, we do not fall into the hands of some other states but will all be annihilated by world Jewry. Jewry firmly decided [fest entschlossen] to exterminate all Germans. International law and international custom will be no protection against the Jewish will for total annihilation [totaler Vernichtungswille der Juden] [source: NG-4714 in Hilberg, Destruction of European Jews, vol. I, p.1094].

Calling Dr. Freud.

Evidence of Jürgen Graf's Racism

In his response to my last article here on Graf's racism, Dr. Joachim Neander requested that I provide "better arguments, e.g. one or more quotations where [Graf] shows a depreciating attitude toward an ethnic or racial group." This was a fair request so in this new article, I summarize my findings on Graf's position regarding race.

In this article, Graf claims that we are living in "a globalist system of pseudo-democratic régimes in which Jews control the government and the opposition at the same time (the classic examples being the U.S., Great Britain, and France)" and that "in any European society the Jewish Community will attempt to continue its destructive work". In this review, Graf states that "The fallacious doctrine of racial equality, which has been promoted for decades by the followers of Franz Boas, has caused pernicious political consequences." If racial equality is "fallacious", then obviously races must be unequal, as shown by Graf's advocacy of Avdeyev, whom Graf admits "pays tribute to the racial theorists of the Third Reich and explicitly claims that all races are not equal."

Dalton's Antisemitism

Dalton's misrepresentation of Goebbels' diaries has been discussed by Roberto here. I would like to highlight a revealing expression of Dalton's antisemitism that appears towards the end of this article. Dalton quotes this late remark by Goebbels:

Typically, having committed the most terrible crimes against mankind, the Jews would now like mankind to be forbidden even to think about them.

Dalton not only passes over the meaning of this Goebbels statement in relation to extermination (how would the Nazis have dealt with a people who they believed had "committed the most terrible crimes against mankind" except to kill them?), but he then comments that "Indeed, we are still forbidden to think of such things, even 65 years later." Dalton would like his readers to know that such thoughts are reasonable, in his opinion, whilst at the same time being blind to the historical relationship between such Nazi thoughts and their resultant actions. Of course, no government can, or should be allowed to, stop Dalton having stupid, hateful, antisemitic thoughts, but Dalton cannot be expected to be taken seriously when those thoughts cause him to lie about Goebbels and his diaries.

Lisa Kudrow's Documentary on Ilya

At the time of writing, the documentary is available here. One of the programme's researchers discusses it here. Sources on the killings in Ilya, Belorussia, can be found here and here. I discuss the hateful responses of Holocaust deniers here.

http://www.hsrdb.com: Legitimate Revision or Denial?

This site [screenshot] claims that

This is NOT a Holocaust denial website, it is a FACT that the Holocaust happened.

How sincere is this claim? And why is it being made in the first place?

The site claims that its aim is "to assist historians, scholars and students interested in analyzing and comparing historical information". The original name of the site, obtained by Googling its mailing address, was Legitimate Revision [screenshots a, b]. We are of course wholly in favour of legitimate revision, but we might be curious as to why the site changed its name.

Yet another antisemitic Nazi-lover writing for "Inconvenient history" blog

Canadian citizen (German emigre) Wilfried Heink posts at CODOH's "Inconvenient History" blog (see "About us" page and his postings). Recently he wrote the following at RODOH forum (my emphasis):

This is exactly what the National Socialists wanted for Germany, to have a Germany for Germans and to preserve that Aryan bloodline. Here is part of the Nürnberg law:

5. Nur der Deutsche, der sich zur deutschen Kultur – und Schicksalsgemeinschaft bekennt, kann staatsbürgerliche Rechte ausüben

(only those Germans who acknowledges to be part of German culture and destiny can carry out civic duties)

Hitler had the right to decide who lives in Germany and who did not. Jews are never part of the Schicksalsgemeinschaft they live in, regardless of what country it is. Therefore, they are strangers and subject to removal. This is what the National Socialists wanted, the Jews out of Germany. And that is all the Mohawk’s want, I doubt however that they will be allowed to succeed. And we have to remember that the Indians, in spite of all the make believe, are not sovereign nations.

Israel practices this and would get rid of the remaining Palestinians in an instance, but this can not be compared to the situation in Germany, and indeed to that in Quebec. The Jews claiming to be original Hebrews from Judea, or wherever, are not, and have therefore no right to push the aboriginals out. Germany on the other hand has been populated by Germanic tribes for centuries, ditto for the Indians. And yes, if it can be proven that the land I purchased and live on is still land owned by the Indians, I would have to move, but that is another issue altogether.

First there was neo-Nazi Carolyn Yeager [1, 2, 3], now this.

Arme Auschwitz-Leugner.

Yeager v. Neander 2: No Foot Left Unshot

Again, Dr. Neander may choose to reply to the deranged neo-Nazi lunatic Carolyn Yeager's new response to him at the antisemitic CODOH blog "Inconvenient History", though it is only understandable if he chooses not to give her more limelight. But again, here are my personal thoughts.