Video: Jews and non-Jews in Frankfurt protest the awarding of the Adorno prize to Judith Butler
With the slogan "Judith Butler renounce the Adorno Prize," Jewish and non-Jewish protesters claim that the fundamental issue behind their protest is the anti-Semitism displayed by the city of Frankfurt when granting the 50.000 euro Adorno Prize to Jewish-American philosopher Judith Butler. The Central Council of Jews in Germany has strongly criticized the awarding of the Adorno Prize to Judith Butler because, they say, she is acting against Israel by supporting the boycott, divestment and international sanctions campaign against Israel, and that although Judith Butler has disassociated herself from Hamas and Hezbollah's violence, she has stress the importance of understanding them as social movements that are progressive and part of the global left.
The City of Frankfurt claims that with Judith Butler one of the most significant thinkers of our times in the field of moral philosophy is honored. Does the Adorno Prize jury know that at the same time they honor a major protagonist of an academic and cultural boycott of Israel? In remembrance of Theodor Adorno, a Frankfurt philosopher and art critic, this award serves to acknowledge outstanding performances in the fields of music, theatre, film and philosophy as in the case of Judith Butler. Judith Butler has reacted to the criticisms of Anti-Semitism by saying: "The accusations against me that I support Hamas and Hezbollah are not true, that I support the boycott, divestment and international sanctions campaign against Israel are partially true, and that I am anti-Semitic are totally false. Judith Butler has received the 50,000 euro Adorno Prize, but the debate goes on between those who believe that critising the Israeli government has nothing to do with anti-Semitism, and those who believe that hyper-criticism of Israel is in fact a new way of anti-Semitism.
As you may recall, the prize being awarded by the city of Frankfurt, Germany on 9/11 to Jew washer Judith Butler is called the Adorno prize. It is so-named for German sociologist Theodore Adorno.
Seeing a hint of Adorno's views on Israel can probably safely lead one to conclude that Adorno would not approve of Butler receiving the prize.
A reader sent me a quotation by Adorno on Israel after the 1967. This brilliant man sounded like Abraham Foxman when he talked about Israel. I told the reader that Max Horkheimer was even worse: but remember that Horkheimer even turned against the student movement in Germany. You can be brilliant and dumb at the same time.
PS Marcuse had a very different take: he was quite critical of Israel. I met with his widow shortly after arriving into the US and we talked extensively about his views, and she told me that he was very critical of Israel.
I know I have a Marcuse critic among my readers and that she won't be surprised by that quote.
In an earlier post, I reported on the scandal surrounding the awarding of the Adorno prize to Jew-washing professor Judith Butler by the City of Frankfurt, Germany. Now, Israel's ambassador to Germany has joined the voices denouncing Butler.
Israel’s Ambassador to Germany Yakov Hadas-Handelsman on Monday ratcheted up Israel’s criticism of the decision by the city of Frankfurt to award its Adorno Prize to US academic Judith Butler, who advocates boycotting the Jewish state.
Handelsman wrote that he was “disappointed “ by Frankfurt’s decision, because “in the center of [Butler's] agenda it states that Israelis should be boycotted because they are Israelis.”
Handelsman added that “it is disconcerting that a prize that memorializes the victims of the German Nazi boycotts will be presented to someone who sees a boycott as a legitimate method.”
On Tuesday, September 11, the city of Frankfurt, Germany will Jew-wash the last vestiges of acknowledged anti-Semitism by presenting its Adorno Prize for excellence in philosophy, music, theater and film to Judith Butler, an American philosopher and anti-Israel activist. The term 'Jew-wash' refers to those Jews who provide cover for anti-Semites by making the same criticisms of Israel and Jews that the anti-Semites themselves make. In other words, one who allows themselves to be used to Jew-wash anti-Semitism might be said to serve as the anti-Semites' useful idiot.
The choice of Ms. Butler is quite controversial, as Richard Landes and Benny Weinthal report in the Wall Street Journal.
The choice of Ms. Butler has been controversial, to say the least. Critics argue that a German city should not honor a woman who virulently condemns the state of Israel, where Buber and so many others fled for shelter from the Nazis. The controversy is the latest in a series of recent strains in the "special relationship" between Germany and Israel: Germany's circumcision bans, Berlin sending submarines to a newly belligerent Egypt, and ugly revelations of German behavior in the Munich Olympics terror attack.
Felix Semmelroth, a deputy mayor of Frankfurt, insists that the award committee recognized Ms. Butler's academic work alone, and that the political issues did not even arise. He says the "incriminating evidence" about her politics will not change the decision.
But the controversy has proved vexing. Germany's central council of Jews and Frankfurt's Jewish community have openly objected, saying they will not participate in the ceremony. Frankfurt Mayor Peter Feldmann, the first Jew to hold that office since the Holocaust, announced that he has travel plans that will prevent him from appearing. Jacques Schuster, a journalist with Die Welt, pulled out of moderating a discussion with Ms. Butler later this month at the Jewish Museum in Berlin.
Those who chose Ms. Butler to win the prize argue in favor of separating her academics from her politics. Alas, that's just not possible.
Her theory views Western civilization as a peculiarly sinister form of imperial domination, and believes that "subverting" that "hegemony" constitutes an act of liberation. Postcolonial theory tells her that Israelis are imperialists, using apartheid laws to oppress Palestinian "subalterns." Her interpretation of diasporic Judaism tells her that Jews should "oppose violence of all kinds, including state violence."
Therefore she favors dismantling the Jewish state as we know it, in favor of "multi-cultural co-habitation," reminiscent of Buber's "bi-national democratic state." In her latest book, "Parting Ways: Jewishness and the Critique of Zionism," she nods to the prodigious forces of hatred and intolerance militating against her solution: "It may be that binationalism is an impossibility, but that mere fact does not suffice as a reason to be against it."
Would that Ms. Butler contented herself with abstruse publications. She is also a highly vociferous public critic of Israel. Participating in an "Anti-War Teach-In" at Berkeley in 2006, Ms. Butler answered a question about Hamas's and Hezbollah's place "in the global left." These are two of the most belligerent movements within the warmongering, anti-Semitic, homophobic and misogynistic world of Islamist jihad. Yet while criticizing violence and "certain dimensions of both movements," Ms. Butler told the students that "understanding Hamas [and] Hezbollah as social movements that are progressive, that are on the left, that are part of a global left, is extremely important."
Maybe if Hannah Rosenthal doesn't continue as the State Department envoy on anti-Semitism in a second Obama term, the White House could consider appointing Butler instead. Butler would fit right in with the Obama administration's culture.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
