This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ednas (talk | contribs) at 06:51, 6 January 2007. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 06:51, 6 January 2007 by Ednas (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Gilad Atzmon (born June 9, 1963) is a jazz musician, author, Palestinian solidarity activist and Anti-zionist, born in Israel and currently living in self-imposed exile in London, regarding himself as a Hebrew-speaking Palestinian.
He was born in Tel Aviv, and trained at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, where he learned to play soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones. He also plays clarinet, sol, zurna and flute. As a student¸ he studied German philosophy in England and later moved from Israel to London at age 32.
Music
Gilad's main instrument is the alto saxophone. His jazz style is bebop/hard bop, veering at times into free jazz. His band is known as the Orient House Ensemble. Atzmon has earned many jazz awards, including Exile - Best Jazz Album Of The Year, BBC Jazz Award 2003, Exile-Best Jazz Album of the Year (2003), Time Out Magazine, Exile -Number 14th Best Album of the Year (2003), The Observer and Exile - Number 48 Best Album of the Year (2003), Jazz Time, USA. Music press reviews can be viewed at this link: .
His work has explored the music of the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe and he has collaborated with musicians from all around the world. He is also the creator of Artie Fishel, the first artificial Zionist and a member of the veteran punk rock band The Blockheads. He has recorded and performed with Shane McGowan, Robbie Williams, Sinead O'Connor, Robert Wyatt and Paul McCartney. Atzmon can also play two saxophones at once.
Literature
In addition to being a jazz musician and political writer, Atzmon is also a novelist whose books are published in 22 languages. His Guide to the Perplexed was published in 2001, and banned in Israel within weeks of publication and his My One and Only Love was published in 2005. Both novels explore the philosophical basis of the Jewish identity and its relationship to Zionism.
Politics
Atzmon is an outspoken critic of the Israeli state, as well as the worldwide Zionist support network. He campaigns against the ongoing ethnocide and the forced transferals of the Palestinian people from their homeland¸ the Nakba¸ which began with the Deir Yassin massacre in 1948¸ and supports the Right to Return for the millions of Palestinian refugees scattered across the Middle East and the globe. Atzmon has triggered some controversy with his outspoken political statements and has had the labels self-hating Jew and anti-Semitic leveled at him by Zionists as well as Jewish ethnic activists.
In an article entitled "Think Tribal, Speak Universal" , Atzmon wrote: "I have managed to unite them all: Right, Left and Centre. The entirety of the primarily-Jewish British political groups: the Zionists the anti-Zionists, Jewish Socialists, Tribal Marxists, The Board of Deputies, Jewish Trotskyites, Jews Sans Frontieres, Jews Avec Frontieres for the first time in history all speak in one single voice. They all repeat exactly the same misquotes. They all hate Gilad Atzmon.
“Pretty impressive,” I think to myself, “I must be doing something right.” Yet, I am slightly confused by my own achievement. When it comes down to it, I’m not the canonical enemy; I am a jazz musician and author. I am not a politician, nor am I a member of any party. I do not present or support any political agenda. I have never been involved in any act of violence (not even as an Israeli soldier) nor have I ever called for violence. I am what some may call an “independent critical thinker”. It is my personal understanding that I choose to share with my readers and listeners. I express my very own reading into events and some speculations regarding the notion of identity. I write about things that I find while looking into myself. This is indeed very dangerous for people who try to promote some collective dogmatic and ethnic tribalism. It is apparently the individual and critical thinker who endangers any form of ideological dogmatism (in general) and Jewish collectivism (in particular).
Surely, the most effective way to confront a thinker is through open intellectual debate. But somehow, this is precisely what those who oppose me refuse to do. Instead, they employ various tactics aimed at silencing me." Responding to accusations of antisemitism¸ Azmon wrote: " I am an anti Zionist and oppose the Zionist mindset. I look at questions of Jewish identity and I do question the ties between a Jewish world view and Zionism. I refute totally that I am anti-Semite. In fact I also believe that the current concept of an Anti-Semitism is meaningless. Once the Zionists had managed to establish their Jewish state, any form of anti Jewish sentiments should be comprehended either as a private case of xenophobia or as a political retaliation to Israeli/Zionist atrocities. In other words, the title Anti-Semite became an ‘empty signifier, i.e. a signifier with a vague, highly variable, unspecifiable or non-existent signified. It is an empty verbal utterance that exists merely to serve a political cause (very much like Blair’s WMD and Bush’s Axis of Evil). Because Anti-Semite is an empty signifier, no one actually can be an Anti-Semite and this includes me of course. In short, you are either a racist which I am not or have an ideological disagreement with Zionism, which I have."
In June 2005, Jews Against Zionism picketed Bookmarks, the bookshop of the Socialist Workers Party, after Atzmon was invited to speak on "The Deconstruction of Zionist Identity". The SWP, however, defended their invitation and published a statement from him stating he was neither a Holocaust denier nor a racist.
External links
- Gilad Atzmon home page and his political views.
- See also Articles on this Website by Gilad Atzmon.
- Gilad Atzmon and Marxism 2005 The page on the website of the British Socialist Workers Party which includes Atzmon's statement.
- Gilad Atzmon's A Guide to the Perplexed
- A Review of Gilad Atzmon's My One and Only Love
- Gilad Atzmon interviewed by Manuel Talens