| Anarchism In Israel |
Article Index for Anarchism In |
Shopping Anarchism |
Website Links For Anarchism |
Information AboutAnarchism In Israel |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT ANARCHISM IN ISRAEL | |
| anarchist movements by country | |
| i | |
|
The anarchists in Palestine at the beginning of the century, nearly all coming from Eastern Europe, did not have connections with the powerful many anarchists of Palestine rushed to Spain in order to fight against Franco and fascism in the ranks of the libertarian CNT - FAI militia. The Austrian-Jewish anti-authoritarian philosopher Martin Buber settled in Jerusalem in 1938. Buber considered himself a "cultural Zionist". He rejected the idea of Jewish nationalism and was a staunch supporter of a bi-national solution in Palestine. While many . Until the 40s, there were no anarchist organizations in Palestine. A little before and immediately after the constitution of the State of Israel, in 1948, there was an influx of western European anarchist survivors of Nazism, educated in Yiddish, and among them, anarchism had a specific and visible presence. Between the end of the 40s and the beginning of the 50s, Polish immigrants formed an anarchist group in Tel-Aviv whose main exponent was Eliezer Hirshauage , author of a book on the history of the Polish anarchist movement published in 1953. Beginning in the 50s, Israeli anarchism makes reference to Abba Gordin (1887-1964), writer and philosopher, one of the more remarkable representatives of the Yiddish anarchist movement. Gordin had been the inspirer of the pan-Russian anarchist movement and one of the organizers of the Anarchist Federation Of Moscow (1918). From 1925, he lived in New York, where he had emigrated and where he published a literary philosophical review, "Yiddishe Shriften" (1936-1957), as well as being a habitual contributor to the most long-lived anarchist periodical in the Yiddish language, the Freie Arbeiter Stimme (1890-1977). In 1958, Abba Gordin moved to Israel, and in Tel Aviv, founded a Yiddish anarchist circle, "Agudath Schochrei Chofesh" (ASHUACH), with a library of classic anarchist works in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Polish, and with a large hall for meetings and conferences. He also began to publish a bilingual monthly review (in Yiddish and Hebrew), "Problemen/Problemot," which he directed from 1959 to 1964. During this period, ASHUACH had approximately 150 members and drew hundred of people to conferences on the philosophy of anarchism. Among the more debated topics: the spiritual roots of anarchism and the connections between anarchism, the Book of the Prophets (Neviim), and the Kabbalah . "Problemen" published stories and articles on the history of anarchism, Hasidic legends, medieval Jewish literature and the current problems of Yiddish literature. After the death of Abba Gordin, from 1964 to 1971 the review was directed by Shmuel Abarbanel . In 1971, Joseph Luden (born in Warsaw, 1908) took his place and affiliated the review with a publishing house that published fifteen or so books and pamphlets of fiction and poetry, all in Yiddish. Therefore, since "Problemen" came to be solely in Yiddish, it lost the Hebrew half of its title. The number of pages went from 24 to 36. ASHUACH and "Problemen" were in permanent contact with the Yiddish anarchist movement and in particular with "Freie Arbeiter Stimme" of New York and "Dos Freie Wort" of Buenos Aires. In the meantime "Problemen" was becoming less philosophical and more literary. The readers of the review belonged to every field of the Israeli society. The writer Leonid Podrydchik defined Problemen as the best Israeli publication in Yiddish language. ASHUACH comes to a halt in the 80s. The old anarchists died one after the other and none of the young ones knew Yiddish. The last number of "Problemen" was published in December 1989 (it was the one-hundred-and-sixty-fifth issue). Subsequently Joseph Luden tried to share with one new review, "Freie Stimme", in order to continue the tradition of "Problemen", but only printed a single issue in September, 1991. This was the last Yiddish anarchist periodical publication in the world. CONTEMPORARY ANARCHIST MOVEMENT The contemporary anarchist movement in Israel is small, but sectors of it are very active. A good proportion of these anarchists actively participate in Palestinian solidarity, peace and environmentalist movements. A quite visible - via the web - contemporary figure in his late 20s who had been living in Israel until June 2007 is the American Jewish "web personality" Weblog , as well as the weblogs Radical Torah and Orthodox Anarchist . His belief system is an eclectic mix of Jewish religious as well as tradition, anti-authoritarianism, hip-hop culture ... The Israeli activist, lecturer and author of "Anarchy Alive: Anti-Authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory" (Pluto Press), Uri Gordon, has written a supportive article of Israeli anarchists in The Jerusalem Post, Right of Reply: Anarchy in the Holy Land! , published June 12th, 2007, in response to an anti-anarchist item by Jerusalem Post writer Elliot Jaeger, Power and Politics: Anarchy has its place , published on May 23, 2007.
SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|