Markus McCraith

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@JulietMosesNZ 3/ Not sure if those in NZ who feel
govt is eroding democracy have such existential as well as patriotic feelings. Can probably also be safely said that the felt threats to democracy in NZ are much less tangible and imminent than the ones guiding protest movement in Israel.

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@JulietMosesNZ 1/ Probably for a few reasons. Protesters here feel they are facing a far right, largely religious coalition seeking to majorly shake up the judiciary&democratic checks and balances in order to cement their power and bring the country into dark waters.

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@JulietMosesNZ 2/ In a fiercely patriotic and defensive way, these Israelis feel that nothing less than the future of Israel as a Jewish, liberal and democratic state is at stake.

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@tabletmag Will you release a kindle edition?

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@JulietMosesNZ That’s right. And reversing 48 is what many would like to see. Especially radical wings of the western left. Revolutionaries only ever want destruction, to ‘smash the Zionist state’…. Cringe.

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@JulietMosesNZ The ‘war of return’ (as some have coined it) is rooted not in realistic pragmatism & compromise, but rather in idealistic, absolutist, & revanchist dreams which further add to the intractability of the conflict

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@JulietMosesNZ History can’t be reversed, & Arab hostility in ‘48 is to a certain extent understandable. However a huge contemp. roadblock is the continuing insistence on a ‘right of return’ into Israel of all refugees & their descendants. Grievance over ‘48 is central to Palestinian identity

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@JulietMosesNZ The irony as I see it is that an education which purports to be liberal is in many ways profoundly illiberal. Both in the politics of many lecturers, as well as in the lack of pluralism when it comes to politicised topics.

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@JulietMosesNZ Viewpoint diversity is absolutely essential in developing critical thinking capacities, however many lecturers seem to be more interested in putting forward their own ‘left-shifted’ worldviews rather than engaging us in an education which is heterodox

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@MadHatt65364470 @_felixnz Those are all interesting/important topics worthy of investigative journalism. I agree, certainly a lot of click bait in media. But for those intellectually inclined, in depth reporting is fairly accessible IMO

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@MadHatt65364470 @_felixnz I don’t know it’s a fact, and I would appreciate you digging up a reliable source (if you can be bothered) that I can then use as a springboard for further ringing

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@MadHatt65364470 @_felixnz Which type of investigative work are you referring to? I read a lot of investigate journalism from NZ journalists in the press. And honest reflections on what?

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@MadHatt65364470 @_felixnz Are you referring to the $55m public interest journalism fund? Funding from govt to NZonAir doesn’t mean press becomes a mouthpiece of current govt. No MSM in NZ is politically partisan. See attached article. https://t.co/k4kaquyjT6

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@MadHatt65364470 @_felixnz What would free & independent press in NZ look like? And is it not already?

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@MadHatt65364470 @_felixnz Freedom of press? That’s already pretty high in NZ

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@JulietMosesNZ @ohthebeardguy @Clumpassion @PouTepou Juliet, following from your point on Jews being cast "powerful" and "oppressor" from many progressives (as well as in light of recent Whoopi controversy), you may find this report on 'Erasive Antisemitism' within contemp. prog discourse interesting https://t.co/QDvmEoFZ89

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@JulietMosesNZ @ohthebeardguy @Clumpassion @PouTepou Yes, and this is where an intersectional politics of ‘opposing all forms of oppression’ can get messy. If Jews (or esp. Zionists/Israelis) are seen as powerful and oppressive, then they are swiftly excluded from these spaces. I.e. Washington womens march & Chicago dyke March

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@ohthebeardguy @Clumpassion @JulietMosesNZ @PouTepou https://t.co/FUtsRBaTjF

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@ohthebeardguy @Clumpassion @JulietMosesNZ @PouTepou And to give this another angle, the supposedly intersectional coalition that “opposes all oppression” is surprisingly silent on contemporary antisemitism.

[Markus McCraith @MarkusMccraith]

@ohthebeardguy @Clumpassion @JulietMosesNZ @PouTepou It’s a pretty common sentiment amongst those opposing antisemitism that it inhabits a fraught position within intersectional politics.