The Minyan

Prez and Talia talk about the origins of the ADL, and learn the history the world "anti-semitism"

Free Palestine

Continuing our deep dives into differing threads of fascism, we're excited to talk to Justin Podur again for a multi-part series on the origins, political economy, and culture of Indian fascism.

You can find Justin on Twitter @justinpodur and his many projects at https://podur.org/

Apologies for the delay due to a lot of life stuff, this does mean for the first time ever, we have a backlog of episodes!

A little mix and surprise for you loyal listeners. Enjoy!

Apologies for the delay, this was recorded in Summer 2023, and due to life events, we are releasing it now. Hope you enjoy!

We're excited to have Kota from the Against Japanism podcast again join us for a multi-part series on the origins, political economy, and culture of Japanese fascism.

Follow Kota on twitter at @againstjapanism and check out his stuff at https://linktr.ee/againstjapanismpodcast

A recap of what has been happening

Please donate to MECA

https://www.mecaforpeace.org/

We're excited to have Kota from the Against Japanism podcast join us for a multi-part series on the origins, political economy, and culture of Japanese fascism.

Follow Kota on twitter at @againstjapanism and check out his stuff at https://linktr.ee/againstjapanismpodcast

The outro music can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOgxYkL3wgw

Prez went on Kingless Generation to talk about international fascism, its ideological origins, and it's links with settler colonialism

Prez and Talia sit down with Norah, an associate editor of the Electronic Intifada, host of the EI Podcast, and co-host of The Brief podcast; and Dan, a former assistant director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies in Britain, and who recently wrapped up a political science postdoc at UQAM, a left hub in Montreal; to discuss Biden's recent trip to Occupied Palestine, Origins of Fascism, and Teeth?

Our minds were blown, and we hope you enjoy this highly informative episode!

In this quick turn around episode, a Filipino kasama gives their thoughts about the upcoming Marcos-Duterte administration, and what it means for the future. 

*Erratum: The series of protests that came to be known as the First Quarter Storm occurred during January to March of 1970, not 1971

For an excellent reportage of the events that took place during those tumultuous times, read Pete Lacaba’s Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage.

We sit down with Justin Podur and talk about the inter-imperialist war between Russia and Ukraine.  

You can find Justin on Twitter @justinpodur

Zev and Talia are joined by Irish language activist, Domhnall, and they discuss the revolutionary potential of Irish, Yiddish, and Indigenous languages.

*Talia apologies for an horrific mispronunciations 

Works Cited:

Jailtacht: The Irish Language, Symbolic Power and Political Violence in Northern Ireland, 1972-2008

https://www.ochjs.ac.uk/language-classes/oxford-school-of-rare-jewish-languages/

https://jewishcurrents.org/september-27-anti-yiddish-riots/

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-s-latest-fearsome-national-security-threat-yiddish-1.7947906

Bearing the Unbearable: Yiddish and Polish Poetry in the Ghettos and Concentration Camps

The Liberation of the Camps: The End of the Holocaust and its Aftermath

Revolutionary Yiddishland

Secular Yiddishkait: Left Politics, Culture, and Community

Yiddish and Jewish Diaspora Nationalism

Yiddishkayt and class consciousness: the Bund and its minority concept

A quick update on what's happening at the Minyan, and hopes for the new year. 

In this episode Prez and Talia discuss some of Gramsci's main theories, the material conditions of their development and their relevance to today. We cover his theoretical analyses of fascism, bourgeois politics, and the state, and how he was the first Joker.

We are using The Antonio Gramsci Reader: Selected Writings 1916-1935, NYU Press Edition.

Reach out to us on Twitter @the_minyan or email us minyanpod@gmail.com

In this episode Prez spends way too long talking about history and theory while we deconstruct what it means for land to be used "productively." Zev discusses the relationship between eco-fascism in Israel and America. Our guest Lydia, from the Center of Communist Studies, joins us to talk about the importance of Olive Trees and other claims of "environmental stewardship" in Israel's attempts to exterminate Palestinians. Talia expands on how Israel's eco-fascism is destroying Palestinian land.

Reach out to us on Twitter @the_minyan or email us minyanpod@gmail.com for our sources.

In this mini-episode Prez relates Stalin's "Marxism and the National Question" to the Israel and the idea that there can be a single Jewish Nation...or why there fundamentally can't be one. Please excuse any pauses made, they forget words easily

Talia reads the Founding Document of the PFLP

From the River to the Sea, Palestine WILL BE FREE

Please do whatever you can to support the Palestinian struggle. Attend rallies and marches for Nakba Day (5/15)

From the Strategy of for the Liberation of Palestine

https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/S08-PFLP-Strategy-Lib-Palestine-7th-Printing.pdf

The Minyan discusses Norm Finkelstein's book, The Holocaust Industry.
Get some water, this one is spicy.

End song: Mir Veln Zey Iberlebn performed by Tsibele

References:
American Radical - The Trials of Norman Finkelstein [2009]  https://youtu.be/9R4KV9wAnsU

Finkelstein, Norman G. The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering. London: Verso, 2015.

(Talia also wants to note, she said that Verso is NOT ML/MLM.)

To tide you over until the Holocaust Industry episode is released, we here at the Minyan wanted you to hear the the debate between Norman Finklestein and Alan Dershowitz on an episode of Democracy Now in 2003.

Enjoy!

We're back! We introduce Zev, discuss this past summer, and answer your burning Marvel questions.

You can contact us on Twitter at @the_minyan or email us at minyanpod@gmail.com

In this long, LONG, overdue episode, the Minyan joins friend and comrade Alireza to explore the complicated history of Iran from the Constitutional Revolution of 1905 to the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Along the way, we discuss the particular class character of 20th Century Iranian society, the messy and often disappointing foreign relations between Iran and the USSR, the role of first British and then US imperialism in propping up the reactionary Pahlavi Dynasty, the rise and fall of Mohammed Mosaddegh, and the developments, tensions, and occasional fusions of nationalist, Islamist, and Marxist movements in Iran, culminating with the Marxist guerrillas who swept out the Pahlavi Dynasty in 1979, only to be coopted and suppressed by the reactionary wing of the Islamist movement who consolidated control over what would become the Islamic Republic.

Part 2, to be released at a later date, will focus on that consolidation of power in 1979 and the developments within the IR to the present day, in order to guide principled communists in how best to approach an anti-imperialist nation that is also thoroughly anti-communist and in general reactionary.

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Intro Music: Nitsokhn Lid by Yiddish Glory, remixed by Eli Bertrum

Bed Music: Nitsokhn Lid Screwed by Mr. Crane

Outro Music: Bayāt-e Tork by Yonā Dardašti, one of--if not the--most famous Iranian Jewish classical singers.

Suggested Reading: 

"Iran Between Two Revolutions" & "The Modern History of Iran" by Ervand Abrahamian

"Fragile Resistance: Social Transformation in Iran from 1500 to the Revolution" by John Foran

"Soviet Politics and the Iranian Revolution of 1919-1921" by Stephen Blank

The Minyan crew updates us on the work they've been doing during this time.

After weeks of delays, scheduling conflicts, and technical difficulties, the Minyan proudly presents its first truly long-form episode. Join Yaakov, Talia & special comrade guests Ari, Eli, Greer, & Zach as they dive into the bewildering world of Tanakh source criticism, ancient Egyptian literary analysis, & Ancient Near East archaeology, sifting through the layers of propaganda & mythmaking in the traditional Exodus narrative in an attempt to work out what, if any, historicity underlies these stories, how their development reflects the national-mythology of the societies that produced them, and what that means for our understanding of Jewish history.

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Intro Music: "Nitsokhn Lid" by Yiddish Glory, remixed by Eli Bertrum. 

Outro Music: "When You Believe" by Whitney Houston & Mariah Carey / "Miriam's Song" by Debbie Friedman / "Creeping Death" by Metallica. 

Suggested Reading:

"Exodus" & "Who Wrote The Bible?" by Richard Elliott Friedman. 

"Israel's Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective"  edited by Thomas E. Levy, Thomas Schneider & William H.C. Propp (in particular the articles therein by Jan Assman; Manfred Bietak; Israel Finkelstein; Ronald Hendel; Stephen O. Moshier & James K. Hoffmeier; Bernard F. Batto; Scott Noegel; Brad C. Sparks; Baruch Halpern; Thomas Romer; Stephen C. Russell; Donald B. Redford; Emmanuel Annati; Brendon C. Benz; Avraham Faust; Daniel E. Fleming; & Thomas Schneider). 

"To Your Tents O Israel: The Terminology, Function, Form, and Symbolism of Tents in the Hebrew Bible & the Ancient Near East" by Michael Homan. 

Continuing from where Part 1 left off, Ma'tez joins the Minyan to trace the currents of Palestinian resistance to  Zionist settler-colonialism from the Nakba & the declaration of the Israeli state through to the present day, with discussions of resistance movements under both Israeli & Jordanian hegemony, the 6 Day War, the role of Palestinian resistance movements in Black September & the Lebanese Civil War, and both the First and Second Intifadas.

You can reach Ma'tez on twitter @Shuyu3i

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Intro Music: Nitsokhn Lid by Yiddish Glory, remixed by Eli Bertrum

Bed Music: Nitsokhn Lid Screwed by Mr. Crane

Outro Music: بلدي (Baladi) by Kofia / رمانة (Rmanat) by سميح شقير (Samih Shaqir) / أناشيد العاصفة ('Anashid Aleasifa) by الفرقة المركزية (Alfurqat Almarkazia)

In this very special episode, the Minyan sits down with Ma'tez from the West Bank to discuss the long history of Palestinian resistance to foreign domination. We begin with the Musha' communal land system that Palestinian villages maintained under Ottoman Rule, the first conflicts with Zionist settlers in the late 1800s, how World War I affected Palestine, and the Great Revolt of the 1930s. In Part 2, coming soon, Ma'tez & the Minyan discuss Al Nakba, its aftermath in the 1950s, the 6 Day War, both Intifadas, and the current situation in Palestine--stay tuned for that within the next 2 weeks.

You can reach Ma'tez on twitter @Shuyu3i

For those listening as episodes are released, Ḥag Pesaḥ! This is, of course, not the Minyan Holiday Special you might have been expecting (listen to Yaakov's introduction to this episode for more on that) but it does serve to undermine the Zionist narrative of the Exodus as prefiguring political Zionism--more on just how wrong that narrative is in future episodes!

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Intro Music: Nitsokhn Lid by Yiddish Glory, remixed by Eli Bertrum

Bed Music: Nitsokhn Lid Screwed by Mr. Crane

Outro Music: دبرها يا مستر دل (Solve It, Mr. Dill) by Nuḥ Ibrāhīm

This time the Spiel is real. In a bit of a change-up, this month's bonus episode is a Purim Spiel, a reading of the Book of Esther by Talia & Yaakov, with the theme of the retelling being 90s/00s hip hop censoring in all its glass shattering, dog barking, and all around goofy glory. We hope you enjoy, and if you want to hear more readings as bonus content, please let us know either here or in the Lenin's Ghost discord.

Intro Music: Nitsokhn Lid by Yiddish Glory, Screwed by Mr. Crane

Outro Music: Satan Is Real by Kreator / A Congealed CLot of Blood by Carcass / Walls by Siege

APOLOGIES FOR SOME AUDIO QUALITY ISSUES, especially to those with audio sensitivities.  Minor mic problems has Yaakov's voice sounding a bit crackly throughout this episode.

On this holiday episode, the Minyan gets a little silly talking about the most fun, raucous, feminist, queer-inclusive, & outright diasporist holiday of the ritual calendar: Purim! Join the celebration of the legendary tale of diaspora Jews in the Persian empire fighting back against genocidal violence & winning, under the leadership of Queen Esther! 

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Intro Music: Nitsokhn Lid by Yiddish Glory, remixed by Eli Bertrum.

Bed Music: Nitsokhn Lid Screwed by Mr. Crane

Outro Music: Chag Purim by Jay Levy

Suggested Reading: The Book of Esther (join our patreon to hear a reading of it!)

In this month's Davening After Dark episode, Pres goes off on the subject of critical support in a new segment called The Spiel, Talia leads a round of the Hitler or Herzl Expanded Universe, Yaakov & Pres share some Evil Eye articles, Talia seeks to wrench back Gritty from the anarchists, and everyone gets in an argument about Star Wars. Somehow, despite the best effort of a twitter nudnik, we all manage to exist.

In another short(ish) holiday episode, Talia & Yaakov work through the utility of Tu B'Shvat as not just a New Year For Trees, but as an opportunity for engaging in theory and practice aimed at mass work with the food-insecure, solidarity work with indigenous Land and Water Protectors, and in particular solidarity work with Palestinians whose land continues to be destroyed by Zionist settlers. Along the way they discuss the pernicious role of the Jewish National Fund in transforming Tu B'Shvat from a kabbalistic seder to a philanthropic arm of the Zionist project, the hypocrisy of liberal ecology and the shortcomings of treating Tu B'Shvat as a Jewish Earth Day, the Halakhic roots of the holiday in regard to food distribution and modern food regulation, and an approach to the Lurianic Tu B'Shvat Seder as a way to engage in Tikkun Olam not just in the mystical sense but in doing concrete Tikkun in the material world.

Suggested donation: https://www.landofcanaanfoundation.org

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Intro Music: "Nitsokhn Lid (Victory Song)," performed by Yiddish Glory & remixed by Eli Bertrum.

Outro Music: "Song of the Olive Tree," written by Leon Rosselson & performed by Janet Russell.

Suggested Reading: "Inter/Nationalism: Decolonizing Native America And Palestine," by Steven Salaita

On this first patrons-only DAD, the Minyan answers listener questions on mysticism, education, the role of goyish comrades in combating zionism, and more. We share some anecdotes from Jewish history, get in a good Evil Eye over fundamentalist Christians LARPing as Jews at a gun rally, and then a few rounds of Hitler or Herzl. Oh and we introduce a new member of the Minyan and talk trash on France.

Intro Music: "Mayn Pulemyot (My Machine Gun)" by Yiddish Glory from their self-titled album.

Outro Music: "Mir Veln Zey Iberlebn," by Tsibele, recorded live at the Jalopy Theater in Brooklyn on Nov. 7, 2017.

Suggested reading: "Kabbalah," by Gershom Scholem; "Zionism From the Standpoint of its Victims," by Edward Said; "Sephardim In Israel: Zionism From  the Standpoint of its Jewish Victims," by Ella Shohat; "Unthinking Eurocentrism," by Ella Shohat & Robert Stam.

Talia and Yaakov sit down with Alex Verman to discuss their article in Jewish Currents, “Mere Disruption Won’t Alter Birthright’s Agenda,” working through Birthright’s function as a technology of Zionist settler-colonialism, the orientalist logic that undergirds it, & how IfNotNow’s campaign to disrupt Birthright trips reinforces, rather than opposes, that orientalism. Also there are some diversions about tattoos & extremely online Jewish culture.

Read Alex's article for Jewish Currents here: https://jewishcurrents.org/mere-disruption-wont-alter-birthrights-agenda/

You can also find more of their work at alexverman.com and follow them on twitter @degendering

Suggested reading: Edward Said's Orientalism

Intro music by Eli Bertrum

Outro Music: "Ink Stains Across the Border" by antizionist hardcore band Dir Yassin

Whether you spell it Ḥanukkah, Hanukkah, Chanukah, Khanike, or any other way, it’s that time of year for the Festival of Lights! Light your menorah & spin your dreidel while Talia & Yaakov reveal just how distant the modern holiday is from both earlier celebrations, when Judith was given pride of place alongside Judah Maccabee, and from the historical events surrounding the Hasmonean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire, which was a convoluted nightmare of shifting alliances with imperial backers, advances and retreats in guerrilla campaigns, and petty factional infighting. Spoiler alert: it’s neither the Zionist hasbara fantasy of Jews creating a nation for themselves nor the reductive “culture war” of Hellenism vs Judaism in which the Maccabees play the role reactionary religious extremists. It’s way way messier than that.

Suggested reading: Cambridge History of Judaism Volume 2: The Hellenistic Age, The Book of Judith, The 1st & 2nd Books of the Maccabees, Josephus'  "Antiquities of the Jews."

Intro Music by Eli Bertrum.

Outro Music: "La Fiesta De La Chanukía" by Judy Frankel & "Oy Khanike" by The Klezmer Conservatory Band

It's the long promised first episode of the Proles of the Minyan Reading Series, in which the Minyan takes on classic Marxist texts that touch on Jewish issues. In this first foray into close textual analysis, Tim and Yaakov go head to head over Marx's "On The Jewish Question," (1843) a notoriously difficult work in which a young Marx replies to Bruno Bauer's argument to deny Jews the rights of man ad citizen (outlined in Bauer's "The Jewish Question"). Marx's response is... complicated. There's no way to summarize it without talking it through (and sometimes repeating the same points trying to wrap one's head around it) for 2 hours.

Suggested Reading includes not only Marx's "On The Jewish Question," but also "The Holy Family." ; Althusser, "On The Young Marx." ; Julius Carlebach, "Karl Marx and the Radical Critique of Juda­ism." ; & Gary Ruchwarger, "Marx and the Jewish Question: A Response to Julius Carlebach."

Intro Music by Eli Bertrum.

Outro Music: "Simkhes Toyre" by the Klezmatics (we're posting it just in time for yontif, after all).

In this special and (sort of) shorter episode, Talia and Yaakov sit down and reflect on the meaning of the High Holy Days, with readings of Rabbi Brant Rosen from Tzedek Chicago & the Book of Isaiah, audio clips from the Minyan trio and a comrade from Talia & Yaakov's Jewish Solidarity Caucus days, and the goals and wishes for the new year from more comrades on Twitter. It's a looser, more freewheeling affair than the usual Proles of the Minyan material, but hopefully it's just what you need as you go into Shabbos Shuva, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when we really start honing our thoughts on T'shuvah, repentance. It's the Jewish New Year, so its Self-Crit Season. We look back over the past year and atone for our transgressions, and look forward to what we can bring to the year to come. It's a dialectic.

Featuring: A surprise guest appearance from Yaakov's fiancee, and (for those inclined) a longer than usual outro music medley featuring the noise track Yaakov mentions in the episode.

Intro Music: "Nitsokhn Lid (Victory Song)," performed by Yiddish Glory & remixed by Eli Bertrum

Outro Music: "Avinu Malkeinu," by Barbra Streisand, "Kol Nidre," by Daniel Kurganov, & "We Have Transgressed," by Hedge Fund (Yaakov's old band...what a self-aggrandizing dork.

Rapid Response to the Never Again Actions against ICE concentration camps, in connection and solidarity with Occupy Tornillo, Palestinian liberation movements, and the struggle of Ethiopian Jews against police brutality in Israel. Dedicated in memory of Solomon Teka, Z"L, the black Jewish teenager murdered last week by Israeli police. May his memory be for blessing. -------- Intro by Eli Bertrum Outro Music: "In Ale Gasn, Hey Hey Daloy Politsei" from In Love and Struggle: The Musical Legacy of the Jewish Labor Bund @ProlesMinyan on Twitter  prolesminyan@gmail.com Links & Sources: Tornillo: The Occupation on Facebook @NeverAgainActn on Twitter Never Again Action on Facebook Never Again Action Bail Fund on gofundme Movimiento Cosecha website @CosechaMovement on Twitter Movimiento Cosecha on Facebook Open Letter to Latinx Jews: Let Our People Go by the Jews of Color and Sephardi/Misrahi Caucus, In Partnership with Jewish Voice for Peace. @JOCSM4Pal Jews of Color and Sephardi/Mizrahi Caucus on Twitter "Cries of 'Black Lives Matter' in Israel after officer fatally shoots unarmed young man of Ethiopian Origin," by Noga Tarnopolsky in LA Times. "'They're killing our brothers': Why Ethiopians shut down Israel for a day," by Yael Marom and Oren Zvi in +972. "Violent protests erupt in Israel over police shooting of unarmed Ethiopian teen," by Alex Ward in Vox. "Violence erupts as Ethiopian Israelis protest treatment by police," by Batsheva Sobelman in LA Times.