Daniel Burston: Remembering the Tree of Life Massacre
Robert Bowers was convinced that the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which met regularly at the Tree of Life that day, was taking money from Jewish liberals to bring refugees in the United States to destroy America.
Daniel Burston: An Open Letter to Steve Kowit on his poem “Intifada”
Right now, civil conversation on these subjects is difficult to impossible to sustain because both the Zionist and the Palestinian narratives have been carefully curated to highlight the harms that each side inflicted on the other, and to minimize or ignore the harms that they inflicted on their adversaries.
Daniel Burston: A Dirge for American Democracy
Authoritarian populism, brazen corruption and wild conspiracy theories are so prevalent that we are thoroughly enmeshed in what some call a “mafia state”, teetering on the brink of fascism…
Daniel Burston: John Prine, Working Class Poet (1947-2020)
John Prine was a national treasure, whose songs about love, loss and aging – many written while he was still a relatively young man! – reflect his working class roots. But even so, they have a universal and timeless relevance.
Daniel Burston: Anti-Semitism on the Left
Many Left wing activists disparage the majority of American Jews, saying that we enjoy all the perks of White privilege, and therefore seek to “uphold”, rather than to oppose or dismantle White Supremacy; the very thing far-Right activists insist that we are secretly intent on destroying.
Daniel Burston: ‘In Your Guts You Know He’s Nuts’
If Americans re-elect Trump, he will shatter what little is left of American democracy, rendering the whole system of governance completely dysfunctional or irrelevant, and all American citizens ever more vulnerable to corruption and manipulation by anti-democratic powers abroad, imperiling the lives of virtually everyone on this planet in the not too distant future.
Peter Gottschalk: Hate crimes associated with both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have a long history in America
An effort to protect the position of native-born citizens from perceived threats by immigrants – has periodically erupted in the U.S. since at least the early 19th century.
Daniel Burston: Prayer for a Dying Planet
Honestly, sometimes, I envy the dead, Those dearly departed, whose exits, however peaceful or wrenching, Were always underwritten by the knowledge that Life endures, and that Hope of Eternal Life . … Continue reading
Shalom Lappin: On the Tree of Life Shooting
In a particularly poignant scene of Spike Lee’s superb new film BlacKkKlansman, Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer in Colorado Springs in the 1970s, who infiltrates the local Klan … Continue reading
Daniel Burston: Civility and Academic Freedom
American Universities in the Age of Trump I’ve been teaching university-level courses – first as an adjunct, then as a full time academic – since January of 1987. In the … Continue reading
Daniel Burston: The Confabulator in Chief
I know it is the fashion to say that most of recorded history is lies anyway. I am willing to believe that history is for the most part inaccurate and … Continue reading
Daniel Burston: “It Can’t Happen Here”
Trump, Authoritarianism & American Politics
Daniel Burston: Nazis, Israelis and Palestinians — Rhetoric and Reality
On August 6th, 2016, The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement issued a bold and extensive policy statement entitled “A Vision of Black Lives.” Many of the proposals it contains merit … Continue reading
Daniel Burston: What is Zionism?
Zionism is a movement for Jewish emancipation and self-determination that arose in response to the rising tide of anti-Semitism that engulfed Europe in the mid-19th century, which resulted in a … Continue reading
Vox Populi 