May 10 2015 4:00pm - 6:00pm

Free to the public (charitable contributions welcome)
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Levantine Cultural Center & Inside/Outside Gallery
5998 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035-2657

Controversial author, master jazz artist and professional troublemaker Gilad Atzmon will discuss his latest book, A to Zion, the definitive Israeli Lexicon (co-authored with Enzo Apicella), and give a talk on the Palestinian "Right of Return," Atzmon's detractors call him a "racist" while others rally to his defense. Find out who Gilad Atzmon is with this rare L.A. appearance, and read his work online.

The Right Of Return is the core of the Palestinian cause. It positions the Nakba and the suffering of refugees as the primary issue, places Gaza into historical context and highlights the gross injustices perpetuated and sustained by Israeli politics since 1948. It clearly illuminates the racist nature of the Jewish state and its immigration laws. The Right Of Return offers a clear course of action that unites Palestinians in the region and the Diaspora but it evokes fear amongst Israelis, Zionists and Jewish anti-Zionists.
Since the early 2000s there has been a surge in Jewish support for Palestine and the Palestinian people. This support has been welcome but it came with a price; the call for the Right Of Return has been gradually diluted by alternative terminology designed to appeal to the Jewish progressive crowd.
In this talk, I will elaborate on the terminological shift that left the Palestinian people and their cause behind. I will suggest that each of the terms introduced into the discourse in the last two decades functioned primarily to legitimize Israel and appeal to the Jewish Left crowd. The reality is grim; instead of solidarity with the victims, the movement has morphed into an attempt to appease the oppressor. This unfortunate shift may explain why the solidarity movement has achieved so little for the Palestinians. It is possible that it wasn't supposed to achieve much in the first place.