Pointless But It Does My Head In
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
today I was riding home from work & there was a cluster of 7 or 8 white-supremacist troglodytes standing outside an Orthodox synagogue holding death to Jews & various anti-Israel signs, as well a bunch of signs about god hating fags (especially ironic as I'm sure many of the Orthodox Jews would agree w/them). they also had a sign that said "they will eat your babies" tho I dunno if this was supposed to refer to Jews or gay people or both.
anyway I stopped off on my bike & started giving it to them - I mean, I'm often critical of Israel but fuck's sake this is my city & I'm not about to give would-be stormtroopers a free pass - & one came over like he wanted to have a go. there were 4 cops around tho so it came to naught which is good cos the least thing I need is an assault charge. I swear tho one of the cops - a black dude - gave me this look just begging me to take a swing so he would be justified to take a swing at these white power bastards. anyway then some counterprotestors showed up & I left so I wouldn't stupidly get myself into trouble. I couldn't believe it tho, it's the first openly hateful demonstration I've seen like that in Chicago since I was 15. did my head in for sure.
anyway I stopped off on my bike & started giving it to them - I mean, I'm often critical of Israel but fuck's sake this is my city & I'm not about to give would-be stormtroopers a free pass - & one came over like he wanted to have a go. there were 4 cops around tho so it came to naught which is good cos the least thing I need is an assault charge. I swear tho one of the cops - a black dude - gave me this look just begging me to take a swing so he would be justified to take a swing at these white power bastards. anyway then some counterprotestors showed up & I left so I wouldn't stupidly get myself into trouble. I couldn't believe it tho, it's the first openly hateful demonstration I've seen like that in Chicago since I was 15. did my head in for sure.
scottdisco
rip this joint please
that's shocking, whereabouts was this exactly? (at the very least i'm sure i'll know the neighborhood, if not the synagogue.)
fair play on backing down P, you don't need the heat as you say.
what a bunch of utter fucking cunts.
in my native Mcr once i was strolling one Saturday arvo downtown when a load of Hizbollah chumps were protesting outside a department store (Marks and Spencer are foul Zionists don't you know) so rather than bother engaging with that rabble i just went over to a nearby gang of coppers who were eyeing them up and said to one of the officers standing there about proscribed organisations and all this. he looked rather uninterested in what i had to say. anyway a load of counter-demonstrators came down and they got shifted so at least dibble pulled their fingers out for something..
fair play on backing down P, you don't need the heat as you say.
what a bunch of utter fucking cunts.
in my native Mcr once i was strolling one Saturday arvo downtown when a load of Hizbollah chumps were protesting outside a department store (Marks and Spencer are foul Zionists don't you know) so rather than bother engaging with that rabble i just went over to a nearby gang of coppers who were eyeing them up and said to one of the officers standing there about proscribed organisations and all this. he looked rather uninterested in what i had to say. anyway a load of counter-demonstrators came down and they got shifted so at least dibble pulled their fingers out for something..
john eden
male pale and stale
Funny thing is, Orthodox jews around here (stamford hill, north ldn) are pretty critical of Israel as well. One has a huge poster in their front room window saying "we await the total annulment of zionism"
Pretty mad to see something as outright as that - wouldn't it fall foul of "hate crime" legislation (not that the law is the way to deal with it - just interested...)
Pretty mad to see something as outright as that - wouldn't it fall foul of "hate crime" legislation (not that the law is the way to deal with it - just interested...)
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
corner of Broadway (right where Halsted ends & folds into it) & Grace - in between Addison & Irving Park, about 2 blocks W of the LSD. so, Lakeview, which is quite liberal & upscale, prime yuppie territory, & directly north of Boystown. which is where the anti-gay signs come in I'm sure. I confused the synagogue, they were standing outside a Conservative one called Anshe Emet. I thought it was - Anshe Shalom Bnai Israel - a Modern Orthodox one a few blocks away. I should take back that bit about homophobic congregation members cos I've no idea really. I mean as I said the entire area is quite liberal & gay-friendly. I don't live around there - way way too expensive but I know it pretty well cos a good mate, older queer fellow, used to live about 2 blocks down from Anshe Emet.
as far as backing down really it was stupid to get into in the first place. I just, I dunno, I'd had a long day & they were just standing there so brazen, really did me in. as I said there were a bunch of cops around - to there credit, looking quite unenthusiastic - to put a preemptive cap on violence. one cool thing was that the neighborhood reaction was, as you might expect, overwhelming & fiercely hostile. I wasn't the only person to heckle them, certainly.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
I have run into these at a bunch of demos over the years. there's also a whole group of them in, strangely enough, Israel, freeloading off the country (none of them do army service, or any kind of civil service substitute) they proclaim is an abomination. my dad - who is as right wing Zionist as it gets but Modern Orthodox - hates them w/the fire of 10000 suns, he's adamant about them giving other Orthodox Jews a bad name. a couple of them even attended the infamous conference on the Holocaust in Tehran a few yrs back (other attendees including David Duke & various Holocaust deniers).
the thing is - Zionism has always been controversial among Jews. there was a lot of tension even dating back to the late 1800s at its inception b/c it was seen, rightly, as a secularizing force. a lot of the young, radical Zionists from the Pale of Settlement, Ukraine, etc. were rebelling against the rigid social/religious order as much as the terrible conditions under the Tsars. I don't these nutters have anything to do w/that tho - it's this abstract theological stuff.
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scottdisco
rip this joint please
Craner and i (en-route to a lovely meet w' the likes of Cathy O, Jim, Luka and WOEBOT) walked through Stamford Hill the other week, and the man himself was good enough to explain to me the theological basis for those strains of Haredi Judaism that are implacably opposed to Zionism. he also touched upon the Tehran conference P mentioned. anyway i remarked, rather flippantly, it all rather reminded me of the celebrated Onion article 'ACLU Defends Nazis' Right To Burn Down ACLU Headquarters'.
and P: cheers, yes i'm familiar with the area, vaguely, though what you said on the expensive rents tip
and P: cheers, yes i'm familiar with the area, vaguely, though what you said on the expensive rents tip
STN
sou'wester
A friend of mine says that the anti-Israel Hasidim are given disproportinate coverage (largely because it's so at odds with what people expect). I have no idea if he is right, I am just reporting what he says, but whenever we go for a walk round Stamford Hill he points out the various signs and synagogues relating to various sects (of which there are many, apparently) I can't remember the name of the sect who have the banner up on Alkham Road but I'll find out.
Padraig, well done for standing up to those bastards, thanks for that.
Padraig, well done for standing up to those bastards, thanks for that.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox guys oppose Israel because (as they see it) God allowed their ancestors to be driven out of the country by various invaders as punishment for their sins and spiritual failings - so that for Jews to re-occupy Israel without explicit divine permission effectively amounts to blasphemy...something like that?
D
droid
Guest
You should be ashamed of yourself Eden.
Yeah, as Paul STN says, they believe that Israel is to be GIVEN back to the Jews, so repossession through conquest is not considered to be... well... kosher.
Yeah, as Paul STN says, they believe that Israel is to be GIVEN back to the Jews, so repossession through conquest is not considered to be... well... kosher.
Client Eastwood
Well-known member
Experts on TV programs. This morning they had a Clutter Expert on the BBC news giving advice on how to declutter your life. OH FFS man.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I once knew a girl who had one of these...