Beste vrienden, vandaag begint het joodse feest Chanoeka.
Daarom voor deze gelegenheid een zeer lezenswaardige tekst van Benjamin Dictor, verschenen op de
Red Ant-blog.
Rethinking Hanukkah
The
modern retelling of the story of Hanukkah is similar to that of most
Jewish holidays. The storyboard adopts the exhausted themes of
victim/victor and the relentless and indiscriminate persecution of the
Jews. The story is fairly one-dimensional:
“King Antiochus IV sought to obliterate the practice of
Judaism in the Kingdom of Judea. After a military invasion, Judea was
occupied until the Maccabees rose up and defeated the occupying force,
restoring Judaism to the Kingdom.”
As materialists we must question this myopic focus on the suppression of religion as the primary point of conflict.
Today, the story is told in an attempt to further the founder’s myth
in support of a Jewish Theocratic State while the underlying story of
the struggle for national self-determination is often glossed over and
forgotten.
Hanukkah is not simply about the struggle of the Jews, but rather,
it is the story of the struggle for national self-determination of the people of Judea —-
as well as their uprising and resistance against occupation and imperialism.
In short, Hanukkah is the celebration of the
Intifada of the Maccabees.
Hellenism and the Gusanos of Judea
Like many of the devastating military conflicts presently unfolding
in the world, the Maccabean Intifada began as a civil conflict that was
ultimately exploited by foreign powers in furtherance of their
imperialist objectives. Just as we have seen in recent years, these
foreign invaders were welcomed by many
gusano Judeans who
requested the military support of imperialist powers to help them
maintain their opportunist grasp on power in the kingdom.
The roots of the Maccabean Intifada began as a conflict between Jews
that had begun to reform their traditions as a result of the Hellenistic
influence (cultural imperialism) in the region and those Jews who
sought to maintain their national and religious identity.
In approximately 200 BCE, the Kingdom of Judea came under the control
of the Hellenist Seleucid Empire (Syria). Judea was still a somewhat
independent kingdom and its people were allowed to maintain their
customs and religion.
During that period, Hellenism was used much like the West uses its
own cultural imperialism today in support of its foreign conquests. The
people of Judea were not blind to this and saw that the imposition of
Hellenist customs, values and religion were a direct attempt to
undermine the political independence of Judea.
Some historians have focused on the wealth disparity between rural
peasants in Judea and those Jews who lived in Jerusalem. The rural Jews
favored continued independence and self-determination while the
bourgeois Jews of the city of Jerusalem were easily Hellenized and
adopted the cultural identity of their would-be occupiers. (See,
Tcherikover, Victor
Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews, New
York: Atheneum, 1975). This tension led to periodic uprisings and
ongoing hostility between those Jews who sought to maintain independence
and those who favored Hellenism.
Prior to Syrian military invasion, Judea enjoyed considerable
independence. However, the High Priest of Jerusalem, like most
administrators or governors of colonized territories, served at the
pleasure of the Seleucid King.
In the years leading up to the Maccabean Intifada, Jews in favor of
self-determination made several attempts to oust these hand-picked High
Priests and restore partisans to the leadership of Judea. The Seleucid
military invasion of Judea was, in fact, precipitated by these ongoing
conflicts over the position of High Priest of Jerusalem.
It was the Jewish Hellenistic High Priest Menelaus who ultimately
requested that Seleucid King Antiochas IV send troops into Judea to
quash the pro-independence resistance. Just as we have seen in
Libya and Syria, it was the collaborators in Judea — Jews themselves —
that demanded an invasion of their homeland to suppress their countrymen
insisting on self-determination.
With the welcome mat laid out by the collaborators in Jerusalem,
Antiochus IV sent Apollonius with an occupying army to Judea to put down
the resistance and restore the collaborator Menelaus to the position of
High Priest.
The Maccabean Intifada
Around 168 BCE, after the occupation of Judea had begun, Antiochus
began to slowly strip Judea of its independence — politically and
religiously. The occupying Syrian army built fortresses and amassed a
military presence in Judea. Antiochus issued edicts restricting
religious practices and limiting civil rights of the Judean people. The
resistance against the occupation came in the form of an army of Jews
known as the Maccabees (“Hammers”) — essentially the Hamas of their
time. The Maccabees fought the occupying Syrian army for seven years,
relying heavily on guerilla tactics to defeat the overwhelming force of
the Syrian army.
A series of military defeats and domestics disputes in Syria
ultimately led to the victory of the Maccabees, the retreat of the
imperialist Syrian occupiers, and the restoration of the independence of
the Kingdom of Judea.
A New Hanukkah
This year, I propose that we celebrate Hanukkah as a holiday that
commemorates the true story of resistance against occupation and
imperialism. Rather than allowing it to be used to promote the ongoing
occupation of Palestine, let us tell the story of Hanukkah to remind
ourselves of our obligation, as Jews, to fight for all oppressed people
of the world.
Our Jewish values implore us to recognize that imperialism must be
opposed in all its forms. In that spirit, I submit that, this year, we
light the menorah in commemoration of those who struggle against
oppression and imperialism:
1st Candle – For The People of Palestine for their continued resistance against occupation.
2nd Candle – For The People of Cuba for over half a century of
resistance against imperialism, attempted invasions and an illegal
blockade.
3rd Candle – For The People of Syria who have been invaded by a
massive foreign military force supported by the imperialist west, but
continue to struggle against it.
4th Candle — For The People of Vietnam who, like the Maccabees,
successfully fought off a massive military with guerilla tactics.
5th Candle – For The People of Libya, particularly Bani Walid, who continue to resist occupation and invasion.
6th Candle – For The People of Venezuela who have successfully
thwarted attempts by imperialists to overthrow their democratically
elected government.
7th Candle – For The People of Bahrain who have continued to oppose Saudi and U.S. imperialism.
8th Candle — For all Oppressed People of the World.
Voor de mensen die niet goed meezijn:
wikipedia en het bijzonder meeslepende bijbelboek:
boek 1 en
boek 2.
