Deppen Webber and Fantasy politics

Deppen Webber, organizer of the failed Global march for Jerusalem has just started a new blog. (no, I'm not going to link to it, but you can find it here: deppenwebber.wordpress.com) In it he chortles "the zionist experiment is crumbling and they know it"

Is this what Deppen considers evidence?

"In just two months, we have witnessed Israel Apartheid Week, Occupy AIPAC, Penn BDS Conference, Harvard Kennedy School One-State Solution Conference, International Open Shuhada Street Day, Bay Area UN-Welcome War Criminal Shimon Perez, Park Slope Food Coop BDS Referendum, BDS Global Day of Action, In Solidarity with Tristan Anderson Day, Global March to Jerusalem, and the Welcome to Palestine Flytilla. With the One Democratic State Conference to take place in Munich June 30 – July 1!"
Let me help you out here a bit, Deppen.

* Israel Apartheid Week: Fail

From the Times of Israel:
"Israel supporter events far outweigh Israel detractor events in several measures. Roughly twice as many campuses put on “Israel Peace Week” events, a series of events supported by Hasbara Fellowships that portray Israel’s historic quest for peace with its neighbors, as experienced the hateful “apartheid week” events.

In fact, the StandWithUs Israeli Soldiers Speak Out tour reached nearly three dozen campuses in North America, easily more than did the detractors. While individual detractor events had a greater total number in the analysis, the vast majority of those events occurred on a smaller number of campuses overall. Israel’s supporters have a broader reach on a national scale.

The same observation also holds true when evaluating individual events. Detractor events attract fewer attendees, and gain fewer co-sponsors, on the whole than do Israel supporter events."

* Occupy AIPAC: Fail

One Hundred aged ex-hippies vs 14,000 diverse dedicated supporters of a strong relationship between Israel and the United States. Need I say more?

* Penn BDS Conference: Fail

A few hundred participants, including dozens of Zionist shills vs 900 who showed up to hear Alan Dershowitz.

* Harvard Kennedy School One-State Solution Conference: Fail

The same speakers, the same participants patting themselves on the back and accomplishing absolutely nothing

* International Open Shuhada Street Day: Fail

As far as I can tell, all that happened was a bizarre, ineffective and cringe-worthy song and dance routine on a Berkeley street corner.

* Bay Area UN-Welcome War Criminal Shimon Peres: Fail

A few dozen people outside, thwarted completely in their efforts to disrupt the 2,000 gathered inside to hear Shimon Peres, the president of Israel.

* Park Slope Food Coop BDS Referendum: fail
Failed by a margin 1,005-653. Not even close.

* BDS Global Day of Action: Fail

Countered by the fully effective buycott

* In Solidarity with Tristan Anderson Day: Fail

Unless success is measured by luring people with promises of free food

* Global March to Jerusalem: Fantastic mega epic fail

2 million protesters were announced- less than one half of 1 % of that even showed. Of the few demonstrations that were held, not a single one reached the Israeli capital.

* Welcome to Palestine Flytilla: Fail

2,500 announced. Final tally- total of 79 foreign activists landed in Israel.

With the One Democratic State Conference scheduled to take place in Munich June 30 – July 1 its too soon to tell, but given the track record of the Hate Israel cru, I'm guessing fail.

Our friend Jon writes about the delusional behavior of the anti-Israel cru here, explaining that this sort of activism is not so much about accomplishing a goal. Its more about feeling good about oneself. What else could explain the same tired failed tactics, repeated year after year?

"To understand this, we need to go back to my favorite political writer Lee Harris whose work on fantasy politics is still required reading for anyone trying to understand 9/11 and its aftermath. His essay on fantasy ideology that put him on the map began with this personal anecdote:

"My first encounter with this particular kind of fantasy occurred when I was in college in the late sixties. A friend of mine and I got into a heated argument. Although we were both opposed to the Vietnam War, we discovered that we differed considerably on what counted as permissible forms of anti-war protest. To me the point of such protest was simple — to turn people against the war. Hence anything that was counterproductive to this purpose was politically irresponsible and should be severely censured. My friend thought otherwise; in fact, he was planning to join what by all accounts was to be a massively disruptive demonstration in Washington, and which in fact became one.

My friend did not disagree with me as to the likely counterproductive effects of such a demonstration. Instead, he argued that this simply did not matter. His answer was that even if it was counterproductive, even if it turned people against war protesters, indeed even if it made them more likely to support the continuation of the war, he would still participate in the demonstration and he would do so for one simple reason — because it was, in his words, good for his soul.

What I saw as a political act was not, for my friend, any such thing. It was not aimed at altering the minds of other people or persuading them to act differently. Its whole point was what it did for him.

And what it did for him was to provide him with a fantasy — a fantasy, namely, of taking part in the revolutionary struggle of the oppressed against their oppressors. By participating in a violent anti-war demonstration, he was in no sense aiming at coercing conformity with his view — for that would still have been a political objective. Instead, he took his part in order to confirm his ideological fantasy of marching on the right side of history, of feeling himself among the elect few who stood with the angels of historical inevitability."

To Deppen and friends- all I can wish for you is more of the same kind of "success" you've grown accustomed to. And to the Jewish community, and to all friends of Israel - may you continue going from strength to strength