WHAT IS POLITICS?

In this chapter of Secret History of Israel/Palestine, we look how the small urban elite stole much of region’s land from it’s rightful peasant owners, turning them from an independent tribal peasantry, into a class of impoverished, indebted tenants on their own land.  

These events set the stage for much of the conflict to come between Zionists and the majority fellahin class.  

We also look at the 19th century origins of Palestinian identity, and early stirrings of proto Arab nationalism.  

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0:00 Hello fellow kids

1:59 The Tanzimat: the great 19thC reform programme

3:29 Political reform: disenfranchisement of the fellahin

7:21 Land reform: theft of the fellahin’s land

10:00 My horse!  My money!

14:35 From tribal peasants and sheikhs to capitalist tenants and landlords

18:37 The underlying philosophy of “What is Politics?”

20:16 The Nobility, Clergy, Bourgeoisie, Financier and Professional classes, all rolled into one

22:17 Patrons and clients in unequal societies

32:21 Who were the Ay’an?

38:08 The middle class

39:25 19th century Palestine as a backwater in decline

46:51 Palestinian identity

52:59 National identity vs political consciousness

56:234 Palestinian identity continued

59:12 South Syrians?

1:00:33 The 19th Century origin of Palestinian identity among urban classes and Christians

1:06:41 Democratic reform and the 1876 constitution

1:07:47 Islamic arguments for democracy

1:09:21 Abdülhamid II shuts down the parliament and constitution

1:10:37 Proto-Arab-nationalism

1:11:54 Next time on Secret History of Israel/Palestine

1:12:48 Gimme, seeya!

WHAT IS POLITICS? is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://worldwidescrotes.wordpress.com/

Who were the people of Palestine and what were their lives about in the late 19th century, before the first Zionists began arriving from Europe in the 1880s?  

This episode focuses on the fellahin – the peasants of Palestine who comprised 70% of its population in the late 19th century, who are the first to clash with Zionist immigrants, and who later bore the brunt of the 1948 war which established the modern state of Israel.    

We also look at the Bedouin, whose social structure and culture are the archetype for fellahin culture, and who were the founders of Arab civilization as a whole.  

This is the 2nd in a multipart series about the “secret” or hidden origins of the Israel/Palestine conflict, focusing on episodes of history that both Israeli and Palestinian nationalist historians and partisans ignore and overlook because they don’t fit into either nationalist narrative.

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cover image: 19th century tatreez / embroidery on a dress from an unspecified village between Hebron and Jaffa

0:00 Hello fellow kids

1:53 Diaper Warning

3:25 Secret History?

6:51 Why focus on peasants and Bedouin?

10:59 Origins of Palestine

13:48 Origins of the Palestinians

14:45 Ottoman Palestine

15:48 Europe and the Ottoman Empire

26:35 The Millet System

30:27 Ottoman social structure

31:33 Intro to the fellahin

36:00 Tribes vs the state: Bedouin social organization

46:05 Material roots of Bedouin culture

57:44 Advantages/disadvantages of tribal organization

59:16 Urban vs Rural religion

1:01:13 Fellahin social organization

1:10:20 Fellahin attachment to land

1:15:01 Male dominance

1:26:22 Slavery 

1:27:51 19thC population pressure

1:31:38 Communal land vs. economics 101 vs. Papa Smurf

1:47:13 Village religion

1:52:16 Village sectarian relations

1:55:17 Next time on Secret History of Israel/Palestine

WHAT IS POLITICS? is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://worldwidescrotes.wordpress.com/

In the book Abundance, left liberal authors Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson identify unnecessary bureaucracy and red tape as an important factor in why there is a shortage of housing across the USA.

Very quickly, billionaires and powerful donors have rallied to fund American politicians who campaign on an “Abundance Agenda”.

Why is big money so excited about Abundance?  What will happen if the “Abudance Agenda” that they’re funding is adopted by the U.S. Democratic party?

00:00 Introduction

01:39 Bloodbundance: the analogy

07:50 IRL

08:47 The Abundance book thesis

11:03 Who’s supporting the “Abundance agenda”?

12:06 Why zillionaires support the “Abundance agenda” trojan horsery

15:50 Neoliberalism vs Welfare Capitalism vs. Fascism

19:40 Divide and conquer, blame democracy

22:41 The “Abundance agenda” in action: California

27:16 Next time on What is Politics

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BIBLIOGRAPHY / RELEVANT READING

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Why are human beings so greedy and why are our societies so hierarchical, if our ancestors were so fiercely egalitarian?   

What is “human nature” in this regard?

A new theory about inequality of wealth and power in human societies.

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My message to Jewish supporters of the war in Gaza.

(TIMESTAMPS BELOW)

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BLURB

00:00 hello fellow jews: competing israeli and palestinian moral universes

04:31 moral justifications for the war “we have no choice”

06:43 “all the atrocites are fake, but they deserve it”

07:46 defeating the Nazis

08:40 moral poisoning by fake history

10:53 how to protect Israel

14:00 how Israel could have had all the hostages back in October 2023

15:31 Tamir Pardo ex-Mossad chief’s view on the hostages

16:38 the prisoner exchange

18:03 the need to “do something”

18:32 identity politics and the state

19:30 public reactions to Israel’s war in Gaza vs to Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen

21:45 how an ordinary person sees October 7th and the response to it

24:25 ex-PM Ehud Olmert’s view on the war

25:36 Israeli reactions to civilian deaths in 2002 vs 2025

28:06 polls in favour of ethnic cleansing

29:17 comedian Gil Kopatz’ Holocaust remembrance day thoughts

30:12 the Israeli Knesset debate on starvation in Gaza

37:39 how we got here: historical propaganda about 1948 and Oslo

39:31 The original vs current Israeli explanation for the Palestinian refugees of 1948

43:31 The lessons that Israelis and Palestinians learned from the failure of Oslo

45:53 the official Israeli/US version of the failure of Oslo vs reality

54:03 recent polls of Israelis and Palestinians on co-existence

56:10 Netanyahu on making it impossible for people to stay in Gaza

57:14 Israeli soldiers’ testimony on destroying neighbouhoods in Gaza, Lebanon and West Bank

1:05:00 Smotrich on preventing people from returning to Gaza

1:05:42 Genocide

1:11:05 Blocking aid for 90 days 

1:13:08 The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation 

1:14:52 Netanyahu and Smotrich on why they resumed aid to Gaza

1:16:29 daily mass shootings at GHF aid distribution lines

1:18:16 human shields

1:22:09 outtro

WHAT IS POLITICS? is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://worldwidescrotes.wordpress.com/

Market Exit, like many others before him, tells us that the left-right political spectrum is obsolete and does more harm than good. That’s because he doesn’t know what they mean.

This video explains:

And I finally explain why communism is on the left and fascism is on the right, even though both systems produced similar authoritarian, nationalist political systems.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

TRANSCRIPT

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Why are nationalist / populist / far right candidates and parties getting elected all around the world? 

Why isn’t the populist left enjoying the same success?

Why does inequality keep getting worse nomatter who gets elected?

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TRANSCRIPT: (TBA) 

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https://ia601201.us.archive.org/18/items/the-rise-of-the-far-right/THE RISE OF THE FAR RIGHT.mp3

WHAT IS POLITICS? is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://worldwidescrotes.wordpress.com/

This series focuses on those aspects of the origins of the Israel/Palestine conflict that partisans on both sides mutually ignore.

This episode examines jewish life in Europe and the conditions leading to the rise of Zionism until the first wave of Zionist immigration in 1882. 

Cover image: Marc Chagall, Falling Angel (1923-1947)

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BIBLIOGRAPHY: (TBA)

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CHAPTERS

0:00 introduction

2:43 when both sides hide the same facts

4:27 The Haïtian revolution: Silencing the Past

8:28 Palestinian and Israeli versions of history

19:24 Class conflicts of interest in hierarchical societies

23:03 Origins of the Jewish diaspora in Europe

26:00 Origins of the Ashkenazi Jews

28:06 Origins of Christian hostility towards the Jews

32:44 The Jews between al-Andalus and Christian Europe

36:23 Medieval anti-semitism as an instrument of class rule

37:17 European Jewish class structure: financiers, beggars and thieves

41:13 Jewish migration to Eastern Europe

42:05 The rise of liberalism and decline of anti-Judaism

43:04 Jews in the Russian Empire

45:45 The Rise Nationalism and Anti-Semitism

46:04 What is nationalism? The psychology of group identity

51:55 Identity politics and class in hierarchical societies

55:38 Nationalism, democracy and class conflict

1:00:32 Nationalism vs democracy and socialism

1:03:27 Nationalism, anti-Semitism and Socialism 

1:10:30 The Socialism of Imbeciles: Anti-Semitism as an instrument of class war

1:17:18 Anti-Semitism vs anti-Jewish discrimination

1:18:55 Nationalism in the European Empires

1:20:32 Assimilation, Integration, Socialism, Autonomism and Zionism: Jewish reactions to the rise of industrialization and anti-semitism

1:24:15 The purpose of the Jewish state in early Zionism

1:25:25 Jewish secular and religious hostility to Zionism

1:26:35 The Dreyfus affair and the rise of popular Zionism in the West

1:28:56 The assassination of Alexander II and the rise of popular Zionism in the East

1:33:06 What is Colonialism?

1:46:45 Power imbalances vs Worbs: Colonialism, Capitalism, Patriarchy and manipulation

1:50:55 Secret #1: Zionism, The Jewish province?

1:57:45 Zionism before Autoempancipation

1:59:11 Muhammad Ali Pasha and the birth of modern Zionism

2:01:19 19th Century religious Zionism

2:05:26 Romanian independence and the rise of Zionism

2:07:28 Autoemancipation 1882

2:24:49 The Jewish Province: Ottoman Pashalik / American Territory

2:30:32 The BILU Manifesto

2:37:58 Why Palestine?  Zionism and Judaism

2:46:16 Early Zionist thoughts about the Arabs in Eretz Israel

2:50:14 Outro, donation info, seeya!

https://archive.org/download/12-1_20250401/12.1%20-%20JEWS%20IN%20EUROPE.mp3

WHAT IS POLITICS? is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://worldwidescrotes.wordpress.com/

This is a Q&A where I respond to questions and critiques about episode 12: The ABC’s of Israel/Palestine (https://youtu.be/OLr_VCqnId0) and also go off on a whole bunch of related tangents.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102834580 (no paywall)

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0:00 intro

1:55 Rashid Khalidi on the Comedy Cellar Podcast

5:33 Why I Became a Lawyer

11:36 Israel’s assaulton Gaza is pointless

13:28 Hamas’ 2020 conference on what to do after victory

14:31 Oct 7 happened because the IDF was AWOL

15:56 israeli vs palestinian propaganda

18:12 Israelis unconsciously aware that the war is just for revenge

20:26 Mowing the lawn and keeping Gazans on a diet

22:12 Why I don’t cover current events

33:50 What I’m bringing to the table 

36:15 Israeli views on Arab civilian casualties, 2002 vs 2024

43:09 Hamas isn’t nationalist

46:40 the Hannibal directive

51:52 victories for activism: forcing Israel to let more aid into gaza

55:22 BEGIN Q&A

55:56 left and right / the social psychology of voting

57:20 critique: i “both sidesed” the conflict

1:09:58 cancel culture in pro-Israel politics

1:32:46 Cancel culture in palestinian activism:

1:37:44 back to Q and A

1:38:23 why is the US so involved in the Israel/Palestine conflict?

1:46:26 why don’t i call it genocide?

2:13:58 The culpability of the original zionist settlers vs holocaust refugees and jews from the arab world

2:19:48 Atlantic article disputing that Israeli leaders made genocidal statements

2:33:29 Do Arabs in Israel really have equal rights?

2:43:51 75 years of occupation since 1967?  Whose land is it?

2:48:39 college “leftist” activists supporting hamas uncritically

3:01:57 “we must support a liberation movement, no matter how reactionary it gets”?

3:04:26 Are American settler colonialists guilty 250 years later?

3:12:07 From authoritarian child rearing to children raising their parents: why do we always do everything idiotically?

3:17:45 One state, two states, no states

3:21:05 Should Israelis have to leave?

3:27:08 Reading Hamas’ 2024 “Our Narrative” pamphlet

3:41:59 outtro

https://archive.org/download/12.2-israel-qna/12.2%20-%20ISRAEL%20QnA.mp3

WHAT IS POLITICS? is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://worldwidescrotes.wordpress.com/

What was supposed to be an informal QnA about the “Israel/Palestine ABCs” episode, turned into a What is Politics “live” brainstorm session à la Matt Christman “grillstream,” where I discuss my arguments and readings on who and what started the Israel/Palestine conflict which will appear in more detail (and coherence) in the next scripted episode.   At 5hrs long, I didn’t even get to the QnAs yet … oops!

0:00 intro: ‘why is everything so stupid and shitty?’ / the “alignment problem” of our society

12:46 the social function of academia and universities from pre-WWII to today

31:17 freedom of speech is to protect the weak

41:06 recent activism victories regarding the assault on gaza (Canada and USA)

49:10 why i’m doing “brainstorm” episodes in between scripted episodes

1:10:00 Israel Palestine disinformation in news and history

1:20:40 why the assault on gaza is pure sadistic revenge and does the opposite of its purported goal of protecting israelis

1:31:38 war and violence

1:36:00 what israel could have done in response to oct. 7

1:45:50 who started the israel/palestine conflict?

BIBLIOGRAPHY: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102824946 (no paywall)

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WHAT IS POLITICS? is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://worldwidescrotes.wordpress.com/