WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.159 --> 00:00:06.960 Hello everybody, ladies, gentlemen, brother sisters, comrades, friends, Hello to 2 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:09.800 all of you. It is good to be back after 3 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:11.839 a little bit of a hiatus. As I finish up 4 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:17.359 this semester, the memory serves if I can count fourth 5 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:22.079 semester second year of graduate school. Now that I'm done, 6 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:25.280 I can get back to making stuff for you guys 7 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:26.440 to enjoy. 8 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:27.800 Hopefully. 9 00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:30.839 Also, as many of you know, at least those of 10 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:35.240 you who follow me on social media or substack or Patreon, 11 00:00:37.320 --> 00:00:41.240 there's been some excitement regarding History Impossible recently, or at 12 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:44.359 least regarding me. If you follow me on any of 13 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:49.119 those platforms, you probably saw that my name, my writing 14 00:00:49.399 --> 00:00:52.960 found its way into a piece in the New York Times, 15 00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:58.920 one that was profiling longtime comrade and friend Darryl Cooper 16 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:02.119 of the Martin Made Podcast, One that actually did a 17 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:06.200 pretty decent job, kept it pretty fair, and they saw 18 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:08.920 fit to quote from the piece I wrote for Mary 19 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:11.680 and West and turned into a special episode for you guys, 20 00:01:11.959 --> 00:01:14.480 where I basically went through all of his initial claims 21 00:01:14.519 --> 00:01:18.519 and essentially contested them while trying to stay as good 22 00:01:18.519 --> 00:01:20.879 faith as possible on Like a lot of people who 23 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:25.079 have continued to critique him in various ways. I'll let 24 00:01:25.239 --> 00:01:27.359 the piece speak for itself. I recommend you go check 25 00:01:27.400 --> 00:01:29.040 it out over on the New York Times. You can 26 00:01:29.079 --> 00:01:32.560 also see what I said about it in on my 27 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:36.519 substack or Patreon, which I recommend you, guys subscribe to 28 00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:39.879 if you haven't already. Both are fine, you get the 29 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:44.719 same content there on both, but whichever one you might prefer. 30 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:48.359 And I try to put out a lot of stuff 31 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:51.439 that you know doesn't necessarily make it onto this show. 32 00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:57.319 I have recently contributed to my friend David Joseph Vlatzko 33 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:00.280 of The Radicalist to his substack the piece that I 34 00:02:00.439 --> 00:02:04.319 released for you guys earlier this month, or rather last month, 35 00:02:04.519 --> 00:02:08.000 where I talked about the progressive turn capital p progressive 36 00:02:08.039 --> 00:02:11.240 turn of the Trump administration. So I recommend you go 37 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:14.439 check all that stuff out if you haven't already. In 38 00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:16.759 terms of other housekeeping, I just want to thank, as 39 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:20.719 always everybody for supporting this show on subseac and Patreon, 40 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:27.199 including the amazingly generous friends of mine here in History 41 00:02:27.240 --> 00:02:31.960 Podcasting World, John Andre Saither and Mike Maylebin for their 42 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:37.000 long running support of this show. So again, if you 43 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:41.639 want to support History impossible. Head on over to Historyimpossible 44 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:45.159 dot subsack dot com or Patreon dot com, slash History 45 00:02:45.159 --> 00:02:49.319 Impossible and become a paid subscriber or donor today. It 46 00:02:49.319 --> 00:02:53.400 would be unbelievably appreciated. But if you can't afford that 47 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:55.879 right now, feel free to just spread the word about 48 00:02:55.879 --> 00:02:59.400 this show, share it on social media, share it one 49 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:02.120 on one to friends of yours that might be really 50 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:05.960 into history. So with all that said, why don't we 51 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:09.560 get into this new special episode, this second episode in 52 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:13.599 this little mini series of sort of pieces that I'm 53 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:18.360 doing where I talk about the theme of imperialism. Last 54 00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:21.080 time we had the theme of imperialism as it relates 55 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:23.960 to the like I said, the new Trump administration taking 56 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:29.000 on a Rooseveltian that is teddy Rooseveltian turn. And this 57 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:32.439 one is a well, it's based on a piece that 58 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:34.360 I wrote that came out right at the beginning of 59 00:03:34.360 --> 00:03:37.240 twenty twenty five that looked at the theme of imperialism, 60 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:41.120 of soft power imperialism, which was actually something that the 61 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:44.240 United States was pretty masterful at doing for a very 62 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:48.319 long time, as you will hear, and it how it 63 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:52.639 actually can be applied to numerous other examples in history, 64 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:56.000 some older than others, and some more recent and surprising 65 00:03:56.319 --> 00:03:59.639 than others. And it all fits together with a lot 66 00:03:59.639 --> 00:04:03.879 of the work have done regarding the Israeli Palestinian conflict 67 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:09.879 and themes of jihadism and Islamism. So, without further ado, 68 00:04:10.759 --> 00:04:16.800 let us get into some impossible history about imperialism. 69 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:18.439 Well, let me to tell you what you would have 70 00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:21.439 seen and heard. If we're not being pleasant listening, if 71 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:23.439 you're at lunch, or if you have no appetite, now 72 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:24.959 is a good time to switch off the radio. 73 00:04:30.759 --> 00:04:34.160 An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible, 74 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:36.839 whatever remains, however improbable. 75 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:41.639 EVAs BANDI, you don't know. 76 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:49.800 I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace 77 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:50.759 is inside. 78 00:04:51.319 --> 00:04:53.040 I'll feel the laughing dream. 79 00:04:53.160 --> 00:04:54.680 I feel a laughing light. 80 00:04:54.680 --> 00:05:04.360 Now we here for hue were guil. 81 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:07.800 Some say the world will end empire. 82 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:11.360 Some say an from what I've tested of desire, I 83 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:13.079 hold those of flavor fire. 84 00:05:13.800 --> 00:05:16.480 But if it had to perish twice, I think I 85 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:19.519 know him of of hate to say that for destruction, 86 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:21.920 ice is also great, and look sufficed. 87 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:30.839 This is possible. 88 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:42.959 Back on November seven, twenty twenty four, disturbing footage began 89 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:45.519 to appear in the aftermath of a football, that is, 90 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:49.920 soccer match between the Israeli club Macabi tel Aviv and 91 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:56.000 the Dutch club AFC Ajax. Unlike your typical stories of 92 00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:59.399 football hooliganism as they call it over in the UK, 93 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:02.240 the fight was not over the outcome of the match. 94 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:06.480 Macabi tel Aviv lost for what it's worth, as much 95 00:06:06.519 --> 00:06:11.240 as it became yet another proxy for the still ongoing 96 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:17.399 war between Hamas and Israel, still ongoing as of this recording. 97 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:24.639 Many months over six months since these events happened, groups 98 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:27.480 of men were roaming the streets, accosting fans of the 99 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:33.319 Israeli team and beating them where they found them. One 100 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:37.560 Israeli was captured on video pleading not Jewish, not Jewish 101 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:42.079 as he was assailed. David de Brewing. I hope I 102 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:45.519 am pronouncing his name right. But David de Brewing, writing 103 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:48.480 for the Free Press, summarized some of the violence quite 104 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:53.399 well in his write up as follows. Quote in video 105 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:56.639 of other attacks last night, a victim is struck and 106 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:01.240 lies injured on the ground, seemingly unconscious. A father could 107 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:04.639 be seen fleeing with his son, A man jumps into 108 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:08.600 one of Amsterdam's canals to escape his assailants. In the 109 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:12.319 recording where he is forced to say free Palestine, his 110 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:16.000 assailants laugh and jeer that he is a cancer Jew, 111 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:20.680 a classic slurre in Dutch where both diseases and the 112 00:07:20.759 --> 00:07:29.639 Jewish ethnicity are deployed as put downs. While the chaos 113 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:35.000 unleashed by football hooliganism is well known, especially over in Europe, 114 00:07:35.079 --> 00:07:38.879 it would turn out that evidence suggested this was something else. 115 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:44.360 As more became clear in the day that followed, it 116 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:47.439 became obvious that this was a coordinated attack on the 117 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:53.000 Israelis visiting the Dutch capital. According to an investigation conducted 118 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:56.560 by The Telegraph, it quote emerged that the attacks on 119 00:07:56.600 --> 00:07:59.959 the Jewish football fans were planned in advance and coordinate 120 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:02.279 using WhatsApp and telegram. 121 00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:03.399 Quote. 122 00:08:05.959 --> 00:08:09.879 The day before the match, a group chat called Buruthuis 123 00:08:10.439 --> 00:08:15.319 contained a chilling phrase quote tomorrow after the game at night, 124 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:19.000 part two of the Jew hunt. Tomorrow we work them 125 00:08:19.319 --> 00:08:25.040 unquote put simply in the words of debrewing Over on 126 00:08:25.079 --> 00:08:25.759 the Free Press. 127 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:26.319 Quote. 128 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:29.800 According to the accounts of witnesses and victims, it was 129 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:34.399 an attack by immigrant Muslim communities against Israelis and Jews. 130 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:41.159 Quote a pogram in a European city committed by descendants 131 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:44.960 of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa is 132 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:48.759 not likely what Adolph Hitler had in mind when he 133 00:08:48.840 --> 00:08:52.600 declared war on quote unquote world jewry. But it is 134 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:55.840 very hard at least for me to believe that he 135 00:08:55.879 --> 00:08:58.080 would not have been pleased to see those he saw 136 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:05.039 as racial untermention doing his work for him. Soon further 137 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:08.519 potential context was added that there was some vandalism and 138 00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:12.360 outright hooliganism from some of the Israeli fans, including the 139 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:15.960 ripping down of Palestinian flags, as well as expletives being 140 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:19.320 shouted by Israeli fans I e Let the idf win 141 00:09:19.399 --> 00:09:23.879 and fuck the Arabs, and some assaults were captured on 142 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:27.399 video by the Dutch photographer Annett de Graph, which were 143 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:32.120 initially misattributed to Arabs attacking Israelis. So there was some 144 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:35.720 further context like I was saying, But in addition to 145 00:09:35.799 --> 00:09:40.440 this not being particularly exonerative of the initial plans for 146 00:09:40.519 --> 00:09:44.960 a quote unquote jew hunt, much of the supposed context 147 00:09:45.080 --> 00:09:48.039 was not being repeated as an effort to provide a 148 00:09:48.120 --> 00:09:51.759 clearer picture of that night's events, or to more accurately 149 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:56.759 depict the realities of the divisions that exist, or at 150 00:09:56.840 --> 00:10:01.879 least perceived to exist between Israelis or Jews and Arabs 151 00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:08.240 and Muslims, rather bringing up the fact that there had 152 00:10:08.279 --> 00:10:13.600 been some Israeli fans acting in pretty uncouth, unbecoming ways. 153 00:10:14.039 --> 00:10:17.919 These additional facts were being repeated by pundits in publications 154 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:24.480 with almost too obvious motivated reasoning. Speaking of obvious, the 155 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:30.039 delight clearly underlied the performative outrage by professional distorders of 156 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:35.000 history like Owen Jones, and was very obvious. It was palpable, honestly, 157 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:37.600 with Jones describing Sky News as re editing of their 158 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:41.320 footage to more accurately reflect the reality as being the 159 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:45.919 real problem, along with quote the violence perpetrated by Israeli 160 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:51.440 football hooligans and their hideous racism unquote than the commentator 161 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:56.159 Meti Hassan, who the real MENSH representative Richie Torres repudiated 162 00:10:56.159 --> 00:11:00.320 beautifully when he blasted Hassan for quote unquote just find 163 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:04.320 a pogram over an Amsterdam. But asan he seemed like 164 00:11:04.360 --> 00:11:06.639 he wanted to try and one up the one aboutism 165 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:11.120 and quote tweet President, then President Joe Biden saying that 166 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:13.919 the President's legacy will be that quote, you and your 167 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:19.559 administration that helped kill sixteen thousand Palestinian kids unquote, as 168 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:22.559 if that had anything really directly to do with what 169 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:25.879 had happened in Amsterdam. Apart from the justifications being made 170 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:30.399 by people who participated. There were plenty of other examples 171 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:33.720 of this kind of redirection at work in the days 172 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:38.320 that followed the attempted pogram, and they revealed the same 173 00:11:38.440 --> 00:11:42.200 trend that instead of trying to dig out the overall 174 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:45.639 complex truth that led to yes, it was a modern 175 00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:49.639 day pogram attempted or otherwise that's what it was, that 176 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:52.559 there was an effort to whitewash a systematic targeting of 177 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:58.120 Jews in a Western European country for violence. Now much 178 00:11:58.159 --> 00:11:59.960 does seem to rest on the use of the world 179 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:02.960 pogram to describe what happened, with many of the commentators 180 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:05.799 in this camp that I've been talking about seeming to 181 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:09.840 believe that a pogram requires a perfectly lopsided situation in 182 00:12:09.879 --> 00:12:12.919 which the victims Jews in this case, are viciously set 183 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:17.240 upon with no attempt at defending themselves, or they themselves 184 00:12:17.240 --> 00:12:21.440 playing a part in the violence in general. Not only 185 00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:25.600 does this smack of the problematic trope about Jews not 186 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:29.080 fighting back in the Holocaust being one reason so many 187 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:32.720 were killed, but it also forgets the fact that one 188 00:12:32.759 --> 00:12:35.279 of the most savage pogroms against Jews in the early 189 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:39.120 twentieth century, the Hebron Riots of nineteen twenty nine in 190 00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:42.840 what would be Israel, also involve Jews and non Jews 191 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:48.600 fighting back against the mob that was obviously targeting them. 192 00:12:48.679 --> 00:12:51.799 The contrarians in this case seem to be upset that 193 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:56.279 the programists were facing victims that did not act like 194 00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:59.600 the victims of a pogram in the quote unquote correct way. 195 00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:05.679 The bigger question, however, is why it makes a certain 196 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:09.480 amount of sense that some people who already oppose Israel 197 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:14.600 on grounds that the IDF is killing members of their family. However, 198 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:18.519 there are and have been no shortage of people who, 199 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:22.120 for over a year and a half, rush to explain 200 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:26.279 away or even defend things like this, like the Dagistan 201 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:29.840 attempted pogram or the student incident at Cooper Union in 202 00:13:29.879 --> 00:13:34.960 New York City. And these people who try to explain 203 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:38.320 all this away have zero meaningful connection to the ongoing 204 00:13:38.360 --> 00:13:42.320 conflict seemingly apart from a vague notion of political solidarity. 205 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:46.039 I would call it political avatarism. Has nothing to do 206 00:13:46.120 --> 00:13:49.519 with the realities on the ground. It has vexed a 207 00:13:49.559 --> 00:13:52.200 lot of people, including me for years now why there 208 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:55.559 appears to be an almost reactionary need by a certain 209 00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:59.720 section of the western left, but increasingly especially it seems nowadays, 210 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:02.840 on the right. But that's a whole different story. We're 211 00:14:02.840 --> 00:14:04.679 not going to get into that. But the point is 212 00:14:05.159 --> 00:14:08.720 there is this almost reactionary need to stand in solidarity 213 00:14:08.759 --> 00:14:12.840 with self evidently problematic movements and even defend their actions 214 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:18.360 because of things like perceived victimhood or just desserts or 215 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:21.559 who knows what that could be something to dive into 216 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:24.399 with some greater depth in the future here in history impossible. 217 00:14:24.440 --> 00:14:24.840 I don't know. 218 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:27.720 We probably will end up doing that one day, but 219 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:30.320 I have still found myself wondering, as a lot of 220 00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:33.600 other people do too, what happened in order to make 221 00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:36.320 this kind of defense of something that most people have 222 00:14:36.440 --> 00:14:40.600 known for decades was objectively wrong and evil into something 223 00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:44.519 that somehow needs to be debated Like we saw this 224 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:46.879 happen in the wake of Charlie Hebdoh and the Pulse 225 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:49.919 nightclub massacre, which turned out likely to have nothing to 226 00:14:49.960 --> 00:14:53.799 do with homophobia. Interesting little side note there too, and 227 00:14:53.960 --> 00:14:58.559 other things that involve this same kind of extremism associated 228 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:04.519 with a very particular religious ideology. But why, that's the 229 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:11.639 real question. Why. Many have problematically stated or suggested that 230 00:15:12.039 --> 00:15:15.320 the spread of Islamic communities in Western countries is leading 231 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:19.759 to a sort of subversion of Western values, particularly in Europe, 232 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:23.000 though this thinking arguably helped result in the United States's 233 00:15:23.080 --> 00:15:28.440 own quote unquote Muslim ban back in twenty seventeen. However, 234 00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:32.200 this is usually filtered through a very particular lens of 235 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:37.200 anti immigrant sentiment and perhaps a subconscious throwback to post 236 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:42.440 nine to eleven anxieties about terrorism. When one sees growing 237 00:15:42.519 --> 00:15:46.559 crowds of decidedly nonsvend looking people rushing around the streets 238 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:49.639 of Amsterdam looking to hunt down Jews to hurt, it 239 00:15:49.720 --> 00:15:52.399 might seem to be completely reasonable to feel that way. 240 00:15:53.759 --> 00:15:56.600 After the migrant crisis in Europe in twenty fifteen and 241 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:01.320 the subsequent tensions and crimes that occurred, anti immigration sentiment 242 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:05.480 certainly rose and felt very justified to many, regardless of 243 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:09.360 political ideology. Again, in the European context, especially as the 244 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:15.799 years went on. However, that does not explain the willingness 245 00:16:15.799 --> 00:16:19.120 of certain classes of people willing to go to bat 246 00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:22.519 for bad behavior on the part of foreign actors or 247 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:25.879 domestic ones acting on behalf of a foreign cause. For 248 00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:30.320 that matter, what does seem to explain this trend, among 249 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:35.679 many factors that have already been examined, is not an 250 00:16:35.720 --> 00:16:43.799 importation of people, but rather an importation of ideology, in 251 00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:51.519 other words, an act of subtle soft imperialism. 252 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:53.759 Had been bracing for violence ahead of the match, but 253 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:57.440 when it came, its scale and nature were shocking. Police said, 254 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:01.200 men on scooters hunted down Israeli football supports to beat them. 255 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:09.519 One person kicked while prone, apparently unconscious children. This man 256 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:16.200 forced to say free Palestine. Safely, there we go, as 257 00:17:16.279 --> 00:17:20.680 was another from the middle of a river. Good this 258 00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:26.880 man telling his attacker I'm not Jewish and beaten anyway. 259 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:30.119 And we saw a lot of demonstrations. Those people running 260 00:17:30.759 --> 00:17:35.680 was really really terrifying. They were ready in exactly in 261 00:17:35.720 --> 00:17:39.720 the places, strategic places with bet. 262 00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:43.799 With Nike, the Dutch Prime minister, with this reaction from Hungary, 263 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:44.720 and it's. 264 00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:48.680 A terrible energemitic attack, and we will not tolerate and 265 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:50.559 we will prosecute the perpetrators. 266 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:52.799 And I'm pretty ashamed that it could happen in the 267 00:17:52.839 --> 00:17:58.359 Netherlands in twenty twenty four. Yesterday, in the build up 268 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:02.720 to their match against Iraqs, minor confrontations in Amsterdam's main square, 269 00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:07.200 then racist anti Arab chance as they made their way 270 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:19.559 to the stadium. Amsterdam's mayor though, laying the blame with 271 00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:23.200 what she called hateful anti Semitic criminals and banning all 272 00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:25.279 public demonstrations for three days. 273 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:30.160 But what happened last night is not a protest. It 274 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:34.240 has nothing to do with protest or demonstration. 275 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:35.400 It was crime. 276 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:40.759 Israel's prime minister monitoring the latest and invoking a dark 277 00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:44.400 past withal Tomorrow. 278 00:18:44.599 --> 00:18:47.599 Eighty six years ago was Crystal Knacht, an attack on 279 00:18:47.720 --> 00:18:51.599 Jews just for being Jews, on European soil. It's back now. 280 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:54.359 Yesterday we saw it on the streets of Amsterdam. 281 00:18:55.079 --> 00:18:58.480 Netanyah who ordered then stood down military aircraft to fly 282 00:18:58.680 --> 00:19:02.240 Israeli's home. In the end they arrived on commercial flights. 283 00:19:02.759 --> 00:19:05.519 I wake up my son and we put the Brazil 284 00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:11.400 flag on our beg because I don't understand that we 285 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:13.680 are Italy and we take Ubert to the. 286 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:17.599 Ad and we go to the airport for them to 287 00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:21.680 be running into rivers, to be kicked while defenses on 288 00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:25.119 the floor, to be trying to suggest and beg people 289 00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:26.400 to believe that they're not Jewish. 290 00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:28.240 But that's a very very. 291 00:19:28.039 --> 00:19:30.240 Sad times result given the last year that we've had 292 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:30.759 to explain you. 293 00:19:33.960 --> 00:19:37.440 Probably one of the most shocking things that I learned 294 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:40.599 during my first year of graduate school was that the 295 00:19:40.599 --> 00:19:45.960 painter Jackson Pollock was a stooge for the CIA. Yes, 296 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:50.039 you heard right now. I do not mean to say 297 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:53.680 that Pollock, one of the most celebrated modern artists of 298 00:19:53.720 --> 00:19:58.559 the twentieth century, was an assassin or international superspy for 299 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:02.759 our most infamous of alphabet agencies, but rather the success 300 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:05.960 of his work was in fact due in part to 301 00:20:06.039 --> 00:20:11.000 an enormously successful propaganda campaign developed by an organization that 302 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:17.039 was a front for the CIA. Obviously, some background is 303 00:20:17.079 --> 00:20:22.319 in order. You see what we see as a free wheeling, 304 00:20:22.920 --> 00:20:26.880 earnest and yet somehow ironic epitome of pretension, that is 305 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:29.960 modern art that was never going to stand a chance 306 00:20:30.440 --> 00:20:34.000 without a little boost from Uncle Sam at least, that 307 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:36.640 is what figures linked to both the art world and 308 00:20:36.680 --> 00:20:39.079 the world of covert intelligence. Believed that the height of 309 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:44.160 the Cold War. Technically, this effort began during the Second 310 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:47.839 World War in an effort to combat the aesthetics of Nazism. 311 00:20:47.960 --> 00:20:51.039 But once Hitler and his regime shuffled off this mortal 312 00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:54.839 coil and Stan and his Mega Empire revealed themselves as 313 00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:58.279 the true nemesies of our age. And unlike most people 314 00:20:58.279 --> 00:21:01.000 who have written about this subject, I say that without irony, 315 00:21:01.640 --> 00:21:04.880 when that happened, the effort to promote American values in 316 00:21:04.920 --> 00:21:08.640 contrast to Soviet ones, by any means necessary, took on 317 00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:12.920 a stark meaning. As Lucy Levigne wrote in a twenty 318 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:16.799 twenty article for j Store Daily, quote modernism in fact 319 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:21.440 became a weapon of the Cold War unquote and continuing, 320 00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:25.240 she writes the following quote. In the battle of her 321 00:21:25.240 --> 00:21:30.720 hearts and minds, modern art was particularly effective. John Hay Whitney, 322 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:33.519 both a president of MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art, 323 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:36.640 and member of the Whitney family, which founded the Whitney 324 00:21:36.680 --> 00:21:39.920 Museum of American Art, explained that art stood out as 325 00:21:39.960 --> 00:21:44.240 a line of national defense because it could quote, educate, inspire, 326 00:21:44.359 --> 00:21:50.839 and strengthen the hearts and wills of free men. This 327 00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:54.240 mission of using modern art to essentially propagandize the world 328 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:57.799 with American values was essentially gifted to the United States 329 00:21:57.799 --> 00:22:02.000 by Soviet propaganda, which repeatedly claimed that thanks to our 330 00:22:02.039 --> 00:22:05.839 love of capitalism, our nation was quote unquote culturally barren. 331 00:22:07.480 --> 00:22:11.519 Their contrast, that is, Soviet realism, which at least in 332 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:14.880 my opinion, has some kitch charm of its own, was 333 00:22:14.920 --> 00:22:18.680 not exactly setting the world on fire, but their claims 334 00:22:18.839 --> 00:22:22.799 about the United States made a propagandistic response relatively easy. 335 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:27.759 In nineteen forty six, the US State Department spent almost 336 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:30.240 fifty thousand dollars, which is about eight hundred and fifty 337 00:22:30.279 --> 00:22:33.359 thousand dollars in twenty twenty four money on paintings by 338 00:22:33.400 --> 00:22:36.240 the likes of artists like Georgia O'Keeffe and included them 339 00:22:36.279 --> 00:22:40.880 in a traveling exhibition known as Advancing American Art. This 340 00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:43.839 traveling exhibition did well in much of Europe, but the 341 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:50.160 Americans you saw it were frankly embarrassed. Modern art was 342 00:22:50.599 --> 00:22:53.440 not the most popular medium for self expression in the 343 00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:58.240 immediate post war United States. The famous Look magazine even 344 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:02.160 wrote a piece called your money bought these paintings, expressing 345 00:23:02.200 --> 00:23:05.799 outrage that taxpayer dollars funded such a project. Because it's 346 00:23:05.799 --> 00:23:08.079 important to note that the state departments involved in this 347 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:12.880 exhibition was no secret. Politically, the exhibition was a sham 348 00:23:12.920 --> 00:23:16.000 on both sides of the aisle. Both President Harry Truman 349 00:23:16.119 --> 00:23:20.279 lambassad the artwork as anything but that is, anything but art, 350 00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:25.440 and Republican Congressman John Tabor and Fred Busby expressed concern 351 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:31.599 that the artists whose work had been tapped had Communist sympathies. Ironically, 352 00:23:31.640 --> 00:23:34.480 and perhaps every sense of the word, this was why 353 00:23:34.519 --> 00:23:37.279 the artists, as well as later ones like Jackson Pollock, 354 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:41.240 were perfect subjects for the mission of spreading American values 355 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:47.200 or perhaps more accurately, American vibes. As Lucy Levigne writes 356 00:23:47.240 --> 00:23:50.960 in her article quote, the American public's fear of the 357 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:54.960 red menace brought advancing American art home early. But it 358 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.240 was precisely because modern art was not universally popular and 359 00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:03.279 was created by artists who openly disdained orthodoxy that it 360 00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:05.599 was such an effective tool in showcasing the fruits of 361 00:24:05.640 --> 00:24:13.960 American cultural freedom to anyone looking in from abroad. Because 362 00:24:13.960 --> 00:24:17.359 the state Department's involvement in the Advancing American Art Exhibition 363 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:20.000 is what made this a matter of public record and 364 00:24:20.119 --> 00:24:23.720 admonishment thanks to its use of taxpayer dollars. Again, it 365 00:24:23.799 --> 00:24:27.720 quickly became clear to America's Cold warriors that doing things 366 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:31.079 like this would require congressional approval, and that was a 367 00:24:31.160 --> 00:24:32.680 hurdle that they just couldn't. 368 00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:33.559 Bring themselves to accept. 369 00:24:34.039 --> 00:24:36.079 Like a lot of things in the twentieth century and 370 00:24:36.119 --> 00:24:40.680 into the twenty first, obviously, this is where the CIA, 371 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:43.880 not exactly known for its propensity to ask permission to 372 00:24:43.880 --> 00:24:46.720 do pretty much anything it has ever done, came into 373 00:24:46.759 --> 00:24:51.200 the picture. The history of the CIA, an outgrowth of 374 00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:53.839 the Office of Strategic Services during the Second World War, 375 00:24:53.960 --> 00:24:57.119 is fascinating enough on its own and has provided enough 376 00:24:57.200 --> 00:25:00.200 grisk for an untold number of books and excellent film 377 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:02.559 like Roberts in Euros two thousand and six epic The 378 00:25:02.599 --> 00:25:05.960 Good Shepherd. I consider that to be an underrated masterpiece 379 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:08.759 of that decade. By the way, so consider that my 380 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:14.119 film recommendation for this episode. Now, this is definitely something 381 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:18.359 I want to get into and dive with a greater 382 00:25:18.440 --> 00:25:21.519 depth into in the future. But the important point to 383 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:25.720 remember that we should focus on here at least is 384 00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:29.240 that codified into law in nineteen forty seven. The CIA 385 00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:32.599 grew up with the Cold War. One could even call 386 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:37.079 it its fraternal twin or or perhaps vestigial twin. There 387 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:40.039 is no CIA without the Cold War. In other words, 388 00:25:40.119 --> 00:25:43.720 though one could also reasonably say that there is no 389 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:48.680 Cold War without the CIA. There was also no connection 390 00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:52.559 between modern art, remember not traditionally beloved by the establishment 391 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:55.599 or even the broader public, at American values without a 392 00:25:55.599 --> 00:26:01.759 certain president, and that would be Dwight D. Eisenhower recognizing 393 00:26:01.799 --> 00:26:04.960 the ideological value in a medium so American in its 394 00:26:05.160 --> 00:26:09.079 essence as modern art. President Eisenhower served as a speaker 395 00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:12.359 at the twenty fifth anniversary celebration for the Moment in 396 00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:15.039 nineteen fifty four, and he said the following in this 397 00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:18.400 speech quote, as long as our artists are free to 398 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:21.880 create with sincerity and conviction, there will be healthy controversy 399 00:26:22.039 --> 00:26:25.200 and progress in art. How different it is in tyranny 400 00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:28.599 when artists are made the slaves and tools of the state. 401 00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:32.839