Overcoming Zionism

The local group, Coalition for Palestinian Rights hosted author Joel Kovel this weekend and I was able to attend a Friday night talk. When I learned last week that Kovel would be speaking, I bought and read his book, Overcoming Zionism. The book is great in the way it shows how modern Zionism and western imperialism worked hand in glove to create the racist state of Israel. It also highlights all the many steps along the way that provided opportunities to avoid creating a racist state and how these opportunities were sabotaged or ignored.

What struck me most about Kovel's book was the great respect he gave to other writers and thinkers and they way he encouraged the reader toward ways to learn more about the many opinions about Zionism and the state of Israel. This is so outside the norm for books by political thinkers. In fact, it is much more in line with people who work as on-the-ground activists, supporting each other in our different struggles. It was pretty damn awesome, actually.