#bernard-henri levy

[eretzyisrael]

By Francesca Block

On Wednesday, I reported that a trade magazine that promotes books refused to run an ad for Israel Alone because “customers might complain.”

Matt Baldacci, publisher of Shelf Awareness, said an ad for Bernard-Henri Lévy’s book about Israel post–October 7 could give booksellers “trouble they haven’t asked for and don’t wish to have.” The ad was originally scheduled to run on November 1 in the outlet’s weekly newsletter, which goes out to 645,000 general readers.

Since then, I’ve learned a June 14 newsletter from Shelf Awareness, which went out to more than 37,000 publishing professionals, contained an ad for P Is for Palestine, a children’s book that has stirred controversy for promoting an “antisemitic” ideology. P Is for Palestine was written by Iranian Swedish activist Golbarg Bashi and was first published in November 2017 by PM Press, a self-proclaimed “independent, radical publisher.” 

P Is for Palestine runs through the alphabet, presenting colorful illustrations and words that represent each letter. In the book, the letter I stands for intifada, which it defines as “Arabic for rising up for what is right, whether you are a kid or a grownup!” 

Intifada, in fact, translates to uprising or shaking off. The word is mainly used to describe two eras of violent Palestinian protest against Israel: The First Intifada, from 1987 to 1990, led to the deaths of dozens of Israelis and more than a thousand Palestinians, and the Second Intifada, from 2000 to 2005, culminated in the deaths of over a thousand Israelis and 4,000 Palestinians.

Jany Finkielsztein, a senior education analyst for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, said that “P Is for Palestine serves as a tool of indoctrination rather than simple storytelling. For instance, ‘I is for intifada’ portrays violent uprisings in a favorable manner, conveying a harmful narrative to impressionable young children.

“Books that prioritize indoctrination aren’t literature.”

On Friday, Shelf Awareness released an apology for rejecting the ad for Israel Alone, addressing its statement “to everyone who is angry and disappointed about our recent decision.” 

The statement went on to “clarify” that the ad was canceled from its weekly newsletter “that we publish on behalf of more than 250 independent bookstores, reaching 600,000 readers, with the goal of helping booksellers promote reading and sell more books. Our bookstore partners cannot block titles that are advertised. As a result, we are careful to keep in mind that every advertised title we include appears to the bookstores’ customers as something the store itself is endorsing.”

[al-kol-eleh]

Bernard-Henri Levy

[whytehousetvnews]

Populists Are Attacking Europe From Inside and Out, Claims Bernard-Henri Levy French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy said Trump and Putin were fuelling internal critics like Italy’s Matteo Salvini or France’s Marine Le Pen.

[redinternacional-blog]

Bernard-Henri Levy, el anti-democrato, justifica y aplaude el 'Estado profundo'

Bernard-Henri Levy, el anti-democrato, justifica y aplaude el ‘Estado profundo’

Bernard-Henri Levy parece vivir aherrojado por la angustia que le producen Donald Trump y otros líderes políticos. Esa debe de ser la explicación de que haya escrito un artículo que es un cuadro fauvista de sus propios temores, y en el que la expresión de sus terrores no deja lugar más que a un único argumento, y en contra de lo que quiere transmitir.

El artículo se titula El ‘Estado Profundo’…

[lequotidienjulia-blog]

L'Empire et les cinq rois, Bernard-Henri Levy

L’Empire et les cinq rois, Bernard-Henri Levy

https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/2246816815/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=ym0e-21&creative=6746&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=2246816815&linkId=13f2229332a7018a5da5d62700ef4c82

La terre a tremblé au Kurdistan.

Assiste-t-on à l’éclipse de l’Empire américain et au ressac de l’Occident  ?

Où l’on voit les cinq Rois des empires déchus – perse, turc, chinois, russe, arabe – partir à la reconquête de…

[eretzyisrael]

The letter begins with an enumeration of the recent terrorist acts that have beset France.

It does not omit Charlie (“the murder of cartoonists”), Bataclan (“the murder of young people listening to music”), of Magnanville (“the murder of a pair of police officers”). Nor, of course, does it fail to mention Nice (“the murder of men, women, and children celebrating the national holiday”) or Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray (“the murder of a priest celebrating Mass”). Clearly, it purported to present an exhaustive list of the attacks.

Except it left one out. And what it left out was the hostage-taking at the kosher supermarket on January 9, 2015, which occurred less than three years after Mohamed Merah’s murders at the Jewish school in Toulouse.

The omission was immediately noticed. I was disturbed by it, and said so on Twitter — which earned me (and others, I’m sure) an avalanche of insult: “You’re never satisfied … When Muslims are silent, that’s bad; when they speak up, that’s bad, too … What are you doing to national unity? Maybe you’re the one who’s trying to pit French people against one another?”

But the fact is that a slip like this cannot be allowed to go unremarked. And, given the prominence of those who signed the letter, it cannot fail to be upsetting.

[lephenixkurde]

BHL avant la sortie de son film le 8 juin: "Les Peshmerga sont les seuls à mener vraiment la guerre contre l’EI"

Interview accordée à l’AFP le 3 juin 2016

"Peshmerga", le nouveau film du philosophe Bernard-Henri Lévy qui sort le mercredi 8 juin 2016, est un plaidoyer pour les combattants kurdes en Irak, en guerre contre le groupe Etat islamique, dit Daesh. BHL avait déjà tourné "Bosna!" (1994) dans Sarajevo assiégée et "Le Serment de Tobrouk" (2011) sur la Libye. Brocardé pour ce dernier film, dans lequel il se mettait en scène à de nombreuses reprises, il se fait cette fois plus discret, montrant d'âpres batailles et des images tournées avec des drones, au-delà des lignes ennemies.

Vous avez fait plusieurs aller-retours au Kurdistan, travaillé avec des caméramen, dont l'un a été grièvement blessé. Quelles étaient les conditions de tournage?

"Le film a été tourné au plus près des combattants, avec eux, et en ayant d'emblée la confiance des commandants peshmergas. L'accord de départ était celui-là: à partir du moment où nous commencions ce chemin, ils nous autorisaient à les accompagner dans leurs opérations. Certaines n'étaient pas prévues, c'est eux qui étaient attaquées, d'autres étaient planifiées par eux. Ils nous alertaient, ils nous emmenaient et nous filmions en toute liberté."

Pourquoi vouliez-vous montrer ce champ de bataille en particulier?

"Il est important de montrer cette histoire, car la clé du Bataclan, la clé de l'Hyper Cacher, de Charlie Hebdo, elle est là, dans ce lieu que nous avons filmé (derrière cette ligne de front, côté groupe Etat islamique, ndlr). C'est le centre nerveux, le centre de commandement, l'endroit d'où ça part. Nous avons filmé les seuls femmes et hommes qui leur livrent vraiment la guerre, au corps à corps, au quotidien. Si vraiment nous vivons à l'ère de la terreur contre nous, la manière de gagner c'est d'encourager, d'appuyer, ces hommes que sont les peshmergas d'Irak et de Syrie."

Ce film peut-il changer quelque chose?

"Même quand on sait, il reste à imaginer, à avoir une image de ce qu'on sait. Il y a des gens en France, en Europe, en Amérique qui savent 1.000 fois plus que moi (quelle est la situation, ndlr), qui ont accès à tous les dossiers secrets. Mais moi, je voudrais qu'ils voient les images, qu'ils voient la solitude de cet homme, au début du film, qui a échappé à une mine, qui court et qui crie ‘’Vive le Kurdistan!’’. J'aimerais qu'ils voient ces généraux qui décident d'une offensive capitale et qui en sont à compter sur les doigts d'une main le nombre d'armes lourdes dont ils vont pouvoir disposer, qu'ils voient aussi dans quel état sont les villes que les peshmergas libèrent. Dans la ville de Sinjar (ou Shingal, nord de l'Irak), les peshmergas ont libéré des ruines, une ville dévastée. Si on voit ça, je pense qu'on comprendra un peu mieux (que) la vraie ligne de front de la guerre contre le terrorisme, (...) la ligne où ça se joue, où ça se décide, elle est là."

[festivaldecannesofficiel]

Dernière minute ! Le Festival de Cannes a décidé d’ajouter un film en Séance Spéciale : Peshmerga de Bernard-Henri Lévy ! La projection aura lieu le vendredi 20 mai à 15h en salle Bazin. Plus d’infos.

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Breaking News ! The Festival de Cannes has decided to add another film as a Special Screening : Peshmerga by Bernard-Henri Levy ! The screening will take place on Friday 20th May at 3 pm, in the Salle Bazin.

More

[wellwornwornwell]

In Praise of Off the Rack Shirts

In today’s wild, wacky world of iGentry it seems there is a never-ending custom-made arms race. Jackets, pants, eyeglasses, ties, shoes, hats, gloves, socks, wallets – all are subject to the fetishism of men with more money than sense; more time than taste. And while there are any number of ways to ride the white horse into the arms of a custom artisan or tailor, it seems custom shirts are the most readily accessible gateway drug.

All it takes is a cursory Google search for “custom shirts” to reveal thousands of tailors, shops, brands, designers, and children standing on one another’s shoulders masquerading as adults ready to meet the needs you didn’t even know you had. Misused terms like “bespoke,” “handmade” and “shirting” slide down results pages like a sorority girl’s neon blue vomit after an Around the World Party. Places as close as your neighborhood dry cleaners and as far away as India all promise the same impeccable end product, custom made for your Adonis-like features. It seems as though three clicks is all it takes to look like the tobacco-tanned, lecherous Italian businessman you’ve always readily identified with.

And then reality sets in. Your shirts come back stiff, like a dead cat lying atop a December snow drift (except of course the cat is, even in the midst of decomposition, more properly proportioned). They weigh heavier than imaginable or so waiflike that your coworkers no longer have to imagine how akin to peperonis your nipples actually are. They cling like a virgin or bag like Debby 75% of the way through Dallas. You’re defeated.

But fear not, young Brummel! There is now an entry on the Internet that says it’s preferable to wear ready-to-wear shirts. Some guy who has (regrettably) amassed thousands of posts on a forum dedicated to clothes and who has (regrettably) spent years posting thousands of pictures of things he will never be able to afford has jumped on the grenade for you. Next time that dude showing more inches of ankle than he packs centimeters of dick poo-poos your baggy, wrinkled, misshapen shirts, show him this post and watch his face melt. For he of all people knows defying anything written on a blog oft-featuring the #menswear tag is akin to opening the Arc of the Covenant.

And it reads like this…

While there is certainly a time and place to be suited, tied and polished, the doldrums of summer more than likely inspire snorkel-worthy depths of sweat. And though there are some among us who can sport 14oz flannel year round, and still others who (for some reason) live in climates to support such habits, the rest of us are routinely temped to leave the jacket at home, lest we look like an Ebola patient come lunch.

It is in that vein of thinking that I examine what is lurking under those thick tweeds or worsted high-twists: shirts.

As someone who rarely wears suits, I find the idea of a “perfect-fitting” shirt somewhat annoying. While the high contrast and (often) sharp lines of a dark suit or tuxedo demand an equally striking shirt silhouette, the worn-in tweeds or airy, well-conditioned sport coats I’m likely to wear often look best juxtaposed with shirts that are a tad too baggy, a shade too loose or a smidge on the sloppy side. And when you remove the jacket from this equation, it’s even easier to see their appeal.

While a shirt should never appear disheveled or border on JC Penny quality, there is something to be said for an airy shirt that allows for both comfort and panache. Ideally you want a shirt that will never pull or cling, while also avoiding those that fit like garbage bags. Here’s my thought process:

At the waist I look for what I refer to as “muffin-top drape.” This picture of Agnelli illustrates this well. (Or, if you are less Continental, here’s a picture of Andy Spade.) While it’s not drowning our your belt or awkwardly bunching at the button, it allows for movement and, in the event you carry a bit of extra weight, reduces the gut effect.

I also like the shoulder seam just beyond my natural shoulder. If you pair this with a higher armhole you can maintain a more louche silhouette without sacrificing range of movement or opening arms to excess bagging. Vittorio Sgarbi wears his a bit more exaggerated than I prefer, but you get the idea.

And then there are the arms themselves. I like to keep them wide without creating a puddle of excess cloth. You should be able to flex your arms in any direction or manner without worrying about wearing out your seams. Look to Bernard-Henri Lévy for inspiration.

Finally, for the most important facet, the collar must compliment both your features and the silhouette of the shirt. Unlined, not-too-skimpy but not-too-exaggerated and, above all, carelessly flopping about is the best way to approach the most important part of the shirt. Enzo Cucchi will complete the package for you.

So there you have it. While there is certainly nothing wrong with custom shirts, particularly if you’re looking to capitalize on certain design features or cloths, you should also appreciate the quirky inconsistencies of RTW shirts. I’d never be so corny as to cite sprezzatura or wabi-sabi here, but if that helps you digest the imperfections of being human, so be it. Wear them in good health.

Tip of the hat to Derek at the misleadingly named Die, Workwear and tha gawd Milstil for the linked pictures.

[garbanzotoons-blog]

Throughout history, as the justification for antisemitism, Jews have at times been despised for “killing Christ” and at other times resented for “inventing Christ,” Lévy said. During other periods Jews were considered to be a corrupting race. These historic forms of antisemitism are now in the “process of disappearing” he said.

According to Lévy, today’s emerging anti-Jewish bigotry rests on three arguments.

The first of them is anti-Zionism. That “Jews deserve to be hated because they are faithful…to an illegitimate state.” The second is Holocaust denial. “Jews deserve our distrust…our hate…because they traffic what should be the most sacred part of themselves.” And the third justification antisemites are using, Lévy argued, is that Jews use the Holocaust to “shut up” the suffering of others and other genocides, “particularly the Palestinians.”

The widespread adoption of these three smears “could be the spark of the atomic bomb of antisemitism,” Lévy warned.

[eretzyisrael]

More than  strange – disturbing – is the difference in tone between the equivocal reaction  to the recent killings and the unanimous and unambiguous international  outpouring of emotion and solidarity elicited by the fatal hatchet attack on a  soldier on a London street on May 22, 2013, a scenario that was not very  different from those unfolding today in Jerusalem and Tel  Aviv. Intolerable, again, that most of the major media have paid the  grieving Israeli families only a fraction of the attention they have paid the  families of the perpetrators. Intolerable, finally, the minor mythology  growing up around this story of daggers: The weapon of the poor? Really? The   weapon one uses because it is within reach and one has no other? When I see  those blades I think of the one used to execute Daniel Pearl; I think of the  beheadings of Hervé Gourdel, James Foley and David Haines; I think that the  Islamic State’s videos have clearly gained a following and that we stand on the  threshold of a form of barbarity that must be unconditionally denounced if we do  not want to see its methods exported everywhere. And I mean  everywhere.

[allainjules]

TUNISIE. Tunis (vidéo): Le foulosophe et imposteur BHL-Botul chassé comme un rat

#TUNISIE. #Tunis (vidéo): Le foulosophe et imposteur #BHL-Botul chassé comme un rat

BHL-Botul

On attend plus qu’un geste fort des Marocains pour chasser cet imposteur de leur territoire où il aurait un riad. Des dizaines de Tunisiens ont manifesté dans la nuit de vendredi à samedi à l’aéroport de Tunis-Carthage contre l’arrivée de l'”écrivain et philosophe” Bernard-Henri Lévy-Botul, aux cris de “BHL dégage”, “Non aux intérêts sionistes en Tunisie” et “BHL assassin” (more…)

[science-criticaltheory]

Bernard-Henri Levy: On Sarah Palin.

Bernard-Henri Levy: I think that American commentators did too much on joking, despising on Sarah Palin, sometimes in a sexist way, in a machist way, in an unpolitically correct way, and this was a mistake. Those who did that did not harm her. I think that, on the contrary they helped her. So, I would not enter in that.

I would just say that she has a terrible politics, that she embodies the worst of the Conservatives in America, that if, I don’t think it will happen, by the way, but if she were to be vice president — or president, who knows? — I think that we will all regret the neo-conservatives who, compared to her, are extreme leftists, extreme liberals. No.

My concern with Sarah Palin is that she really believes that the dinosaurs are contemporaneous of Moses and so on. She really believes that Noah and the Ark of Noah went down the Grand Canyon a few thousand years ago. She really believed that you have some pieces of the Ark that you can see from a helicopter in there. She would really believe that in the schools, where American boys and girls learn how to become a citizen, should be taught equally science, which is Darwinism, and a Crook Theory, which is Creationism.

What she says about wearing weapons and so on, and what it means, for me, and I’m sure for majority of Americans, it’s just unendurable. But it is not Sarah Palin, it is what she embodies.

So, the advice I would, if I dare, I’m not American and I have not to give any lesson to anybody, but if I was an adversary of Sarah Palin in America, I would probably stop with sexist, machist, middle America jokes, which are inappropriate, and I would target on politics. The result of that is yesterday, when you had gone so far; commentators, politics, so far, in despising her in an uncorrect way, that when it is in front of her, he does not even dare to attack her on the real grounds. That is a bad deal. Bad deal. Attacking under the belt and being unable to attack from the brain, that is the worst politics.