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The furore over Redgrave

A rather bizarre event occurred several weeks ago in the Jewish community, which confused many Canadians, Jews and non-Jews alike. Suddenly a number of high- profile leaders of the Jewish com- munity were urging their followers to boycott a television drama called Playing for Time.

So sensitive was this issue that no

advertisers in Canada would touch the show, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation did not promote it all. Before the drama was even shown, several hundred callers phoned the CBC to com- plain. What was this show that engen- dered somuchhysteria? Wasit anti- Semitic, anti-Zionist, pro-fascist? The answer to all those questions is a clear no — in fact, the show was clearly anti-fascist, and was a most sympathetic presentation of the struggles of Jews and others to sur- vive the horrors of a Nazi concen- tration camp.

Why then the moral indignation over the showing of Playing for Time? The answer is contained in a single fact: the leading role in Fania Fenelon’s autobiography was play- ed by Vanessa Redgrave, a public supporter of the Palestine Libera- tion Organization.

It seems that the Zionist leaders of the Jewish community were arg- uing that no anti-Zionist actor or actress should have the right to play a Jew. As Canadian Rabbi Gun-

ther Plaut said in the Jewish News,

Oct. 9, ‘‘someone who supports the destruction of Israel is no friend of ours, and to see her as part of the Jewish tragedy is macabre use of her undoubted talents.”’

The argument therefore follows — since Redgrave has openly sup- ported the basic democratic rights of the Palestinians, she therefore must support the “destruction of Israel,” and in effect the destruc- tion of the Jewish people.

I must admit that as a Jew, the original announcement last spring of Redgrave’s selection to portray Fania Fenelon raised many ques- tions in my own mind. Was this a

publicity stunt? Was there no one _

as qualified to play the role who was less controversial? Should

rs Sofia delegates eo to speak Oct. 29

Lorne Robson of the B.C. Provincial Carpenters and NDP MLA Al Passarell (Atlin) will speak at a public meeting on Wed., Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the Langara campus auditorium, 100 W. 4%h Ave., Van. along with other B.C. delegates to the World Parliament of Peoples for Peace held in Sofia, Bulgaria, Sept. 23-27.

Report back meetings are also scheduled elsewhere around the province, including one in Kamloops and in Nanaimo, where will address the Carpenters con- vention, which opens Oct. 23.

Earlier this month, some 75 people turned out to hear Bette Pepper, Bert Ogden and Eila Male talk about the Peace Parliament at a public meeting sponsored by the Fraser Valley.

Council of}

Peace Committee. }

Redgrave have been given the role when-Fenelon herself had request- ed they cast someone else?

But these questions faded quick- ly as I began to watch Playing for Time. Vanessa Redgrave was out- standing in the lead role; it is hard to imagine that anyone could have done a better job. One cannot help but suspect that at least part of the reason Redgrave took this role was to demonstrate that an anti-Zionist could be sympathetic to the Jewish people.

And here lies the greatest fear of the Zionist — that anti-Zionism may become distinguished from anti-Semitism. For at the heart of Zionist ideology is the need to maintain its legitimacy through portraying Zionism as the main de- fender of Jewish people’s rights.

Anti-Zionism, therefore, must always be equated with anti-Semi- tism. These Jews who oppose Zionism are therefore seen as de- luded, self-haters, traitors, and the like, the non-Jews merely as anti- Semites.

In describing the Fenelon role as played by Redgrave, Plaut com- ments: ‘‘For her, a half-Jew, there are in the play no meaningful alleg- iances. . . There are only humans, with more or less of the ingredients that make for decency. It is a posi- tion which decries nationalism and which the film subtly exalts. In that respect Redgrave does not really play a Jew in the deepest sense.”’

Of course as a Jew Iam offended by the fact that Plaut would label me a non-Jew ‘“‘in the deepest sense” because.I am a humanist and internationalist rather than a Jewish nationalist.

But my indignation is tempered by the fact that I understand its basis. If anti-Zionism comes to be separated from anti-Semitism, then Zionist ideology runs the risk of being held up to vigorous critical examination. And thenitis likely to be seen, by both Jews and non- Jews for what it is — a racist, im- perialist, expansionist ideology, which denies the right of self-deter- mination to the Palestinian people.

And so the Zionist community was put in a strange situation. To encourage people to watch an anti- fascist drama about Jewish history was to risk the possibility that peo- ple might begin to ask ‘‘danger- ous’’ questions. Therefore the best solution was to discourage people from watching the show alto- gether.

The end result of course was one for which any progressive minded Jew feels a certain sadness — the North American Jewish commun- ity, under the sway of its Zionist leaders, has come down, as has often been the case in recent his- tory, on the side of reaction and re-

Vanessa Redgrave as a Jewish concentration camp prisoner in the TV drama Playing for Time, based on the memoirs of Fania Fenelon.

pression. —J.N. phillip david rankin stone paul : mecmurray

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCT. 24, 1980—Page 10

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