- Lenni Brenner
Lenni Brenner (born 1937) is an American Marxist writer. In the 1960s, Brenner was a prominent civil rights activist and a prominent opponent of the
Vietnam War .Brenner was born into an
Orthodox Jewish family. He became anatheist at age 10 or 12 [ [http://student.cs.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/authors.php?auid=251 Lenni Brenner: biographical details] ] and a Marxist at age 15. Brenner's involvement with the American Civil Rights Movement began when he met James Farmer of theCongress of Racial Equality , later the organizer of the "freedom rides " of the early 1960s. He also worked withBayard Rustin , later the organizer ofMartin Luther King 's 1963 "I had a dream" March on Washington. (Neither were Marxists.)Brenner was arrested three times during civil rights sit-ins in the San Francisco Bay Area. He spent 39 months in jail when a court revoked his probation for marijuana possession, because of his activities during the
Berkeley Free Speech Movement at the University of California in 1964.He was an anti-war activist from the first days of the Vietnam war, speaking frequently at rallies in the Bay Area. In 1963 he organized the
Committee for Narcotic Reform in Berkeley. In 1968 he co-founded theNational Association for Irish Justice , the American affiliate of theNorthern Ireland Civil Rights Association .In the 1990s, he and
Kwame Ture (akaStokely Carmichael ), the legendary "Black Power" leader of theStudent Non-Violent Coordinating Committee , co-founded theCommittee against Zionism and Racism . They also published TheAnti-War Activist .Writing
Brenner is the author of four books: " [http://www.marxists.de/middleast/brenner/index.htm Zionism in the Age of the Dictators] ", " [http://www.marxists.de/middleast/ironwall/index.htm The Iron Wall: Zionist Revisionism from Jabotinsky to Shamir] ", "Jews in America Today", and "The Lesser Evil", a study of the Democratic Party. His books have been widely translated] [Zionism in the Age of the Dictators has been translated into Japanese: "Fuashizumu jidai no shionizumu," by Shiba Kensuke (芝健介), Hosei Daigaku 2001, and German (in a revised edition), as"Zionismus und Faschismus : über die unheimliche Zusammenarbeit von Zionisten und Faschisten," tr.Verena Gajewski Homilius, Kai, Berlin 2007] , and have been reviewed in 11 languages, sometimes favorably, sometimes less so.
His articles have also appeared in "
The Nation ", "Amsterdam News", "Jewish Guardian", "Atlanta Constitution ", "Washington Report on Middle East Affairs ", "Middle East Policy ", "Middle East International", "Journal of Palestine Studies ", "New Statesman ", "Al-Fajr" and "United Irishman ".In 2002, he edited " [http://www.CounterPunch.org/brenner1223.html 51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration with the Nazis] ". It contains complete translations of many of the documents quoted in "Zionism in the Age of the Dictators" and "The Iron Wall". In 2004, he edited "Jefferson & Madison On Separation of Church and State: Writings on Religion and Secularism".
Brenner spoke at the inaugural meeting in London of [http://www.inminds.co.uk/jews-against-zionism.html#t4| Jews Against Zionism]
Brenner is said to be working on a memoir, tentatively called "The World's Grouchiest Marxist".
References
External links
* Lenni Brenner. [http://www.CounterPunch.org/brenner01292005.html Beyond the UN's Rhetoric: Holocaust History] , "CounterPunch", January 29, 2005.
* Lenni Brenner. [http://www.CounterPunch.org/brenner05252005.html The plot to stigmatize "51 Documents" on Amazon.com] , "CounterPunch", May 25, 2005.
* [http://www.psreview.org/content/view/33/72/ "It's All Rabbis and No Jews": An Interview with Lenni Brenner]
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