When Julian Casablancas appeared on SubwayTakes back in April, host Kareem Rahma asked the Strokes singer for his most controversial take. Casablancas replied, "American Zionists get the benefits of white privileged people but talk like they are Black people during slavery." He continued:
Just for the people that are going to be like, "Hamas, October 7th." Yes, bad. But Native American rebellions didn't mean it was okay to do what we did. Slave rebellions that were violent didn't mean that slavery is not bad. So, that's the scope of that answer. Just for the haters.
Indoctrination is such a strong thing. We just want to be part of the tribe. So I get it, but it is a sad fact the brainwashing of just people in general. You can't be mad just because something was rammed down their throat, necessarily.
A month later, the Oxford Debate Society announced that Casablancas would speak there on May 28, his second appearance with the organization following a previous engagement in 2021. Today, the Oxford Debate Society has released footage of the singer-songwriter's speech, which expands on his previous remarks about Zionism. "I was invited to speak at Oxford !" Casablancas writes on Instagram, directing his followers to YouTube to watch. He notes that he was able to make the trip work because he was already overseas shooting the "Going Shopping" video with Walton Goggins. His post continues:
was kinda out of the blue and i was in the neighborhood (Canary Islands filming video)
(also redemption cause I had done it years ago but at the time more right wing administration just told me they couldn't put it out cause of technical difficulties!)anyway, happy to share this on our eve of independence celebrations as the job isn't done yet guys ✊?(with love and respect)
lets get that Corporate Power Reset movement going
and we're good?? ??
to finally try democracy and actually be free as a people to represent ourselves and do the right things as an informed group (instead of gansters running the world and america)
have a safe weekend y'all✌??️
#allwordzaremadeup
#corporatepowerreset
His speech begins with a reminder about the power of words and the need for effective phrasing to convey new concepts. "The key words we use to talk politics are essentially meaningless and keep our discussions going in these endless ragebait circles," he says, pointing out the word "freedom" as an example.
Casablancas argues that democracy has never truly been attempted and that the larger a group becomes, the more potential for deception and exploitation grows. He says "democracy" is one of those words that gets thrown around but has lost its meaning, and he proposes "democracy plus" (or, jokingly, "democracy max"), which requires five pillars to eliminate corruption: 1. A vow of poverty by leadership. 2. An objective way to label media reports to point out lies and remind consumers who owns the media outlet. 3. Thorough multi-day debates that allow time for fact-checking. 4. An end to anonymity by putting direct lobbying in the public record. 5. The chance to choose how up to half of your tax money is used.
He says capitalism, communism, socialism, and libertarianism have all been bent and stretched to the point of losing their meaning. Then he brings up Zionism and attempts to break the word down "to help avoid future discord." An excerpt:
Okay, discrimination obviously is vile. And I think antisemitism is stupid and small-minded and vile. Many of my most dearest friends happen to be Jewish, and some are the most moral, bright, wondeful people I've ever known. If you're Jewish or Muslim or anything other than a Nazi type, wonderful. You are my brother. Be proud. Devout. You should love Israel, and I want to be able to go there, and I want to know it's going to be a safe place. And that's all well and good at this point.
Now in terms of dividing up the word Zionism, I think the true nerve point really comes down to one thing, and that is expansion. Expansion is the key concept, I think, more than a vague nationalism or love of a country — meaning Israel settlements and greater Israel. You can love England and want it to be safe without wanting it to control India, for example. The greater America project is insane to me, but I don't feel the need to be defensive 'cause I'm American. I can say reparations, large reparations, are far overdue.
So the Zionist convo, I think, is very muddled right there. So as we don't have ideal distinctions yet in our public discourse, the only litmus tests people kind of use as well, for anyone non-Jewish as well, is if you can acknowledge and agree there's been a genocide toward Palestinians, then basically for the peace activist, the drama is over right there. The conversation can move on. You're an ally of peace, and we move on to bigger and better things in unity. There's no disagreements.
However, from the perspective even of Jewish peace activists, if there is a weird reciting of certain propaganda points, which includes not being able to say it's a genocide, it's kind of akin to not being able to say Black Lives Matter. You're showing you maybe don't quite get what the issue is. If the only thing you can bring yourself to say is "Netanyahu is the problem" or "Well, I believe Israel has the right to exist," you are perhaps accidentally signaling to some that you indirectly, maybe by accident, whoopsie, are supporting Jewish supremacy and white supremacy. In a sense, it is a sort of dog whistle to those who are fighting to see basic equal rights for any and all.
Casablancas then draws a distinction between "green liners," who agree to the boundaries of Israel as world leaders have agreed upon many times, and expansionists, "the good old settler types just shooting at Palestinians and taking homes daily." He aligns himself with the green liners and says his moderate Jewish friends agree the expansionists are "kind of crazy." He continues:
But the word [Zionist] is all mixed together, so it gets very confusing. So what I should have said maybe in the SubwayTakes thing is let's call it settler-style Zionist expansionists and maybe some good-hearted indoctrinated moderates, when they're talking in this kind of victim language is weird because they get many of the perks of white privilege in America and stuff — in my defense, I had nine takes at this point and SubwayTakes asked me for the most controversial take I had; I feel much stronger about the long audio messages — but speak like they are Black people during slavery. The end.
Okay. So I was not talking about my friends who say Israel has a right to exist. Even though to them I would lovingly say all the Arab countries and the world has agreed on set borders for a very long time. It can live in peace, but Israel didn't want it because they want to expand.
Casablancas' full speech is viewable below.
