From National Justice.
An influential publication closely associated with the Bernie Sanders movement has been put on hiatus and may never come back.
Current Affairs, a New Orleans-based outlet headed by Nathan Robinson, has halted its operations after staff members organized by Jewish employee Lyta Gold attempted an in-house coup.
Gold and others pushed for a restructuring plan that would’ve formally limited Robinson’s input and editorial authority. When Robinson refused their terms, the staff — who are mostly women — resigned in a public protest letter that was released today.
Robinson, who has overseen operations at the publication since 2015, has mostly allowed the “social justice warrior” elements at Current Affairs to bully him and set the tone of his magazine for the last few years, a source told National Justice. The power struggle over the future of the magazine, which is staffed almost entirely by Ivy Leaguers, is being framed by Gold as a labor dispute, which for a socialist is highly embarrassing.
Overall, Robinson has had a bad year. The eccentric dandy’s problems began earlier this year when he lost his position as a columnist at The Guardian for making tweets on his own time that were critical of Israel.
Rather than be intimidated by the accusation of anti-Semitism, Robinson used his platform to double down and expose The Guardian’s secret protocols banning critiques of Zionism and the Jewish state. His efforts were wildly successful and much of the social media left rallied behind him.
After appearing to win this battle, Robinson — who once enjoyed fawning coverage in mainstream liberal media — began to fade into obscurity.
Having his publication ruined not long after a high profile clash with the Israel lobby could be a coincidence, but few public figures survive such disputes. While Gold, his challenger, has herself criticized some elements of Israeli policy in the past, she is an ethnically conscious Jewish activist who openly refers to white Christians as “goyim” — a Jewish racial slur for Gentiles. She has also specialized in lobbing frivolous accusations of anti-Semitism in the past. Neo-Conservative Zionists such as Ben Shapiro have been amplifying Gold’s statements.
If Current Affairs’ does return, it seems unlikely that Robinson, who another source told National Justice is in enormous student debt, will return as its head.