"A new book brings much-needed clarity to the debate on #antisemitism, and how the fight against it is tied to our collective liberation... [The authors] expertly weave together the struggle against anti-Blackness, Islamophobia and transphobia into the project of collectively working for liberation."
Review of Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism, by Shane Burley and Ben Lorber
"Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) cited one of the most prominent historical antisemitic narratives as her reason for not approving legislation aimed at combating antisemitism on Wednesday. Greene posted on the site formerly known as Twitter to explain her thinking."
“'Antisemitism is wrong, but I will not be voting for the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023 (H.R. 6090) today that could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews,' Greene wrote."
Members of the Jewish community who imagine hopping in bed with white Christian nationalists and Trump makes them safer need to think again.
Today in Labor History April 2, 1840: Émile Zola, French novelist, playwright, journalist was born. He was also a liberal activist, playing a significant role in the political liberalization of France, and in the exoneration of Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish army officer falsely convicted and imprisoned on trumped up, antisemitic charges of espionage. He was also a significant influence on mid-20th century journalist-authors, like Thom Wolfe, Truman Capote, Hunter S. Thompson, Norman Mailer and Joan Didion. Wolfe said that his goal in writing fiction was to document contemporary society in the tradition of Steinbeck, Dickens, and Zola.
Zola wrote dozens of novels, but his most famous, Germinal, about a violently repressed coalminers’ strike, is one of the greatest books ever written about working class rebellion. It had a huge influence on future radicals, especially anarchists. Some anarchists named their children Germinal. Rudolf Rocker had a Yiddish-language anarchist journal in London called Germinal, in the 1910s. There were also anarchist papers called Germinal in Mexico and Brazil in the 1910s.
Pleased to say I will on Monday be teaching @MagdaTeter chapter on the #history and (sadly!) contemporary persistence of the ritual murder myth from our new Routledge History of #Antisemitism, in which she distills she essence of her masterful and justifiably acclaimed definitive book on the subject.
Today in Labor History February 18, 1943: The Nazis arrested the members of the White Rose movement. The activist group called for opposition to the Nazi regime through an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign. The Nazis put on a show trial in which none of the defendants were allowed to speak. They executed Hans and Sophie Schol, and Christoph Probst on February 22, 1943. White Rose leaflets openly denounced the persecution and mass murder of the Jews. They might have taken their name from the poem "Cultivo una rosa blanca," by Cuban revolutionary and poet, Jose Marti. Alternatively, they may have gotten it from the B. Traven novel, “Die Weiße Rose” (The White Rose).” Traven served on the Central Council of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic. He escaped the terror that followed the crushing of the Republic and fled to Mexico, where he wrote numerous novels, including “Death Ship” and “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”
#UK / Landmark success at employment tribunal for academic sacked over Israel comments
[…] A university academic who was sacked after making comments criticising Israel has successfully claimed at an employment tribunal that he experienced discrimination based on his anti-Zionist belief in a landmark ruling.
[…] Professor David Miller was also found to have been unfairly and wrongfully dismissed by the University of Bristol in October 2021.
A university academic who was sacked after making comments criticising Israel has successfully claimed at an employment tribunal that he experienced discrimination based on his anti-Zionist belief in a landmark ruling.
Professor David Miller was also found to have been unfairly and wrongfully dismissed by the University of Bristol in October 2021.
<p>A study in the United States found that around 46% of white Americans held medium or high anti-Muslim opinions back in 2014. Anti-Jewish opinions were much rarer, but most of the people holding these opinions also held anti-Muslim views as well. The paper was published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00380253.2022.2045882"><em>The Sociological Quarterly</em></a>.</p>
<p>National identity, often rooted in a shared history, culture, and values, influences how citizens perceive and interact with those they consider ‘others’ or members of outgroups. In diverse societies, positive attitudes towards outgroups can bolster national unity by promoting inclusivity, respect for diversity, and a stronger sense of belonging among all citizens, irrespective of their backgrounds. On the contrary, negative attitudes towards other groups, especially when these groups are integral members of the society and fellow citizens, can lead to social fragmentation, discrimination, and conflict, thereby undermining the cohesive fabric of national identity.</p>
<p>In the United States and much of Europe, Muslims have increasingly become the central ‘other’ in recent nationalist movements. Research indicates a shift in recent years, moving the rejection of Muslims from a fringe political topic to the forefront of political discourse. This trend particularly intensified during the 2016 U.S. elections, leading to notable consequences.</p>
<p>However, Jews have been targets of hate crimes for decades, although these incidents have received relatively little public attention. Many extreme far-right groups exhibit strong anti-Semitism, aligning with insignia and ideologies reminiscent of the Nazi genocide of Jews during World War II.</p>
<p>Study authors Joseph Gerteis and Nir Rotem wanted to investigate the links between Islamophobia (i.e., anti-Muslim views) and anti-Semitism (i.e., anti-Jewish views) among white Americans. They aimed to understand the prevalence of these views and to determine whether they represent distinct patterns of opinion or if the same individuals typically express both types of opinions.</p>
<p>The researchers utilized data from the <a href="https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/ICPSR/studies/38169/versions/V1">2014 Boundaries in the American Mosaic</a> survey, which included responses from 2,521 individuals across the United States and was conducted by GfK Group’s KnowledgePanel. The timing of the survey is crucial as it precedes significant events such as the 2016 election, the Muslim ban, and the subsequent rise of white nationalist movements. The analysis presented in the paper focused on responses from 1,555 white participants.</p>
<p>The researchers focused on responses that reflected attitudes towards Muslims and Jews. Questions in the survey pertained to the cultural belonging of Muslims and Jews (e.g., whether participants would approve of their child marrying a Jew or Muslim, their agreement with a Muslim or Jewish ‘vision of America’), their loyalty, assimilation, and perceived power (e.g., ‘more loyal to their religion or Israel than to America’, ‘less like other Americans’, ‘have too much power’), and associated problems (e.g., ‘a threat to public order and safety’, ‘do not share my morals or values’, ‘take jobs and resources’, ‘are intolerant of others’, ‘want to take over political institutions’, ‘do not contribute to my community’, ‘are dependent on welfare and government’).”</p>
<p>The results showed that levels of anti-Muslim sentiment were several times higher than anti-Jewish sentiment. A clear majority of participants disapproved of a marriage between their child and a Muslim and roughly two thirds considered Muslims to be more loyal to their religion than to America. About one in four participants associated Muslims with public safety issues, while one in three believed they did not share their moral values and were intolerant.</p>
<p>In contrast, only about 17% of participants objected to their child marrying a Jew. Thirteen percent disagreed with Jews’ ‘vision of America’, 14% perceived them as more loyal to Israel than to America, and other negative views were less frequent.</p>
<p>Further analysis identified four distinct groups among the participants. The largest group, comprising 54% of participants, held few or no negative views towards both Muslims and Jews (low anti-Muslim, low anti-Jew). Another group, encompassing 26% of participants, exhibited moderate anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish views. The third group, making up 17% of participants, held strong anti-Muslim views but low anti-Jewish attitudes. The smallest group, approximately 4% of participants, harbored highly negative views towards both Jews and Muslims.</p><div class="addrop-wrap" data-id="64749"><p style="text-align: center;">
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<p>Membership in these groups was not associated with education. Men were twice as likely as women to hold high anti-Muslim, but low anti-Jew views. Older individuals were also more prone to this configuration of views. People with lower income were more likely to be in the fourth group (strong negative views of both groups). Republicans and evangelical Protestants were much less likely to be in the first group than in any of the other three groups.</p>
<p>“Although anti-Muslim opinion is more extensive, the two track together empirically and share a cultural logic as connected forms of ethno-religious boundary-making. Latent class analysis shows that anti-Semitism is nested within anti-Muslim attitudes, with political and religious identifications as consistent predictors of opinion,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study sheds light on the attitudes towards two important religious and cultures groups among white Americans as they were in 2014. However, it’s important to note that attitudes and opinions are not fixed psychological traits. They can and do evolve, and the results of this survey reflect the views of the study participants as they were a decade ago. Current and future findings might differ.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00380253.2022.2045882">Connecting the “Others”: White Anti-Semitic and Anti-Muslim Views in America</a>”, was authored by Joseph Gerteis, Nir Rotem.</p>
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Today in Labor History January 13, 1898: Émile Zola's J'accuse…! exposed the Dreyfus affair. The scandal began in 1894 when the state convicted Captain Alfred Dreyfus of treason. He was a 35-year-old French artillery officer of Jewish descent, falsely convicted for espionage and imprisoned in Devil’s Island in French Guiana. Émile Zola’s open letter “J’Accuse” helped build a movement of support for Dreyfus, putting pressure on the government to reopen the case. In 1899, Dreyfus was returned to France, retried and convicted again, but was pardoned and released.
Emile Zola was French novelist, journalist, playwright. He was an important part of the literary school of naturalism. He was nominated for the first and second Nobel Prizes in Literature in 1901 and 1902. He published over 30 works, the most well-known being “Germinal,” about a coal miners’ strike in northern France in the 1860s. He influenced many modern writers like Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion, Norman Mailer, and Truman Capote. “Germinal” influenced my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill.”
#Rechtsterrorismus und #Antisemitismus: Verdrängt und vergessen: Ein antisemitischer Doppelmord an Shlomo Lewin und Frida Poeschke · Dlf Nova
Vortrag von Uffa Jensen (Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung, TU Berlin) am 23. November 2023 in Hamburg
Behind the Campaign to Take Down Harvard’s Claudine Gay
Christopher Rufo, a right-wing activist and controversial commentator, has been
accused by some critics of being linked to the recent attacks on Harvard
President Claudine Gay. This accusation stems from Rufo's vocal opposition to
critical race theory (#CRT).
“Where does Elise Stefanik get off lecturing anybody about antisemitism, when she’s the hugest supporter of Donald #Trump, who traffics in #antisemitism all the time?” […] She didn’t utter a peep of protest when he had Kanye West and Nick Fuentes over for dinner, […] Nick Fuentes, who doubts whether Oct. 7 even took place because he thinks it was some kind of suspicious propaganda move by the Israelis.”
#reference / The Catholic Church, anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism
from Theodor Herzl's personal diaries [English translation]; Book I, May-June 17, 1895:
[...] Anti-Semitism has grown and continues to grow — and so do I.
[...] I can still recall two different conceptions of the Question and its solution which I had in the course of those years. About two years ago I wanted to solve the Jewish Question, at least in Austria, with the help of the Catholic Church. I wished to gain access to the Pope (not without first assuring myself of the support of the Austrian church dignitaries) and say to him: Help us against the anti-Semites and I will start a great movement for the free and honorable conversion of Jews to Christianity.
[...] And because the Jewish leaders would remain Jews, escorting the people only to the threshold of the church and themselves staying outside, the whole performance was to be elevated by a touch of great candor.
[...] We, the steadfast men, would have constituted the last generation.
“Look here!”: University of #Pennsylvania president resigns after furor over free speech and #antisemitism
The pro-Israel and Jewish lobby are able divert attention from the massacre in #Gaza by manufacturing crises, aided by the experts in this field, #GOP#MAGA.
The controversy over university presidents who gave lawyerly answers in Congress about punishing students who call for genocide reflects the reality of college free speech codes that try to both encourage debate and stop hatred.
The criticism directed my way is selective application of a standard to promote a political view, which was a critique of the author's selection and omissions to promote a political agenda, when what's contentious is whether or not the president of #harvard is selectively applying rules to promote a political agenda.
“[…] Among those practicing self-censorship since the Israel-Hamas war began, 81 percent said they were withholding criticism of Israel, compared with 11 percent withholding criticism of the Palestinians. Concerns about offending students and pressure from external advocacy groups were cited as the top reasons.
"As conflation and confusion abound after 7 October, we need clear thinking about antisemitism"
by:
David Feldman, director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism,
Brendan McGeever, senior lecturer at the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism.
Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, who teaches at the University of #Haifa, #israelPalestine, explained the paradox: “One can detest Jews and love Israelis, because Israelis somehow are not Jews. Israelis are colonial fighters and settlers, just like Afrikaners. They are tough and resilient. They know how to dominate. Jews are different. They are, among other qualities, gentle, non-physical, often passive, intellectual. So one can go on disliking Jews while admiring the Israelis.”
"The Campaign Against Antisemitism #CAA was formed in 2014, after a previous Israeli bombardment of Gaza. Its explicit founding purpose was to counter the antisemitism that arises in Britain when Israel pummels Palestinians and, implicitly, to defend Israel’s right to pummel. Chief executive Gideon Falter is also vice chairman of the Jewish National Fund #JNF UK, which is reported to have provided funding to the CAA in the past. The JNF enjoys charitable status and its existence predates the Balfour Declaration. For over a century, it has bought up land in historic Palestine, helped plan the Nakba, furthered exclusive Jewish settlement and transformed colonised land into parks and forests to erase what had been before."
“Mass #propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in #cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.”
― Hannah Arendt, "The Origins of Totalitarianism" #quotes#mediaStudies#commOdon#truth#agnotology#history
The masses' flight from reality is a condemnation of the world in which they are forced to live. […] The main disadvantage of reality is that it is not logical, coherent or organised.
~ Hannah Arendt, in "Totalitarianism"
@nicholas_saunders Sure:
The essay #Totalitarianism was fisrt published in 1951 as the third volume of "The Origins of Totalitarianism".
In it, Hannah Arendt argues that totalitarianism was a "novel form of government," in that it applied terror to subjugate mass populations rather than just political adversaries. Further, Arendt states that, owing to the insertion of ideology into the apparatus of coercion, "totalitarianism has discovered a means of dominating and terrorizing human beings from within". She further contends that Jewry was not the operative factor in the genocide of European Jews, but merely a convenient proxy. That totalitarianism in Germany was, in the end, about terror and consistency, not eradicating Jews only.
Adapted from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Origins_of_Totalitarianism