Antiglobalism’s Jewish Problem...

[cantwealljustgetalong]

Anti-Semitism is again on the rise. Why now? Blame the backlash against globalization. As public anxiety grows over lost jobs, shaky economies, and political and social upheaval, the Brownshirt and Birkenstock crowds are seeking solace in conspiracy theories. And in their search for the hidden hand that guides the new world order, modern anxieties are merging with old hatreds and the myths on which they rest.

There is no shortage of symbols representing peace, justice, and economic equality. The dove and the olive branch. The peace sign. The rainbow flag. Even the emblem of the United Nations. So why did some protesters at the 2003 World Social Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, display the swastika?

Held two months prior to the U.S.-led attack on Iraq, this year’s conference—an annual grassroots riposte to the well-heeled World Economic Forum in Davos—had the theme, “Another World is Possible.” But the more appropriate theme might have been “Yesterday’s World is Back.” Marchers among the 20,000 activists from 120 countries carried signs reading “Nazis, Yankees, and Jews: No More Chosen Peoples!” Some wore T-shirts with the Star of David twisted into Nazi swastikas. Members of a Palestinian organization pilloried Jews as the “true fundamentalists who control United States capitalism.” Jewish delegates carrying banners declaring “Two peoples—Two states: Peace in the Middle East” were assaulted.

Porto Alegre provides just one snapshot of an unfolding phenomenon known as the “new anti-Semitism.” Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the oldest hatred has been making a global comeback, culminating in 2002 with the highest number of anti-Semitic attacks in 12 years. Not since Kristallnacht, the Nazi-led pogrom against German Jews in 1938, have so many European synagogues and Jewish schools been desecrated. This new anti-Semitism is a kaleidoscope of old hatreds shattered and rearranged into random patterns at once familiar and strange. It is the medieval image of the “Christ-killing” Jew resurrected on the editorial pages of cosmopolitan European newspapers. It is the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement refusing to put the Star of David on their ambulances. It is Zimbabwe and Malaysia—nations nearly bereft of Jews—warning of an international Jewish conspiracy to control the world’s finances. It is neo-Nazis donning checkered Palestinian kaffiyehs and Palestinians lining up to buy copies of Mein Kampf.

...

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/story.php?storyID=13958

[Darranar]

1. When the Left and the Far Right unite...

the Left is called anti-semitic. Why?

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[Darranar]

4. LOL...

no, sorry to say, they aren't.

Unless you call this website anti-semitic? (Or not a leftist website, though it really can't be disputed)

www.tikkun.org

There are others, lots of others, but It would take some time to find them all...

[Saudade]

5. Darranar

We don't need to worry about association with the far right because it's based on a lie. We can't stop it, we can only explain the difference between opposing the occupation and opposing jews in general. (Sometimes it helps to identify ourselves as jews, but not always.)

It's a complete non-issue, in my view, but it's based on the all too familiar compulsion to stifle legitimate criticism of Israel by labeling it anti-semitism. Don't we have abundant evidence fo that, in America and here on this forum?

What really disgusts me as a jew is the tendency to TRIVIALIZE and CHEAPEN the term "anti-semitism" by misusing it to silence criticism of Israel, which any morally responsible person, jews and non-jews, should voice.

I think that it INSULTS jews, past and present, who have actually been victimized by anti-semitism. This is plain to see for any thinking person.

I just cannot comprehend how this sort of mindless rhetoric actually works in America, even among so called "liberals." That's why I'm not a "liberal." I'm a progressive, like Dennis Kucinich.

[drdon326]

6. You have got to be kidding.....right??

.

[Saudade]

9. drdon

No, I'm not kidding. What part do you disagree with?

[liberalhistorian]

11. Excellent, thank you!

I'm really tired of hearing the tiniest, slightest disagreement or criticism of Israel being immediately and hysterically labeled "anti-Semitic." There's a big difference between the two.

If you say you believe Israel is going too far in its aggressive settlement movement that's taking land, homes, farms, livelihoods, and sources of water away from the Palestinians and that that is a violation of human rights, that's one thing.

If, on the other hand, you say Israel has no right to exist, that you want to see it destroyed (like Hezbollah and Hamas and other terrorist groups who think nothing of murdering innocent people on both sides, for example), that Jews are money-hungry and control everything, that problem A, B, or C is the fault of the Jews, if you vandalize a synagogue or Jewish school, etc., etc., THAT is anti-semitism. There is a big difference.

[bemildred]

2. An interesting piece, thanks.

[kalian]

7. There's always a reason....

right?

[cantwealljustgetalong]

10. There is always a reason...

for what?...

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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