What a fantastic piece. I want to send it to all the anti-Zionist Jews I know.
My wife is writing a novel that peripherally takes up the holocaust. How appalling that she has had to worry about that part of the book. I myself—a mischling—have lost complete faith with the left because of its virulent antisemitism.
I am against Zionism because I'm against all forms of ethno-centric ideologies and all forms of identity politics. It's why I signed up with FAIR. Equating Zionism with being supportive of Jews, and opposition of it as being anti-Semetic, is ridiculous. I support all ethnic groups but oppose any form of ethno-centrism or usage of the Victim Complex to justify exceptional treatment for any group.
That's your definition of Zionism. "Zionism" now has been redefined just like "woman" has been redefined, so you have your definition, and every other person has their own definition. Before all these new definitions and redefinitions, "Zionism" just means Jews having a piece of land they can call their own nation. Not that different from Irish having Ireland, Germans having Germany, Greeks having Greece, and Chinese having China, etc.
there have been many pseudo ethnic sects in the world such as the klan, nazis, the nation of islam, and black Hebrew Israelites.Zionism is also one. they all commonly believe their members share an imaginary race. Nazism and Zionism also claim that they have the right to conquer a particular set of land and that they are indigenous to that land. and that they have the right to ethnically cleanse to rule it. Zionism derives that from the Torah itself where moses is commanded by the god character yahweh to commit genocide and ethnically cleanse the land of Canaan aka Palestine.ben gurion used the book of Joshua from the tanakh as a blueprint for the ethic cleansing zionists carried out in 1948 according to a speech he gave.
Nazis did not believe jews were a pseudo ethnic sect. they believed jews were a true race and not a religion. if you think what I said sounded nazi in the sense that it's something a nazi would have said you have it backward and your belief might be more nazi. study your history.start questioning zionists propaganda.
here is a direct quote from mein kampf:
"From time immemorial, however, the Jews have known better than any others how falsehood and calumny can be exploited. Is not their very existence founded on one great lie, namely, that they are a religious community, where as in reality they are a race? "
nazis murdered people for being in an imaginary Jewish race even when those people had joined a different religion. I am claiming that jews are not a race. that would be blasphemy to Nazism. and a lot of zionists.
How about we use the definition of Zionism that was established along with the state of Israel? In its Declaration of Independence, it recognizes itself as Zionist, which at the time was a pseudo ethnic sect Judaism that viewed Palestine as being rightfully ruled by Jews, which it still is. Zionism only came into existence as a sect of Judaism to conquer Palestine for the exclusive privilege of Jews as an imaginary race / ethnic group. That is historical; whatever your definition of Zionism is is a political tool of Zionism itself.
And a “German” is anyone who is a German citizen. The notion that “Germans” as a race have a right to rule land is Nazi stuff.
Fair is clearly a Zionist gig and it has shown that its concern for challenging racialist ideology ends once the interests of Zionist Israel are put on the table.
Thank you, Ms Wald!!! I am feeling paranoid compared to my fellow jews around me, but I worked, until recently, in education and the Jew Hatred is palpable, persistent, and excused by most leaders. We owe no one a reason for our existence. Keep up the difficult work of exposing the antisemitism and putting out pro Jewish art!
Yikes. The American version of the Yevsetskaya episode is accelerating faster than thought.
Shroedinger’s race indeed 👏
I knew once my ‘best friends’ in Seattle turned their back, that the jig was up. (I dropped out of engineering for a minute and did production design for a feminist theater collective).
Well, to be fair, we left in 2010. My husband and I are both in construction type jobs (architect and engineer) and the company he worked for closed and I couldn’t find work on the west side of the cascades (got a job at the Hanford cleanup, I do structural/environmental). I cried over having to leave Seattle. Now I’m so grateful.
But yes. It hasn’t really been a place artists could afford in decades. My friends lived in hives like bees - in their 30s at the time.
I can't imagine how you feel. I have been shunned and shamed for political views by friends and family but to have the same done for an immutable characteristic such as heritage would be frightening. Let these words encourage your drive to create and keep you on your path of self-expression. May God bless and keep you. May he hold you in his embrace and make his countenance to shine upon you.
Educate the dimwits about the fact that Jewishness has existed for millennia but Israel has only existed since 1948. And the circumstances why Israel came to exist in the first place....
Thank you for saying this, David. Why are some members of FAIR supporting Zionism? Even Monica Harris, one of my heroes, is doing that! Aren't we supposed to be against identity politics?
Some people might think I was Jewish because of my surname; I'm not. (My father came from that background, but my mother didn't, and so I'm Gentile). So I have feared some sort of retaliation due to my being thought of as a Jew, which should not happen at all.
Because, in Canada, where I live, anti-Semitic crimes and harassment have been occurring far more than they should, and I can't stand that.
Why do you define yourself as “gentile” based on Jewish religious ideology? A person’s “Jewishness” is entirely based on their own adherence to the ideology and religious tribe of Judaism, just like a person’s “Christianness” is based on entirely their own adherence to the ideology and religious tribe of Christianity. If you had a Jewish mother, but you renounced Judaism, you wouldn’t be a Jew either.
I’m not a Christian even though both my parents (and their parents etc etc) were raised Christian. Judaism is a religion . Period. It just happens to be one with racialist ideology. Which makes FAIR shilling for Zionism, the apex of that racialism, a huge disgrace and contradiction to their supposed purpose.
And I think crimes of actual antisemitism will continue to occur as long as the ethno-centric war-mongering state of Israel continues to equate Zionism with the Jewish ethnicity and religion.
I didn't say it was *THE* source of antisemitism. I said the existence of an ethno-centric Jewish state that behaves as it does, and acts as an arm of the U.S. Military Industrial Complex, is *A major* source of it in the modern world. As an Italian, the last thing I would ever want to see is an ethno-centric nation-state purporting to be based on "protection" for Italians to be created and then display the behavior of Israel. Linking such a state to being Italian and Roman Catholic would be hazardous to all Italians and Roman Catholics across the planet.
I think Israel would fare much better if it promotes peaceful co-existence between Jews, Palestinians, and anyone else who wants to live there, under a true democratic framework that gives no exceptional treatment to any ethnic group; and which disallows Zionism, Sharia Law, or any other type of ethno-centric or religio-centric ideology to be writ into law.
That is the form of egalitarianism that FAIR is supposed to represent, and it is in no way indicative of "hatred" towards Jews or favoritism towards any ethnic or religious demographic. And it is also strongly against using armed warfare to achieve goals.
Israel exists as a power grab for certain Western nations in the Middle East, including but particularly the United States. Hatred against Jews or any other demographic will only "flourish" if the type of conflicts over resources we see in class divided society continues to exist, which is why socialists oppose class rule. Hatred against Jews, just like hatred against any demographic, have always resulted from conflicts over distribution of limited resources. In the modern, post-Industrial era it's about *artificial scarcity*, meaning completely unnecessary with modern technology.. And both the U.S. and Israeli governments are intent on maintaining this system of private control over this technology.
Jewish people are not the only demographic who has been hated throughout millennia, and even into the present day. Nowadays, in fact, the Palestinians are far worse off than Jewish people in the region they share. This is why an ethno-centric state cannot resolve these issues but only worsen them, because it plays the zero-sum game insisting that for one group to be free of oppression and lack of resources, another must be oppressed and denied access in its place.
This is what has to stop. We need to support equal distribution and access to resources for all groups of people. That includes land, food, water, education, and civil liberties. Zionists do not support this type of equality considering how even in the USA they manipulate elections with the billions of dollars AIPAC controls and have the power to ban criticism of the ideology across social media and at universities.
Resources cannot be equally allocated because resources are finite. And the desire for resources exceeds their supply. There simply isn’t enough San Diego coastal land to satisfy the human desire for it. Human desire can be infinite. Land is not. Marxism could only function in a slave society where human desires are oppressed by an authoritarian force, which is why governments that attempt to implement it faithfully and thoroughly have and will always produce poverty and slavery. That is until we can terraform infinite planets with lots of beach front property with easy access to abundant supply chains. Scarcity isn’t “artificial”.
I do appreciate your opposition to Zionism though. As people learn more about its history and the pernicious influence it has over American politics, I hope it loses its power. I suspect most Americans don’t have any desire to subsidize a genocidal apartheid state, but feel quite powerless to do anything about it.
This is not true in a post-industrial ers, Jeffery. With modern technology, we can produce an abundance for all. Only n the continued existence of class rule, reliance on money to move resources, and production for profit cause continued wealth disparity between individuals and groups.
Desire need not be irrationally infinite. It nerd only n be enough to provide full comfort and security for all. We have been educated into thinking otherwise by our ruling class for obvious reasons, so that we continue tolerating everything class rule brings - inequality, mass poverty, war, and competition between people that results in every form of bigotry. Identity politics is, in fact, a creature spawned by competition and the resentments that result from it.
That said, thank you for your support against Zionism, a most destructive form of identity politics. I was frankly shocked and disappointed to see that it has a number of adherents in FAIR.
When there is enough beach front property for all, lemme know. Until then, resources are finite. I’m not interested in Marxist “comfort” and “security”; I also want “freedom” and “justice”. I’d have neither if the fruit of my labor was taken and distributed by people who believe they know better than me how it ought to be used. No thanks. Albeit that happens already now, with income taxes. “Capitalism” is an invention by Marxists. Adam Smith, for example, had nothing to say about “capitalism.” Our economic system is currently deeply unjust, but it’s not “capitalism.” Nor is it operating in a way that has been commonly favored by people who are called “capitalists”, like Smith.
Some level of property inequality will result from a just economic system. People are not equal in our “productive”capacity or interest. Equal property ownership could only result from an unjust economic system — at least in a world without that infinite beach front property. I simply do not believe your vision is congruent with economic reality or human nature. At least my nature.
At this moment I’d perhaps argue that Zionism today is the *most* destructive form of “identity politics” in the U.S., and potentially the world. As for the adherents at FAIR, yah it’s quite disappointing and disturbing to see an organization supposedly against racial tribalism defending a genocide by a pseudo ethnic state. It’s clear whatever FAIR is motivated by it isn’t what FAIR claims it is. It is remarkable to see the growing popular shift against Zionism though. It’s becoming more and more just an establishment fringe ideology that has enormous power but less and less democratic support. The more people learn, the more that will happen.
Crimes of antisemitism do not happen in a vacuum. They do not happen because hatred against Jews is somehow "wired into" human nature. The worst thing to do to "eliminate" bigotry against Jews -- or any other ethnic or religious demographic -- is create an ethno-centric nation-state that claims to be a "protection" bulwark for Jewish people that basically behaves the exact same way towards other groups that real anti-semites behaved against Jews. And then claim the actions of that state are taken in the name of all Jews.
All forms of bigotry are based on power discrepancies in society between different demographics, with some blaming others rather than blaming the system of class rule itself. That is the basis -- and curse -- of identity politics. And FAIR was supposed to have been formed to combat identity politics.
The claim that Israel "behaves the exact same way towards other groups that real anti-semites behaved against Jews" is adding to the slanders already appearing on this page. Readily available facts contradict this claim and you can find them if you're willing.
Class doesn't explain everything, particularly not theocratic Islam, and Marxist class analysis failed to illuminate many things to which it was supposed to pertain. Zionism is an attempt to preserve a particular ethno-religious cohort. That does not make it "identity politics" in the sense with which FAIR is concerned. The only contradiction here is the one you created by mislabeling Zionism as such.
Israel is an apartheid state. And is carrying out a genocide. There is nothing slanderous about that. Its fact. International courts have already recognized it as an apartheid state. And its genocide is currently under review. You can find these facts if you are willing.
And the U.S. government is funding its apartheid and genocide.
In July, a committee attached the ICJ issued an advisory opinion which mentioned that "A number of participants have argued that Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amount to segregation or apartheid." This was blown up into something it wasn't by parties eager to proclaim Israel a criminal enterprise and their remarks were repeated by the usual dupes.
The charges of genocide brought to the ICJ by South Africa, of all places, are spurious. Thus far they have resulted in the ICJ ordering Israel not to attack Rafah, which Israel ignored, thus rescuing a half-dozen hostages and exposing fifty entrances leading to Hamas terror tunnels positioned in Egypt, who is the biggest recipient of US foreign aid after Israel and Jordan. This throws the already dubious credibility of the ICJ into the dumpster. Like you repeated back at me, the facts are available if you're willing.
What your remarks have to do with the opinions of the author of the original post is not clear, except to demonstrate how motivated anti-Zionists are to stomp on Jews. Gut yontif to you as well - it's the evening of Yom Kippur, as you're no doubt aware.
My remarks have to do with your comment. I was replying to you. And you specifically wrote :
'The claim that Israel "behaves the exact same way towards other groups that real anti-semites behaved against Jews" is adding to the slanders already appearing on this page'
The notion that I'm just "trying to stomp on jews" by directly replying to your comment is the height of tribalistic victim pleading.Fortunately not all jews are zionists. but it has become increasingly clear and obvious many zionists want people to believe that so when people disparage Zionism then those zionists can *slander* critics of Zionism as "anti Semites" or "jew haters" or in your words-"jew stompers".
As for the icj *court* advisory opinion. it can be read and full here:
"224. A number of participants have argued that Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory amount to segregation or apartheid, in breach of Article 3 of CERD."
but there is much much more. two other parts make the opinion of the court explicit.
"225. Article 3 of CERD provides as follows: “States Parties particularly condemn racial
segregation and apartheid and undertake to prevent, prohibit and eradicate all practices of this nature
in territories under their jurisdiction.” This provision refers to two particularly severe forms of racial
discrimination: racial segregation and apartheid."
"229. The Court observes that Israel’s legislation and measures impose and serve to maintain a
near-complete separation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem between the settler and Palestinian
communities. For this reason, the Court considers that Israel’s legislation and measures constitute a
breach of Article 3 of CERD."
it seems like to me that zionists are trying to minimize and distort the court's opinion.
And what you said about Egypt and hamas is irrelevant with regard to whether israel is carrying out a genocide. I dislike hamas and I don't think the u.s. government should be giving any money to Egypt. and I don't think likud should be carrying out a genocide. and the u.s. government should not be funding that either. israel is the number one recipient of us aid while it should be receiving nothing. insofar as israel is receiving the most aid and carrying out a genocide it should be no surprise to anyone that many americans have disparaging things to say about the apartheid state of israel. many of us do not like our tax money stolen to carry out atrocities.
As I already explained, the ICJ is a clown show with a history of maliciously directing Israel to injure itself. As for the antisemitism, there's not another explanation for why Julia here can't say that deplatforming supporters of Israel is wrong without a bunch of ninnies showing up in her comments to blither about "apartheid" and "genocide." China has as many Muslim prisoners as Israel has enfranchised Muslim citizens - why do they not complain of Chinese apartheid? Egypt is converting US aid into material support for Hamas - why are they not complaining about the theft of their taxes for the funding of Hamas's genocide (and unlike Israel's campaign, that actually is genocide)? And the answer is obvious - the kind of people who used to excoriate the Jews in their nations are now excoriating Jews in their own nation.
(repeatin' my comment as I see this was the original postin'!)
fantastik piece! "acteur" performer-filmmacher here, canceled (outta work) fer not bein' woke AND fer not complin' with the plandemic proty-culls--livin' without income with two kids (all outta da loop fer not complyin') not bein' a "walk in the park" (Central or otherwise) we had ta leave our hometown of NYC fer the boonies (NYC havin' gone ta hell in a handbasket--when we left my younger daughter knew SEVEN (!) kids that decided they were trans--an' of course NYC went full-out anti-joo...). I could beef more but fer the sake of brevity, those that cannot act--write! Ergo, if I cannot act, I stack!
(and write in the vernacular in the tradition of Al Capp/Lil'Abner--Al was also chewish--an' of my nom-de-chicken-feather namesake Daisy Mae Moses):
The most powerful centers of American society are (pro) Zionist. Congress. The national security state. The White House.
“We are, after all, “Schrodinger’s Race,” where the question of Jews and our proximity to whiteness depends on if you ascribe to right-wing or left-wing flavors of Jew-hatred. “
No — Jews aren’t a race. Jews are a religious tribe, just like Christians or Muslims or Buddhists. But Jews are the only major religious tribe that commonly irrationally views and portrays itself as a racial / ethnic group — and Zionists, a particular sect of Jews, are the epitome of that.
Which is why FAIR should have no business publishing your equivocating tribal racialist essay — at least without publishing something that challenges your misconceptions. Otherwise FAIR is being… well unFAIR and violating its own mission statement at challenging racial tribalism.
It seems FAIR is Zionist and apparently thinks Israel has a right to defend its apartheid from attack with genocide. Extremely disappointing. Happy I never signed its bullshit “pledge.”
Anti-Semitic artwork? You mean, those people of any ethnicity who do not support Zionism, which is an ethno-centric form of identity politics? FAIR is supposed to be against identity politics, so this bizarre exception made for Zionism by some in our organization is just bizarre, and it is going to cause a lot of internal fighting.
Since Zionism is only "an ethno-centric form of identity politics" by an extremely tendentious reading, the organization is making no exception here. It is adhering to a liberal view of tolerance that suffers more than one view on the matter to exist. FAIR will be fine, but as an avowed enemy of liberalism, it may not be for you.
Here's the thing, Franklin. I'm not a liberal. I'm an egalitarian socialist who is very much against identity politics. Any ideology that favors a specific ethnic and/or religious group over others, demands exceptional treatment for said group(s), and justifies/rationalizes any type of behavior any organization or government allegedly enacts on said group's behalf, and then dismisses all criticism of said behavior to hatred/bigotry against that demographic, is a textbook example of identity politics.
That description fits Zionism quite well, so there is nothing tendentious about it. Demanding an exception for that form of politics for an ideology claiming to be acting an behalf of *all* Jews, and then justifying anything Israel does, or the U.S. government passing laws to ban criticism against Zionism on university campuses, is doing exactly what FAIR is supposed to be against. As these threads make clear, this is creating a huge conflict within FAIR that calls the genuine commitment to its actual purpose into question.
So, yes, so attempting to insert Zionism into FAIR is going to cause a lot of problems. I would only be considered a liberal if I was demanding exceptional treatment for Palestinians and Sharia Law. But I'm not.
I have been involved in this organization for years, and Zionism has only today become a source of conflict because a self-described socialist with a worthless definition of Zionism - that would be you - showed up and started one. Since the vast majority of Jews support Israel, this organization recognizes that much anti-Zionism is in fact second-order antisemitism, that even principled anti-Zionists would have no business antagonizing and deplatforming Zionists in the manner chronicled above by Wald, and that speaking out against this is entirely keeping with FAIR's mission, which I recommend you re-read.
The classical liberal values espoused in the Vision are not compatible with socialism. Socialism disdains individual rights in favor of collectivist obligations, and the fact that identity politics and socialism have dovetailed so cleanly in Western politics is not an accident.
Zionism has been largely accepted for years in an organization dedicated to combating identity politics and demands for exceptional treatment by a certain demographic based on past injustices until I started critiquing such an obvious disparity and conflict of interest? I find that hard to believe, Franklin.
The great majority of Jewish people who are subject to constant propaganda about Zionism and Israel obviously feel obliged to support it, but a significant minority do not. Just because the majority of any specific demographic supports identity politics that they believe offers them certain privileges based on calling the Victim Card doesn't make it right any more than any other group who may be doing it for other forms of identity politics or ethno-centric or theocra-centric reasons.
That should *not* be a reason for an org with the mission statement of FAIR to support any type of identity politics just because the majority of a certain demographic supports it. The majority of the world population outside of Jewish people do not support Zionism, which is also important to consider. What Israel does in the name of identity politics, which is identical to what other groups do in favor of such ideologies, should be enough for the org to condemn it, not support it.
Secondly, Franklin, no one here is talking about deplatforming Zionists. Opposition to Zionists having political & economic power to wage war on its behalf and de-platform or arrest people on its behalf or write support for it into the actual legal framework of nations is not the same thing as demanding silence on the issue. And we have every right to insist that an organization that purports to be against identity politics not to promote any form of identity politics because that calls the validity of their entire mission statement into question.
As for not having the right to "antagonize" Zionists? Sorry, but people should have every right to criticize what we disagree with, both publicly and especially within an organization that is supposed to be against identity politics in general. It is Zionists and all proponents of any form of identity politics that demand people be de-platformed or penalized legally or fired from jobs etc for critiquing identity politics.
And "socialism" as you describe it is not the same thing as what was promoted in its classical form by Marx and Engels. We are entirely in favor of civil liberties, which is what a classless economy would provide -- no bureaucrats or capitalists to control and regulate speech or decisions. And which would be bereft of the forms of material-based competition that results in identity politics. Classical Marxian socialism in no way dovetails with identity politics, because the latter is a creature of class ruled society, the proof being that it is promoted and financed by uber-capitalist firms like BlackRock, State Street, J.P. Morgan, and Disney... and yes, ultra-wealthy lobbyist groups like AIPAC. It doesn't matter if said sources claim to espouse left-wing or right-wing values of any sort... both the Left and the Right have their own iterations of identity politics that one favors but the other does not.
So no, I do not think that criticizing Zionism is tantamount to second-order antisemitism any more than trying to connect liberalism and its forms of identity politics is indicative of being racist or sexist or homophobic. Latching an ideology onto a demographic of people and demanding no criticism of the ideology because of it is what identity politics are all about.
Fine, don't believe it. So long as you characterize Zionism as identity politics, which FAIR does not and should not, understanding about that and much else will continue to elude you.
Marx disdained civil liberties as "the rights of egoistic man" and similar in an odious tract titled "On The Jewish Question."
In that case, FAIR needs to specifically define what it means by identity politics, and then explain how Zionism deviates against it to the point that it should be heavily promoted, including the war-mongering activities of Israel and the control AIPAC has over the government. I have already explained how Zionism is textbook identity politics.
Marx never disdained civil liberties because a classless and stateless system -- which the Soviet Union most certainly was not -- would not possess the apparatus to enforce the authoritarian dictates of a few. Opposition to Zionism gaining power within a government is not the same thing as banning people following it socially on a personal level. If someone wants to promote Jewish art, that is fine, just as promoting Hindu art is fine. Or wearing traditional Jewish beanies to signify that you're of that religion. Also fine. But trying to impose Zionism or Sharia Law etc on a national level is inherently authoritarian, as is trying to ban criticism of either.
And I have already explained that you're wrong. Again, FAIR doesn't promote Zionism, "heavily" or otherwise. Yes, you could demand a full accounting of what FAIR means by "identity politics." Alternately you could form an organization of anti-identitarian socialists that would suit you better. That would suit me better as well, as I'm not much impressed with your outpouring of complaint at an organization with which you have no history and to which you've made no evident contribution.
Marx quite expressly spends a lot of "Jewish Question" mocking the "so-called rights of man." "The establishment of the political state and the dissolution of civil society into independent individuals... is accomplished by one and the same act." The stateless system was somehow going to unmake the individual so he could rejoin what Rousseau called the "larger whole." Classical liberalism rejects this, recognizing the individual as the atomic unit of politics. FAIR is a classical liberal organization.
"And I have already explained that you're wrong. Again, FAIR doesn't promote Zionism, "heavily" or otherwise."
I see otherwise. We need to bring this matter to a head with the administration, which is what these threads are gradually doing.
"Yes, you could demand a full accounting of what FAIR means by "identity politics." Alternately you could form an organization of anti-identitarian socialists that would suit you better."
So, you're saying that FAIR should have a right-wing leaning, with no socialists allowed, even though those of us on the Classical Left oppose identity politics as much as anyone associated with the Right? Most people who are not on the Mainstream Liberal Left oppose identity politics. But unfortunately, people all over the spectrum support Zionism because it has strong religious connotations with Christians with right-wing leanings.
"That would suit me better as well, as I'm not much impressed with your outpouring of complaint at an organization with which you have no history and to which you've made no evident contribution."
Translation: You disagree with what I'm saying. I get that.
As for contributions, I fight identity politics on a constant basis in my own publication on Substack and Medium, and I do so on a local level in my community. I've recently joined FAIR and I did not sign up for identity politics. People should complain no matter how long they have been in the organization. And I am making an argument that opposing the promotion of Zionism in an org against identity politics is apropos and necessary.
And Marxism is also a part of the Classical Left, albeit no specifically liberalism. They were very comfortable bedfellows until liberalism embraced capitalism starting in the 1990s.
Socialism is expressly opposed to the classical liberalism that underpins the organization. So yes, it should reject socialists, particularly socialists who want the organization's principles applied to them but won't exercise them for anyone else, socialists who think that the organization is promoting Zionism because they're not condemning it, and socialists who are so entitled that they characterize the organization as "right-wing" because a member who showed up last week wants to reorganize it to his liking and they're not falling over themselves to do so. It's not up to me, but you bring zero value to FAIR and they should treat you accordingly. Goodbye.
Again, Franklin, you continue to conflate Leninism/Stalinism/Maoism, which were statist forms of capitalism that included class rule and authoritarian governments run by an oligarchy, with the classless, bureaucratless, and moneyless system proposed by Marx and Engels. Creating a better world for the working class on both an economic front and regarding civil liberties is fully in line with classical liberalism, and an economic democracy would not have an authoritarian state. I think the major beef of liberalism is that it wants to retain capitalism, which does no favor for democracy.
There is a huge difference between an economic system and identity politics. FAIR made no statements of being against any economic system. You are trying to compare apples with oranges here. For instance, I have no problem with conservatives who espouse a continuation of some form of capitalism as part of FAIR. I knew that going in. But tolerating the promotion of Zionism, which is a form of identity politics in every sense of the word? That is a whole other ball of wax.
I saw plenty of articles already promoting Zionism, along with promotions of it in the comments. Creating articles that argue for students at universities being banned for protesting against Israel and calling them anti-semtic are most certainly doing that.
A member who showed up last week? Last week was just the first time you saw one of my comments. I've been following FAIR for about a year now and it's only in the past two months that I started seeing pro-Zionist articles. I was shocked to see it, as it was not what I signed up for. I went to a video orientation months ago and never was Zionism mentioned on it. I find that interesting.
"Reorganize" FAIR to "my liking"? How about simply demand that it sticks to its principles and stop giving a form of identity politics, one that is now being used to promote war across the world, the exceptional treatment that all forms of identity politics ask for? That's all I'm saying here.
I think, to the contrary, that I and others who are making these complaints are bringing immense value to FAIR, because they were pointing out a huge, glaring, and disturbing discrepancy to its stated principles where. I hope the administration eventually decides to deal with the problem as it should deal with it. And for the second time, you said goodbye to me, so I must say for a second time today that I'm sorry it came to this between us.
I agree 100% and I would like to add something. I am NOT trying to distract from the central point of this article. I am saying that this is tearing us *all* apart *my suspicious mind thinks that was the plan all along).
This wave of anti- semitism is ripping apart the social fabric of Western nations after decades of progress, Jews & Gentiles stopped 'othering' each other but our unity is being undone... it is tearing apart more than the obvious: it is forcing everyone in Western nations to 'pick sides' with a big hint which side is 'the right one.' (I have had students ask me 'Which side are you on?' and I reply 'I side with humanity' and walk away)
Western societies are being torn apart by the Hamas attacks as well as social media campaigns. We must ask some questions:
Who would most benefit from Western Nations crumbling into divisiveness? Putin
Who does Hamas take marching orders from? Iran, Putin's BFF
Who has been caught launching influence campaigns via social media? Putin
When did Hamas strike Israel? Oct 7th, Putin's birthday.
Some of you may ask "Would Vladimir Putin throw all the Jews under the bus for his ambitions?"
I loved reading this piece, except for the blindered repeating of Israeli propagandist talking points. Just as this artist’s personal experience around anti-semitism is important for me to hear and feel empathy for. There is so much about the events on the ground on and before Oct. 7&8 that are glossed over here or misrepresented.
Any objective analysis of these intersecting struggles and the genocide happening in the Palestinian territories, and now in Lebanon must be founded on demonstrable facts. Artists are not exempt, and, will be rightly criticized for errors and omissions.
“Bachman believes Israel has a right to exist.” Yes, and so do most people concede this to be true, including progressive Palestinians. It is the basis of the peace that must be established. Zionists leaders want to take it all, as demonstrated by their words and actions.
followed by “cancel the talk an hour before the launch because they were unwilling to platform a Zionist voice on-premises” Platforming Zionist voices is problematic, because Zionism as illegally realized through violence and occupation is the problem. Resistance to it is an honourable responsibility.
“it’s normally the Jewish state that is singled out as the one nation that doesn’t have a right to be recognized.” No reasonable person says Israel doesn’t have the right to exist.
“When my peers start questioning the legitimacy of the nations of Pakistan, Liberia, or Jordan—three countries with similar backstories and struggles to Israel” Similar struggles? Israel is a genocidal state oppressing the legitimate rights of others.
“Jews are no longer seen as rootless cosmopolitans who subvert the autonomy of European nations, but as white colonial oppressors butchering the indigenous Levantine population on stolen land.” Yes, because that is what has been happening since before May 14, 1948.
I could go on…but Zionist exceptionalism is the inherent problem in this perspective.
In other words, these aren't "propagandist talking points" so much as assertions from a perspective that accepts the founding and continuation of Israel as a legitimate project. Clearly you disdain that perspective, in favor of the conception of Israel as a "genocidal state oppressing the legitimate rights of others." That puts you in the company of the vicious racists whom Wald cites throughout the essay.
It's true, no reasonable person says that Israel has no right to exist. Sadly, the anti-Zionist movement is full of unreasonable people who insist on exactly that, based on this same libel that Israel is a genocidal state. That vaunted genocidality justifies the verbal and physical abuse of Jews in their minds, which is why we've seen the explosion thereof in the last year. Whether they constitute the majority of anti-Zionists is unclear, but they certainly characterize them.
Good luck with that commitment to empathy you mentioned. I hope the rest of us see evidence of it one day.
I don't think the founding and continuation of Israel is legitimate any more than the founding of a state offering exceptional recognition for any other ethnic or racial group would be. It has resulted in extremists like Netanyahu to wage a genocide on "behalf" of Jewish people and the Israel project, and multi-billionaire lobbyist organizations like AIPAC to coerce the U.S. government into funding it. Israel is an extreme threat to the world and a major component of the U.S. Military Industrial Complex, and that has *nothing* to do with Jewish people or Judaism. It's an example of what happens when identity politics or ethno-centrism of any sort takes over a whole nation.
If those complaints had nothing to do with Jewish people or Judaism, then it ought to be tolerable to you and your fellow socialists to let them assemble, speak, and create as they see fit, regardless of whether they agree with said complaints. And as Ms. Wald demonstrates, you do not.
These complaints are against a form of identity-based ideology that purports to speak for *all* members of a specific ethnic & religious demographic. So, that makes it of direct concern to someone who is against identity politics & the politics of exceptionalism, and the type of conflicts that result for the world when a whole nation gets behind it. And by that, I mean not only Israel, but also the United States and the U.K., so this is not about Jewish people or Judaism, but opposition to power-hungry people and war-mongers who try to create and hide behind a virtue shield that allegedly serves the interests of a whole demographic but is in actuality a power grab for just a handful of the world population so they can behave as they please free from criticism or opposition.
Understand that I and other socialists have no problem with members of any ideology getting together to assemble, speak, and create organizations for this or that group, or this or that ideology. My problem is these groups gaining disproportionate levels of economic and governmental power within one or more states and using them to justify war-mongering and exceptionalist legislation for proponents of that ideology. Which is exactly what too many Zionists are doing. This is not about Jewish people or Judaism because there are many Zionists who are not Jewish just as there are many proponents of identity politics in favor of PoC, women, and LGBTs who are white heterosexual men. And opposing those forms of Woke politics is no more anti-PoC or anti-woman or anti-LGBT than opposition to Zionism is anti-Jewish.
If you want to be a Zionist and form an organization to promote the ideology, then be my guest. But you cross a line when you entrench it into government and try to legally ban criticism of it, or acquire the power to ban people from universities or social media for opposing it, or give special legal protections or privileges to members of a certain demographic only, or create a state based on it that wages war on other states who do not share the ideology. I am against any other type of identity politics from doing the same thing, which is why I am a member of FAIR.
Yet here you are, spamming the comment section of a post by a Jewish author with broad and misinformed complaints about Zionism without any curiosity of what Zionism means to *her*. From FAIR's Principles: "We seek to understand opinions or behavior that we do not necessarily agree with. We pursue the objective truth through honest inquiry. We are tolerant and consider points of view that are in conflict with our convictions." If you're a member, act accordingly.
Legit criticism is not spamming, Franklin. If you think Zionism deserves no criticism, then you see the exact reason why all forms of identity politics most certainly do need to be criticized. Which is supposed to be what FAIR is all about.
It doesn't matter what Zionism means to this artist personally. What it does to the world in practice in terms of war, apartheid, and authoritarianism is what matters to those who are affected by that and care about things such as world peace and equality among all people. That, again, is what I signed up for FAIR about. I didn't sign up to defend or promote any form of identity politics.
Let's take a look at that passage you cited from FAIR's Principles:
"We seek to understand opinions or behavior that we do not necessarily agree with."
I believe it meant economic issues, which I am fine with. I do not believe it was referring to identity politics. If we can promote Zionism here, then why not articles by actual FAIR members promoting Black Lives Matter or Critical Race Theory? Or Fourth Wave Feminism? Or Gay Pride? And claims that if you do not support those ideologies, then you're guilty of at least second order racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc?
"We pursue the objective truth through honest inquiry."
And pointing out how any form of identity politics tends to lead to war and authoritarianism if promoted on a national level isn't doing that?
"We are tolerant and consider points of view that are in conflict with our convictions."
Then, number one, listen to my critiques of Zionism, a form of identity politics, and be tolerant of them.
And secondly, I point out that opposition to identity politics is what FAIR is supposed to be about. I do not think those passages you cited were in any way referring to toleration of any form of identity politics, but to other matters -- such as economic, or social values, etc.
Accordingly, I accept and listen to your dislike of socialism. That is fine. But Zionism or any form of identity politics is a whole other ball of wax. FAIR is either against that or promotes it. I thought this was already decided.
This essay, and this organization, do not promote Zionism. The essay is critiquing anti-Zionists, and I have to say that the anti-Zionists in the comment section are doing a great job demonstrating why they should be critiqued.
"Then, number one, listen to my critiques of Zionism, a form of identity politics, and be tolerant of them."
I tolerate them in the sense that I don't think you should be killed for espousing them, but they're still belligerent foolishness and FAIR has no reason to accommodate them. Zionism is not identity politics. If you disagree, so be it, but you have mistaken your judgment about the matter for fact. As for this "you espouse toleration, so tolerate me!" attitude, and the other that "FAIR is either against [Zionism] or promotes it," this is the kind of rhetorical and emotional blackmail that identitarians lifted from the socialists and should be ignored as such.
If you critique anti-Zionists on an essay published in a group that is supposed to represent opposition to identity politics, then you are promoting Zionism. Anti-Zionists should be expected to critique Zionism in an organization opposing identity politics. And considering what the world is suffering at the hands of Zionism right now, I think Zionism deserved to be critiqued -- while the government still allows it.
This is not the same thing as saying that Zionists should not have a voice and be denied a platform. I have no problem with Zionists posting essays on Substack, or Medium, etc. The problem is doing so within a publication by FAIR.
"Zionism is not identity politics. If you disagree, so be it, but you have mistaken your judgment about the matter for fact."
Zionism specifically promotes the identity of the Jewish ethnic demographic and the Jewish religion. It demands exceptional treatment for them, including an entire apartheid state giving them favoritism, including waging war in their name (even though war is really a big money-laundering operation hidden behind an altruistic virtue shield). It plays the Victim Card to rationalize victimizing others to "right" wrongs from the past. It seeks and obtains power, both social and financial, to the point that lobbyist groups espousing the ideology can literally make or break the careers of politicians in the duopoly. It demands the banning and de-platforming of anyone who opposes the ideology. claiming that is tantamount to hating the identity group and/or religion that it latches on to.
That sounds like textbook identity politics to me. The fact that it's supported heavily by the Right does not mean it isn't identity politics.
"As for this "you espouse toleration, so tolerate me!" attitude, and the other that "FAIR is either against [Zionism] or promotes it," this is the kind of rhetorical and emotional blackmail that identitarians lifted from the socialists and should be ignored as such."
First of all, what "socialists" would these be? If you mean the Stalinists of the former Soviet Union, that came long after Marx and had nothing to do with a classless and stateless economy. That is you latching together two different things that you dislike into one. I see capitalist firms headquartered in the USA like Blackrock, Vanguard, State Street, and J.P. Morgan promoting authoritarian identity politics, not Classical Marxian socialists. And many execs of those orgs are Zionists as well.
Saying that FAIR should both promote or oppose Zionism is not emotional blackmail, it's asking the org to *stay on its mission of opposing identity politics.* Otherwise, you get the same type of contradiction as the Democrats claiming to be for the working class yet supporting capitalist policies, including war, at every opportunity. There are some things that cannot be jointly accommodated and opposed by a single organization if its mission statement is firmly against something.
Agreed, Blake, and unfortunately, the issue of Zionism is going to rip FAIR apart. How is it that Zionism got accepted by so many members of an org ostensibly designed to combat the excesses of identity politics and racial/gender/ethnic exceptionalism?
Anyone who describes the war in Gaza as a “genocide,” a term invented to describe the near extinction of the Jews in the Holocaust, is by that fact alone a gaslighting psychopath.
What a fantastic piece. I want to send it to all the anti-Zionist Jews I know.
My wife is writing a novel that peripherally takes up the holocaust. How appalling that she has had to worry about that part of the book. I myself—a mischling—have lost complete faith with the left because of its virulent antisemitism.
I am against Zionism because I'm against all forms of ethno-centric ideologies and all forms of identity politics. It's why I signed up with FAIR. Equating Zionism with being supportive of Jews, and opposition of it as being anti-Semetic, is ridiculous. I support all ethnic groups but oppose any form of ethno-centrism or usage of the Victim Complex to justify exceptional treatment for any group.
That's your definition of Zionism. "Zionism" now has been redefined just like "woman" has been redefined, so you have your definition, and every other person has their own definition. Before all these new definitions and redefinitions, "Zionism" just means Jews having a piece of land they can call their own nation. Not that different from Irish having Ireland, Germans having Germany, Greeks having Greece, and Chinese having China, etc.
“Pseudo ethnic sect” sounds awfully Nazi to me.
there have been many pseudo ethnic sects in the world such as the klan, nazis, the nation of islam, and black Hebrew Israelites.Zionism is also one. they all commonly believe their members share an imaginary race. Nazism and Zionism also claim that they have the right to conquer a particular set of land and that they are indigenous to that land. and that they have the right to ethnically cleanse to rule it. Zionism derives that from the Torah itself where moses is commanded by the god character yahweh to commit genocide and ethnically cleanse the land of Canaan aka Palestine.ben gurion used the book of Joshua from the tanakh as a blueprint for the ethic cleansing zionists carried out in 1948 according to a speech he gave.
Nazis did not believe jews were a pseudo ethnic sect. they believed jews were a true race and not a religion. if you think what I said sounded nazi in the sense that it's something a nazi would have said you have it backward and your belief might be more nazi. study your history.start questioning zionists propaganda.
here is a direct quote from mein kampf:
"From time immemorial, however, the Jews have known better than any others how falsehood and calumny can be exploited. Is not their very existence founded on one great lie, namely, that they are a religious community, where as in reality they are a race? "
nazis murdered people for being in an imaginary Jewish race even when those people had joined a different religion. I am claiming that jews are not a race. that would be blasphemy to Nazism. and a lot of zionists.
How about we use the definition of Zionism that was established along with the state of Israel? In its Declaration of Independence, it recognizes itself as Zionist, which at the time was a pseudo ethnic sect Judaism that viewed Palestine as being rightfully ruled by Jews, which it still is. Zionism only came into existence as a sect of Judaism to conquer Palestine for the exclusive privilege of Jews as an imaginary race / ethnic group. That is historical; whatever your definition of Zionism is is a political tool of Zionism itself.
And a “German” is anyone who is a German citizen. The notion that “Germans” as a race have a right to rule land is Nazi stuff.
Fair is clearly a Zionist gig and it has shown that its concern for challenging racialist ideology ends once the interests of Zionist Israel are put on the table.
It’s possible— thread had become Byzantine! Meant it for the comment above here
You really are a nutter.
Looks like you replied to the wrong commenter?
Thank you, Ms Wald!!! I am feeling paranoid compared to my fellow jews around me, but I worked, until recently, in education and the Jew Hatred is palpable, persistent, and excused by most leaders. We owe no one a reason for our existence. Keep up the difficult work of exposing the antisemitism and putting out pro Jewish art!
Congratulations on this! Well done!
Yikes. The American version of the Yevsetskaya episode is accelerating faster than thought.
Shroedinger’s race indeed 👏
I knew once my ‘best friends’ in Seattle turned their back, that the jig was up. (I dropped out of engineering for a minute and did production design for a feminist theater collective).
you’re a Seattle refugee too!? how many of us are out there…
Well, to be fair, we left in 2010. My husband and I are both in construction type jobs (architect and engineer) and the company he worked for closed and I couldn’t find work on the west side of the cascades (got a job at the Hanford cleanup, I do structural/environmental). I cried over having to leave Seattle. Now I’m so grateful.
But yes. It hasn’t really been a place artists could afford in decades. My friends lived in hives like bees - in their 30s at the time.
Your last paragraphs hit with a sonic boom. I haven’t been able to paint in a year. Thanks for the (loving) kick in the ass.
Simply brilliant. Thank you Julia!
I can't imagine how you feel. I have been shunned and shamed for political views by friends and family but to have the same done for an immutable characteristic such as heritage would be frightening. Let these words encourage your drive to create and keep you on your path of self-expression. May God bless and keep you. May he hold you in his embrace and make his countenance to shine upon you.
just shows got how evil the so called arts community is.
It’s weak and cannibalistic. Yes, evil covers it. Julia is the shit!! 🤩
Educate the dimwits about the fact that Jewishness has existed for millennia but Israel has only existed since 1948. And the circumstances why Israel came to exist in the first place....
Thank you for saying this, David. Why are some members of FAIR supporting Zionism? Even Monica Harris, one of my heroes, is doing that! Aren't we supposed to be against identity politics?
Some people might think I was Jewish because of my surname; I'm not. (My father came from that background, but my mother didn't, and so I'm Gentile). So I have feared some sort of retaliation due to my being thought of as a Jew, which should not happen at all.
Because, in Canada, where I live, anti-Semitic crimes and harassment have been occurring far more than they should, and I can't stand that.
Why do you define yourself as “gentile” based on Jewish religious ideology? A person’s “Jewishness” is entirely based on their own adherence to the ideology and religious tribe of Judaism, just like a person’s “Christianness” is based on entirely their own adherence to the ideology and religious tribe of Christianity. If you had a Jewish mother, but you renounced Judaism, you wouldn’t be a Jew either.
I’m not a Christian even though both my parents (and their parents etc etc) were raised Christian. Judaism is a religion . Period. It just happens to be one with racialist ideology. Which makes FAIR shilling for Zionism, the apex of that racialism, a huge disgrace and contradiction to their supposed purpose.
And I think crimes of actual antisemitism will continue to occur as long as the ethno-centric war-mongering state of Israel continues to equate Zionism with the Jewish ethnicity and religion.
That you think Israel is the source of antisemitism tells me all I need to know about your understanding of the matters at hand.
I didn't say it was *THE* source of antisemitism. I said the existence of an ethno-centric Jewish state that behaves as it does, and acts as an arm of the U.S. Military Industrial Complex, is *A major* source of it in the modern world. As an Italian, the last thing I would ever want to see is an ethno-centric nation-state purporting to be based on "protection" for Italians to be created and then display the behavior of Israel. Linking such a state to being Italian and Roman Catholic would be hazardous to all Italians and Roman Catholics across the planet.
I think Israel would fare much better if it promotes peaceful co-existence between Jews, Palestinians, and anyone else who wants to live there, under a true democratic framework that gives no exceptional treatment to any ethnic group; and which disallows Zionism, Sharia Law, or any other type of ethno-centric or religio-centric ideology to be writ into law.
That is the form of egalitarianism that FAIR is supposed to represent, and it is in no way indicative of "hatred" towards Jews or favoritism towards any ethnic or religious demographic. And it is also strongly against using armed warfare to achieve goals.
Wrong. It would flourish as it has for millennia with or without Israel. Which is exactly why Israel exists.
Israel exists as a power grab for certain Western nations in the Middle East, including but particularly the United States. Hatred against Jews or any other demographic will only "flourish" if the type of conflicts over resources we see in class divided society continues to exist, which is why socialists oppose class rule. Hatred against Jews, just like hatred against any demographic, have always resulted from conflicts over distribution of limited resources. In the modern, post-Industrial era it's about *artificial scarcity*, meaning completely unnecessary with modern technology.. And both the U.S. and Israeli governments are intent on maintaining this system of private control over this technology.
Jewish people are not the only demographic who has been hated throughout millennia, and even into the present day. Nowadays, in fact, the Palestinians are far worse off than Jewish people in the region they share. This is why an ethno-centric state cannot resolve these issues but only worsen them, because it plays the zero-sum game insisting that for one group to be free of oppression and lack of resources, another must be oppressed and denied access in its place.
This is what has to stop. We need to support equal distribution and access to resources for all groups of people. That includes land, food, water, education, and civil liberties. Zionists do not support this type of equality considering how even in the USA they manipulate elections with the billions of dollars AIPAC controls and have the power to ban criticism of the ideology across social media and at universities.
Resources cannot be equally allocated because resources are finite. And the desire for resources exceeds their supply. There simply isn’t enough San Diego coastal land to satisfy the human desire for it. Human desire can be infinite. Land is not. Marxism could only function in a slave society where human desires are oppressed by an authoritarian force, which is why governments that attempt to implement it faithfully and thoroughly have and will always produce poverty and slavery. That is until we can terraform infinite planets with lots of beach front property with easy access to abundant supply chains. Scarcity isn’t “artificial”.
I do appreciate your opposition to Zionism though. As people learn more about its history and the pernicious influence it has over American politics, I hope it loses its power. I suspect most Americans don’t have any desire to subsidize a genocidal apartheid state, but feel quite powerless to do anything about it.
This is not true in a post-industrial ers, Jeffery. With modern technology, we can produce an abundance for all. Only n the continued existence of class rule, reliance on money to move resources, and production for profit cause continued wealth disparity between individuals and groups.
Desire need not be irrationally infinite. It nerd only n be enough to provide full comfort and security for all. We have been educated into thinking otherwise by our ruling class for obvious reasons, so that we continue tolerating everything class rule brings - inequality, mass poverty, war, and competition between people that results in every form of bigotry. Identity politics is, in fact, a creature spawned by competition and the resentments that result from it.
That said, thank you for your support against Zionism, a most destructive form of identity politics. I was frankly shocked and disappointed to see that it has a number of adherents in FAIR.
When there is enough beach front property for all, lemme know. Until then, resources are finite. I’m not interested in Marxist “comfort” and “security”; I also want “freedom” and “justice”. I’d have neither if the fruit of my labor was taken and distributed by people who believe they know better than me how it ought to be used. No thanks. Albeit that happens already now, with income taxes. “Capitalism” is an invention by Marxists. Adam Smith, for example, had nothing to say about “capitalism.” Our economic system is currently deeply unjust, but it’s not “capitalism.” Nor is it operating in a way that has been commonly favored by people who are called “capitalists”, like Smith.
Some level of property inequality will result from a just economic system. People are not equal in our “productive”capacity or interest. Equal property ownership could only result from an unjust economic system — at least in a world without that infinite beach front property. I simply do not believe your vision is congruent with economic reality or human nature. At least my nature.
At this moment I’d perhaps argue that Zionism today is the *most* destructive form of “identity politics” in the U.S., and potentially the world. As for the adherents at FAIR, yah it’s quite disappointing and disturbing to see an organization supposedly against racial tribalism defending a genocide by a pseudo ethnic state. It’s clear whatever FAIR is motivated by it isn’t what FAIR claims it is. It is remarkable to see the growing popular shift against Zionism though. It’s becoming more and more just an establishment fringe ideology that has enormous power but less and less democratic support. The more people learn, the more that will happen.
"Crimes of actual antisemitism" far predated the creation of Israel and will persist after whatever reforms Israel might make to your liking.
Crimes of antisemitism do not happen in a vacuum. They do not happen because hatred against Jews is somehow "wired into" human nature. The worst thing to do to "eliminate" bigotry against Jews -- or any other ethnic or religious demographic -- is create an ethno-centric nation-state that claims to be a "protection" bulwark for Jewish people that basically behaves the exact same way towards other groups that real anti-semites behaved against Jews. And then claim the actions of that state are taken in the name of all Jews.
All forms of bigotry are based on power discrepancies in society between different demographics, with some blaming others rather than blaming the system of class rule itself. That is the basis -- and curse -- of identity politics. And FAIR was supposed to have been formed to combat identity politics.
The claim that Israel "behaves the exact same way towards other groups that real anti-semites behaved against Jews" is adding to the slanders already appearing on this page. Readily available facts contradict this claim and you can find them if you're willing.
Class doesn't explain everything, particularly not theocratic Islam, and Marxist class analysis failed to illuminate many things to which it was supposed to pertain. Zionism is an attempt to preserve a particular ethno-religious cohort. That does not make it "identity politics" in the sense with which FAIR is concerned. The only contradiction here is the one you created by mislabeling Zionism as such.
Israel is an apartheid state. And is carrying out a genocide. There is nothing slanderous about that. Its fact. International courts have already recognized it as an apartheid state. And its genocide is currently under review. You can find these facts if you are willing.
And the U.S. government is funding its apartheid and genocide.
In July, a committee attached the ICJ issued an advisory opinion which mentioned that "A number of participants have argued that Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amount to segregation or apartheid." This was blown up into something it wasn't by parties eager to proclaim Israel a criminal enterprise and their remarks were repeated by the usual dupes.
The charges of genocide brought to the ICJ by South Africa, of all places, are spurious. Thus far they have resulted in the ICJ ordering Israel not to attack Rafah, which Israel ignored, thus rescuing a half-dozen hostages and exposing fifty entrances leading to Hamas terror tunnels positioned in Egypt, who is the biggest recipient of US foreign aid after Israel and Jordan. This throws the already dubious credibility of the ICJ into the dumpster. Like you repeated back at me, the facts are available if you're willing.
What your remarks have to do with the opinions of the author of the original post is not clear, except to demonstrate how motivated anti-Zionists are to stomp on Jews. Gut yontif to you as well - it's the evening of Yom Kippur, as you're no doubt aware.
My remarks have to do with your comment. I was replying to you. And you specifically wrote :
'The claim that Israel "behaves the exact same way towards other groups that real anti-semites behaved against Jews" is adding to the slanders already appearing on this page'
The notion that I'm just "trying to stomp on jews" by directly replying to your comment is the height of tribalistic victim pleading.Fortunately not all jews are zionists. but it has become increasingly clear and obvious many zionists want people to believe that so when people disparage Zionism then those zionists can *slander* critics of Zionism as "anti Semites" or "jew haters" or in your words-"jew stompers".
As for the icj *court* advisory opinion. it can be read and full here:
https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/186/186-20240719-adv-01-00-en.pdf
you are quoting part of two twenty four:
"224. A number of participants have argued that Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory amount to segregation or apartheid, in breach of Article 3 of CERD."
but there is much much more. two other parts make the opinion of the court explicit.
"225. Article 3 of CERD provides as follows: “States Parties particularly condemn racial
segregation and apartheid and undertake to prevent, prohibit and eradicate all practices of this nature
in territories under their jurisdiction.” This provision refers to two particularly severe forms of racial
discrimination: racial segregation and apartheid."
"229. The Court observes that Israel’s legislation and measures impose and serve to maintain a
near-complete separation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem between the settler and Palestinian
communities. For this reason, the Court considers that Israel’s legislation and measures constitute a
breach of Article 3 of CERD."
it seems like to me that zionists are trying to minimize and distort the court's opinion.
And what you said about Egypt and hamas is irrelevant with regard to whether israel is carrying out a genocide. I dislike hamas and I don't think the u.s. government should be giving any money to Egypt. and I don't think likud should be carrying out a genocide. and the u.s. government should not be funding that either. israel is the number one recipient of us aid while it should be receiving nothing. insofar as israel is receiving the most aid and carrying out a genocide it should be no surprise to anyone that many americans have disparaging things to say about the apartheid state of israel. many of us do not like our tax money stolen to carry out atrocities.
As I already explained, the ICJ is a clown show with a history of maliciously directing Israel to injure itself. As for the antisemitism, there's not another explanation for why Julia here can't say that deplatforming supporters of Israel is wrong without a bunch of ninnies showing up in her comments to blither about "apartheid" and "genocide." China has as many Muslim prisoners as Israel has enfranchised Muslim citizens - why do they not complain of Chinese apartheid? Egypt is converting US aid into material support for Hamas - why are they not complaining about the theft of their taxes for the funding of Hamas's genocide (and unlike Israel's campaign, that actually is genocide)? And the answer is obvious - the kind of people who used to excoriate the Jews in their nations are now excoriating Jews in their own nation.
Thank you for this. I wish I had the slightest hope it would do anything. The world is willfully blind.
(repeatin' my comment as I see this was the original postin'!)
fantastik piece! "acteur" performer-filmmacher here, canceled (outta work) fer not bein' woke AND fer not complin' with the plandemic proty-culls--livin' without income with two kids (all outta da loop fer not complyin') not bein' a "walk in the park" (Central or otherwise) we had ta leave our hometown of NYC fer the boonies (NYC havin' gone ta hell in a handbasket--when we left my younger daughter knew SEVEN (!) kids that decided they were trans--an' of course NYC went full-out anti-joo...). I could beef more but fer the sake of brevity, those that cannot act--write! Ergo, if I cannot act, I stack!
(and write in the vernacular in the tradition of Al Capp/Lil'Abner--Al was also chewish--an' of my nom-de-chicken-feather namesake Daisy Mae Moses):
https://thcsofdaisymoses.substack.com/
have covered Israel & jooish themes too:
https://thcsofdaisymoses.substack.com/p/if-israel-falls-we-are-next
https://thcsofdaisymoses.substack.com/p/jewish-heroes-of-the-plandemic-a?
(the above covers the comics ya mention indirectly ;-)
https://thcsofdaisymoses.substack.com/p/puttin-on-sum-passover-alls
former lefty myself, natch ;-)
mebbe yer idear ain't so crackpotty--a forum fer jooish creativity? -- wull A Funny Thing Happened on the Way...
The most powerful centers of American society are (pro) Zionist. Congress. The national security state. The White House.
“We are, after all, “Schrodinger’s Race,” where the question of Jews and our proximity to whiteness depends on if you ascribe to right-wing or left-wing flavors of Jew-hatred. “
No — Jews aren’t a race. Jews are a religious tribe, just like Christians or Muslims or Buddhists. But Jews are the only major religious tribe that commonly irrationally views and portrays itself as a racial / ethnic group — and Zionists, a particular sect of Jews, are the epitome of that.
Which is why FAIR should have no business publishing your equivocating tribal racialist essay — at least without publishing something that challenges your misconceptions. Otherwise FAIR is being… well unFAIR and violating its own mission statement at challenging racial tribalism.
It seems FAIR is Zionist and apparently thinks Israel has a right to defend its apartheid from attack with genocide. Extremely disappointing. Happy I never signed its bullshit “pledge.”
Anti-Semitic artwork? You mean, those people of any ethnicity who do not support Zionism, which is an ethno-centric form of identity politics? FAIR is supposed to be against identity politics, so this bizarre exception made for Zionism by some in our organization is just bizarre, and it is going to cause a lot of internal fighting.
Since Zionism is only "an ethno-centric form of identity politics" by an extremely tendentious reading, the organization is making no exception here. It is adhering to a liberal view of tolerance that suffers more than one view on the matter to exist. FAIR will be fine, but as an avowed enemy of liberalism, it may not be for you.
Here's the thing, Franklin. I'm not a liberal. I'm an egalitarian socialist who is very much against identity politics. Any ideology that favors a specific ethnic and/or religious group over others, demands exceptional treatment for said group(s), and justifies/rationalizes any type of behavior any organization or government allegedly enacts on said group's behalf, and then dismisses all criticism of said behavior to hatred/bigotry against that demographic, is a textbook example of identity politics.
That description fits Zionism quite well, so there is nothing tendentious about it. Demanding an exception for that form of politics for an ideology claiming to be acting an behalf of *all* Jews, and then justifying anything Israel does, or the U.S. government passing laws to ban criticism against Zionism on university campuses, is doing exactly what FAIR is supposed to be against. As these threads make clear, this is creating a huge conflict within FAIR that calls the genuine commitment to its actual purpose into question.
So, yes, so attempting to insert Zionism into FAIR is going to cause a lot of problems. I would only be considered a liberal if I was demanding exceptional treatment for Palestinians and Sharia Law. But I'm not.
I have been involved in this organization for years, and Zionism has only today become a source of conflict because a self-described socialist with a worthless definition of Zionism - that would be you - showed up and started one. Since the vast majority of Jews support Israel, this organization recognizes that much anti-Zionism is in fact second-order antisemitism, that even principled anti-Zionists would have no business antagonizing and deplatforming Zionists in the manner chronicled above by Wald, and that speaking out against this is entirely keeping with FAIR's mission, which I recommend you re-read.
https://www.fairforall.org/about-us/
The classical liberal values espoused in the Vision are not compatible with socialism. Socialism disdains individual rights in favor of collectivist obligations, and the fact that identity politics and socialism have dovetailed so cleanly in Western politics is not an accident.
Zionism has been largely accepted for years in an organization dedicated to combating identity politics and demands for exceptional treatment by a certain demographic based on past injustices until I started critiquing such an obvious disparity and conflict of interest? I find that hard to believe, Franklin.
The great majority of Jewish people who are subject to constant propaganda about Zionism and Israel obviously feel obliged to support it, but a significant minority do not. Just because the majority of any specific demographic supports identity politics that they believe offers them certain privileges based on calling the Victim Card doesn't make it right any more than any other group who may be doing it for other forms of identity politics or ethno-centric or theocra-centric reasons.
That should *not* be a reason for an org with the mission statement of FAIR to support any type of identity politics just because the majority of a certain demographic supports it. The majority of the world population outside of Jewish people do not support Zionism, which is also important to consider. What Israel does in the name of identity politics, which is identical to what other groups do in favor of such ideologies, should be enough for the org to condemn it, not support it.
Secondly, Franklin, no one here is talking about deplatforming Zionists. Opposition to Zionists having political & economic power to wage war on its behalf and de-platform or arrest people on its behalf or write support for it into the actual legal framework of nations is not the same thing as demanding silence on the issue. And we have every right to insist that an organization that purports to be against identity politics not to promote any form of identity politics because that calls the validity of their entire mission statement into question.
As for not having the right to "antagonize" Zionists? Sorry, but people should have every right to criticize what we disagree with, both publicly and especially within an organization that is supposed to be against identity politics in general. It is Zionists and all proponents of any form of identity politics that demand people be de-platformed or penalized legally or fired from jobs etc for critiquing identity politics.
And "socialism" as you describe it is not the same thing as what was promoted in its classical form by Marx and Engels. We are entirely in favor of civil liberties, which is what a classless economy would provide -- no bureaucrats or capitalists to control and regulate speech or decisions. And which would be bereft of the forms of material-based competition that results in identity politics. Classical Marxian socialism in no way dovetails with identity politics, because the latter is a creature of class ruled society, the proof being that it is promoted and financed by uber-capitalist firms like BlackRock, State Street, J.P. Morgan, and Disney... and yes, ultra-wealthy lobbyist groups like AIPAC. It doesn't matter if said sources claim to espouse left-wing or right-wing values of any sort... both the Left and the Right have their own iterations of identity politics that one favors but the other does not.
So no, I do not think that criticizing Zionism is tantamount to second-order antisemitism any more than trying to connect liberalism and its forms of identity politics is indicative of being racist or sexist or homophobic. Latching an ideology onto a demographic of people and demanding no criticism of the ideology because of it is what identity politics are all about.
"I find that hard to believe."
Fine, don't believe it. So long as you characterize Zionism as identity politics, which FAIR does not and should not, understanding about that and much else will continue to elude you.
Marx disdained civil liberties as "the rights of egoistic man" and similar in an odious tract titled "On The Jewish Question."
In that case, FAIR needs to specifically define what it means by identity politics, and then explain how Zionism deviates against it to the point that it should be heavily promoted, including the war-mongering activities of Israel and the control AIPAC has over the government. I have already explained how Zionism is textbook identity politics.
Marx never disdained civil liberties because a classless and stateless system -- which the Soviet Union most certainly was not -- would not possess the apparatus to enforce the authoritarian dictates of a few. Opposition to Zionism gaining power within a government is not the same thing as banning people following it socially on a personal level. If someone wants to promote Jewish art, that is fine, just as promoting Hindu art is fine. Or wearing traditional Jewish beanies to signify that you're of that religion. Also fine. But trying to impose Zionism or Sharia Law etc on a national level is inherently authoritarian, as is trying to ban criticism of either.
And I have already explained that you're wrong. Again, FAIR doesn't promote Zionism, "heavily" or otherwise. Yes, you could demand a full accounting of what FAIR means by "identity politics." Alternately you could form an organization of anti-identitarian socialists that would suit you better. That would suit me better as well, as I'm not much impressed with your outpouring of complaint at an organization with which you have no history and to which you've made no evident contribution.
Marx quite expressly spends a lot of "Jewish Question" mocking the "so-called rights of man." "The establishment of the political state and the dissolution of civil society into independent individuals... is accomplished by one and the same act." The stateless system was somehow going to unmake the individual so he could rejoin what Rousseau called the "larger whole." Classical liberalism rejects this, recognizing the individual as the atomic unit of politics. FAIR is a classical liberal organization.
"And I have already explained that you're wrong. Again, FAIR doesn't promote Zionism, "heavily" or otherwise."
I see otherwise. We need to bring this matter to a head with the administration, which is what these threads are gradually doing.
"Yes, you could demand a full accounting of what FAIR means by "identity politics." Alternately you could form an organization of anti-identitarian socialists that would suit you better."
So, you're saying that FAIR should have a right-wing leaning, with no socialists allowed, even though those of us on the Classical Left oppose identity politics as much as anyone associated with the Right? Most people who are not on the Mainstream Liberal Left oppose identity politics. But unfortunately, people all over the spectrum support Zionism because it has strong religious connotations with Christians with right-wing leanings.
"That would suit me better as well, as I'm not much impressed with your outpouring of complaint at an organization with which you have no history and to which you've made no evident contribution."
Translation: You disagree with what I'm saying. I get that.
As for contributions, I fight identity politics on a constant basis in my own publication on Substack and Medium, and I do so on a local level in my community. I've recently joined FAIR and I did not sign up for identity politics. People should complain no matter how long they have been in the organization. And I am making an argument that opposing the promotion of Zionism in an org against identity politics is apropos and necessary.
And Marxism is also a part of the Classical Left, albeit no specifically liberalism. They were very comfortable bedfellows until liberalism embraced capitalism starting in the 1990s.
Socialism is expressly opposed to the classical liberalism that underpins the organization. So yes, it should reject socialists, particularly socialists who want the organization's principles applied to them but won't exercise them for anyone else, socialists who think that the organization is promoting Zionism because they're not condemning it, and socialists who are so entitled that they characterize the organization as "right-wing" because a member who showed up last week wants to reorganize it to his liking and they're not falling over themselves to do so. It's not up to me, but you bring zero value to FAIR and they should treat you accordingly. Goodbye.
Again, Franklin, you continue to conflate Leninism/Stalinism/Maoism, which were statist forms of capitalism that included class rule and authoritarian governments run by an oligarchy, with the classless, bureaucratless, and moneyless system proposed by Marx and Engels. Creating a better world for the working class on both an economic front and regarding civil liberties is fully in line with classical liberalism, and an economic democracy would not have an authoritarian state. I think the major beef of liberalism is that it wants to retain capitalism, which does no favor for democracy.
There is a huge difference between an economic system and identity politics. FAIR made no statements of being against any economic system. You are trying to compare apples with oranges here. For instance, I have no problem with conservatives who espouse a continuation of some form of capitalism as part of FAIR. I knew that going in. But tolerating the promotion of Zionism, which is a form of identity politics in every sense of the word? That is a whole other ball of wax.
I saw plenty of articles already promoting Zionism, along with promotions of it in the comments. Creating articles that argue for students at universities being banned for protesting against Israel and calling them anti-semtic are most certainly doing that.
A member who showed up last week? Last week was just the first time you saw one of my comments. I've been following FAIR for about a year now and it's only in the past two months that I started seeing pro-Zionist articles. I was shocked to see it, as it was not what I signed up for. I went to a video orientation months ago and never was Zionism mentioned on it. I find that interesting.
"Reorganize" FAIR to "my liking"? How about simply demand that it sticks to its principles and stop giving a form of identity politics, one that is now being used to promote war across the world, the exceptional treatment that all forms of identity politics ask for? That's all I'm saying here.
I think, to the contrary, that I and others who are making these complaints are bringing immense value to FAIR, because they were pointing out a huge, glaring, and disturbing discrepancy to its stated principles where. I hope the administration eventually decides to deal with the problem as it should deal with it. And for the second time, you said goodbye to me, so I must say for a second time today that I'm sorry it came to this between us.
I agree 100% and I would like to add something. I am NOT trying to distract from the central point of this article. I am saying that this is tearing us *all* apart *my suspicious mind thinks that was the plan all along).
This wave of anti- semitism is ripping apart the social fabric of Western nations after decades of progress, Jews & Gentiles stopped 'othering' each other but our unity is being undone... it is tearing apart more than the obvious: it is forcing everyone in Western nations to 'pick sides' with a big hint which side is 'the right one.' (I have had students ask me 'Which side are you on?' and I reply 'I side with humanity' and walk away)
Western societies are being torn apart by the Hamas attacks as well as social media campaigns. We must ask some questions:
Who would most benefit from Western Nations crumbling into divisiveness? Putin
Who does Hamas take marching orders from? Iran, Putin's BFF
Who has been caught launching influence campaigns via social media? Putin
When did Hamas strike Israel? Oct 7th, Putin's birthday.
Some of you may ask "Would Vladimir Putin throw all the Jews under the bus for his ambitions?"
Does a bear poop in the woods?
dang! never occurred ta me but ya may be onta sumthin' here!
I loved reading this piece, except for the blindered repeating of Israeli propagandist talking points. Just as this artist’s personal experience around anti-semitism is important for me to hear and feel empathy for. There is so much about the events on the ground on and before Oct. 7&8 that are glossed over here or misrepresented.
Any objective analysis of these intersecting struggles and the genocide happening in the Palestinian territories, and now in Lebanon must be founded on demonstrable facts. Artists are not exempt, and, will be rightly criticized for errors and omissions.
Please point out the "Israeli propagandist talking points" that the author "repeated" in a "blindered" fashion or any other.
“Bachman believes Israel has a right to exist.” Yes, and so do most people concede this to be true, including progressive Palestinians. It is the basis of the peace that must be established. Zionists leaders want to take it all, as demonstrated by their words and actions.
followed by “cancel the talk an hour before the launch because they were unwilling to platform a Zionist voice on-premises” Platforming Zionist voices is problematic, because Zionism as illegally realized through violence and occupation is the problem. Resistance to it is an honourable responsibility.
“it’s normally the Jewish state that is singled out as the one nation that doesn’t have a right to be recognized.” No reasonable person says Israel doesn’t have the right to exist.
“When my peers start questioning the legitimacy of the nations of Pakistan, Liberia, or Jordan—three countries with similar backstories and struggles to Israel” Similar struggles? Israel is a genocidal state oppressing the legitimate rights of others.
“Jews are no longer seen as rootless cosmopolitans who subvert the autonomy of European nations, but as white colonial oppressors butchering the indigenous Levantine population on stolen land.” Yes, because that is what has been happening since before May 14, 1948.
I could go on…but Zionist exceptionalism is the inherent problem in this perspective.
In other words, these aren't "propagandist talking points" so much as assertions from a perspective that accepts the founding and continuation of Israel as a legitimate project. Clearly you disdain that perspective, in favor of the conception of Israel as a "genocidal state oppressing the legitimate rights of others." That puts you in the company of the vicious racists whom Wald cites throughout the essay.
It's true, no reasonable person says that Israel has no right to exist. Sadly, the anti-Zionist movement is full of unreasonable people who insist on exactly that, based on this same libel that Israel is a genocidal state. That vaunted genocidality justifies the verbal and physical abuse of Jews in their minds, which is why we've seen the explosion thereof in the last year. Whether they constitute the majority of anti-Zionists is unclear, but they certainly characterize them.
Good luck with that commitment to empathy you mentioned. I hope the rest of us see evidence of it one day.
I don't think the founding and continuation of Israel is legitimate any more than the founding of a state offering exceptional recognition for any other ethnic or racial group would be. It has resulted in extremists like Netanyahu to wage a genocide on "behalf" of Jewish people and the Israel project, and multi-billionaire lobbyist organizations like AIPAC to coerce the U.S. government into funding it. Israel is an extreme threat to the world and a major component of the U.S. Military Industrial Complex, and that has *nothing* to do with Jewish people or Judaism. It's an example of what happens when identity politics or ethno-centrism of any sort takes over a whole nation.
If those complaints had nothing to do with Jewish people or Judaism, then it ought to be tolerable to you and your fellow socialists to let them assemble, speak, and create as they see fit, regardless of whether they agree with said complaints. And as Ms. Wald demonstrates, you do not.
These complaints are against a form of identity-based ideology that purports to speak for *all* members of a specific ethnic & religious demographic. So, that makes it of direct concern to someone who is against identity politics & the politics of exceptionalism, and the type of conflicts that result for the world when a whole nation gets behind it. And by that, I mean not only Israel, but also the United States and the U.K., so this is not about Jewish people or Judaism, but opposition to power-hungry people and war-mongers who try to create and hide behind a virtue shield that allegedly serves the interests of a whole demographic but is in actuality a power grab for just a handful of the world population so they can behave as they please free from criticism or opposition.
Understand that I and other socialists have no problem with members of any ideology getting together to assemble, speak, and create organizations for this or that group, or this or that ideology. My problem is these groups gaining disproportionate levels of economic and governmental power within one or more states and using them to justify war-mongering and exceptionalist legislation for proponents of that ideology. Which is exactly what too many Zionists are doing. This is not about Jewish people or Judaism because there are many Zionists who are not Jewish just as there are many proponents of identity politics in favor of PoC, women, and LGBTs who are white heterosexual men. And opposing those forms of Woke politics is no more anti-PoC or anti-woman or anti-LGBT than opposition to Zionism is anti-Jewish.
If you want to be a Zionist and form an organization to promote the ideology, then be my guest. But you cross a line when you entrench it into government and try to legally ban criticism of it, or acquire the power to ban people from universities or social media for opposing it, or give special legal protections or privileges to members of a certain demographic only, or create a state based on it that wages war on other states who do not share the ideology. I am against any other type of identity politics from doing the same thing, which is why I am a member of FAIR.
Yet here you are, spamming the comment section of a post by a Jewish author with broad and misinformed complaints about Zionism without any curiosity of what Zionism means to *her*. From FAIR's Principles: "We seek to understand opinions or behavior that we do not necessarily agree with. We pursue the objective truth through honest inquiry. We are tolerant and consider points of view that are in conflict with our convictions." If you're a member, act accordingly.
Legit criticism is not spamming, Franklin. If you think Zionism deserves no criticism, then you see the exact reason why all forms of identity politics most certainly do need to be criticized. Which is supposed to be what FAIR is all about.
It doesn't matter what Zionism means to this artist personally. What it does to the world in practice in terms of war, apartheid, and authoritarianism is what matters to those who are affected by that and care about things such as world peace and equality among all people. That, again, is what I signed up for FAIR about. I didn't sign up to defend or promote any form of identity politics.
Let's take a look at that passage you cited from FAIR's Principles:
"We seek to understand opinions or behavior that we do not necessarily agree with."
I believe it meant economic issues, which I am fine with. I do not believe it was referring to identity politics. If we can promote Zionism here, then why not articles by actual FAIR members promoting Black Lives Matter or Critical Race Theory? Or Fourth Wave Feminism? Or Gay Pride? And claims that if you do not support those ideologies, then you're guilty of at least second order racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc?
"We pursue the objective truth through honest inquiry."
And pointing out how any form of identity politics tends to lead to war and authoritarianism if promoted on a national level isn't doing that?
"We are tolerant and consider points of view that are in conflict with our convictions."
Then, number one, listen to my critiques of Zionism, a form of identity politics, and be tolerant of them.
And secondly, I point out that opposition to identity politics is what FAIR is supposed to be about. I do not think those passages you cited were in any way referring to toleration of any form of identity politics, but to other matters -- such as economic, or social values, etc.
Accordingly, I accept and listen to your dislike of socialism. That is fine. But Zionism or any form of identity politics is a whole other ball of wax. FAIR is either against that or promotes it. I thought this was already decided.
This essay, and this organization, do not promote Zionism. The essay is critiquing anti-Zionists, and I have to say that the anti-Zionists in the comment section are doing a great job demonstrating why they should be critiqued.
"Then, number one, listen to my critiques of Zionism, a form of identity politics, and be tolerant of them."
I tolerate them in the sense that I don't think you should be killed for espousing them, but they're still belligerent foolishness and FAIR has no reason to accommodate them. Zionism is not identity politics. If you disagree, so be it, but you have mistaken your judgment about the matter for fact. As for this "you espouse toleration, so tolerate me!" attitude, and the other that "FAIR is either against [Zionism] or promotes it," this is the kind of rhetorical and emotional blackmail that identitarians lifted from the socialists and should be ignored as such.
If you critique anti-Zionists on an essay published in a group that is supposed to represent opposition to identity politics, then you are promoting Zionism. Anti-Zionists should be expected to critique Zionism in an organization opposing identity politics. And considering what the world is suffering at the hands of Zionism right now, I think Zionism deserved to be critiqued -- while the government still allows it.
This is not the same thing as saying that Zionists should not have a voice and be denied a platform. I have no problem with Zionists posting essays on Substack, or Medium, etc. The problem is doing so within a publication by FAIR.
"Zionism is not identity politics. If you disagree, so be it, but you have mistaken your judgment about the matter for fact."
Zionism specifically promotes the identity of the Jewish ethnic demographic and the Jewish religion. It demands exceptional treatment for them, including an entire apartheid state giving them favoritism, including waging war in their name (even though war is really a big money-laundering operation hidden behind an altruistic virtue shield). It plays the Victim Card to rationalize victimizing others to "right" wrongs from the past. It seeks and obtains power, both social and financial, to the point that lobbyist groups espousing the ideology can literally make or break the careers of politicians in the duopoly. It demands the banning and de-platforming of anyone who opposes the ideology. claiming that is tantamount to hating the identity group and/or religion that it latches on to.
That sounds like textbook identity politics to me. The fact that it's supported heavily by the Right does not mean it isn't identity politics.
"As for this "you espouse toleration, so tolerate me!" attitude, and the other that "FAIR is either against [Zionism] or promotes it," this is the kind of rhetorical and emotional blackmail that identitarians lifted from the socialists and should be ignored as such."
First of all, what "socialists" would these be? If you mean the Stalinists of the former Soviet Union, that came long after Marx and had nothing to do with a classless and stateless economy. That is you latching together two different things that you dislike into one. I see capitalist firms headquartered in the USA like Blackrock, Vanguard, State Street, and J.P. Morgan promoting authoritarian identity politics, not Classical Marxian socialists. And many execs of those orgs are Zionists as well.
Saying that FAIR should both promote or oppose Zionism is not emotional blackmail, it's asking the org to *stay on its mission of opposing identity politics.* Otherwise, you get the same type of contradiction as the Democrats claiming to be for the working class yet supporting capitalist policies, including war, at every opportunity. There are some things that cannot be jointly accommodated and opposed by a single organization if its mission statement is firmly against something.
Agreed, Blake, and unfortunately, the issue of Zionism is going to rip FAIR apart. How is it that Zionism got accepted by so many members of an org ostensibly designed to combat the excesses of identity politics and racial/gender/ethnic exceptionalism?
Christofer Nigro…ikr
Anyone who describes the war in Gaza as a “genocide,” a term invented to describe the near extinction of the Jews in the Holocaust, is by that fact alone a gaslighting psychopath.
This was beautiful thank you