tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448657.post7493974852836053990..comments2023-09-30T08:07:26.165-04:00Comments on Mystical Politics: What is left anti-semitism?Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17626228106192215280noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448657.post-56611788904470928842012-07-30T03:03:22.899-04:002012-07-30T03:03:22.899-04:00I agree that it's racist (and sexist, as you p...I agree that it's racist (and sexist, as you pointed out). I see your point now - that there is earnest criticism that is also shot through with antisemitism, not that all such criticism is antisemitic. <br /><br />I took the article as stating part of the truth about the left and antisemitism, not all of it, and thus I didn't expect it to include all of the issues that you've raised.Rebeccahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17626228106192215280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448657.post-92138626355173164342012-07-29T20:43:13.039-04:002012-07-29T20:43:13.039-04:00I thought about clarifying that, and probably shou...I thought about clarifying that, and probably should have. The article is, indeed parroting a line from critics of Israel there. My point is that such a line is racist, whether one aims for the destruction of Israel or not. No, it's not genocidal racism, and no, it doesn't indicate some sort of malicious intent, but it is every bit racist. The article barely makes acknowledgment that there is something between the poles of antisemitism and earnest criticism. And it doesn't acknowledge things like institutionalized antisemitism and how these things color the debate.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05146833770654841724noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448657.post-79638374663303417922012-07-29T09:45:10.567-04:002012-07-29T09:45:10.567-04:00Matt, I don't think you're reading the art...Matt, I don't think you're reading the article correctly - that line is intended to represent the views of anti-Zionists attacking Zionists for claiming that criticism of Israel is antisemitic. It's not the view of the author of the article. Or am I misunderstanding the point you're making? <br /><br />I'm also puzzled when you say of people "making earnest criticisms of Israel" that their criticisms are "shot through with antisemitism." What exactly are you referring to? I've made "earnest criticisms of Israel" (usually of settlement policy or Israeli leaders) and I don't think my criticisms are "shot through with antisemitism."Rebeccahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17626228106192215280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448657.post-19000667228989834482012-07-29T01:54:33.112-04:002012-07-29T01:54:33.112-04:00Here is a nice resource list. From an academic per...<a href="http://contested-terrain.net/resources/" rel="nofollow">Here</a> is a nice resource list. From an academic perspective, there's still plenty of work to be done. <br /><br />However, I would suggest the biggest problem with the article posted (and I could envision recommending it to some people) is that it is far too clean. <br /><br />For example, consider this bit: "To equate criticism of Israel with anti-semitism is just crude and hysterical Zionist apologetics." It's in the middle of the part where they describe anti-Zionism as something other than racism. Except that the view of Jews as "hysterical," that is with floating wombs (of course, Jewish women are generally erased, so this claim is made primarily of Jewish men!), is indeed a very racist notion. Sexist, too, but that's another day. It's taken from the medieval view of the diseased Jewish body transformed by the birth of psychiatry into a view of the diseased Jewish mind. <br /><br />But I suppose they wouldn't want to alienate people making earnest criticisms of Israel by noting that those criticisms are, in fact, shot through with antisemitism.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05146833770654841724noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448657.post-36151623015694870542012-07-28T16:52:57.714-04:002012-07-28T16:52:57.714-04:00Thank you - I'll take a look at the other AWL ...Thank you - I'll take a look at the other AWL article.Rebeccahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17626228106192215280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448657.post-10307173252304576902012-07-28T04:21:42.790-04:002012-07-28T04:21:42.790-04:00Rebecca,
I wish I could. It should be a fertile a...Rebecca,<br /><br />I wish I could. It should be a fertile area for academic study.<br /><br />I looked at the suggested post, seemed poorly edited, lacked a wider engagement with mainstream historical works on antisemitism, but more importantly did not have any decent footnotes (that page did not work).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448657.post-9869528750132800762012-07-27T18:52:58.938-04:002012-07-27T18:52:58.938-04:00Soupyone: The article quoted is only one of many b...Soupyone: The article quoted is only one of many by the AWL, who do indeed, disuss the Stalinist roots of modern "left" antisemitism, including within much of the Trotskyist left; eg, here:<br />http://www.workersliberty.org/node/1748Jim Denhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00364272346989690845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448657.post-1799873099607830232012-07-27T17:55:34.107-04:002012-07-27T17:55:34.107-04:00Thank you for the comments. Could you suggest some...Thank you for the comments. Could you suggest some better articles? I'd be interested in reading them.Rebeccahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17626228106192215280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448657.post-80239022836491377262012-07-27T16:43:46.423-04:002012-07-27T16:43:46.423-04:00Whilst it is certainly not the worst article ever ...Whilst it is certainly not the worst article ever written on the subject, it is lacking.<br /><br />There is little real historical context to Leftwing antisemitism, aside from an obligatory mention of Bebel.<br /><br />What is noticeable is the inability to engage with the theoretical and practical discussions of antisemitism in the past 150 years.<br /><br />I don't say those things to be mean.<br /><br />But unless they seriously try to tackle how Russian antisemitism morphed into Stalinism, its wider influences on the Left and particularly among Trotskyists then they are only covering a very small aspect of antisemitism.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com