Re: Naomi Klein on Anti-Semitism, Globalization

Absolutely, and you can also praise all the Israelis and Jews around the 
world who are part of the peace-movements and anti-corporatization movements.


At 10:46 AM 04/25/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>Well don't say you didn't hear it here first...
>
>Published on Wednesday, April 24, 2002 in the Toronto Globe & Mail
>Old Hates Fueled By Fear
>by Naomi Klein
>
>I knew from e-mail reports that something new was going on in Washington
>last weekend. A demonstration against the World Bank and International
>Monetary Fund was joined by an antiwar march, as well as a demonstration
>against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.
>
>In the end, all the marches joined together in what organizers described as
>the largest Palestinian solidarity demonstration in U.S. history, 75,000
>people by police estimates.
>
>On Sunday night, I turned on my television in the hope of catching a glimpse
>of this historic protest. I saw something else, instead: triumphant
>Jean-Marie Le Pen celebrating his newfound status as the second-most popular
>political leader in France. Ever since, I've been wondering whether the new
>alliance displayed on the streets can also deal with this latest threat.
>
>As a critic both of the Israeli occupation and of corporate-dictated
>globalization, it seems to me that the convergence that took place in
>Washington last weekend was long overdue. Despite easy labels like
>"antiglobalization," the trade-related protests of the past three years have
>all been about self-determination: the right of people everywhere to decide
>how best to organize their societies and economies, whether that means
>introducing land reform in Brazil, or producing generic AIDS drugs in India,
>or, indeed, resisting an occupying force in Palestine.
>
>When hundreds of globalization activists began flocking to Ramallah to act
>as "human shields" between Israeli tanks and Palestinians, the theory that
>has been developing outside trade summits was put into concrete action.
>Bringing that courageous spirit back to Washington, where so much Middle
>Eastern policy is made, was the next logical step.
>
>But when I saw Mr. Le Pen beaming on TV, arms raised in triumph, some of my
>enthusiasm drained away. There is no connection whatsoever between French
>fascism and the "free Palestine" marchers in Washington (indeed, the only
>people Mr. Le Pen's supporters seem to dislike more than Jews are Arabs).
>And yet, I couldn't help thinking about all the recent events I've been to
>where anti-Muslim violence was rightly condemned, Ariel Sharon deservedly
>blasted, but no mention was made of attacks on Jewish synagogues, cemeteries
>and community centers. Or about the fact that every time I log onto activist
>news sites such as Indymedia.org, which practice"open publishing," I'm
>confronted with a string of Jewish conspiracy theories about 9-11 and
>excerpts from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
>
>The globalization movement isn't anti-Semitic, it just hasn't fully
>confronted the implications of diving into the Middle East conflict. Most
>people on the left are simply choosing sides and in the Middle East, where
>one side is under occupation and the other has the U.S. military behind it,
>the choice seems clear. But it is possible to criticize Israel while
>forcefully condemning the rise of anti-Semitism.
>
>And it is equally possible to be pro-Palestinian independence without
>adopting a simplistic "pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel" dichotomy, a mirror
>image of the good-versus-evil equations so beloved by President George W.
>Bush.
>
>Why bother with such subtleties while bodies are still being pulled out of
>the rubble in Jenin? Because anyone interested in fighting Le Pen-style
>fascism or Sharon-style brutality has to deal with the reality of
>anti-Semitism head-on.
>
>The hatred of Jews is a potent political tool in the hands of the right in
>Europe and in Israel. For Mr. Le Pen, anti-Semitism is a windfall, helping
>spike his support from 10 per cent to 17 per cent in a week.
>
>For Ariel Sharon, it is the fear of anti-Semitism, both real and imagined,
>that is the weapon. Mr. Sharon likes to say that he stands up to terrorists
>to show he is not afraid. In fact, his policies are driven by fear. His
>great talent is that he fully understands the depths of Jewish fear of
>another Holocaust. He knows how to draw parallels between Jewish anxieties
>about anti-Semitism and American fears of terrorism.
>
>And he is an expert at harnessing all of it for his political ends. The
>primary, and familiar, fear that Mr. Sharon draws on, the one that allows
>him to claim all aggressive actions as defensive ones, is the fear that
>Israel's neighbors want to drive the Jews into the sea. The secondary fear
>Mr. Sharon manipulates is the fear among Jews in the Diaspora that they will
>eventually be driven to seek safe haven in Israel. This fear leads millions
>of Jews around the world, many of them sickened by Israeli aggression, to
>shut up and send their checks, a down payment on future sanctuary.
>
>The equation is simple: The more fearful Jews are, the more powerful Mr.
>Sharon is. Elected on a platform of "peace through security," his
>administration could barely hide its delight at Mr. Le Pen's ascendancy,
>immediately calling on French Jews to pack their bags and come to the
>promised land.
>
>For Mr. Sharon, Jewish fear is a guarantee that his power will go unchecked,
>granting him the impunity needed to do the unthinkable: send troops into the
>Palestinian Authority's education ministry to steal and destroy records;
>bury children alive in their homes; block ambulances from getting to the
>dying.
>
>Jews outside Israel now find themselves in a tightening vise: The actions of
>the country that was supposed to ensure their future safety are making them
>less safe right now. Mr. Sharon is deliberately erasing distinctions between
>the terms "Jew" and "Israeli," claiming he is fighting not for Israeli
>territory but for the survival of the Jewish people. And when anti-Semitism
>rises at least partly as a result of his actions, it is Mr. Sharon who is
>positioned once again to collect the political dividends.
>
>And it works. Most Jews are so frightened that they are now willing to do
>anything to defend Israeli policies. So at my neighborhood synagogue, where
>the humble façade was just badly scarred by a suspicious fire, the sign on
>the door doesn't say, "Thanks for nothing, Sharon." It says, "Support Israel
>. . . Now more than ever."
>
>There is a way out. Nothing is going to erase anti-Semitism, but Jews
>outside and inside Israel might be a little safer if there was a campaign to
>distinguish between diverse Jewish positions and the actions of the Israeli
>state. This is where an international movement can play a crucial role.
>Already, alliances are being made between globalization activists and
>Israeli "refuseniks," soldiers who refuse to serve their mandatory duty in
>the occupied territories. And the most powerful images from Saturday's
>protests were rabbis walking alongside Palestinians.
>
>But more needs to be done. It's easy for social-justice activists to tell
>themselves that since Jews already have such powerful defenders in
>Washington and Jerusalem, anti-Semitism is one battle they don't need to
>fight.
>
>This is a deadly error.
>
>It is precisely because anti-Semitism is used by the likes of Mr. Sharon
>that the fight against it must be reclaimed.
>
>When anti-Semitism is no longer treated as Jewish business, to be taken care
>of by Israel and the Zionist lobby, Mr. Sharon is robbed of his most
>effective weapon in the indefensible and increasingly brutal occupation. And
>as a bonus, whenever hatred of Jews diminishes, the likes of Jean-Marie Le
>Pen shrink right down with it.
>
>
>
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>
>"[C]apital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood 
>and dirt."
>--Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Chapter 31
>
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"[C]apital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and 
dirt."
--Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Chapter 31

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