racism and antisemitism

[vaznetti]

I was going to post about my response to ibarw (International Blog Against Racism Week; visit the comm for links and discussion), and kept putting it off, because I get the sense that people's feelings are still rather raw, and goodness knows we don't need another round of "those Italians/Hungarians/Russians/Protestants/whatevers beat up my grandparents!" I think that IBARW is a good and useful thing, irrespective of how it makes me feel.

Now I'm in the situation where I think I ought to speak up about that. This is in response to a chain of posts which have something to do with that thing about bands playing gay on stage which (a) I do not know anything about and (b) I do not care anything about. As far as I'm concerned, what I'm talking about starts here, with a comment which I am going to come out and say is anti-semitic. chopchica, who I do not know at all, responds here. And finally technosage examined her own discomfort with discussions of antisemitism here.


One of the weirder things about being a member of what we call an invisible minority is the sense that you really are invisible: that honestly, the world would be a simpler and happier place if you simply didn't exist to mess up other people's world view, and that, if you insist on your existence, you're doing something rude. I didn't post this during ibarw because I didn't want to be rude. A lot of people I like and respect are involved in ibarw, and I think it is a good and important thing, and I didn't want to mess it up by insisting on imposing my perspective on it. But I feel silenced by IBARW, not because I don't usually talk about racism in my off-line life, but because I do; but when I talk about racism in these contexts, my experiences and understanding of antisemitism are considered relevant to the discussion, whereas in IBARW I'm not sure they would be welcome.

I think there are a couple reasons for this. The biggest, probably, is that a lot of the IBARW discussions are about white privilege, and American Jews are usually able to take advantage of this. I don't mean to belittle the importance of this: it's a very significant advantage. I would point out that being white and being Christian are not the same things; I don't think I can pass for Christian, although I've never tried. I don't know how relevant that is to most IBARW discussions, honestly, so I understand why the issue gets sidelined; being Jewish -- which includes not being Christian -- is pretty central to my own identity.

The second, and more insidious reason, is that I don't think antisemitism lives in the same places as other forms of racism (or, "as racism," if you want to draw a distinction between the two), which is to say that in my experience you never really know who's going to come out with an anti-semitic comment, and it often seems to me that antisemitism is a bit more acceptable on the left wing than the right wing, at least in the countries I've lived in. The anti-racist "we" may hold a variety of different attitudes toward antisemitism, and bringing the subject up might well end up fracturing that anti-racist "we." I sometimes get the sense that there is a certain amount of denial about this on the left.

I rather feel like I have taken my life into my hands writing that last bit.

And honestly, right now I also want to add that I am not going to discuss Israel in the comments to this post.

I should also make the point that the urge to pass is a strong one: why draw attention to your differences from the majority if you don't have to? And the answer is right there: because eventually, the majority will point them out to you anyway.

We used to joke about a family friend who thought there was an anti-semite hiding under every bed; more and more, the joke seems to be that there usually is.

I'm not sure where else to take this, except that I don't think that it's right that I feel silenced on this issue. And therefore, I am speaking. And that is probably why I will not lock this post.

My perspective may be a little odd. I grew up in San Francisco, which is not a very Jewish city, but which is a pretty tolerant place, and I went to an Ivy League college which was probably 20% Jewish, if not more. Most of my experiences with antisemitism have come while I lived outside the US, either in the UK or in Canada; some of it is just "Oh, aren't you exotic," some of it is the more disturbing habit of taking stereotype for fact. I usually blame anti-semitic comments made to my face on ignorance rather than ill-will. One of the reasons I would like to move back to the US is that Jewishness feeds into my feeling of being alien in both Canada and the UK; visiting New York this summer, a city I have lived in for about ten months total, was like having a weight lifted from my shoulders. I have a lot of issues about Judaism, and my Jewish identity, but they're my issues: my identity isn't going anywhere, while I work them out.

Comments

[cofax7]

Ah, yes. The line between wishing for peace and justice in the middle east and blatant anti-semitism should be clear; and yet, for some people, it's strangely hard to identify. I felt quite uncomfortable at the tone of some of the speakers at the big peace rally I attended in 2003, because of that.

Thanks again for speaking.

[chopchica.livejournal.com]

As somebody who went to an extremely liberal college and lived in an extremely liberal town (and is extremely liberal myself), I can't even count the number of times I've seen that sentiment expressed and gotten the vibe that I wasn't welcome unless I was willing to publicly denounce Israel and their fascist policies. Which I didn't do, obviously, and that makes it very hard to be a politically active liberal in today's world.

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

I actually find myself way more uncomfortable in liberal circles here in San Francisco than I did in the South. At least in the South, I knew where I stood. The racists and bigots were easy to identify. They were proud to hate niggers and kikes. They'd tell me to my face.

Here? It's all peace and love until Middle East politics come out. And then suddenly. I'd rather know how someone feels straight out, at least I know who to avoid.

[vaznetti]

I actually find myself way more uncomfortable in liberal circles here in San Francisco than I did in the South.

I heard this same discomfort from my parents, who are both very liberal -- much more than I am -- and their friends, when I was back in the city last spring. I think it's happening all over.

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

I agree, I think it is too.

I believe it's a nasty side-effect of the war in Iraq. Mel Gibson only said out loud what a lot of people were thinking. Anti-semitism is alive and well and anyone who says otherwise is lying to themselves.

[jood.livejournal.com]

It's positively thriving online.

Even this one wee search (http://www.google.com/search?q=jewish+owned+media) unpacks a trove of horrid.

Every conversation thread about Israel, media bias, or general politics on even the most mainstream sites can now be a launching pad for vigorous anti-Semitism. I can't express how relieved I was that Yahoo finally disabled their "Discuss" feature because it was a huge, visible mouthpiece for some of the most vile trolls on the Internet.

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

I don't participate in those kinds of "discussions". I don't need to go looking for aggravation, you know? Every idiot with opposable thumbs can use the internet. They're welcome to it. I'll take my little space here and be mighty happy. And you know, it's like my dad always says. It's good to have your enemies where you can see them.