the current offering of antisemitism education is inadequate for the present conversation and climate of antisemitism

a thread

1/

one of the biggest issues I've observed is that, to the average person, for people to believe you know what you're talking about regarding antisemitism, all you need is to be Jewish

this wouldn't fly with any other racism, but is particularly problematic when it comes to AS
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lived experience of being Jewish will never automatically mean that you understand the complexity of antisemitic tropes. it's impossible to understand antisemitism without having done the reading

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another issue we are faced with today is the fact that many of the systems of global inequality/racism which antisemitic tropes misread (eg blaming Jews instead of imperialism/capitalism for class/race subjugation) are at play w/ the State of Israel

4/

thus, it becomes necessary to understand these systems of power and the realities of Israeli policy in order to understand antisemitism, and distinguish truth from conspiracy

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I completely get that, for many, reading complex theory about antisemitism is inaccessible - however without putting work in, it is impossible to understand how antisemitism manifests in the twenty-first century

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as activists dedicated to social justice - including fighting antisemitism - one of our goals should be making this knowledge accessible.

people do not have time to read every think piece & article so I believe one good method of doing this is through antisemitism workshops

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currently, to my knowledge, there are 3 main groups running these workshops:

1) Union of Jewish Students (UJS);
2) Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL);
3) independent individuals

the current offering for antisemitism education is inadequate for the political landscape we're in

8/

I have attended many antisemitism workshops - to further my own education, and out of pure curiosity at the different offerings. this is what I've observed:

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UJS - generally a good overview of the history/tropes of AS but the org represents a majority Zionist student body & thus does not engage with Israel/Palestine (apart from a discussion of the IHRA definition)

due to this, the workshop fails to provide participants..

10/

...with the tools to unpick antisemitism from genuine legitimate criticism of Israel because it shies away from engaging with the material injustices committed by a State in the name of Jews

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JVL - an organisation that (rightly) actively supports Palestinian rights and is thus welcome in those spaces. however, the workshops begin with a documentary in support of Jackie "Jews were the chief financiers of the slave trade" Walker. JVL's record is one of...

12/

...defending/platforming antisemites such as Chris Williamson and Tony Greenstein. these workshops must be seen in this context - there can be no real antisemitism education from an organisation established to protect antisemites

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independent individuals - as I mentioned previously, all you need to be taken seriously in this arena is to be Jewish and, in the absence of better education, many individual activists are invited to speak on this. inevitably, the quality varies massively

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some of them are excellent, many of them are not. another issue with this is, without the institutional backing of a big organisation, individuals are open to being doxxed (this has happened). since there is no requirement for these people to actually *know* anything, they..

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..can leave participants of the workshop feeling secure in their knowledge without having learnt anything, and through reinforcing potentially problematic ideas

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antisemitism education requires an interactive conversation and thorough engagement with the history (including the development of Zionism as a nationalist project borne out of the experience of antisemitism), conspiracy theories and tropes associated with antisemitism -

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- the current offering does not provide this.

many people are ignorant on antisemitism out of choice, but those who do want to learn are being failed by this antisemitism education.

18/

if we are to move forward in this conversation on antisemitism, we must make a dedicated effort to provide effective antisemitism education that encompasses all of these points.

who takes on this role? it will involve many of us who are already involved in online education../19

..to take it offline (post-COVID) and organise together.

it is exhausting (and we are already tired), but it's essential work.

only then will we make progress.

20/end