Read on Twitter
Okay, if a lesson on the history of antisemitism is in order, let's have a history lesson.
The word 'antisemitism' was literally invented by white supremacists. It was an attempt to make Jew-hatred seem more rational by claiming it was based on race "science". https://twitter.com/ProfDBernstein/status/1288164662979297281
The word 'antisemitism' was literally invented by white supremacists. It was an attempt to make Jew-hatred seem more rational by claiming it was based on race "science". https://twitter.com/ProfDBernstein/status/1288164662979297281
The modern concept of race in the whole Western world is rooted in this "science" that posits there are natural, immutable traits to different 'races'. That's a white supremacist notion, and the whole structure - including non-white racial supremacists - supports white supremacy.
Of course, of course, Jew-hatred and persecution existed before the invention of the term 'antisemitism'. It was primarily perpetrated and justified by precursors to white supremacists.
The antisemitism in Russia, Poland, etc. pre-WWII? Absolutely rooted in supremacist ideology. Insisting that this is unrelated to white supremacy relies on defining Slavs as non-white. https://twitter.com/ProfDBernstein/status/1288164803010273281?s=20
Not only is that a willing adoption of Nazi ideology, it's also a bad-faith argument. Whatever white supremacists would have said about Poles and Russians in 1932, modern-day antisemitism there is irrevocably linked to white supremacy and modern white-supremacists celebrate it.
Farrakhan is pretty irrelevant except as an outrage-engine for the right, but regardless, black nationalist antisemitism is rooted in white supremacy. It recapitulates white supremacist race theory and adds weight to white supremacist talking points. https://twitter.com/ProfDBernstein/status/1288164919003815938?s=20
I guess you could theoretically argue that Christian supercessionist antisemitism isn't *rooted* in white supremacy, but it is part and parcel of white supremacy. It is an assertion of the superiority of Christianity (i.e. European, western, white) over primitive Judaism.
If we're arguing against supercessionism being counted as "rooted" in white supremacy because it precedes white supremacy, we're arguing a distinction without a difference. The important part isn't which came first, it's that the antisemitic chicken *now* is white supremacy.
And if you're going to try to sell the idea that the Crusades and the Inquisitions and the Pogroms weren't about an assertion of superiority of European (white) Christianity over eastern (Jewish and Arab) peoples, then I have a bridge you might be interested in.
Is there non-white, non-western, non-Christian antisemitism? Yes, of course there is. But the manifestation of a lot of that antisemitism today, now, is still rooted in white supremacist talking points and propaganda about Jews. That's the world we live in *now*.
And especially in response to an American rabbi, writing about a movement primarily focused on American and English communities, in a publication primarily by and for Americans - what is the point of bringing up antisemitism from quarters Americans rarely experience?
Why take the pedantic tack of whataboutism in bringing up antisemitism from hundreds or thousands of years ago, or from other places in the world, or from tiny minority populations? Who does that help?
Spoiler: it helps white supremacists.
Spoiler: it helps white supremacists.
But then, supporting white supremacist talking points - like the existence of 'anti-white racism', rejecting the idea of white privilege, and the repetition of Jewish conspiracy theories - is something Bernstein does.
And yes, I know that Bernstein is probably Jewish and no, I don't think he has internalized antisemitism or something. I do think that it is very easy to support white supremacy when the culture you live in is built to normalize, exceptionalize and celebrate whiteness.
Even for Jews, who are targeted by white supremacy. Even for non-white people who are targeted by white supremacy. Even for white people who are consciously appalled by the idea of white supremacy. That's what normalization means. That's what it does.
But anyway, to sum up:
Modern day antisemitism is rooted in white supremacy, even for a lot of antisemitism that comes from non-white people
Historic antisemitism in the Western world is the groundwork for white supremacist antisemitism and inextricable from it.
Modern day antisemitism is rooted in white supremacy, even for a lot of antisemitism that comes from non-white people
Historic antisemitism in the Western world is the groundwork for white supremacist antisemitism and inextricable from it.
Getting bent out of shape about a rabbi accurately pinpointing the primary threat to Jewish safety and demanding that she underplay the white supremacist threat with whataboutism and non-sequiters bolsters white supremacy and increases the threat.
