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On 21/01/2011 11:27, Angelus Novus wrote: > Anti-Semitism works with the characterization of Jews being cosmopolitan, > rootless, manipulative, super-intelligent, not belonging to any culture, and > personifying all negative characteristics of capitalism. > > Anti-Muslim Racism is more of a "classical" racism, in that, at least here in > Germany, you don't see characterizations of Muslims as a super smart devious > race controlling financial markets, but rather as inferior, shiftless, > baby-producing demographic danger that threatens to undermine "our" superior > culture. They aren't painted as "rootless cosmopolitans". They have a > "culture", but it is distinctly not "ours". True, these differences operate and matter - especially for the far right, for whom all social problems, even if they are mediated by a 'Muslim' peril, still come back to the Jews. And yet there are overlaps. Antisemitism didn't merely blame Jews for the negative aspects of capitalism, but also for communism and other socially disintegrative forces. Here, it's worth stepping outside the forms of antisemitism associated with the far right, and looking at some mainstream varieties. Churchill's distinction between the 'International Jew' and the 'National Jew' is a good example. The latter, reflecting Churchill's sympathy with Zionism, is conservative, traditionalist, hierarchical, deferential toward authority, pro-colonial and committed to working within a national framework to solve political problems. The former is the fanatic who does not respect traditional territorial boundaries, is dogmatically committed to an abstraction, and is willing to see any number of people suffer and die for its success. Anti-Muslim Racism often relies on a similar dichotomy. The 'good Muslim' is occidentalised, accepts the authority of imperialist states, is deferential toward 'the West', and is politically conservative. The 'bad Muslim' is the radical, the nomadic fanatic whose loyalties are occult, and who is willing to see people die for an abstract end. Btw, I'm not entire sure about this stereotype of Jews as 'super-intelligent'. Most antisemitism sees Jewish intelligence (and culture) as artificial, parasitic, a poor imitation of the white intellect. This is not quite the same as the 'classical' diminution of non-white culture and intelligence, but there are similarities. Certainly, there's a structural similarity between the figure of the 'Jewish shyster' and that of the 'silver-tongued black demagogue' in racist ideology. Their respective capacities for manipulation are not perceived identically, but the basic motif of non-white people who put on a good show of erudition, charm, wit, intellect and so on is there in both. And in general I'm reluctant to go along with this cleavage between antisemitism as a 'special' form of racism, and the remainder as 'classical' forms: the basic principles behind all forms of racism, each of which have distinctive histories, tropes, and ways of coding social questions, are in my opinion the same. -- *Richard Seymour* Writer, blogger and PhD candidate Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.leninology.blogspot.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leninology Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Seymour_(writer) Book 1: http://www.versobooks.com/books/307-the-liberal-defence-of-murder Book 2: http://www.zero-books.net/obookssite/book/detail/1107/The-Meaning-of-David-Cameron ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
