On Wed, Aug 28, 2024 at 04:56 AM, Michael Meeropol wrote: > > So what makes me Jewish? First and foremost, I call myself Jewish --- > > But in the end, I think what makes me (and many other non-observant Jews) > Jewish is anti-semitism. > >
To be clear, Michael, I support the right of everyone to identify with whatever ethnic, racial, gender, or sexual orientation group as they wish and I oppose all efforts to suppress that right from wherever it originates. But you will likely agree that identity politics is a complex phenomenon. It has given members of oppressed groups a liberating sense of empowerment and of belonging to a larger community. On the other hand, it can divide the working class and at the extreme morph into support for the kind of xenophobic violent nationalism which we are today witnessing in Israel and among the overwhelming majority of those who identify themselves as belonging a global Jewish diaspora. The contradictory nature of identify politics has been reflected in the disputes within Marxism about whether it is fundamentally a healthy and progressive development or a regressive form of false consciousness which has practical consequences in the political arena. For example, I suspect we would be divided on this list about whether affirmative action programs should remain race- and gender-based or open to all disadvantaged members of the working class in which doubly oppressed blacks and women are disproportionately represented. I favour the latter class-based approach but that is a broader controversy than the “Jewish people-nation” issue we’ve been addressing here so is maybe best left for fuller discussion later. > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#31874): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/31874 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/107980589/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
