Louis Proyect writes: >> David B. Shemano wrote: >> > And to further the analogy, the Civil Rights Movement did >> > challenge the inequality of the relationship, as did the >> > Zionist movement. Both are about dignity and the refusal to >> > accept the inequality of social relationships. That is what >> > the Zionist movement destroyed in the Arab countries-- the >> > wiillingness of most Jews in Arab countries to accept indignity >> > and inferiority as normal. >> >> What an odd idea. The Zionist movement was *exclusively* Ashkenazi >> based. The Sephardic Jews were not part of it at all. In fact when >> they were stampeded out of their native lands and into Israel, >> they suffered much more discrimination than they ever had from Arabs.
I entirely agree that Zionism was a European originated movement that came out of the European 19th Century post-enlightenment, nationalism world, which was not the world of Jews living in the Ottoman Empire. I entirely agree that the Ashkenazi/Sephardic merger had its issues. However, the point is, once Israel was established and the Sephardic Jews realized there was an actual alternative to their existence in the Arab world, they weren't going back to the reservation. If you were right -- that the Sephardim were more offended by treatment from the Ashkenazim than the Arabs -- you should expect that the Sephardim would be on the Left in Israeli politics (with respect to Arab issues). However, the reality is entirely different -- when the Sephardim politically revolted against the Ashkenazim, they went Right to Likud and Begin. It is easy to find nostaligia for the good old days, but when it comes down to whether they want to return to the political/social relations of ! that nostalgic time, it is an empty bus. David Shemano _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
