Folks who know me in my off-line incarnation might remember my 2000 e-mail missive, "Why I support Bill Bradley."  His was the first political campaign I ever volunteered for.  Well I don't yet feel quite informed enough to write the, "Why I support Howard Dean" e-mail -- but I am getting there.  In the interim, anyone interested in why I like him enough to have made a donation to his campaign might read his interview on NPR this morning and this article in American Prospect on-line. [Thanks to Bohemian Mama for the link]. 

7:34:59 PM    

Umm ... the Wiggles are singing "Haveinu Shalom Alechem"

:shudder:

12:24:33 PM    

Imshin at Not a Fish has a post that articulates some of what I feel better than I do.  She also notes:

Professor Wilkie of Oxford makes the equation between Israelis and Jews himself. Says Prof Wilkie "I have a huge problem with the way that the Israelis take the moral high ground from their appalling treatment in the Holocaust". But the thing is no Israelis were in the Holocaust. Not even one. Because there were no Israelis and no Israel when it took place. Many survivors became Israelis afterwards, but they weren't Israelis when it happened to them. In Professor Wilkie's pathological mind (I'm not being rude, he's a professor of Pathology), it seems, Israelis=Jews=Holocaust survivors.

11:25:45 AM    

Receieved an e-mail from a good friend who commented on yesterday's post about the Wilkie affair and I felt the need to clarify.  No, I am not asserting that "all strident criticism of Israel" = anti-semitism.  Not at all.  But there was something about this particular incident that seemed off.  Like Professor Wilkie was using a jackhammer where a toothpick was the more appropriate tool. 

Of course, one has the right to his or her opinions on the policies of the Israeli government. Of course one has the right -- as every citizen of the world does -- to take action in protest of the policies of the Israeli government.  Write letters, carry signs, lobby one's own government to take action, boycott Elite chocolate, etc... But this particular action, discriminating against a random Israeli in a matter that has absolutely nothing to do with the contested Israeli policies, smacks of something else.

If there was anything I learned by hanging out at radical anti-racism on-line communities like Hip Mama and the now defunct Mamatron, it was that one need not consciously and purposefully embrace racist ideology in order to be called to account for behavior, assumptions, feelings, positions which are, in fact, racist. 

The US society is a racist society.  It is our history and our present.  It is the air we breathe, the culture we consume each and every day.   We may not approve of it.  We may oppose it.  We may consciously strive to subvert it.  But it is.   As a white person, when I have an emotional response to a person of color, when I have an opinion about a matter that impinges on people of color, when I have a judgement about a person of color or a policy that impacts them, it is incumbent upon me to examine my response thoroughly and ensure that it is not being influenced by vestigial racist feelings or thoughts.

I posit that most European societies are anti-semitic societies in just the same way.  And therefore it is the responsibility of non-Jewish Europeans to examine themselves in the same way.  I think Dr. Wilkie's letter [which he is subsequently apologized for] does not withstand this scrutiny.

I want to note that Dr. Wilkie's letter is not what is fueling this sustained reflection for me.  For some time I have felt [on an intuitive level] that Europe's response to the Israeli/Palestinian situation shares some kind of relationship with Europe's historic anti-semitism. [And yes, I know this is a generalization.  And no, I am still not saying that Europeans don't have a right to criticize the Israeli government and its policies.]  I am not sure what the relationship between anti-semitism and European positions on the present Mid-East situation is -- I am just certain that there is one. 

And on that note, I hear the music of the closing credits of Sesame Street so it is time for me to hug TLG, wrangle his pacifier from him, and get him some breakfast.

To be continued ...

11:00:57 AM