>
CB :
>
>> Are you sure anti-Semitism is the correct term outside of Europe ?
AC :
> the only problem with the term is that not all Jews are semites.
> The term, I believe, was conied in the 19th century, in Germany. And it
> means anti-judaism.
>
> (((((((((((((
>
> Charles: But the German prejudice against Jews is part of the European
> history of anti-Jewishness. That European history can't be automatically
> generalized to areas outside of Europe.
but this is not the point.
> Charles: The pejorative "Philistine" in the Bible's Old Testatment is
> real old too. The point being it is not clear that Jews are the oppressed
> group in relation to Palestinians even long ago. Sure David slew Goliath in
> a story in which the Philistines had a big army, but that is the Jewish
> version of events.
But this is "normal".
Look, we're trying to answer a question, which I've interpreted as : "is antisemitism something specific to certain times or areas?" For what I know, it is not. The first phenomenon of antisemitism could be considered the way jews were treated in Alexandria (Egypt) when the city had been founded (Alexander the Great). The first "ghetto" had been established in Morocco in 1280 a.d., even if the term was conied later in Venice. Now, what I gather is that antisemitism is much less "specific" than we can imagine. Exactly as anti-immigration (you can't explain it looking at the rate of unemployment, for instance). So, this facts are the only ones that can answer the question : "why antisemitism is present (obviously in different forms and shapes) in today's Japan and Malesya ?" So the answer (according to a well known jewish tradition) woud be : "why not?"
> European anti-Jewish prejudice is historically specific, and shouldn't be
> automatically generalized to other regions and disputes.
go ahead, tell me about antisemitism in Soviet Union(history). Would you be able to explain it with the "Jewish Question" ? Could you tell me the difference between "Crystal Night" and the results (from the jews' stand point) of the day Ghaddafi (geography) went to power?
ciao, alessandro