No doubt once you get used to the low of -40 degrees Celsius, Birobidzhan is a decent place, and it doesn't feel at all like Siberia. :->
The new model Zionism is conceived on the model of competition, rather than monopoly, so if other countries such as Russia are to attempt a Jewish Renaissance in their territories, they are very much encouraged to do so. We might even hold an annual Zion competition, in which nations compete with one another on how good they are to Jews. Even countries that are not known for their hospitality to Jews may enter the competition. Take Japan, for instance. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Japan has only 2,000 Jews living in it, the same rank as Croatia (!) ("The Jewish Population of the World," <http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html>). That's a shame. It must immediately begin to correct its anti-immigrant ways, plaster giant portraits of Chiune Sugihara (cf. <http://www.hmh.org/ex_show.asp?id=38>) all over the place to atone for its past as an axis power, and mount an aggressive advertising campaign calling attention to its not insignificant selling point: there are few Christians in Japan.
Still and all, I expect that the United States will continue to win the annual Zion competition, on the basis of vote by foot, in the foreseeable future, till France (which has the third largest Jewish population in the world), aghast to find itself behind the two countries that it holds in rather low regard, begins to improve its offer. If and when Paris, a city that the best and brightest Jews like Walter Benjamin found irresistible, gets serious, New York will have to watch out.
Even without French, Russian, and Japanese competition, though, American leftists have a good reason to get in on the new model Zionist action and entice more Jews to the United States. Why? It's been hard -- nearly impossible -- to get social democracy going in the United States, so American leftists must yearn for a Get-Social-Democratic-Quick scheme: import social democrats from abroad in quantities to make up for the shortage of social democratic materials at home.
That's where the new model Zionism comes in. The liberal rich who support the Democratic Party should set up a new philanthropic foundation -- the New Model Zionist Fund -- to lure and settle Jews in the United States, for a majority of immigrant votes are Democratic votes, and Jewish immigrant votes would be doubly so. An objection may be raised that Israel Jews, ideologically, aren't exactly like Jewish immigrant workers of the past -- a number of them being Communists -- who built unions and voted for the New Deal, but the objection is easily refuted: once Israeli Jews trade their old model Zionism for the vastly superior new model one, what's left of their ideology is essentially social democracy. For instance, look at the health care system that Israelis take for granted: "Even though health insurance was not mandatory in Israel until 1995, 96% of the population were insured before the National Health Insurance Law came into effect. Two factors have played a major role in the maintenance of a high level of coverage among the population: Membership dues were graduated by income and based on family status, and availability of services was founded on need, not ability to pay. . . . On January 1, 1995, the National Health Insurance Law went into effect. The law sets forth the state's responsibility to provide health services for all residents of the country (not including tourists.) The law stipulates that a standardized basket of medical services, including hospitalization, will continue to be supplied by the sick funds. Sources for funding of health costs include progressive health insurance premiums paid by each resident, employers' health tax payments, National Insurance Institute funds, funds from the Ministry of Health budget and consumer participation payments. The insurance premiums are collected by the National Insurance Institute" ("The Health Care System in Israel- An Historical Perspective," <http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Modern%20History/Israel%20at%2050/The%20Health%20Care%20System%20in%20Israel-%20An%20Historical%20Pe>, 26 Jun. 2002). That's what they are used to, so they will demand the same or better as soon as they immigrate into the United States.
The most popular Jewish choices of residence in the United States have been New York (its Jewish population is 1,657,000, according to <http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/usjewpop.html>), California (999,000), and Florida (620,000), but Democrats who adopt the new model Zionism would want to extol the virtue of Ohio (149,000) for a change. Really, Ohio is much better than New York, California, and Florida. Housing is far more affordable in Ohio than in New York, California, and Florida; and Ohio is not vulnerable to terrible earthquakes like California or dreadful hurricanes like Florida. Needless to say, Ohio is richer in water than Palestine, milder in climate than Birobidzhan, and freer from terrorism than any other location mentioned so far.
John F. Kerry lost Ohio to George W. Bush by the margin of 118,601 votes (cf. <http://election.sos.state.oh.us/results/SingleRaceSummary.aspx?race=PP>). If 200,000-300,000 diaspora Jews had kindly settled in Ohio, the Democratic Party could have easily retaken the White House. It is clear that pandering to the old model Zionism (cf. <http://www.counterpunch.org/kerry02172004.html>) is not a winning strategy for the Democratic Party. Far better to bring more immigrants, turn as many of them into citizens as possible and as rapidly as possible, and register them as voters. That's what the winner of the August 15, 2004 referendum did in Venezuela: "Since May, almost 4.5 million Venezuelans have received the new ID card. Citizenship has been granted to 216,000 immigrants" (Associated Press, "Venezuelan Recall Campaign Softens Tone," <http://www.abcnews4.com/news/stories/0704/159838.html>, 17 Jul 2004).
Not only can the new model Zionism help solve a long-standing Middle East conflict, help American leftists catch up with their counterparts in the rest of OECD nations, and help the Democratic Party win more votes; it may even serve to revitalize urban America. One big problem of the old model Zionism was that, in its desire to rebut an anti-Semitic stereotype of rootless cosmopolitan Jews, it sought to turn Jews into farmers rooted in land. Fighting against the trend of inexorable urbanization was not only a lost cause -- it pushed Jews into deadly competition for land with Palestinians -- an ineluctable zero-sum game. The new model Zionism avoids this tragic error and sets its sight on inner cities in the United States, where there are plentiful supplies of abandoned storefronts and residential properties neglected by absentee landlords. That's the desert that new model Zionists can reclaim and make bloom. There is a good deal of money to be made through the new model Zionism, if new model Zionists make it here while the housing bubble lasts. 2005 is not only an auspicious year to launch the new model Zionism as it coincides with the celebration of 350 Years of Jewish Life in America -- it may be also the last window of opportunity to do so before the bubble bursts.
Being neither Palestinian, nor Jewish, nor Democrat, I profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote the new model Zionism, having no other motive than the public good, by advancing peace, providing for Jews, relieving Palestinians, heartening Democrats, repopulating American cities, and giving better bagels to Ohioans.
The only downside to the new model Zionism that I can think of is that votes for the Democratic Party more likely end up votes for neoliberalism than for social democracy. -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Monthly Review: <http://monthlyreview.org/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>