Joanna
Doug Henwood wrote:
> Nathan Newman wrote:
>
>> Israeli nationalism as
>> completely different from other kinds of nationalism. In a sense, all
>> nationalism is a form of racism, but then that should be the issue, not
>> Israel specifically.
>
>
> I agree that nationalism should be an issue, but Zionism is different
> from other kinds of nationalism in that the claims of membership in
> the nation are different from most. How is it that someone born in
> Brooklyn can claim a piece of subsidized land in Israel based merely
> on being Jewish? There are claims of common ancestry but they go back
> so far as to be practically phantasmic. No one spoke modern Hebrew
> until about 50 years ago, so the claim of language is out. There's a
> claim of common culture, but what does that mean? Latkes? Freud?
> Seinfeld? There's religion, but Zionists have historically been mostly
> secular, and the religious are a minority in Israel. And how many
> other nationalisms have centered their claims on religion? I wouldn't
> say it's completely different - there are some commonalities, and
> Zionism sprung up at the same time as a lot of romantic, mostly
> reactionary, nationalisms in 19th century Europe - but it is a pretty
> odd duck.
>
> Doug
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