That's all the more reasons why Jewish organizations should make concerted efforts to fight Christian Zionists (whose so-called "pro-Israel" [actually just pro-Likud/pro-neo-con] politicking is largely motivated by their anti-Semitic theology) and to ally with Muslim organizations. But what's happening, as you recognize, is the opposite.
> That is part of the reason why there is a renewed emphasis in Jewish
> cultural circles to re-identify as Jewish - from more conservative
> cultural projects emphasizing "Jewish continuity" sponsored by the
> Bronfmans, to extremely progressive publications ranging from Heeb to
> Jewschool.com and radicaltorah.org.
I believe that the latter ought to be encouraged. I think it's good for Jews, as well as other ethnic whites like Irish, Italians, Greek, etc., not to assimilate into becoming "generic whites."
> Prejudice doesn't have to be an instrument of state policy to exist, or
> have the capacity to worsen.
Sure, but we ought to recognize progress, the result of efforts made by past and present anti-racists.
You see, I'm Japanese and irreligious, so it's not like I know nothing of effects of personal prejudice of racists and religious bigots firsthand. People of my national origin were the only people to be put into concentration camps in this country during WW2, as you obviously know. Does the prejudice against the Japanese still exist? Yes, a little. Can it worsen some? It did, shortly before deflation hit Japan, when Americans were scared that Japs will buy up the whole country and auto workers were making bonfires of Japanese cars. Is it likely that it will become a state policy of rounding up all Japanese and putting us into concentration camps? Not bloody likely. The same goes for Jews. Actually, the position of Jewish and Japanese Americans in this country are in many ways similar: there are right-wingers who don't think well of us, and yet we are, on the whole, doing better economically than the US average.
We ought to recognize that one of the main targets of institutional discrimination are not us but Muslims, especially Muslim immigrants from countries on Washington's ever-changing enemies list.
But this fact goes not only underestimated but anti-Muslim prejudice impacts leftists and leftist organizations, too, in a way that anti-Jewish or anti-Asian or even anti-Latino and anti-Black prejudices don't.
-- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>