Antisemitism in The Anti-globalization Movement - Concern Within The Political Left

Concern Within The Political Left

One of the protagonists of the anti-globalization movement, the Canadian writer and activist Naomi Klein, has written of her concern at finding antisemitic rhetoric on some activist websites that she had visited: "I couldn’t help thinking about all the recent events I’ve been to where anti-Muslim violence was rightly condemned, but no mention was made of attacks on Jewish synagogues, cemeteries, and community centers." Klein urged activists to confront antisemitism as part of their work for social justice. She also suggested that allegations of antisemitism can be often politically motivated, and that activists should avoid political simplifications that could be perceived as antisemitic:

The globalization movement isn't anti-Semitic, it just hasn't fully confronted the implications of diving into the Middle East conflict. Most people on the left are simply choosing sides. In the Middle East, where one side is under occupation and the other has the U.S. military behind it, the choice seems clear. But it is possible to criticize Israel while forcefully condemning the rise of anti-Semitism. And it is equally possible to be pro-Palestinian independence without adopting a simplistic pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel dichotomy, a mirror image of the good-versus-evil equations so beloved by President George W. Bush.

Similar concerns were raised by "De Fabel van de Illegaal" ("The Myth of Illegality"), a left-wing anti-racist immigrant-rights organization in the Netherlands. The group began issuing online alerts in 1998, published in English in 2003 as a booklet under the title "Nationalism, Anti-Semitism, and the Anti-Globalization Movement." The group claimed that the European New Right openly tried to insert antisemitic ideas into anti-globalization campaigns such as the one against the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). Conspiracy theorists also visited anti-MAI meetings. At such a meeting in Geneva in August 1998, titled "Globalisation and Resistance", one participant wanted to publicly read excerpts from the books written by Jan van Helsing, a German anti-Semite. Around about the same time, "conspiracy expert" Kühles came into contact with the Dutch campaign. He spent several weeks pushing antisemitic claims in anarchist circles before being unmasked. Because of concerns over this and related issues, the group left the anti-globalization movement.

In October 2004, the New Internationalist magazine published a special issue covering the insertion of antisemitic rhetoric into some progressive debates. Adam Ma’anit wrote:

Take Adbusters magazine’s founder Kalle Lasn’s recent editorial rant against Jewish neoconservatives....The article includes a self-selected ‘well-researched list’ of 50 of the supposedly most influential ‘neocons’ with little black dots next to all those who are Jewish....If it’s not the neocons then it’s the all-powerful ‘Jewish lobby’ which holds governments to ransom all over the world (because Jews control the global economy of course) to do their bidding. Meanwhile rightwing Judeophobes often talk of a leftist Jewish conspiracy to promote equality and human rights through a new internationalism embodied in the UN in order to control governments and suppress national sovereignty. They call it the ‘New World Order’ or the ‘Jew World Order’. They make similar lists to Lasn’s of prominent Jews in the global justice movement (Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, etc) to argue their case."

The issue observes, however, that "While antisemitism is rife in the Arab World, the Israeli Government often uses it as moral justification for its policies."