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The struggle against anti-Semitism cannot be waged separately
from achieving a resolution of the Palestinian question and fighting all forms
of racism and xenophobia
By Blade Nzimande, General Secretary
Two weeks ago we attended the 35th Congress of the Swedish Left Party. It
was, on all accounts, a very successful Congress. It had a large number of
fraternal left and communist parties from many parts of the world, it adopted
a new programme, and elected Cde Lars Ohly as its national chairperson. We
congratulate Cde Ohly and his new Party Board. The SACP remains firmly committed
to the promotion of solidarity among communist, worker and other left parties,
for a socialist alternative to the dominance of imperialism and its neo-liberal
market ideology.
At the same time there was an important summit being held in Europe. This
was a conference on fighting anti-Semitism in Europe, convened by the European
Commission. As a South African one cannot but be supportive of measures aimed
at combating anti-Semitism. Our own struggles against apartheid taught us the
importance of fighting all forms of discrimination.
Integral to our liberation struggle was the rejection of any attempt to ascribe
particular forms of behaviour to groups of people simply on the basis of skin
colour, culture or creed. As it happens, the South African revolution has benefited
immensely from the sacrifices, dedication and vision of many ANC, SACP and
trade union cadres of Jewish origin. The shining example of these South African
comrades of Jewish origin makes the claims of the current Israeli government
all the more repugnant. It seeks to justify its policies of occupation, land
dispossession and genocide towards the Palestinian people as the defence of
the aspirations and interests of Jewish people. This is a terrible blow to
the legitimate struggle to combat anti-Semitism, racism and all other forms
of xenophobia.
It was against this background that the European Summit to combat anti-Semitism
had a number of disturbing features. Romano Prodi, the President of the European
Commission convening the summit, skirted over some of the critical issues.
In a Financial Times article he writes: The conflict in the Middle East can
also feed a form of anti-Semitism. In Europe, this conflict may fuel the social
frustrations of new minorities established through immigration in many EU member
countries. Such frustrations imported into Europe do sometimes translate into
anti-Semitic acts, and they need to be dealt with severely (February 19).
I find this statement disturbing. It is as if the Middle East question is separate
from the broader struggles to combat anti-Semitism and all other forms of xenophobia.
It reduces the Middle East question in Europe to social frustrations of new
minorities, imported into (an otherwise racism-free Europe?) from the outside.
Indeed, no one should seek to evoke the Middle East crisis to justify anti-Semitism.
But it is crass not to understand that the resolution of the Palestinian question
in particular is an integral component of any action to combat anti-Semitism.
Furthermore, current Middle East problems and the Palestinian question in particular,
are not imported into Europe, but originate in Europe and are a direct offshoot
of European colonialism. The remarks of the president of the European Commission
underline the one-sidedness with which the Middle East reality is approached
by many. His remarks also explain the insensitive boycott by the European Union
of The Hague Court hearings on the Israeli apartheid wall.
Even more disturbing was the approach to this summit of Edgar Bronfman and
Cobi Benatoff, presidents of the World Jewish Congress and the European Jewish
Congress. They write (in the same issue of the Financial Times): Political
expediency cannot be a substitute for moral rectitude. European leaders cannot
allow criticism of Israel to serve as a figleaf that covers anti-Semitic rhetoric
as a prelude to violence.
But precisely the opposite is the case! It is views like these (very evident
amongst apologists for the Sharon government in our own country) that use the
accusation of anti-Semitism as a fig-leaf to justify their support for state
violence against the Palestinians. This is familiar to many of us, evoking
the refrain of South Africas apartheid regime that supporting the anti-apartheid
struggle was furthering the global aims of the Soviet Union and communism.
It is absolutely important, particularly in the Europe, given its history
of the holocaust, to intensify the struggle against anti-Semitism. However,
this cannot and should not be done in isolation from intensifying measures
to resolve the Palestinian question and ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian
territories. In addition anti-Semitism must be combated as part of an overall
struggle against racism and all other forms of xenophobia. Racism is very rife
in Europe, and most of it is not anti-Semitic. Prejudice against immigrant
minorities - whom the President of the European Commission simply talks about
in passing, presenting them as the outsiders who are importing the problem
into Europe is very widespread.
As we write, the right wing government in the Netherlands is embarking on
a huge offensive against the immigrant population of that country. A number
of right-wing political parties in Europe are making political gains in elections
on racist platforms directed against immigrant populations. The European Commission
would have done better to have addressed anti-Semitism in this broader context
of racism in various guises.
The Swedish Left Party 35th Congress committed
itself to fighting all forms of discrimination, both in Sweden and Europe.
In the SACP we are certainly
strongly committed to working with left, communist and progressive parties
and formations around the world to address the new challenges posed by
old and new forms of racial and ethnic chauvinism. We believe that resurgence
of old and new forms of racism is very much connected to rampant, profit-seeking
imperialist accumulation. Global neo-liberal development continues to be
characterized by breath-taking changes and systemic underdevelopment. Large
sectors of the working class, in the North and South, are suddenly retrenched,
or casualised. With ageing populations and declining birth-rates in the
North,
there are huge flows of immigrants from the impoverished South. But, while
right-wing, neo-liberal governments have removed capital market barriers,
much less has been done to liberalise the labour market. But still millions
of poor workers (and skilled professionals) from the South are migrating
North. Some 1,3 million immigrants settle in the US annually, an estimated
one-third of them illegally. In this topsy-turvy world, remittances from
immigrant workers in the North to their home countries now dwarf the official
development assistance that poor countries receive. In some countries of
the South, remittances account for up to 15 percent of GDP.
These are some of the objective realities that underpin social tensions and
emergent forms of racism and xenophobia (taking root, of course, in old colonial
prejudices) in many parts of the developed world.
The left and progressive forces need to intensify struggles against racism,
anti-semitism and other forms of xenophobia as critical components of the struggle
against the depredations of capitalism and imperialism. To this end the following
perspectives and tasks needs to be take up:
- Explicitly highlighting and linking capitalism, imperialism and
neo-liberalism to the reproduction of class, racial, gender oppression and
discrimination,
anti-semitism and other forms of xenophobia.
- Consciously inserting the above
struggles into the current anti-capitalist national and global struggles
- The European progressive and left forces need to counter fragmented
approaches that isolate and elevate certain forms of discrimination over others
- Consider convening platforms, seminars on the struggle against racism,
anti-semitism and all other forms of xenophobia as a manifestation of the same
underlying
problems and contradictions
Most critically we call upon all left forces globally to intensify solidarity
activities with the Palestinian people and their just struggle, and to pressures
particularly Europoean governments and the US to facilitate a just solution
to the Palestinian and other Middle East problems. It is only through all these
that anti-semitism, racism and all other forms of xenophobia will be defeated!
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