Contemporary Anti-racists and the problem of fighting antisemitism By Ronald Eissens

SPEECH GIVEN BY Ronald EISSENS TO THE NGO PREPARATORY MEETING FOR THE OSCE

CONFERENCE ON ANTISEMITISM IN BERLIN, APRIL 28-29, 2004

WORKSHOP I

CIVIL SOCIETY FIGHTING BACK AGAINST ANTISEMITISM

On November 9 last year the Jewish Community of the Netherlands organized a Kristallnacht remembrance, as a reaction on the growing antisemitism in society. Up until 2003, the annual Kristallnacht remembrance in Amsterdam had been used (and sometimes abused) by antiracism and left wing NGOs to promote several causes, sometimes displaying signs and behaviour that was not appropriate for occasions like that.The Jewish Community, never very comfortable with what is after all a typical German remembrance, decided to take matters in their own hands last year. The Kristallnacht remembrance of 2002 ended in anti-Israel speeches by a known antisemite. That should not happen again. So November 9, 2003 turned out to be a good and dignified remembrance and protest against antisemitism, with speakers from the Jewish Community, the Muslim community and the City of Amsterdam. A number of (mainly Jewish) NGOs supported, but the traditionally left-wing antiracism community and other left wing NGOs took the opportunity to not only organize a manifestation in another part of town against the so-called apartheid wall in Israel, but also openly warned people against participating in the 'Jewish' Kristallnacht remembrance, portraying it as an Ultra-right wing and Zionist event, 'which will be very different from Kristallnacht remembrances in the past'. This sums up the problems with the Dutch and European anti-racism scene and the action-oriented left-wingers. They pay lip service to the fight against antisemitism, they say they want to combat it -but without Jews. The nasty rhetoric around the Kristallnacht remembrance prompted me to write an article in which I stated that anti-racism organisations seemed to prefer their Kristallnacht remembrance Judenrein'. For that I was branded a Zionist, a mossad-agent and an Israel-lover, and not for the first time. All this should not surprise me after the events during the WCAR in Durban in 2002. I will not go into that, since I can talk about it for hours. This workshop is called 'CIVIL SOCIETY FIGHTING BACK AGAINST ANTISEMITISM' So is civil society fighting back? After the Shoah, Dutch society -and if I'm very much mistaken this goes for the rest of Europe as well- still had antisemitic undertones -and sometimes overtones. For 55 years it was not very politically correct to express antisemitism, and those who did mainly were old and new nazi's, extreme-right individuals who were marginalized by society for their opinions. Meanwhile the breeding ground was still there and if you listened closely during left-wing gatherings or meetings you could sometimes hear criticism of 'Zionism', 'Those who support the Zionist state' and 'those capitalists that work for the interest of the U.S.and Israel'. All code words for Jews. It took until the beginning of the new millennium before the real trouble began, and after 9/11, the start of the second intifada and the WCAR in Durban it is no longer a taboo within the far-left to express antisemitism cloaked or disguised as 'anti-Zionism', 'Pro-Palestine' or 'anti-capitalist' rhetoric.

Left-wing organisations go hand in hand with extreme and fundamentalist NGOs like the Arab European League and others, sporting swastikas and demanding from the Jewish Community that they should distance themselves' from Israel. Not from Israeli politics or policy, no, from Israel. At the same time they say that Palestine should be liberated and that Israel has no right to exist. That's what I call a genocidal mindset, coming from people who say that they are against antisemitism. So what are the Dutch Jewish NGOs doing? Most of them are doing excellent work, monitoring and combating antisemitism, protecting the Jewish community, doing outreach. Like the Centre for Information and Documentation Israel, which monitors antisemitic incidents, and the Central Jewish Consultative Committee, which does a lot of outreach work. The Jewish community is not being silent, not being passive. But more could be done. Just last week a spokesmen of the Dutch Jewish Youth, Itai Gross, held a speech during the Yom Hashoa service in Amsterdam and said: 'Being passive has never brought us anything. As we see things happen around us with which we don't agree, let's fight against those'.The mainstream non-Jewish antiracism NGOs speak out against antisemitism once in a while but are very reluctant to do so, and are even more reluctant to openly speak about where it originates today. Since antisemitism no longer comes only from neo-nazis but also from left-wingers and radical Muslims, anti-racism organizations have a problem. A double problem really, since the antiracism sector traditionally has its roots in the left, and antiracism has always been about pro-multiculturalism and the protection of migrants. Now all of a sudden antisemitism coming from traditional allies shatters the dream and upsets the cosy stability.Then there is the balancing act that Dutch government and politicians face.Trying to fight antisemitism and 'keeping everybody together' as Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen says. Fear of public unrest or race riots, the guilty memories of the collaboration of many Dutch with the Nazis, fear of being branded anti-Muslim or a racist, it all adds to the impotency of Dutch politicians when it comes to antisemitism. Sometimes this translates into 'blaming the victim' behaviour. You can see it on faces and sometimes hear it in the corridors of power: 'those bothersome Jews again '. I can tell you lots of stories of how antisemitism is still present in Dutch society, but I will keep it to one anecdote. During a side event at an OSCE Parliamentary Assembly session last year in Rotterdam, after a heated debate on antisemitism with the American delegation, I overheard a Dutch Parliamentarian remarking to a friend: 'That's why I don't like the Americans, they're being controlled by the Jews'. Right now there are only two Dutch non-Jewish NGOs which, on a regular basis, speak out loudly and clearly against antisemitism. That's my own organisation, Magenta Foundation, and the Fabel van de Illegaal, a Dutch refugee & illegal immigrant rights NGO. De Fabel van de Illegaal is left-wing but strongly against antisemitism, a rare species these days. The result is that they're called Zionists, Sharon-henchmen, and friends of the new Nazi state. They wanted to come to this conference but unfortunately were not able to do so. To come back to Magenta Foundation, we take on any kind of racism or discrimination, wherever it comes from, whoever perpetrates it. We really don't care. So we are always under fire, if not from the ultra-right, then from the ultra-left. I vividly remember the outcries from left-wing and Moroccan radicals last year when we went after the websites of Indymedia Netherlands and Maroc.nl, since those spread antisemitic and revisionist texts and images. Never since the Shoah were Jews in the Netherlands treated in the way they are now. Antisemitism coming from the extreme-right, with acts like desecration of Jewish cemeteries and arson-attempts, Holocaust denial and antisemitic rhetoric on the Internet, Moroccan boys who threaten Jews or perceived Jews, boys who do not want to talk about the Shoah at school, who do not want to hear the word 'Jew' in class and who learn from their friends, their parents, certain Moroccan web forums and the Arab satellite TV stations that Jews are enemies that should be killed. 'The Jews, the dirty Jew, the dirty Jews which should be killed' as a Turkish-Moroccan rap-song goes that is

being disseminated through the Internet. Of course I'm not talking about the majority of Moroccans here. Unfortunately there is a very loud minority that is openly antisemitic and uses 'solidarity with the Palestinian-Arab brothers in their struggle against the Israeli apartheidsregime' as an excuse. The new excuse, Israel.The old crime, antisemitism. Old vinegar in new bottles. So what to do with the antiracism organisations? How to push them into action? How to sensitise them? I have given up on most of the left-wing NGOs. But let's try to save the mainstream organizations. Leadership from International Human Rights NGOs might help here. Since Durban, a number of those have concluded that antisemitism is indeed back with a vengeance and they are willing and able to work on it. I take this opportunity to mention the just-released report Antisemitism in Europe - Challenging Official Indifference, by Human Rights First, a U.S.-based International NGO that also works in Europe. The Jewish Community is suspicious of the antiracism and Human Rights NGOs, and rightly so, but bridges need to be build. The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the advancement of Human Rights has been in the forefront of that by organizing seminars that deal with the topic of Jewish and non-Jewish NGOs fighting antisemitism together, and I think that is certainly a way to go. So, what I think is needed is: - Jewish and non-Jewish NGOs, should try to agree on a definition of antisemitism - Jewish and non-Jewish NGOs should jointly agree on the importance of fighting antisemitism together, in the form of a declaration. This can set an example. - As Jewish NGOs, speak out against all forms of discrimination, noting that right now in Europe (institutional) Islamophobia is also a large problem

- Show solidarity, If the hand is not taken, at least the attempt was there and this also sets a good example and it can be a very small start of a process.