Anti-Semitism is again a hot topic in French politics after members of the Greens, La France Insoumise and the Communist group tabled a proposal over the summer that condemned Israel’s ‘apartheid’ politics.
Read the original French article here.
Since mid-July, the Left has been accused of harbouring anti-Semitic discourse by their political opponents on the right and in the centre.
The trigger: a motion for a resolution “condemning Israel’s institutionalisation of an apartheid regime against the Palestinian people”.
Following the accusations, the Greens held a roundtable during the party’s end of August summer school on the issue, coming to the conclusion that there is a certain “blindness” to anti-Semitism issues within the party.
Criticism, also on the Left
The proposal, which was initially signed by Adrien Quatennens and Mathilde Panot, two prominent figures from Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise, has also attracted criticism from some on the Left. Quatennens and Panot later removed their names.
Socialist Party MP Jérôme Guedj said the proposal was counter-productive for peace and “exudes hatred for Israel”.
This proposal is “a totally ambiguous and unacceptable way of hardening the line by drawing a sign of equality between apartheid” and the policy conducted by Israel, Philippe Marlière, professor of political science at University College London and specialist in left-wing politics, told EURACTIV.
Before the legislative elections in June, La France Insoumise candidates Danielle Simonnet and Danièle Obono were criticised for inviting former British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to a public meeting. Corbyn’s party was embroiled in controversy around anti-Semitism under his leadership.
Anti-Semitism accusations levelled against the French Left have since grown, although Green leader Sandrine Rousseau, who was contacted by EURACTIV, said that “there is no problem of anti-Semitism on the left” and worries that by questioning this, one is “looking away from the real danger”, namely the far-right.
The ‘radicality’ paradox of the French Greens
The left-wing alliance NUPES, which finished neck-and-neck with President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble! in the first parliamentary election round, has reinforced the view that French Greens are too radical to govern. The reality, however, is much more nuanced.
‘Indifferent’ towards anti-Semitism
Traditionally speaking, anti-Semitism belongs to “conservative and far-right, even fascist, circles” but on the Left, there is a “sort of blindness and lack of education” on the subject, Marlière explained.
According to him, this is because “in the minds of many on the left, Jewish people are no longer victims and are rather on the side of those who commit injustices” – in Palestine, for example.
In some leftist circles – not only radical ones – “anti-Semitism is built primarily on a confused and vulgar anti-capitalism, where the figure of the Jew continues to fill the role of the cosmopolitan capitalist, who pulls the strings of finance and governments in place,” he added.
But it can also manifest itself in the criticism of Zionism, “which appears to be an outlet for demonising Israel as a State and Israelis as a people,” Marlière said.
However, challenging the Israeli government or the occupation of Palestinian territories by Israeli settlers is not ontologically anti-Semitism, he emphasised.
Rather, it is “the revival of very ambiguous representations [that] makes the attacks against Zionism anti-Semitic”, in that it tends to question the legitimacy of the existence of the State of Israel.
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The Left is ‘blind’ to the issue
Last weekend, the Greens organised a roundtable on these issues – a move welcomed by Marlière.
Roundtable participants were asked by the Greens to question a “certain blindness” of some on the French Left, that is letting “anti-Semitism pass”.
The event was “without taboos”, Rabbi Emile Ackermann, who was invited by the Green party, told EURACTIV, but noted a “lack of training of activists and party officials” on issues of anti-Semitism.
The event was an opportunity to discuss “the anti-Semitic imaginaries that are sometimes mobilised without necessarily being aware of it”, including, for example, the image of a banker, said Ackermann.
“Without pointing the finger at all the elected representatives of the NUPES [France’s left-wing coalition], there is a tolerance on the part of some when anti-Semitic imaginary is summoned”, he said, “particularly within La France Insoumise”.
Ackermann also commented on La France Insoumise inviting Corbyn ahead of the June elections, saying that the British Labour figure was “at best ambiguous about anti-Semitism: when you celebrate these people and ask for their support, it is tendentious.”
The rabbi welcomed the words of Green MP Sandra Regol, who moderated the round table, as she recognised “a certain blindness [on anti-Semitism], the lack of training, but also the vagueness on the Israel-Palestine issue”. He also welcomed the “rare initiative, which comes from within the party and validated by the leadership.”
The problem lies above all in “indifference and ignorance which do not allow us to identify and decode anti-Semitic acts and micro-aggressions” which are often minimised once detected, said Marlière.
Source: euractiv.com
