Sometimes, it’s easy to think our campus is a bubble and things that happen here don’t have much relation to what’s going on in the “real world.” Occasionally, this bubble is popped. On October 4, I listened to a panel discussion following a screening of the documentary Some of My Best Friends are Zionists where, although attended mostly by aged locals, I was shocked by how many people agreed with not just the anti-Israel remarks but, frankly, anti-American comments.
For those of you unfamiliar with the documentary, it recounts the tales of former Jewish Zionists and comes precipitously close to crossing the line between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. Zionism, of course, started as the international movement to establish a Jewish national community in Palestine but has grown to include simple support for the modern Israeli state. The discussion panel included, Bruce Robbins of Columbia University, Donna Nevel, the founder of the Jewish Voice for Peace and PARCEO, as well as Russell Rickford, the controversial Cornell professor who has made national news for his remarks on the Ferguson protests.
The panelists opened their discussion of the documentary with statements on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS) and allegations that the United States’ war on terror is based on Islamophobic premises. The paltry amount of time spent on these issues suggested the panelists assumed most of their audience agreed with these ideas, lockstep. This alone should be troubling considering two of the panelists are professors at colleges that claim to be institutions where students are pushed to explore and question tough ideas.
However, the bulk of the discussion was focused on statements made by Professor Rickford in which he drew comparisons between the plight of the Palestinians and the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM). Rickford’s references to the “Kaepernick Effect” brought about the locals’ recounting tales of heroically sitting during the National Anthem or erupting in shouts of “We are Seneca Lake” in reference to the anti-fracking movement which has had devastating economic impacts on large parts of upstate New York.
The summation of Rickford’s remarks is the perpetuation of the idea that there are distinct parallels between Jews in Israel “colonizing” Palestine and America’s own tragic history of slavery (which we fought a bloody war to end more than 150 years ago). This continuation of the idea of “the oppressor and the oppressed” is a dangerous line of thinking for a few reasons.
First, it promotes the completely unfounded idea that America is built on inherently racist principles as quoted by the panelists and audience agreeing that the National Anthem promotes white supremacy. More than that, by comparing the two, we are downplaying the very serious plight of the Israelis and the Palestinians. We live in a country that is freer and more equal than any regime the world has ever known. By saying our slight (but still worthy of noting and correcting) inequalities are on the same scale as Middle Eastern conflicts, we are minimizing the hardships of populations on both sides of those conflicts. This cripples not only our ability to address our own problems but it also makes it harder for America to bring justice and peace to a conflict-ridden region with clear eyes.
It is important to recognize that the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians and, more broadly, the Arab world, is centuries old and is not merely a result of decisions made after WWII as some would have us believe. Having this perspective also allows us to better appreciate the nuances of the unrest that are otherwise taken for granted by people on both sides. In essence, it is a conflict known by many but understood by few.
As referenced during the discussion, philosopher Paulo Freire coined the term, “conscientization”–the notion that we must develop a critical awareness of social reality in order to solve problems and fix needs. Albeit the concept inherently comes from Marxism, there is an underlying truth in Freire’s word that we must all think critically about the ideas we promote in order not to take the words of others at face value, further dividing society in a manner of ignorance.
(The rest of the lecture can be found on this YouTube Channel)
