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HUMAN ARCHITECTURE

Journal of the Sociology of Self-

A Publication of OKCIR: The Omar Khayyam Center for Integrative Research in Utopia, Mysticism, and Science (Utopystics)

1. I

NTRODUCTION

This paper explores anti-semitismwithin the broader context of the 18

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century period—focusing on some of theintellectual dialogues of the Enlightenmentin which scientific racism emerged underLinneaus, Blumenbach, Hegel and manyothers whom I shall not be able to discussgiven the limitations of space. Then therewill also be a discussion of the racial placeof Jews—not promising to answer the ques-tion concerning the colour of Jews. The dis-cussion shall also cover the extent of the

impact of European anti-semitism on Jewsand Jewish behaviour towards other racialgroups in later centuries as Jews devisetheir own survival kit.

The intention is to revisit these ideas asa way of comparing them with what is re-ferred to now as new anti-semitism, at theback of the mind thinking of the question:Do 18

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centuries’ anti-semitic ideastranscend their time and influence recur-rence of old time European conception of“Jews as Jews”?

Three things are to be pursued in thepaper: (1) that European conception of Jewsas Jews had an intellectual influence—that

Rabson Wuriga holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He is currentlya Research Associate with the Be’chol Lashon Programme of the Institute for Jewish Community and Research,San Francisco, CA, and the Center for Afro-Jewish Studies, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA.

Role and Impact of Intellectual Factor in the

18th-20th Centuries’ European Conception of

‘Jews as Jews’: A Revisitation

Rabson Wuriga

Temple University––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

[email protected]

Abstract: The paper advances an argument that European intellectual community played a rolethat influenced attitudes and policies of anti-Semitic conception of Jews as Jews. It goes on toexplore various ideas propounded by some famous thinkers and scientists that dominated the18th-20th centuries Europe: such as classification of races, systematic and mathematical order ofthings, rights of man, categorization of races, autonomous reason, metaphysics of eating, etc.The paper also argues that European conception of Jews exerted pressure intended to causeassimilation of Jews into host-nations. Consequently, European Jewry conceded to this pressureand was imbibed into European racial fantasies on matters of colour and/or race. Such conces-sion to this pressure led to situations whereby many Jewish benefitted from race categorizationas white than non-white races – as a result they were caught up in acts of racism and Semiticanti-Semitism.

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means any form of its perpetuation thenand now is voluntary; (2) the impact of Eu-ropean anti-semitism coupled with racecategorization on its victims—EuropeanJews; and (3) that European Jews were im-bibed by scientific racism and its subsidiar-ies—turning them into Semitic anti-semitists.

The paper shall not cover all intellec-tual influences on European conception ofJews as Jews; rather, there will be a selec-tion of ideas that I consider to have funda-mentally played a major role, namely, racialscience, rights of man, and German ideal-ism. The essay will be more in the style ofconceptual exploration in historical con-text, than strictly historical-chronologicalnarration.

2. I

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The editorial review of the book: Whythe Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism,written by Dennis Prager and Joseph Te-lushkin, poses three questions, the most im-portant one of which is: “Why have Jewsbeen the object of the most enduring anduniversal hatred in history?”

1

It is both aquestion of intellectual wonder and ofphysical interaction with a person whocalls him/herself a Jew. When Hume(quoted in Popkin) met Isaac De Pinto, hesaid he is “a good men tho' a Jew.”

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DePinto was a Dutch Jew of Portuguese ori-gin.

3

Denis Detroit is known of havingwritten critically about Jews and specifi-

cally about De Pinto. When he met him livehe had good things to say about him, and ofcourse as a critical writer also had badthings to write.

4

It is common knowledge that Jewswere accused for all sorts of reasons, rang-ing from being outsiders to engaging incorruption, to others having to do with reli-gion, politics, economics, or social life. Inreligious circles they were accused of beingGod-killers, in politics “Fascists accusedthem of being communists, communists ac-cused them of being capitalists.”

5

For thosewho assimilated into social life among hostnations, they were seen as a “filth col-umn.”

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But what was anti-Semitism in Eu-rope and how did it become of its kind?

Tariq Ali describes anti-semitism as “aracist ideology directed against Jews.”

7

Hein Fein (quoted in Longchamp, Aeber-sold, Tschöpe, and Ratelband-Pally), de-fines anti-Semitism as:

[A] persisting latent structure ofhostile beliefs towards Jews as acollective manifested in individu-als as attitudes, and in culture asmyth, ideology, folklore and imag-ery, and in actions—social or legaldiscrimination, political mobilisa-tion against the Jews, and collec-tive or state violence—whichresults in and/or is designed todistance, displace or destroy Jewsas Jews.

8

1

Amazon.com, “Editorial Reviews” to thebook,

Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism

,New York, (Simon & Schuster, 1983) by D. Prag-er and J. Telushkin, Amazon.Com [Website: ht-tp://www.amazon.com/Jews-Reason-Antisemitism-Dennis-Prager/dp/07432 46209][Date: June 05, 2007].

2

Popkin, R. H., Review:

Deterot and the Jews,East Brunswick

, by Leoon Schwartz,

Eighteenth-century Studies

, Vol. 18(1), 1984, p. 117.

3

Sutcliffe, A. Can a Jew be a philosopher?Isaac De Pinto, Voltaire, and Jewish Participa-tion in European Enlightenment, Jewish SocialStudies: History, Culture and Society, Vol. 6(3),pp. 34-35 at http://inscribe.iupress.org/doi/abs/10.2979 /JSS.2000.6.3.31 [June 05, 2007].

4

Popkin, R. H., 1984, p. 117.

5

Prager, D. and Telushkin, J.,

Why the Jews?The Reason for Antisemitism

, New York, Simon &Schuster, 1983, p. 17

6

Prager, D. and Telushkin, J., 1983, p. 17.

7

Ali, T., “Notes on Anti-Semitism, Zionism,and Palestine,”

Counterpunch

, March 4, 2004 athttp://www.counterpunch.org/ali03042004.ht-ml [September 18, 2007].

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Gans describes anti-semitism as “a con-tainer-concept” in which one can dumpanything of liking. Then she further definesit as “dislike of and prejudice against Jew asJews.”

9

Furthermore, she characterizes it asfollows:

Anti-Semitism is rooted in tradi-tional anti-Jewish prejudices andstereotypes; these may be restrict-ed to oral and written expressions,but in times of social and politicalcrisis may also result in new laws,physical threats, persecution andmurder.

10

The above show that there is a combi-nation of ideological and voluntary inten-tions to disregard the affording oftolerance, recognition, and acceptance ofthe other’s existence, even to the point ofextermination. The definitions also have alink with problems of race and humanrights violations. It is worthwhile to closelylook at scientific and philosophical effortsthat underpin European urge to prove thatJews were of the other lot.

2.1 Classification of Races: Racial Science—an Intellectual Confirmation of Anti-Semitism?

The 17

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century saw the rise and self-definition of natural scientism triggered bythe writings of Kepler, Galileo, Copernicus,and their followers. The new scientific en-deavour also caused fatal clashes betweenthe Roman Catholic Church and scientists.The traditional Catholic religious doctrinewas that “the world contained two funda-

mental books”: firstly the book of Nature,and secondly, the Scripture.

11

According toCrease, the doctrine stated that the formershould be read together with the latter—the book of Nature is written in signs.

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Thus the full and/or “ultimate meaning” ofthe book of Nature can only be revealed bythe scriptures.

13

In defence of natural sci-ence and its endeavour, and in defiance ofthe religious doctrine, Galileo wrote thebook The Assayer (1623) which containsthe well-known passage (quoted in Jo-seph):

Philosophy is written in this vastbook, which lies continuouslyopen before our yes (I mean theuniverse). But it cannot be under-stood unless you have first learnedto understand the language andrecognize the characters in which itis written. It is written in the lan-guage of mathematics, and thecharacters are triangles, circles, andother geometrical figures. Withoutsuch means, it is impossible for ushumans to understand a word of it,and to be without them is to wan-der around in vain through a darklabyrinth. (Opere 6:232)

14

The passage is sometimes famouslyknown as a metaphor: “The book of natureis written in the language of mathematics.”The metaphor became the motto in many

8

Longchamp, C., Aebersold, M., Tschöpe,S., and Ratelband-Pally, S., Criticism of Israelnot identical with Anti-Semitic Attitudes: ANew Definition of the Anti-Semitic Potential inSwitzerland,

Berne

, March 28, 2007 at http://www.gfsbern.ch /pub/WIK%20_def_eng-070330.pdf [September 19, 2007].

9

Gans, E., 2003.

10

Gans, E., 2003.

11

Crease, R. P., The book of Nature,

CriticalPoint

, Dec. 1, 2006 at http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/26529 [September 20,2007].

12


CriticalPoint


13


CriticalPoint


14

Joseph, D. M., Galileo, Hobbes, and thebook of Nature,

Perspectives on Science

, Vol. 12(2),2004, p. 202.

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scientific fields such as physics, astronomy,and others. It became radicalized duringthe Enlightenment period when mathemat-ics took the centre stage in scientific inquirybecause of its idea of order. Weinberg(quoted in Scheibe) explains: “Mathematicsis a science of order, so perhaps the reasonthe mathematician discovers kinds of orderwhich are of importance in physics is thatthere are only so many kinds.”

15

The rise and dominance of the Enlight-

enment in Europe brought with it thewinds of change that saw the replacementand/or radicalization of religious and tra-ditional world-views that were commonlyheld at that time. But interestingly, the atti-tudes of racism and anti-semitism were notreplaced by the fraternity of intellectuals;rather they redefined the two to be workingevils. What was happening in Europe in re-lation to race relations was in most caseswell received in the Americas and also colo-nial Africa as the right thing to do.

Fredrickson writes that it must also beborne in mind that “the Darwinian empha-sis on

“[T]he struggle for existence” andthe concern for “the survival of thefittest” was conducive to the devel-opment of a new and more crediblescientific racism in an era that in-creasingly viewed race relations asan arena for conflict rather than theoutcome of a stable ranking.

16

So, racial science emerged in the eigh-teenth-century with its ambitious program

of classifying with the intention of orderingthings including humankind. Besides pro-ducing a number of negative results it alsoaided broad racism and anti-semitism inparticular. Consequently, classification ofraces became a lucrative intellectual busi-ness in the eighteenth-twentieth centuryscientific endeavour. Two major icons ofscientific racism shall be discussed below,namely Linneaus and Blumenbach. Thisdoes not mean that there were not manyothers who wrote about it, but they took aninitiative.

2.1.1 Carolus Linneaus: Systematic and Mathematical Order of Things

According to Lesch, in the eighteenth-century, under the influence of mathemati-cal philosophy that demanded quantifica-tion of things, “European thinkersembraced a systematic model of order withan enthusiasm and conviction unprece-dented before and unmatched since.”

17

They were enthusiastic in the sense that theEnlightenment marked a transition to anew approach to knowledge acquisitionthrough reason. They were also convictedthat through mathematics, they were ableto order nature and to universalize knowl-edge. Such attempts were made even in themidst of heavy and elaborate rejection ofthe mathematical ideal in philosophy suchas Kant put up front.

18

Lesch defines “sys-tematics” as:

15

Scheibe, E., “The role of mathematics inphysical sciences” in J. Echeverria, A. Ibarra, T.Mormann (eds),

The Space of Mathematics: Philo-sophical, Epistemological, Historical Explorations

,Berlin and New York, Walter de Gruyter, 1992, p.142.

16

Fredrickson, G. M. The rise and fall of thelaboratory racist,

The Courier

, UNESCO, 2001[Website: http://www.unesco.org/courier/2001_o9/uk/doss12htm] [Date of Access: May12, 2007].

17

Lesch, J. E., “Systematics and the Geo-metrical Spirit” in T. Frangsmyr, J. L. Heilbron,and R. E. Rider (eds),

The Quantifying Spirit in theEighteenth Century, Berkeley, University of Cali-fornia Press, 1990, p. 73 [Website: http://ark.cdlib.org/ ark:/13030/ft6d5nb455/] [Dateof Access: June 04, 2007].

18 Frängsmyr, T. “The Mathematical Philos-ophy” in T. Frängsmyr, J. L. Heilbron, and R. E.Rider (eds), The Quantifying Spirit in the Eigh-teenth Century, Berkeley, University of CaliforniaPress, 1990, p. 44 [Website: http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft6d5nb455/] [Dateof Access: June 04, 2007].

18TH-20TH CENTURIES’ EUROPEAN CONCEPTION OF ‘JEWS AS JEWS’: A REVISITATION 57

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[T]he classification of objects intogroups according to degrees ofidentity and difference, and ratio-nalized description and nomencla-ture—largely constituted thescientific study of the three king-doms of nature: animal, vegetableand mineral.19

In an attempt to fulfill the prescriptionof systematics, and under the influence of“geometrical spirit,” in 1735 Carolus Lin-naeus published Systema Naturae per Re-gna Tria Naturæ, Secundum Classes,Ordines, Genera, Species, Cum Characteri-bus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis [TheSystem of Nature Through the Three King-doms of Nature, According to Classes, Or-ders, Genera and Species, with Characters,Differences, Synonyms, Locations] (withtwelve authorized editions)—commonlyreferred to as Systema Naturae [The Systemof Nature]. It opened a flood gate of otherpublications on nature especially duringthe European Enlightenment period.20 Atthe core of the publication was the order ofthings based on categorization and charac-terization of three kingdoms of nature:Lapideum, Vegetabilie and Animale.21 Hu-mankind falls under (bipedal) Mamalia asHomo sapiens. Linnaeus did not remain inthe Galilean slogan: “the book of nature iswritten in the language of mathematics”;

rather, he became ambitious and, in thewords of Frängsmyr, “proposed to extend itbeyond the book of nature to the books ofman—that is, to all exercises of human rea-son.”22 Some of these exercises were thebest producers of world problems such assegregation, discrimination, and manyother evils against humanity.

Linnaeus followed the systematicmodel—which was underpinned by theprinciple of the hierarchy of categorization.It was in this particular publication thatLinnaeus pioneered defining the concept ofrace in relation to humans by proposingfour categories, namely Americanus, Euro-peanus, Africanus, and Asiaticus.23 Thesecategories were based on places first, thenlater on colour. Linnaeus described eachrace as having “characteristics that wereendemic to it”:

[Native] Americanus: reddish, nat-ural, black hair, stubborn, and an-gered easily. Governed by customor habit. Europeanus: white, eyesblue; gentle, acute, inventive. Cov-ered with close vestments. Gov-erned by laws. Asiatcus: eyes dark;severe, haughty, covetous. Cov-ered with loose garments. Gov-erned by opinions. Africanus:black, phlegmatic, relaxed. Crafty,indolent, negligent. Anoints him-self with grease. Governed by ca-price.24

The common critique leveled againstLinnaus’ categorization of races is that they“were clearly skewed in favour of Europe-ans.”25 With the passage of time, the above

19 Lesch, J. E., “Systematics and the Geo-metrical Spirit” in T. Frangsmyr, J. L. Heilbron,and R. E. Rider (eds), The Quantifying Spirit in theEighteenth Century, Berkeley, University of Cali-fornia Press, 1990, 73 [Website: http://ark.cdlib.org/ ark:/13030/ft6d5nb455/] [Dateof Access: June 04, 2007].

20 Blunt, W., The Compleat Naturalist: A Life ofLinnaeus. London, 1971; Frängsmyr, Tore, ed.Linnaeus: The Man and His Work. Berkeley, 1983;Koerner, Lisbet. Linnaeus: Nature and Nation.Cambridge, Mass., 1999.

21 Linneaus, C., Systema Naturae per RegnaTria Naturæ, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera,Species, Cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synony-mis, Locis, 1735, p. 18 [Website: http://books.goo-gle.com/books?id=Ix0AAAAAQAAJ] [Date ofAccess: June 04, 2007].

22 Frängsmyr, T. “The Mathematical Philos-ophy” in T. Frängsmyr, J. L. Heilbron, and R. E.Rider (eds), The Quantifying Spirit in the Eigh-teenth Century, Berkeley, University of CaliforniaPress, 1990 [Website: http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft6d5nb455/] [Date of Access: June 04,2007].

23 Linneaus, C., 1735, p. 29.24 Linneaus, C., 1735, p. 18.

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categorization led to the creation of a racialhierarchy with Europeans placed on topand their skin colour put across as prefera-ble. Consequently, the classification foundfavour and usage in many European coun-tries, first as terms for describing the other,and second to endorse their conquering ofmembers of the humankind they perceivedas “lower races.”26 Furthermore, the classi-fication scheme aided the invention of theconcept of race which was used to enforcethe inhumane institution of slavery partic-ularly in the new world European colo-nies.”27

2.1.2 Johann Fredrich Blumenbach: Classification is Arbitrary Because Human Variation is Continuous

While Linneaus' concept of differencesof humankind was based on cultural andbehavioural traits, Blumenbach viewed hu-man varieties on the basis of physical char-acteristics of people as determined by theinteraction between their genetic constitu-tion and environment.

Linneaus's view of human existencewas that humankind will always be thesame, i.e., geographically fixed, and simplyin need of being ordered within compart-ments of science. In his work of 1775, Blu-menbach agreed with Linneaus that therewere four varieties of humankind given bythe places they live and their culturaltraits—hence he enumerated four: (i) Eu-rope, West Asia, and part of North America;(ii) East Asia and Australia; (iii) Africa; and

(iv) rest of the New World. Later, in 1781,Blumenbach's concept of race evolved as aresult of new reports that were coming infrom authors of travelogue such as J. R. For-ster who accompanied Captain Cook to“new Southern world.”28 He enumeratedto five varieties of humankind: (i) Europe,West Asia, North Africa, Eskimos of theNew World; (ii) East Asia; (iii) sub-SaharanAfrica; (iv) non-Eskimos of the New World;and (v) Oceania.29 In 1795, Blumenbachcontinued to evolve his views of human-kind varieties and he enumerated five:“Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, Ameri-can, and Malay.”30 He tried to justify whyhe chose the term “Caucasian”:

I have taken the name from MountCaucasus because it produces themost beautiful race of men. I havenot observed a single ugly face inthat country in either sex. Naturehas lavished upon the womenbeauties which are not seen else-where. I consider it impossible tolook at them without lovingthem.31

Like his predecessor, Blumenbach'sconcept remained in favour of Europeans(who fall under Caucasian)—characterizedby white colour. Rogoff pointed out that in1775 Blumenbach wrote that “the Jewishtype was instantly recognizable, but he didnot define the distinguishing Jewish char-acteristics about Jews.”32 Thus they were

25 Wikipedia, “Race and genetics” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_genetics[June 03, 2007].

26 Taylor, E. B., The Philosophy of Religionamong the Lower Races of mankind, The Journalof the Ethnological Society of London, Vol. 2(4),1870, pp. 369-381; Marshall, H. R., Our relationswith the “Lower Races,” International Journal ofEthics, Vol. 11(4), 1901, pp. 409-422.

27 Anonymous, Carolus Linneaus, [Website:http://www.answers.com/topic/carolus-lin-naeus] Date of Access: June 03, 2007].

28 Blumenbach, J. F. “On the Natural Varietyof Mankind” [Originally published 1865] in R.Bemasconi and T. L. Lott (eds), The Idea of Race,Indianapolis, Hackett, 2000, p. 5.

29 Blumenbach, J. F., 2000, p. 5.30 Blumenbach, J. F., 2000, p. 27.31 Blumenbach, J. F., “On the Natural Vari-

ety of Mankind” [Originally published 1865] inJ. F. Blumenbach; J. Hunter, The AnthropologicalTreatises of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach: WithMemoirs of Him by Marx and Flourens and an Ac-count of his Anthropological Museum by John Hunt-er, M.D. on the Varieties of Man, London,Adamant Media Corporation, 2001, p. 269.



seen as people without category.The nineteenth-century race scientists

did not change the usage of the term as syn-onymous to Europeans. It transcended Blu-menbach and affected Europeanconception of other races. For Blumenbach,other races degenerated from the Cauca-sians, a view that is disproved by the sci-ence of human genetics today. Cohen looksat the outcome of racial classification as thesource of long-term after-effects on race re-lations. He writes thus:

Racial classifications have insidi-ous long-term results: anger andenvy flowing from rewards or pen-alties based on race; solidificationof racial barriers and the encour-agement of racial separatism; inap-propriate entry of race intounrelated intellectual or economicmatters; the indirect support ofcondescension and invidious judg-ments among ethnic groups-insum, the promotion of all the con-ditions that produce racial dishar-mony and racial disintegration.33

These long-term after-effects continuedto feature in European and American histo-ries with regards to racism, anti-Semitism,and slavery. Jews and blacks, who were onthe receiving end of this racialization of hu-man species experienced it harshly formany years and even today they are rele-gated to a lower level but in a subtle way.People still use terms such as ‘caucasian’,and many others as a way of describingtheir identities—showing the differencefrom the other.

2.2 The “Rights of Man” amid intellectual anti-Semitic dialogues

In European fantasy, ‘the Jew’ ap-peared as “an intruder who introducesfrom outside disorder, decomposition andcorruption of the social order.”34 Out-wardly, the idea appeared as a positivecause, such that if the ‘problem-Jew’ wereto be eliminated, it would enable Europe-ans “to restore order, stability and iden-tity.”35 In England King Edward heavilytaxed ten thousand Jews and later expelledthem out of the country in 1290 CE.36 Oneis compelled to think that the expulsioncould have been seen as part of solving the‘problem-Jews’ because it continued inFrance, Portugal, and Spain. In Germany itwent from bad to worse when the pogromof 1938 took place.37 The attitude againstJews remained inescapable and grew fromstrength to strength.

In 1688, the English Revolution tookplace and brought about the Declaration ofRight.38 The English Revolution is said tohave been influential to other countriessuch as France. The period 18th-19th centu-ries was viewed as an era that set the stagefor emancipation—where important ideassuch as human nature, civil society, state,and human rights were at the centre ofdaily philosophical dialogues and writings.It also set a perception of things that therewill be a worldwide peace as humanity willbe coming of age.

32 Rogoff, L., Is the Jew White?: The RacialPlace of the Southern Jew, American Jewish Histo-ry, Vol. 85(3), 1997, p. 196.

33 Cohen, C., Why racial preference is illegaland immoral, Commentary, 1979, p. 47 at http://carl-cohen.org/docs/Why%20Racial%20Preference%20is%20Illegal%20and%20I mmoral.pdf [September 7, 2007].

34 iek, S., The Sublime of Object of Ideology,London, Verso, 1989, p. 118.

35 iek, S., 1989, p. 118.36 Dimont, M. I., The Amazing Adventures of

the Jewish People, New York, Behrman House,1984, pp. 109-110.

37 Murchin, M. G., Britain's Jewish Problem,London, Hurst & Blankett, 1939, p. 47.

38 Burke, E., “Reflections on the Revolutionin France” [Originally published: 1790], in C. W.Eliot (ed), The Harvard Classics, Vol. 24 NewYork, P. F. Collier, & Son Corporation, 1937, p.156.

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2.2.1 The ‘Rights of Man’ in France

Enlightenment philosophers wrote alot about radical democracy, peace, humanrights, tolerance, and many other doctrineson social and political order. However, thequestion of how Jews fit into such an orderand experienced democratic rights andpeace as fellow human existents failedmany as philosophers. Writing to De Pinto(in Sutcliffe), Voltaire writes: The FrenchRevolution of 1789 (1787-1799) shookFrance and the rest of Europe and theworld. Its wave ripples touched and influ-enced many aspects of European life, rang-ing from politics to religion, warfare, law,world policies on governance and com-merce, etc. The causes of the French Revo-lution, among many, is said to beradicalized political philosophy of the En-lightenment expounded by the philos-ophes such as Jean-Jacque Rousseau,Montesquieu, Denis Diderot, and others.They used reasoned discourses on pam-phlets, especially in conne39ction with hu-man liberties—hence the declaration of the"Rights of Man,” freedom of conscience,and the secularization of the state. Prior to1789, Jews in France were treated as outsid-ers and en40joyed few civil rights. Article I(in Lefebvre) of the Dec41laration of theRights of Man and Citizens of 1789 states:“Men are born and remain free and equal inrights.” Lefebvre points out: “It was only atthe end of the year [1789] and the beginningof 1790 that they advanced a bit further byconferring civil rights upon Protestants andthe Jews of the South.” Later in 1791, all

Jews became activ42e citizens in France.Thus the French Revolution set the stage ofemancipation for European Jews. Influ-enced by French Revolution ideas, Shafferstates that at the end of the 18th century“the Dutch passed an Act of Civil Liberty(the Emancipation of the Jews)—declaringJews as “citizens with rights and obliga-tions equal to those of their non-Jewishcompatriots.” However this was not theend of anti-Semitism.

I shall tell you as frankly, that thereare many who cannot endure yourlaws, your books, or your supersti-tions. They say that your nation hasdone, in every age much hurt to itselfand to the human race.43

In the name of reason, Voltaire charac-terized Judaism as violent and irrational re-ligion—basing his critique on the OldTestament events. Again, Voltaire (inGould) wrote:

[Jews] are … the greatest scoundrelswho have ever sullied the face of theglobe … They are, all of them, bornwith raging fanaticism in theirhearts, just as the Bretons and Ger-mans are born with blond hair. Iwould not in the least be surprised ifthese people would not some day be-come deadly to the human race …You [Jews] have surpassed all na-tions in impertinent fables, in badconduct, and in barbarism. You de-serve to be punished, for this is yourdestiny.44

39 Lefebvre, G., The coming of the French Rev-olution (Translated by R. R. Palmer) (BicentenialEdition), Princeton, Princeton University Press,1988.

40 Lefebvre, G., The French Revolution: From1793 1799 (Translated by John Hall Stewart andJames Friguglietti), London, Routledge andKegan Paul, 1964, p. 274-275.

41 Jones, C., The Longman Companion to theFrench Revolution, London, Longman, pp. 68,242, 255-6.

42 Gans, E., The omnipotent Jew. Anti-Semitism today (Transl. from Dutch by WendieShaffer, Vrij Nederland, 2003 at http://www.niod.nl/nl/documents/Anti-SemitismTodayJan282004 [Date of Access: May 30, 2007].

43 Sutcliffe, A., Can a Jew be a philosopher?Isaac De Pinto, Voltaire, and Jewish Participa-tion in European Enlightenment, Jewish SocialStudies: History, Culture and Society, Vol. 6(3), pp.37 at http://inscribe.iupress.org/doi/abs/10.2979 /JSS.2000.6.3.31 [June 05, 2007].



Voltaire is said to have worked hardagainst tyranny and bigotry, but the dangerwas his view about Jews as epitomizers ofsuch. The descriptions above show howmuch Voltaire held Jews with the greatestcontempt ever that would not have failedto incite violence against Jews. Also, Vol-taire's conception presents an ambiguouspicture of the Enlightenment ideology inthat it carried and imprinted in the mindsof many a myriad of sophisticated implica-tions to the rights of the Jew to exist as a hu-man being.

2.2.2 Edmund Burke versus the ‘Rights of Man’ in France

Burke in comparison bragged to the re-cipient of his letter that through the Revolu-tion, the British people are the only ones inthe whole world who are offered an oppor-tunity “for asserting a right of election tocrown,” “a right to choose our own gover-nors; to cashier them for misconduct and toform a government for ourselves.”45 Al-though he subscribed to the English Decla-ration of Right, Burke, in the Reflections onthe Revolution in France did not see theFrench Revolution as something that wasworthwhile. Rather he attacked the philos-ophes and other role players for sacrificing“all ideas of dignity to an ambition withouta distinct object and work with low instru-ments and for low ends, the whole compo-sition becomes low and base.”46 In otherwords, to Burke, the whole exercise was oflow standards and consequently, of no ben-efit to people of France.

The principle of utility, according toHalévy, “was hostile to revolutionary prin-ciples” to such an extent that those whospoke “the language of the ‘rights of man’did not seem any longer fully to under-stand the juridical and spiritualistic mean-

ing of the expression.”47 Halévy criticizesBurke for failing to raise the question of hu-man rights in his parliamentary addressesin 1774: it is because Burke had already“made use of the principle of utility.”48

Halévy also criticized Godwin for taking asimilar direction like Burke’s of basing “apurely democratic political theory on a rig-orous and systematic application of theprinciple of utility, excluding the principleof equal rights.”49 Both in the Reflectionsand in his speech to the parliament, Burkespoke against the French Revolution—win-ning himself an acknowledgment: “philos-opher of counter-revolution.”50 Burkecontended that “the theory of the Rights ofMan was an unreal ‘metaphysic’; the workof men of letters and philosophers, whowere really responsible for the French Rev-olution.”51 Hence Halévy’s conclusion:“from utilitarian philosophy Burke de-duced an anti-democratic political the-ory.”52

Technically, by failing to highlight thematter of equal rights and continuing toshow a negative attitude against Jews,Burke contributed to European anti-Semit-ism. As a renowned and honourable mem-ber of parliament, his statements wererespected and taken seriously. In the Reflec-tions Burke's prejudice against Jews fea-tured mildly but continued to enlist Jewsamong the people of bad character, thus hewrote:

The next generation of the nobilitywill resemble the artificers andclowns, and money-jobbers, users,and Jews, who will be always theirfellows sometimes their masters.53

44 Gould, A. E., What Did They Think of theJews? Northvale, Jason Aronson, 1991, p. 91.

45 Burke, E., 1937, p. 156-184.46 Burke, E., 1937, p. 185.

47 Halévy, E., The Growth of Philosophic Radi-calism (Translated by M. Morris), London, Faberand Faber, 1972, p. 155.

48 Halévy, E., 1972, p. 157.49 Halévy, E., 1972, p. 155.50 Halévy, E., 1972, p. 157.51 Halévy, E., 1972, p. 158.52 Halévy, E., 1972, p. 157.53 Burke, E., 1937, p. 187.

62 RABSON WURIGA


Implicitly denouncing the principle‘the end justifies the means’, referring tomurders, rapes, disrespects on propertiesduring the years of the French Revolution,Burke did not see the efforts holding to theend. However, the results of the Revolutionheld beyond what he expected althoughwith much evil accompanying. The worstpart Burke did not want to imagine wasthat Jews were allowed to participate in thepublic forum as active citizens. Sincechurch land was nationalized by the Frenchgovernment, then Jews were free to pur-chase some.54 Burke's prophecy of doomcould have been that they were going toown half of the country in no time. It is notimpossible to think that such views wereshared in Western Europe.

2.2.3 German Idealism: Kant and Hegel

German philosophical tradition con-tributed to Western scientific and philo-sophical endeavours. However, in theprocess, it became a participant root of theinvention and implementation of elimina-tory anti-Semitic policies on the basis ofethnicity. Jacobson said:

The feverish and self-conscious-ness revision of 'the Jewish race'was at the very heart of [mid-twen-tieth century] scientific project torethink the "race concept" in gener-al—the racial devastation in Ger-many, that is, was largelyresponsible for the mid-century as-cendance of "ethnicity.”55

The revision of Jewish race means thatthere was still some remnant curiosity re-garding what class should Jews be catego-rized as. This is because there were many

perceptions as to what ‘the Jew’ has becomesince many of them had assimilated cultur-ally, politically, and physically through in-termarriage. So the revision was toreestablish the place of the Jew in race cate-gorization. But there continued to be manyimpediments to such an endeavour,namely Jewish religion, laws, and way ofliving. For Mack, German philosophersconstructed Jews as a symbol of the "world-liness" that "hindered the development of abody politic and that served as a foil toKantian autonomy and rationality.”56

The Enlightenment’s two-pronged pro-gramme of progress and civilization em-braced and radicalized the humanist ideaof secularizing religion. In the process, reli-gion was viewed as linked to or part of abody politic. Consequently, in his moraland religious philosophy, Kant discussesJudaism57, while in anthropology, he dis-cusses Jews as a nation.58 With regards toJudaism, Kant highlighted one side ofSpinoza, and argued that "Judaism is a reli-gion without religion,”59 whose very es-sence consists of politics.60

Mack states that Kant argued that Ju-daism's "inability to participate in a bour-geois civil society based on the Mine-and-Yours property and ownership distinctionwas reducible to the superstition of theJews.”61 According to Mack, by supersti-tion, Kant meant "reason's subjection to ex-

54 Burke, E., 1937, pp. 192-193.55 Jacobson, M. F., "Looking Jewish, Seeing

Jews" in L. Back. and J. Solomos (eds), Theories ofRace and Racism: A Reader, New York, Routledge,2000, p. 249.

56 Mack, M., German Idealism: The Inner Anti-Semitism Philosophy and German Jewish Responses,Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2003, pp.1-250.

57 Kant, I., Religion within the Boundaries ofMere Reason Alone [Originally published: 1793];Kant, I., Metaphysics of Morals [Originally pub-lished: 1797].

58 Kant, I., Anthropology from a PragmaticPoint of View (Translated by M. J. Gregor) [Orig-inally published: 1798], The Hague: MartinusNijhof, 1974.

59 Robertson, R., The 'Jewish Question' inGerman Literature, 1749-1939: Emancipation andits Discontents, New York, Oxford UniversityPress, 1999, p. 25.

60 Mack, M., 2003, p. 23.61 Mack, M., 2003, p. 40.



ternal facts, that is to the principle ofheteronomy.”62 Furthermore, for Kant,

Superstition is irrational because itdoes not restrict the use of reasonto reason's (autonomous) self-rulebut instead orients rational towardthat which it can justify by objec-tive grounds and dogmatic convic-tion. [B]y calling the Jewssuperstitious, Kant defined ratio-nal autonomy as freedom fromboth the empirically and religious-ly given, over and against Judaic,which he characterized as the het-eronomous, as the superstitiousand irrational. In this way, Kant ex-cluded the Jews from his transcen-dental scheme.63

Mack raises what he thinks is the cen-tral question of Kant's metaphysics of eat-ing: Can Jewish way of life transcendempirical conditions?64 Kant holds thatJewish way of life lacks "autonomous rea-son" due to its "immutable relationship toJehovah.”65 In other words, a Jewish per-son is not autonomous because of his or herdependence on the external world.

Concerning Jews as a nation, Kantshared common bigotry against Jews con-demning them of being a "nation of cheat-ers bound by ancient superstition [who]seek no civil dignity and try to make up forthis loss by the advantage of duping thepeople among whom they find refuge andeven one another.”66 Furthermore, as Rob-ertson notes Kant "described Jews as socialvampires.”67 Robertson shows that Kant'santi-Semitic prejudices continued to haveauthoritative impact and they were takenseriously.

There was a big wave against theemancipation and integration of EuropeanJewry. Confronted by such an upsurge ofwidespread opinion against Jews, Hegelspoke in favour of Jewish emancipation—arguing that it is a state's rational impera-tive to do so. In the Philosophy of Right He-gel presented a lengthy explanation of whyJews should be given civil rights:

[T]echnically it may have beenright to refuse a grant of even civilrights to the Jews on the groundthat they should be regarded as be-longing not merely to a religioussect but to a foreign race. But thefierce outcry raised against theJews, from that point of view andothers, ignores the fact that theyare, above all, men. To exclude theJews from civil rights, on the onehand, would rather be to confirmthe isolation with which they havebeen reproached—a result forwhich the state refusing themrights would be blamable and re-proachable, because by so refusing,it would have misunderstood itsown basic principle, its nature asan objective and powerful institu-tion. The exclusion of Jews fromcivil rights may be supposed to beright of the highest kind and maybe demanded on that ground; butexperience has shown that so to ex-clude them is the silliest folly, andthe way in which governmentsnow treat them has proved itself tobe both prudent and dignified.68

One wonders, why Hegel would takesuch a position when he supported Kant inhis attack on Jews and Judaism. Althoughhe took such a stance, Mack points out that62 Mack, M., 2003, p. 40.

63 Mack, M., 2003, p. 40.64 Mack, M., 2003, pp. 23-25.65 Mack, M., 2003, pp. 23-25.66 Kant, I., 1974, p. 77.67 Robertson, R., 1999, p. 25.

68 Hegel, G. W. F. Philosophy of Right (Trans-lated with Notes by T. M. Knox) [Originallypublished: 1820], Oxford, The Clarendon Press,1952, p. 169.

64 RABSON WURIGA


recent research on Hegel stumbled into ariddle:

Why did Hegel write in a prejudi-cial manner about European Jewryand Judaism in his philosophy ofhistory and nevertheless arguedfor the political integration of Jewsinto contemporary German soci-ety?69

Mack is of the view that it could be thatHegel wanted to strengthen Kant's argu-ment. It could be for this reason that Hegeljoined Fichte and Schelling in epitomizingKant's critical idealism to what Stumpf calls"metaphysical idealism."70 In the meta-physical idealism, Hegel, Fichte, andSchelling conferred authority upon reasonto impose "its categories upon experienceand transformed this into the theory thatevery object and therefore the entire uni-verse is a product of mind.”71 So by stick-ing to their dietary laws, Jews are makingobjects absolute instead of transcending be-yond to the level of rationality.72

Hegel cannot be off the hook as thechampion or advocate for civil rights be-cause in the Encyclopedia, under "Anthro-pology," he benefited from racial science'sfantasies. These fantasies did not spare He-gel: he classified varieties of humankindinto three: starting with Caucasian, fol-lowed by the Ethiopian, and ending withthe Mongolian races.73 Like his predeces-

sors, Hegel does not leave out the idea ofskin colour. The race factor continued tofeature prominently in his philosophies ofhistory and right.

3. CAUCASIANIZATION: JEWS AND RACIAL CATEGORIZATION

According to Adorno and Horkheimer,"the Fascists do not view the Jews as a mi-nority, but as an opposing race, the embod-iment of the negative principle.”74 Gilmandefines race as "a constructed category ofsocial organization as much as it is a reflec-tion of some aspects of biological reality."75

Furthermore, Gilman explains that in theWestern world, "racial identity has been apowerful force in shaping how we, at theclose of the twentieth century, understandourselves.”76 However, the idea of race, al-though dominant since 18th century topresent, encountered critical reaction as toits validity since individualism began totake centre stage as a result of the campaignfor the idea of human rights.77

Although there was such a counter-re-action to the idea of race, the 18th-20th cen-turies Europe became convinced that itsconception of a Jew is simply confined to awhite person with certain features accept-able to categorization under Caucasianrace.

3.1 The question of Jewish Racial Place in Human Categorization

European intellectual community hadan enormous influence on American and

69 Mack, M. 2003, p. 43.70 Stumpf, S. E., Socrates to Sartre: A Histo-

ry of Philosophy, Boston, McGrow Hill, 1999,pp. 296 297.

71 Stumpf, S. E., 1999, pp. 305.72 Hegel, G. W. F., Lectures on the Philoso-

phy of World History Introduction: Reason inHistory (Translated by H. B. Nisbet) [Originallypublished: Cambridge, Cambridge UniversityPress, 1980.

73 Hegel, G. W. F., "Anthropology" [FromThe Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences, Origi-nally published 1830] in R. Bemasconi and T. L.Lott (eds), The Idea of Race, Indianapolis, Hack-ett, 2000, p. 40.

74 Adorno, Th. W. and Horkheimer, M., "El-ements of anti-Semitism: The limits of Enlight-enment" in L. Back and J. Solomos (eds), Theoriesof Race and Racism: A Reader, New York, Rout-ledge, 2000, p. 206.

75 Gilman, S. L., "Are Jews White: Or, thehistory of the nose job" in L. Back and J. Solomos(eds), Theories of Race and Racism: A Reader, NewYork, Routledge, 2000, p. 229.

76 Gilman, S. L., 2000, p. 229.77 Gilman, S. L., 2000, p. 229.



African (especially South African) concep-tion of Jews. The question was: What ex-actly is the place of ‘the Jew’ in the racialhierarchy created by racial science? Gilmanputs it in another way: "Are Jews white?And what does 'white' mean?"78 ForRogoff, "Jews were a racial tabula rasa uponwhich anything could be written" becauseon several occasions they were either re-ferred to as white, black or mixed colour.79

According to Rogoff,

In the American South the problemof the Jew's racial identity was afootnote to the larger debate onwhite-black relations, a questionpushed forward in the racially un-settled period between 1850 to1915. Jews were accepted as white,but their precise racial place wasnot fixed. 80

Immediately when Jews were classifiedas white, black people considered them aspart and parcel of the white racist suprem-acy. A relevant question is: Did Jews them-selves accept this racial placing? There aremany ways European and European-turned-American Jews responded to thisquestion in an unfortunate way. In someplaces they spoke against these racial clas-sifications but did not act because it bene-fited their survival at that time. JamesCowley argued that Jews “were originallyand racially not different from Europe-ans.”81 Jews themselves did not reach anyconsensus with regards to their identity.Rogoff said that they “pontificated themeaning of “Hebrew” and “Israelite”” andechoed German assimilationists.

Reports came from further a field out-side Europe about Jews in China’s Kaifeng,Ethiopian Jews, Bnei Israel in India, Jews inIraqi, the Kashmirian, Pushtuns in Afgan-

stan,82 the Igbo of Nigeria,83 and the LembaJews in southern Africa.84 This must havechanged Europe’s position on race classifi-cation.

Jews, like any group of people underduress, could not do anything other thanseeking ways of maintaining their exist-ence, hence the concern for survival. Manyof them did not see anything wrong in do-ing just that—so long as they went on liv-ing. Rogoff wrote:

The folkloric biases against Jewsfound reinforcement in the racialscience that emerged from the En-lightenment. Proponents of racialscience believed race to be morethan a criterion of head size andshape, skin color, or hair texture.They argued that race also impliedmoral, intellectual, and psycholog-ical character, the capability to beassimilated into civil society andgranted political rights.85

Being assimilated into civil society andafforded political rights was an achieve-ment a person would want to have in orderto have a happy life like anybody else. Thisdid not just come without strings attached.For Jews to fit in the civil society and havepolitical rights, they were supposed to be-long to a certain class of people. So thosewho wanted to do so got the label of beingwhite.Garrod wrote that “within a hierar-chy of superior and inferior Black was re-garded as inferior.”86 The creation of racialhierarchy was a political means to set Euro-

78 Gilman, S. L., 2000, p. 229.79 Rogoff, L., 1997, p. 195. 80 Rogoff, L., 1997, p. 195.81 Rogoff, L., 1997, p. 197.

82 Avichail, E., The Tribes of Israel: The Lostand the Dispersed (Translated by M. Gross), Jerus-alem, Amishavi, 5750, pp. 4-176.

83 Tobin, D., G. A., Tobin, and S. Rubin, InEvery Tongue: The Racial and Ethnic Diversity of theJewish People, San Francisco, Institute for Jewishand Community Research, 2005, p. 13.

84 Parfitt, T. Journey to the Vanished City: TheSearch for Lost Tribe of Israel, New York, VintageBooks, 1999, pp. 1-373.

85 Rogoff, L., 1997, p. 197.

66 RABSON WURIGA


pean superiority on the basis of colour.Sometimes, silence means confirmation. Itis not clear whether European Jewry orJews of white colour did accept the classifi-cation that they were white.

3.2 Imbibitions of Jews into European fantasies

iek describes fantasy as "a screen forthe desire of the Other.” Fu87rthermore, hesays that it "provides the coordinates of ourdesire—which constructs the frame en-abling us to desire something.” I88t is also"an imagined scenario representing the re-alization of desire [and] in the fantasy-scene the desire is constituted (given its ob-ject).” 89There were many European fanta-sies ranging from race supremacy to anti-Semitism. European racial fantasy of whitesupremacy, driven by German idealism,took centre stage and opened a can of amyriad of racial ideas.

Vital holds that "the greatest of all theproblems for Jewry lay, therefore, in the factthat as Europe moved into the second halfof the ninetieth century the sum of thechange was the ideological and moral re-duction of the state in favour of the na-tion—and the consequent merging of theone with the other.”90 The writings ofFriedrich Ludwig Jahn are pinpointed asinfluential in the creation of German fanta-sies. He is quoted as saying, "the Germanwere excellent people of exceptional quali-ties.”91 Furthermore, Jahn is known to haveadvocated for "a full-scale return to … orig-inal folkloric virtues and patterns of behav-iour of the German people.”92

Blumenbach (cited in Jacobson) talkedabout the "fundamental configurations ofthe face.”93 Blumenbach (in Jacobson)writes:

The nation of Jews, who, under ev-ery climate, remain the same as faras the fundamental configurationsof the face goes, remarkable for aracial character almost universal,which can be distinguished at firstglance even by those little skilled inphysiognomy.94

The recognition of Jews as a nation ofwhite people, and in some places natural-ized to become a racial group (Oriental,Semitic, and Hebrew), they became Cauca-sian. According to George Mosse (quoted inBack and Solomos) myths about Jews“helped to construct them as a kind of ‘raceapart’” and as “the eternal foreigner.”95

Added to these myths were the meaningsattached to whiteness by scientists, histori-ans, and other intellectuals in Europe andby extension to America. Jews were con-structed as “both white and Other.”96

Jacobson argues that “when it comes torace-hatred or race-acceptance,”97 quotingFanon's contention, “one has only not to bea nigger”98—American Jews, influenced byEuropean racial fantasies drifted and “be-came racial Caucasians.”99 In the process,the victims of anti-Semitism turned intoSemitic anti-Semites themselves.

86 Garrod, J. Z. A brave old word: An analy-sis of scientific racism and BiDil®, McGill Journalof Medicine, Vol. 9(1), 2006, p. 55.

87 iek, S., 1989, p. 118.88 iek, S., 1989, p. 118.89 iek, S., 1989, p. 118.90 Vital, D., A People Apart: A Political History

of Jews in Europe, 1789-1939, Oxford, Oxford Uni-versity Press, 2001, p. 248.

91 Vital, D., 2001, p. 248.

92 Vital, D., 2001, p. 248.93 Blumenbach, J., On the Natural Varieties of

Mankind, New York [Originally published 1775,1795], Bergmann, 1969, p. 234.

94 Jacobson, M. F., 2000, p. 238.95 Back, L. and J. Solomos, Theories of Race

and Racism: A Reader, New York, Routledge,2000, p. 283.

96 Back, L. and J. Solomos, 2000, p. 283.97 Jacobson, M. F., 2000, p. 248.98 Fanon, F., Black Skin White Mask, New

York, Grove Press, 1952, p. 115.99 Jacobson, M. F., 2000, p. 248.



3.3 Semitic anti-Semitic racism: Jews and the World

The object of European anti-Semitismwas Jews as Jews. Now what is the object ofglobal anti-semitism since there are manyfaces of Jews?

There are many faces and colours ofpeople called Jews today. Two things simul-taneously happen in the scenario: Jews whowere whitened by intermarriage, and/or'Caucasianed' by Bills of naturalization,tend to see themselves as white people—hence the fantasy 'Jews are white'. As al-ready stated above, during the 18th-20th

centuries European intellectual influencereached many parts of the world, includingAfrica through colonial connections. Dur-ing South Africa’s apartheid era, “race be-came the defining category.”100 Fattonrightly points out that race “was the singlemost important factor in determining a cit-izen’s life chances.”101 The situation wasthat the white minority, through “total con-trol of state power, institutionalized racismand monopolized wealth, status, and privi-lege.”102 Many European Jews that came tosouthern Africa, particularly in South Af-rica, benefited from race categorization inthat they were classified as white people.Thus they were afforded "full rights forJews as White citizens of South Africa andunhindered free existence of a Jewish com-munal life in which Zionism occupied aplace of centrality.”103 Many of them actedas befitting their place in human categori-zation as white people. That is to say, theywere no different from the Afrikaaner, theEnglish, German racists and anti-semitists.

Research has revealed that the late

Chief Rabbi of South Africa expressed thatit would be “irresponsible on socialgrounds” to bring a person of African(black) Jewish descent to a Jewish syna-gogue.104 His reason was that one would“look odd” among white Jews because ofnot having “a Jewish (European) look.”105

Out of the same research, it was revealedthat there were also rabbis who were right-wing and racist.106 This is not a dis107-missal of some of the South African Jews ofEuropean origin who were good and whoopenly took the left side of the political di-vide. They opposed the apartheid govern-ment and were "accused of seeking tooverthrow White supremacy.108” They areon record for having joined African politi-cal groupings to fight against the Afri-kaaner government's apartheid polic109y.As 'caucasianed' some Jews got caught upwithin their whiteness and prejudicingother people of colour, in the process theyalso discriminated their darkened fellowJews. In that way Semitic anti-Semitismand/or racism emerged. Mathivha (inParfitt and Egorova) indicates that theLemba “like many other non-EuropeanJewish communities are simply the victimsof racism at the hands of the European Jew-ish establishment worldwide.”

For Gans, the object of anti-Semitism isfor a “Jew as Jew” not a "Jew as white" or"Jew as black.” That also demands a properconnection between a “Jew” and a “Zion-ist.” New anti-Semitism seems to concen-trate on a “Jew as Zionist” or as an Israeli.This leaves one with a very difficult situa-tion to handle. There are so many questionsthat can be hooked to this kind of view.

100 Fatton, R., Book Review: Lessons ofStruggle: South African Internal Opposition,1960-1990 by Anthony W. Marx, The AmericanPolitical Science Review, Vol. 88(3), 1994, p. 785.

101 Fatton, R., 1994, p. 785.102 Fatton, R., 1994, p. 785.103 Shimoni, G., Jews and Zionism: The South

African Experience 1910-1967, Cape Town, Ox-ford University Press, 1980, p. 276.

104 Parfitt, T. and Egorova, Y., 2006, p. 80.105 Parfitt, T. and Egorova, 2006, p. 80.106 Parfitt, T. and Egorova, 2006, p. 84.107 Parfitt, T., and Egorova, Y., Genetics, Mass

Media and Identity: A case study of the genetic re-search on the Lemba and Bene Israel, London, Rou-tledge, 2006, p. 80.

108 Shimoni, G., 1980, pp. 228-234,109 Shimoni, G., 1980, pp. 228-229,

68 RABSON WURIGA


Jews have many faces as already been said.Not all Jews live in Israel. Not all Jews arewhite. The one that comes immediately is:Can Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionismamount to the same thing? The two cannotbe the same—although their common de-nominator is deep, permanent and elimina-tory hatred.

Jews are part of the human race thathas the right to exist and enjoy all the rightslike other people. But there are seriousquestions that should be looked at in the fu-ture with much caution: Does the wholeworld hate Jews? Who are the Jews? I amnot going to answer the second question? Iwant to think that anti-semitism in its vari-ous forms was globalized as European con-cepts were spread all over the worldthrough dispersion of Jews to many partsof the world, colonialism, and imperialism.

It will be safe to think that there is noth-ing new about the hatred of Jews, rather itis the same hatred using different tools.Previously it was about colour and physicalfeatures, now it is about politics and Israel’srelations with the Arab neighbours. Theproblem of colour is that there are millionsof Jews who are of non-white colour. Theyfeel they are also segregated in the samespirit as it happened in Europe. If Jews heremeans those in Israel, then it remains diffi-cult to deal with the Jewish Problem.

4. CONCLUDING REMARKS

The origin of racial categorizationshould not be excused as involuntary forthe mere reason that it is immoral. The in-stitutionalization of policies that nurturedanti-Semitism to such levels of extermina-tion should also be seen as products of irre-sponsible intellectual endeavour in Europe.It is the duty of ‘the Jews as white’ to re-en-gage the voice of reason (not within theconfinements of German idealism) in orderto consciously reconnect to the spirit of ‘theJew as Jew.”

The re-emergence and returning of theso-called “Jews of colour” makes it difficultto talk of new anti-semitism at global level.If the new global anti-semitism refers toonly those in Israel, then it’s a politicalproblem that Israel has to deal with withintheir means.

It is my opinion that 18th-20th centu-ries’ European intellectual communitylargely contributed to the voluntary origi-nation of all forms anti-Semitism. Intellec-tual endeavour can also play a major role ineliminating Semitic anti-Semitism and rac-ism that have perverted the behaviour of‘Jews as white.’

role and impact of intellectual factor in the 18th-20th ... › articles vii 2 › wuriga-fm.pdf ·...

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