Right then, I shall put my moderator hat on.
Questions:
1) Have you personally experienced anti-semitism on Dissensus? If so, please provide evidence via a link to the post(s) concerned.
TO me personally no. Other forms of abuse yes, but I got a thick skin ofor shit like that.
If you wanna get political, well then, expect violence, fights, screaming and not much achieved, ever.
2) Have you witnessed anti-semitism, in a more general manner, on Dissensus? If so, please provide evidence via a link to the post(s) concerned.
Yes. Though post-modernists would detract that statement as criticism's of the POLICIES of the Israeli state, does not per-se equate with anti-SEMITISM. However, the term 'racism' when applied to ZIPNISM is quite vague, according to this info of Wikipedia:
Defenders of Zionism disagree with the identification of Zionism with racism on a number of grounds. They hold that the basis of the charge is too vague, as the views of Zionist groups differ widely from each other (see Types of Zionism). They also disagree on the basis that Palestinians and Jews are not racially distinct from each other, and that Israeli Jews themselves are racially "mixed": nearly half of Israel's Jews come from Arab countries, and there are almost 100,000 black Jews from Ethiopia. Thus even if Zionism discriminates against Arabs, such discrimination cannot accurately be termed racist, but rather ethnic and/or cultural. Defenders of Zionism also argue that discrimination based on culture or ethnicity is a fact in almost all countries, and that any discrimination in Israel, including discrimination between and among Jewish groups, is similarly based on such differences, and is not an inevitable consequence of Zionism. They also argue that, in stark contrast to the situation in neighboring Arab countries, Arab citizens of Israel can vote in free elections, are represented in the Israeli parliament and enjoy a much higher standard of living than Arabs in Arab countries, and that most differences in income between Israeli Jews and Arabs have more to do with a difference in educational background than would be likely to result from discrimination, either by the government or by private actors. They also point out that while perhaps 700,000 Muslims either fled or were forced out of Israel upon the creation of the State, almost a million Jews were forced out of Muslim controlled lands and fled to Israel. (Muslims are free to vote in Israel, and have their own MK's, while Jews are forbidden citizenship in many Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan.)
I will take great pleasure in banning anyone who racially abuses other posters or uses racist language on Dissensus.
Or stirs shit by making false accusations of racism. Which brings us to these questions:
a) Do you believe that anti-semitism is an inhererent characteristic of Irish culture?
Ireland like most European culutres has a fine, though not outrageous history of anti-Semitism. Sure they're not as bad as the rest of Europe, but they are not much better either:
As one of the few countries where there had been no anti-Jewish violence in Europe, Ireland became home to several thousand Jews fleeing from Lithuania and other parts of Eastern Europe in the face of the violent pogroms in Tsarist Russia. By 1891 the census counted 2,000 Jews; the 1901 census included almost 4,000.
Sadly, the lack of discrimination disappeared in 1904 at the urging of a Redemptorist priest whose sermons denounced the Jews in Ireland, and presented them as a threat to Christian children. He went on to call for a boycott of Jewish tradesmen in Limerick and effectively forced their withdrawal from the city and resettlement in Cork. (The Bishop dealt with Father Creagh quietly; he was sent first to Belfast and then in 1906 to the Philippines.)
Ireland was given an opportunity to welcome the victims of anti-Jewish violence again during the Holocaust of the 1930s and 1940s. Unfortunately, Eamon De Valera, Irish Taoiseach from 1932-1948, who counted the Jewish Isaac Herzog among his close friends, did not seem able to step aside from his staunch view of Irish neutrality to assist Jews in a meaningful way. In fact, Charles Bewley, the De Valera government's Irish Minister in Berlin from 1933-39, was so pro-Nazi and anti-Jewish that he denied and delayed visas for Jews seeking travel to Ireland.
It wasn't until the 1990s that the Irish government took steps to make amends for the lack of assistance Ireland provided during those years. In 1995, Taoiseach John Bruton admitted Ireland's indifference toward the victims of the Holocaust and spoke out to honor the memories of the European Jews who died in it.
In spite of the lack of significant Jewish immigration during the second quarter of the 20th century, the Irish Jewish population reached its height of almost 6,000 in the years following World War II. There have been several contributing factors to the steady decline since then. Intermarriage was the first problem. Jews marrying Catholics in the middle part of the 20th century would have been expected to convert. In later years, intermarriage would mean at least that any children born to the marriages would be raised as Catholics. The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 led to emigration of many Irish Jews, a trend that continues to this day. Finally, through much of the 20th century young Irish men and women of all faiths felt drawn away from Ireland in search of economic opportunity. Irish Jews were no different in this regard.
By 1998, the Jewish population in Ireland was down to just over 1,000. Most of those live in the Dublin area, where there are two Orthodox communities and a Progressive community.
b) Do you believe that anti-semitism is synonymous with criticism of Israel?
Depends what the outcomes of the criticsms are trying to achienve, since they don't seem to be achieving peace. The 'war' seems to be more of a moral issue, though the real kicker is when the terrorism spills out of the region, because, quite simply it works. I mean you don't see the Tamil tigers blowing themselves up in British underground stations do you?
I would be grateful if you could respond to these questions promptly and fully so that this unfortunate episode can be put behind us.
EDIT - the new board template makes it harder to link directly to individual posts. You may prefer to quote excerpts from threads here, and then provide a link to the thread concerned.[/QUOTE]