Hat tip to the Amcha Initiative
I am cross-posting an important and disturbing press release by my friend and colleague, Tammi Rossman-Benjaman, co-founder of the Amcha Initiative, established to fight campus anti-Semitism, especially in the state of California.
University of California activists and professors, Christine Hong and Emmaia Gelman, who are co-founders of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism, are attempting to influence what California high school students are required to study in order to be accepted into UC schools. Welcome back to Critical Race Theory, which happens to include anti-Israel and anti-Jewish indoctrination in its curricula.
https://amchainitiative.org/orgs-to-ca-jewish-caucus-defund-ab101-8-29-23pr/
This is typical of what we can expect from the University of California system, most of whose campuses collectively constitute one of the worst educational institutions in the nation when it comes to anti-Semitism.
A perusal of the language used by Hong and Gelman clearly reveals the woke indoctrination that reigns supreme in academia today (fascism in Israel and the US.)
Attacking Zionism is nothing more than creating a cover to attack the existence of the Jewish state of Israel and Jews as well. Zionism is just a dog whistle. Scratch the surface and what do you find but the old anti-Jewish tropes that Jews have dual loyalty and exercise excessive influence over our government as well as the media, financial institutions, and on and on.
I also note with concern that this movement is trying to force California high schools to institute anti-Zionist material into their curriculum including the controversial teaching of critical race theory, a curious concept that not only teaches that whites are inherently racist, but that Israel is oppressing Palestinians. Absent having taken such a course, a student could not get into a UC school if these folks had their way. How arrogant that the UC system would attempt to pressure secondary schools into teaching specific courses. especially one as controversial as CRT.
I know from my own personal experiences teaching part-time at UC Irvine how the pro-Palestinian campaign against Israel has crossed the line into anti-Semitism and made life hard for Jewish students on campus. This cancer is now spreading to the secondary schools, thanks to initiatives like this. It is a classical example of the marriage between the left and the anti-Israel campaign. It must be fought.
One can be against Critical Race Theory. One can be against anti-Zionism. But they have NOTHING to do with each other. Do the same people often advocate for both? Perhaps. But they're not the same.
ReplyDeleteYou really should learn what something is before you criticize it. Or is your intention to just feed the echo chamber of conservative outrage?
They SHOULD have nothing to do with each other, but there is a marriage between the two. Many of the CRT/Ethnic Studies curricula include references to Israel oppressing Palestinians. Many classify Jews as nothing more than part of the "privileged white" class. Why did Jewish groups protest against the California draft version of Ethnic Studies teaching in Calif public schools? The same people Do advocate for both. But it is not coincidental.
ReplyDeleteI think it's obvious that just like communism, socialism, woke, etcetera, CRT has become a catch-all term for "everything conservatives don't like for whatever reason". It had a fairly specific meaning, but now it's thrown around so much that the definition is completely malleable.
ReplyDeleteI also don't know why it's a problem to talk about how the government of Israel treats the Palestinians. So long as all the facts and both perspectives are given, students should be able to evaluate the situation.
I'm also unaware of the Jewish groups protest. However, I doubt you're very consistent with how much weight you give a Jewish protest. You know that Jewish groups protested Trump, for instance, right?
For me, when a Jewish group protests, I also consider what other groups they represent and what their actual arguments are. So, simply telling me that a Jewish group protested isn't enough to sway me one way or another. I will look into it once I've submitted this comment though.
Okay, just looked it up. Even Gavin Newsom criticized that draft for its extreme views. Good thing it was rejected. Is there an issue with the revision?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteI hope this answers your question on the revision.
https://jweekly.com/2021/09/09/lawmakers-approve-revised-ethnic-studies-bill-now-newsom-must-decide-again/
https://amchainitiative.org/statement-ab101-10-7-21pr/
"I also don't know why it's a problem to talk about how the government of Israel treats the Palestinians. So long as all the facts and both perspectives are given, students should be able to evaluate the situation."
ReplyDeleteThose who are part of this whole effort (requiring ethnic studies etc.) are not going to impartially present the Israeli-Palestinian issue. They have a position and that is supporting the Palestinian side. I think it is also safe to say they don't plan to cover other similar topics like how Israel's neighbors oppress their people.
To say that Jewish groups protest this or that is merely a statement of fact. My editorial comment was simply to illustrate why I agree with that protest. While you are further looking into it, I suggest you research Heydrich and his relationship to the famous phrase about "the Jewish question." Heydrich was the organizer and moderator of the Wannsee Conference, which led directly to the implemention of the "Final Solution to the Jewish question." That's why I used the expression "dog whistle".