Translated from: https://gegen-kapital-und-nation.org/warum-kommen-so-viele-nationalistinnen-auf-antisemitische-urteile-50f50a/
Leftists and liberals are repeatedly astonished and appalled that so many people in the 21st century are still antisemitic. Often, they delve deep into history to explain that antisemitism has somehow always existed – which, incidentally, even if true, wouldn't explain anything. Even then, one would have to explain why it has persisted to this day, unlike, for example, the witch hunts. Antisemites are also frequently pathologized from a sociopsychological perspective, portraying them as deficient beings: social envy, sexual frustration, fear of failure, superego problems, a magical worldview, and so on. And however unsympathetic antisemites usually are, and however many individuals they may have all sorts of flaws – this trivializes the issue considerably. It also obscures how easy the transition is from run-of-the-mill, grassroots nationalism to antisemitism. We will demonstrate this in more detail below.
1. Almost all nationalists believe that there are many different peoples in the world. This is because each people is a specific type of human being, defined by pre-state commonalities. (In reality, states categorize, appropriate, and treat people as a "people", as a social collective.) Many nationalists consider these commonalities to be special character traits and attribute the most excellent qualities to their "own" people. A member of a people is best off living in their "own" state, that is, being governed by people and living with people who belong to that people and possess these commonalities. These commonalities (language, culture, religion, mentality, customs, traditions, etc.) are always ideological: They are either a product of nation-state categorization or inaccurate flattery about the supposed "national character." Most often, they are based on ignorance of the real diversity and contradictions within a society. They are by no means essential characteristics of all members of a people.
2. If a society contains large numbers of people who do not conform to this ideal because they lack the supposed commonalities – whether alleged or real – nationalists react in a variety of ways: Some are seen as endearing regional or religious peculiarities, contributing to the richness and diversity of the people and the fatherland. Others are combated as deviations that are deemed unacceptable, and attempts are made to forcibly instill the concept of "the people." Alternatively, those who actually deviate from the "true" people, or even just in the nationalist worldview, are considered outsiders and ostracized.
3. Jews have often been, and still are, placed in this third category. They are assumed not only to have a different religion and therefore to be more closely connected with their fellow believers in other countries than with the rest of society of other faiths (the same could be said of Reformed Jews). Jews are supposedly a people disguised as a religion, living among other peoples, exploiting and harming them, and ultimately responsible for all the evil in the world. How does one arrive at this conclusion?
4. Nationalists have even higher expectations of their people than simply sharing a few commonalities. They want a community, meaning their ideal is the harmonious cooperation of all parts of society for the good of that very society, protected and promoted by a government that feels committed to precisely this community. Many nationalists believe that the state should only be obligated to this community – and nothing else in the world. And that all people who do not belong to this community have no place in the country.
5. With this ideal of a harmonious national community, dissatisfaction with the reality of capitalist nation-states is inevitable. Those who delude themselves into thinking that daily conflict is a mutual support system will constantly be surprised by landlords who don't offer the best and cheapest apartments. They'll also be annoyed by capitalists whose primary concern isn't providing pleasant and well-paid jobs. And they'll resent workers who aren't content with simply performing their duties to their country and employer "poor but honest," but who envision a good life differently. Those who demand that the state ruthlessly pursue the interests of the national community will be constantly disappointed: by the state's balancing of interests, by economic crises, by the considerations the state must show to other nations, and so on. This disappointment doesn't lead them to question their ideal. Instead, it breeds discontent, and they begin searching for someone to blame.
6. This is nothing unusual. Anyone who can't find anything inherently wrong with wage labor, private property, competition, and "business success" quickly comes to the conclusion that all the unpleasant effects of these societal realities stem from a lack of morality or virtue. In other words, that people only think of themselves (greed, egoism, selfishness) instead of always considering the well-being of the national community (duty, altruism, virtue, heroic sacrifice) when competing for jobs and corporate profits. This is a fairly widespread viewpoint. Radical nationalists take this idea even further.
7. As staunch nationalists, they are more or less convinced of the moral goodness of their own people. Therefore, for them, any morally wrong attitude, harmful to the people and the fatherland, can only originate from abroad. So, if something morally reprehensible is done by a native, such as a mass layoff, then for them, only a foreign will can be at work. After all, they have a different fatherland and are therefore fellow human beings with questionable loyalty. Antisemites build on this very premise: Because they view Jews not as natives but as foreigners within the country, they reason that Jews have no national obligation to the fatherland and are therefore neither capable nor willing to think about the common good.
8. Modern antisemites can draw on a whole range of attributions already established by medieval and early capitalist Jew-hatred. Even before the rise of the capitalist nation-state, Jews had the dubious honor of being collectively blamed as a supposed secret global power for all manner of misfortunes brought about by poverty and capitalist wealth. They were accused of thinking only of getting money through chicanery, of not really wanting to work, of exploiting others, of selling cheap and inferior goods, of despising age-old traditions and customs, of secretly hating their country, and of generally being quite immoral and unpleasant people—to mention only the most egregious examples of this garbage. Therefore, while blaming Jews is not inevitable, it is a logical step for someone who wants to explain real or imagined national problems solely through the moral depravity of the actors involved.
(Note: "logical" here simply means as the next consistent development in thought, not that the authors are approving or praising this step, but just that the conclusion from the wrong premises follows -- P.G.)
9. For modern nationalism, this catalog of vices takes on a new meaning. Earlier forms of anti-Semitism explained to farmers and craftsmen why their "Christian authorities" treated them so "unchristianly." Modern anti-Jewish ideas are now meant to make it plausible why the national community is failing. Jews are not merely "outsiders" to the community. They are even enemies of the community who—deliberately and with malicious intent, or simply due to their ethnic character without realizing it—disrupt the harmonious coexistence of the people. Jews prevent the state from fulfilling its true purpose. And thus, modern anti-Semitism is born.
10. Or almost. What's almost always added is that Jews are also supposedly clever and cunning. They understand how to stay in the background while powerfully pulling the strings. They manipulate or bribe politicians and thus dominate all the countries where they live. For antisemites, this constitutes an absolute societal emergency: Politics, of all things, which is supposed to serve the common good, has become a tool for the exact opposite through "Jewish manipulation."
11. Antisemites believe – like most people – that the state has a duty to compel everyone to behave "decently." If everyone then made an effort, both the state and the people would benefit. If the state could no longer enforce this, the now "unbridled capitalism" would destroy harmonious coexistence and ultimately the entire national community. Antisemites want to "defend" themselves against this – and therefore consider themselves, in principle, justified in committing all kinds of brutal acts.
This text is the twelfth in the series "50 Questions 50 Answers - On the Rightward Shift - and how the current criticisms miss their target, therefore how NOT to criticize the Right. The series thus reaches its not entirely mathematically accurate conclusion for now.
1. How widespread is antisemitism in society? https://mediendienst-integration.de/desintegration/antisemitismus.html
2 The explanations for why people conclude from these problems that they hate Jews in particular are not very convincing.
3 This can be particularly well illustrated by the imposition of "standard languages" against dialects through the introduction of a uniform school system.
4. The fact that the holy texts of the Jewish religion frequently speak of the "people of Israel," and that the Jewish religion does not engage in proselytizing or make it overly easy for converts, are clear indicators for antisemites. For most Jews outside of Israel, the term "people" is understood as a metaphor for "covenant," "community," etc.
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