Read this vital article by @promiseli_.
https://twitter.com/lausanhk/status/1378805024638164994
Reading @promiseli_’s comments about the left must acknowledge how demonisation of China feeds anti-Asian racism whilst also refusing to moderate our own (democratic, internationalist) critique of the Chinese state, I’m struck by some similarities with antisemitism/Israel.
To me there’s a parallel in terms of how some on the left refuse to understand how irrational demonisation of Israel/Zionism feeds antisemitism, *and* how some on the right, including many Zionists, insist opposing antisemitism has to entail defence of the Israeli state.
The CCP apologists and (often vicarious) Chinese nationalists who claim *any* critique of the Chinese state feeds anti-Asian racism are clear analogues of the apologists for Israeli chauvinism who claim any critique of Israel is necessarily antisemitic.
At the same time, the sections of the left who claim that anti-Zionism/critiques of Israel *can’t be* antisemitic, and who think that demonising (i.e., elevating to the status of a unique, essential, even world-shaping evil) Israel and Zionism is legitimate, *are* feeding >
< antisemitism, in much the same way as right-wing US/UK (and other) nationalists who similarly demonise China are feeding anti-Asian racism.
Of course there are multiple differences - the relationship of Jews worldwide to Israel is different to the relationship of the Chinese diaspora to China; Israel and China have many differences as states/regimes, and in terms of their historical formation as nation-states...
...but I think the similarities are also evident. I’d be interested to hear from other comrades on this. @promiseli_
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