There’s a lot of panicky talk about Us Zionists in this piece up at The Current, a Jewish affairs magazine published by Columbia University students. The Current’s mission: “With content that ranges from art reviews and humor essays to bold political analysis, The Current is widely regarded as the Columbia home for exciting, original undergraduate writing.” Emphasis mine. Does this qualify? David Fine, editor:
Zionism must again be taught as a vision, viable long before the Holocaust came around. It must be understood that Israel is not an apology for six million Jewish deaths. It must be understood that Israel is the result of a dream for democratic self-determination. It must be understood that Zionism can exist separate from militant millennialism or revanchism. The central question of why the Jews deserve a democratic nation of their own must be discussed—and answered. Essentially, we need a return to Zionism 101.
How best to make Zionism 101 an everyday reality? Digestible, over arching goals are easy but implementation can be hard. Thankfully for people thinking and writing about Jewish issues—the Jeffrey Goldbergs, Peter Beinarts, and Daniel Gordises of the world—change can come in three important ways:
- If you’re a Zionist, write about why. Present your own brand and refer to it often.
- Engage in more debates, in real life. Stop charging exorbitant honoraria (you know who you are) to come to college campuses and gift the youth with your pearls of wisdom. If you believe in what you say then you should be content with a small fee and a big deliverable when you impregnate someone with a great idea.
- Develop a “great books” list that makes up the core of Zionist thinking. Disenchanted with university courses on Zionism and Israel? Craft your own and use the democratizing power of the Internet to disseminate them. (Hell, start a virtual reading club.)
What if you don’t believe this? What if you don’t believe that Jewish national self-determination is any more meaningful than Marcus Garvey talking about the black nation? And if you’re a young person, isn’t this yesterday’s papers?
come to college campuses and gift the youth with your pearls of wisdom. If you believe in what you say then you should be content with a small fee and a big deliverable when you impregnate someone with a great idea.
are you sure the current isn’t columbia’s answer to the onion?
we need a return to Zionism 101
seafoid said I wonder how much sympathy Israel will be able to milk as more and more info about the cruelty of Zionism seeps out.
https://mondoweiss.mystagingwebsite.com/2012/06/footballers-rally-to-sarsaks-cause-as-he-vows-to-continue-hunger-strike-till-death.html/comment-page-1#comment-462669
coincidence.
Day before yesterday alum from my university met to discuss creating a Zionism 101 course to educate the next generation of (predominantly Catholic) students on what really happened, 1881-2012. We prepared a working syllabus; an annotated bibliography; timeline. We developed two or three sources for major funding.
Benj. Netanyahu wrote “A Place Among the Nations.” If Israel is to be “a place among the nations,” then all of us should be able to discuss how it came to be, what its ideological foundations are, what the implications of Israel are on U.S. domestic and international activities. We decided we don’t need Jews to be part of our program; we are quite capable of doing the research and presenting the material.
We’re excited about getting this off the ground.
btw, is Columbia a state/taxpayer supported university? Are the zionist students using American tax dollars to advance a project in support of a non-American state? We’d like to know for our own funding/development planning. If Columbia zionists can get U.S. taxpayers to fund a program advancing Israel’s interests, surely we should be able to get U.S. taxpayer funding to support American-oriented understanding of U.S. interrelations with Israel.
zionism represents a dream for jewish democratic self-determination about as much as lebensraum represented a dream for egalitarian expansion of germany’s borders eastward. instead both these doctrines are horrific examples of ethnosupremacism run amok.
One of these days ,Zionist would ask that they should be allowed to teach the Zionism in the Mosques and in the Churches to reemphasize the value and the need for ongoing freedom of expression as these places are the sources of religious ideas and fundamental views originated from the church and mosque goers .
“…a big deliverable when you impregnate someone with a great idea.”
Yeah, the little girl should swoon.