NEU aus dem englischsprachigen Angebot von MUT: The public image of anti-Semites in Europe as right-wing skinheads in neo-Nazi gear is changing. Media attention has shifted to Europe's migrants, particularly young Muslims. Anti-Jewish vilification reached a peak on demonstrations during the recent Gaza crisis. In everyday life, blaming and insulting Jews seems to have become common in some Muslim communities, and old conspiracy theories about Jews are being revived in new guises. How widespread is this trend? And how can it be combated? In February 2009 the Amadeu Antonio Foundation organised a meeting in Berlin's biggest Turkish district to discuss Muslim anti-Semitism. MUT correspondent Karen Margolis reports.

A group of boys aged around 10 were playing ping-pong in the summer sunshine after classes at a primary school in the centre of Berlin. Every time a player missed a ball, he shouted "Jude!" He was using the German word for Jew as a swear word. The playground duty teacher passed by and heard it. She didn't say anything. Parents coming to pick up their children heard it. They didn't say anything either. Nobody seemed surprised at hearing the word "Jude" as an expletive in a school where the great majority of children come from Muslim families. After all, it was only a game. The boys didn't mean any harm. Making a fuss would turn it into a political issue — and the school already had enough trouble without that.

The ping-pong game happened at the time of the Lebanon war in July 2006, when emotions against Israel and Jews were running high in Muslim communities. Today, over two years later, what started with a game has apparently become a bad habit in some Muslim circles, shifting the boundary to make open abuse of Jews acceptable. This is worrying anywhere, but in Germany, where Nazi persecution of the Jews culminated in the Holocaust, there is particular sensitivity about any new form of anti-Semitism. Virulent anti-Jewish slogans and banners on demonstrations in Germany and other European countries against the recent Gaza war added dramatically to the picture.

Anti-Jewish feeling among Muslims was the main topic at a packed meeting in February 2009 in Kreuzberg, Berlin's "little Turkey" district. The Amadeu Antonio Stiftung (AAS), the anti-racism foundation that publishes MUT-gegen-rechte-gewalt.de, organized the meeting to launch its new pamphlet "Die Juden sind schuld" ("Blame the Jews"). It focuses on anti-Semitism in Germany's Muslim communities. Keynote speaker was Green party chairman Cem Özdemir, distinguished as the country's first national political party leader from a migrant background. ÷zdemir said he has received hostile e-mails for urging Germany's Muslims to speak out and tackle anti-Semitism in their midst. He pointed to the possible influence of anti-Jewish propaganda in some popular Turkish and Arabic films and satellite TV channels over the past five years.

Most of the other panel speakers are involved in youth and community work in migrant areas, or projects to combat anti-Semitism. They all agreed there is a problem, but were unsure how to approach it because of lack of research and information. A string of factors was mentioned, including reactions to growing Islamophobia since 11 September 2001 and other terrorist attacks, migrants' lack of integration or identification with German and European democracy and values, racist stereotypes of Jews and anti-Israel propaganda, Iran's anti-Jewish hate campaign, and interpretations of Qur'an teaching on Jews. In short, the discussion was like a big pot into which everybody poured their contributions, theoretical or practical. Yet somehow the ingredients failed to mix to a discernible consistency.

What actually came across, both from the platform and the audience, was the difficulty of talking about the subject at all. "Are we shy of demonising Muslims?" somebody asked. The answer is clearly: yes. It's one thing to accuse members of the majority population of racism against migrant minorities, and quite another to single out sections of minority populations that are subject to discrimination and exclusion themselves. Several panel speakers argued for fine distinctions, and stressed that Germany's 3.5 million Muslims are not a homogeneous group: aside from Turkish migrants, they include people of various national origins like Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Serbs, Kurds etc. Other speakers were concerned to define exactly what anti-Semitism in a Muslim context means, and how it differs from neo-Nazi Jew-hating or "traditional" and Christian anti-Semitism. Left-wing anti-Semitism masquerading as anti-Zionism was also mentioned.

Arabic expert Claudia Dantschke, a consultant to local authorities and community groups, gave a useful outline of different kinds of anti-Semitism. Her articles in the ASS pamphlet are well worth reading, especially her analysis of the function of anti-Semitism for Muslim groups, and the underlying ideological battle against secularism and the modern world in which fundamentalist Muslims see Jews as "the secret force behind modernism".

bei der Buchpräsentation im Festsaal Kreuzberg

Foto: Presenting the study in Kreuzberg

Among the projects represented at the meeting was the pioneering Kreuzberg Initiative Against Anti-Semitism, set up in 2003 after the terrorist attack on an Istanbul synagogue, and a younger local group, amira, which stands for "anti-Semitism in the context of migration and racism". Amira's recent pamphlet, "Du Opfer – Du Jude!" ("Hey victim — hey Jew!"), describes a survey of workers in Kreuzberg youth clubs and migrant organisations who reported habitual verbal aggression against Jews. Mostly this involves rehashing old stereotypes ("Jews are rich"), conspiracy theories ("Jews run the mass media" or "Jews masterminded the 11 September 2001 attacks"), and verbal abuse such as using "Jew" as an insult or swear word. The amira booklet's authors argue convincingly for dealing with this in the overall context of anger and disaffection among young people from migrant backgrounds. Anti-Semitism, they say, "is one problem among many", and should always be seen in the wider social context. They report on workshops with teachers, researchers and community workers on the topic of anti-Semitism and racism among Muslims, where the necessity to avoid stigmatisation of migrants came up repeatedly. Significantly, amira highlights a key distinction between verbal utterances and the anti-Semitism of far right groups. Its research to date has found no evidence that anti-Jewish verbal abuse among young Muslims has led to any noticeable change in dress or lifestyle — unlike with neo-Nazi movements, which usually play up style, rituals, and group identification.

The big problem with this discussion is that nobody seems able to offer any conclusive evidence. The ASS and amira publications are written by experts and field workers, and aimed at educators and other colleagues. They provide useful information and suggestions for dealing with a phenomenon they can identify but can't quantify. Pressed at the meeting to be more specific, the speakers at the Kreuzberg meeting were able to quote only a single survey, conducted by the German interior ministry in 2007. Young people in Germany from various backgrounds were asked whether they agreed with the statement, "People of Jewish faith are arrogant and greedy for money". 15.7% of the 500 Muslim school students in the survey said yes, compared with 7.4% of non-Muslims from migrant backgrounds and 5.4% of young people from German families.

The result is not very helpful. For a start, the question presupposes hostility by picking on Jews as a target. Why not substitute the word "German" for the formula "people of Jewish faith", and ask: "Do you think Germans are arrogant and greedy for money?" Agreement is likely to be even stronger because many young Muslims and others of migrant origin have grievances or resentment against the majority German society. Anyway, the figure of 15.7% as a measure of young Muslims' hostility to Jews falls below the findings of other recent surveys on anti-Jewish attitudes, which estimate much higher levels of latent anti-Semitism on a national basis throughout Europe. We have no way of comparing the negative response of young Muslims to Jews with reactions from other population sectors and age groups. And a single statistic can give no indication of how attitudes are changing over time or are linked to specific social and political events.

Similar objections apply to statistics showing an increase in anti-Jewish crimes committed by Muslims in Germany. Unrest among young Muslims is growing in many European countries, and reports of violence against Jews or Jewish property and institutions are increasing. Of course it's deplorable if Muslims use the Middle East conflict or general anti-Semitism or conspiracy theories to target the Jews, but we should also look at whether they are targeting other groups as well, and their pattern of offences as a whole. The difficulty in getting basic reliable information is illustrated by a report on anti-Semitism in Europe just published by the Vienna-based European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (5 March 2009). "The agency's data collection work shows that most member states do not have official or even unofficial data and statistics on anti-Semitic incidents," the report said. Even when information is compiled, it often cannot be used for comparative purposes because it is collected in different ways. The FRA report's breakdown of country-specific data — both official and unofficial — only covered Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. This meant the agency did not have enough information to calculate an overall EU trend in anti-Semitic activity for the period 2001 to 2008. However, it noted that the data available showed a decrease in anti-Jewish offences in 2007 and 2008.

On the topic of Muslim anti-Semitism, the authors of the FRA report noted a change in how anti-Jewish people are portrayed in the media and seen by the public. "There has been a shift...from the 'extreme right skinhead' to the 'disaffected young Muslim', 'person of North African origin' or 'immigrant' and member of the 'anti-globalization' left," they said. But they added there was no research to suggest a link between anti-Semitism in politics and the media and actual crimes directed at Jews. "The motivation of perpetrators and the relationship between their acts and anti-Semitic attitudes and ideology remains under-researched and unclear," they said.
(For the full report, see http://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/products/publications_reports/pub_cr_ant....)

If there is a significant rise in Muslim feeling against Jews, it should definitely be seen in the context of the overall rise in anti-Semitism registered by a number of other surveys since 2001. For example, in February 2009 a survey for the US-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) conducted in Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain and Britain found that nearly a third of 3,500 Europeans questioned blame Jews for the global economic meltdown and that an even greater number think Jews have too much power in the business world.
(The ADL, founded in 1913, says its aim is "to stop the defamation of Jewish people and secure justice and fair treatment to all". You can download the survey at www.adl.org.

There's nothing new about any of this. Making scapegoats of the Jews is an ancient tradition that has been revived again and again over the centuries and is certainly not restricted to any particular group or religion. Sadly, the Holocaust did not put an end to anti-Semitism, and the continuing emphasis on Germany's terrible history in the media and school curricula may be counterproductive in some cases. As one representative of a Berlin memorial centre at the Kreuzberg meeting said, "For many young people who don't come from German families there is far too much emphasis on Nazi history — and since it's not their history, they feel excluded."

Broschüre

Foto: In Kreuzberg vorgestellte Publikation der Amadeu Antonio Stiftung

Two important points emerge from this discussion: first, the Jews are not alone as victims. Religious extremism and intolerance of other peoples' faith is rising worldwide, and this is connected not only with specific political events like 11 September or the Gaza war, but also with a global opposing trend towards secularism and the desire for greater democracy and personal freedom. The tug of war between fundamentalism and modernism can lead to shari'a law and girls being banned from schools in some countries, and liberalising of abortion laws or legalising gay marriage in others. All over the world, religion is once again being used as a pretext for persecution and exclusion of minorities, from Muslim hate campaigns against Christians in Egypt or Nigeria to China's suppression of Buddhists, or from anti-gay witch hunts by radical Christians in the USA and radical Islamists in Arab countries to anti-Semitic tendencies inside the Catholic church.

Secondly, as the influential 2008 Pew survey on racism and religious attitudes worldwide pointed out, the rise in anti-Semitism in Europe coincides with a big increase in anti-Muslim attitudes. Rampant Islamophobia and laws targeted against Muslims in the name of "national security" are becoming a threat to human rights and peaceful coexistence in several European countries. (See MUT's commentary on the Pew report, http://www.mut-gegen-rechte-gewalt.de/eng/news/europes-jews-and-muslims-.... For reactions to the UK's planned anti-terrorist laws targeted at Muslims, see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/17/counterterrorism-strategy...):

Statistics may be useful, but they're not decisive. What really matters is that each and every manifestation of anti-Semitism or any other kind of racism has to be tackled quickly and clearly. The only way to do this effectively is to confront it directly, wherever possible with the help of people from inside the groups concerned.

This means not accepting any excuses or a sliding scale of tolerance, and refusing to get involved in the "victim competition", the argument that some people have more right to be racist or abuse others because they're victims themselves. When it comes to human rights, everybody has to be treated as equal.

At the Kreuzberg meeting, a young woman, Leyla, spoke out from the floor, saying she had noticed a big increase in anti-Semitic feeling in her community over the past five years, but didn't understand why. Curious to find out more, I visited her a few days later in her jewellery shop in a trendy Berlin scene street. She told me that her own circle of mid-30s second-generation people from Turkish families wasn't anti-Semitic at all, but they were increasingly aware of anti-Jewish feeling in the wider Turkish community. She also mentioned anti-gay prejudice. "But that's tradition, she said firmly. "It's got nothing to do with religion." While anxious to dissociate herself from ignorant, backward attitudes, she was quick to point out that discrimination breeds disaffection. "If people like me who were born in Germany are still called migrants, and a teacher at my daughter's primary school told her she smelled like a Turk, how can anybody be surprised there are problems?" she asked. This is a common reaction to the frustration of living and working in a society and not having a voice. It's also an opportunity for communication. Leyla wants to tell her story. She wants to hear other people's stories as well. She talked about anti-Turkish stereotypes and I told her about anti-Jewish stereotypes. By the second cup of coffee we had moved on from there and were talking about young Turkish women's literature, and sharing experiences as working mothers trying to cope with the Berlin school system.

That's when I remembered the ping-pong game.

It happened at my stepson David's primary school, with its typical inner-city mix of children from mostly migrant backgrounds. Every day in that hot summer of 2006 he played ping-pong with the other boys after school. The first time we heard of the anti-Jewish curses was when he came home looking troubled. "The Turkish and Arab boys always shout 'Jew' when a ball goes out," he said. "But today Bobby said it as well, and we had a fight because I told him to stop. It's OK for the others to do it, but not Bobby." Why not? "Because Bobby comes from an English family," David explained. "They haven't suffered. The other kids say they're war victims, so they're allowed to curse Jews." Was that how his Turkish and Arab classmates described themselves – as war victims? In fact, most of the children in the class had been born in Germany, not the Middle East or Turkey, and most of them had never met any Jews — but some had family stories to tell that they claimed as justification for Jew-hating. The children were indeed victims — of cynical political manipulation that made them into proxy warriors in conflicts remote from their lives. It is the same cynicism that sends children out on demonstrations carrying placards of hate they can barely read, let alone understand.

My husband, a member of the school parents' committee, tried to talk to the teachers about tackling this inherited anti-Semitism. Most of them denied it existed. The few who admitted it asked him to keep it quiet. Did he want to give the school a bad name? The parents' committee — on which Muslim families were severely under-represented — refused to put it on the meeting agenda. It would only be divisive. We had no choice but to find another school for our child and publicise the issue in anti-racist media like MUT.

That was almost three years ago. How many teachers and parents have turned a blind eye since then to abuse of Jews and hate speech generally? Why are they so afraid of tackling the problem? How long will children have to spend their schooldays swamped in this everyday mire of racist insult and victim competition? These are key questions for anybody who wants a more tolerant future. Projects run by organizations like the Kreuzberg Initiative, the Amadeu Antonio Foundation and amira are a good starting-point. But the situation won't change fast enough unless governments throughout Europe prioritise training teachers, social workers, police, the judiciary and everybody else at the interface between the state and the individual to recognize and fight anti-Semitism and any other kind of racism the moment they occur. The deeper the recession bites, the more urgent this will become.


New literature:

"Du Opfer – Du Jude!" — Antisemitismus und Jugendarbeit in Kreuzberg, Amira, Berlin, 2008

"Die Juden sind schuld" — Antisemitismus in der Einwanderungsgesellschaft am Beispiel muslimisch sozialisierter Milieus, Amadeu Antonio Stiftung, Berlin, 2008. DOWNLOAD: http://www.amadeu-antonio-stiftung.de/w/files/pdfs/diejuden.pdf


www.mut-gegen-rechte-gewalt.de / Das Titelfoto von H.Kulick dokumentiert eine antiisemitische Kritzelei im Park Berlin-Weißensee / Copyright Text: Karen Margolis, Berlin