The Anti-Zionist Idea: History, Theory, & Politics II (Marina Magloire and Sahar Aziz)

Quick Overview

The conference session explored black feminist anti-Zionism as a pedagogical practice and a theory of home, emphasizing its distinct approach to liberation, while also critiquing the dominant legal definition of anti-Semitism for essentializing Jews by conflating Judaism with Zionism, thereby undermining anti-discrimination principles.

Key Points: Professor Marina Magloire's research on black feminist anti-Zionism was prompted by events after October 7th, including witnessing students arrested at a Gaza Solidarity Encampment where police visibly singled out black and Muslim people. June Jordan's 1982 essay "Life After Lebanon" highlighted how her criticism of Zionism as a black woman was dismissed and labeled "anti-semitic and naive and divisive" by white politicians and even some black feminist peers. Audrey Lord and Barbara Smith initially suppressed Jordan's open letter denouncing Adrienne Rich's Zionist stance, though Lord later referenced Palestinian rights in a 1989 speech. Black feminist anti-Zionism, as articulated by Magloire, is a "pedagogical practice of bringing others to the knowledge" and a "theory of home" rooted in the historical labor of enslaved black women, demanding justice and a global anti-colonial future. Sahar Aziz argues that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism is "anti-semitic" because it essentializes Jews by conflating Zionism with Judaism, thereby perpetuating the idea of a monolithic Jewish community. Aziz demonstrates that applying the IHRA definition's logic consistently, for example, to "Islamophobia" targeting states like Iran or Saudi Arabia, reveals its problematic nature by criminalizing criticism of these nations. The executive order 13899 issued in 2019, which adopted the IHRA definition, attempts to apply Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to anti-Semitism by framing it as discrimination based on "race, color, or national origin," despite Title VI not covering religion directly.