Les communistes américains sont contre le boycott d'Israël

"En l'absence de toute perspective révolutionnaire, des campagnes comme celles pour le boycott d'Israël peuvent apparaître comme un substitut radical. Mais, à mesure que la crise du capitalisme s'étend, le caractère "anti-Israël" de ces campagnes est tout simplement une forme moderne de la haine des Juifs. Tous ceux qui soutiennent avec sincérité la lutte pour les droits nationaux des Palestiniens doivent s'y opposer." (Israel boycotts and divestment serve as cover for anti-Semitism, Paul Pederson) 

Un lecteur, que nous remercions, nous a fait parvenir la précision suivante (05/07): "Le SWP n'est pas le Parti Communiste américain mais bien l'organisation trotskyste : compte tenu de la place que prennent les trotskystes européens dans le mouvement anti-israélien, cette prise de position est d'autant plus significative."

Encore une différence entre communistes européens et américains.

Source: Judeosphere (Communists Against Boycotting Israel)

The U.S. Socialist Workers Party (SWP) just held its 46th annual convention. (350 people attended! Can you feel the momentum?)

Still, I was intrigued by this description of one of their seminars:

“World Capitalist Crisis, Israel, and the Roots of Jew Hatred” took up the need for a multinational, working-class leadership to fight for a democratic, secular Palestine. Communists would fight for Palestine to be a refuge for all Jews facing persecution. Conference participants discussed how the call for a boycott of Israeli products is not a road toward winning self-determination for the Palestinians, but a dangerous concession to anti-Semitism.

That’s not the type of dialectic I normally expect at such gatherings, but, interestingly, SWP has been a vocal opponent of the BDS movement and the annual “Israel Apartheid Week” carnival on college campuses.  Take, for instance, this editorial in the SWP’s newspaper, the Militant:

"The anti-Israel boycott campaign paints all Israelis as being the enemies of the Palestinian people. But that is false. The capitalist regime in Israel is the enemy of the Palestinian people, but it is also the enemy of Israel’s working people, Jewish and Palestinian. Only a political program that appeals for a common struggle of all the oppressed and exploited—regardless of their national origin, or religious belief—can point the way forward.

Les Européens craignent une plus grande interaction avec le monde musulman

Un rapport publié en janvier 2008 par le Forum Economique Mondial portant sur les relations entre le monde musulman et l’Occident révèle qu’une grande majorité d’Européens considère qu’un accroissement des échanges ("interaction") avec le monde musulman représenterait une menace. Ils sont 79% au Danemark, 68% en Espagne, 67% en Italie, 67% aux Pays-Bas, et 59% en Belgique à exprimer des craintes.

Paradoxalement, 56% des personnes interrogées en Israël pensent, au contraire, que le développement d'échanges avec le monde musulman aurait un effet positif. Ils sont 70% d’Américains et 72% de Canadiens à penser de même.

Islam and the West: Annual Report on the State of Dialogue, January 2008

"An overwhelming majority of the surveyed populations in Europe believe that greater interaction between Islam and the West is a threat. This is in contrast to the US, where the opposite view is held by 70% of its population." (p. 5)

"European Particularism

European populations surveyed are much more likely to believe that greater interaction between the Muslim and Western worlds is a threat rather than a benefit. This appears to reflect widespread anti-immigration sentiment within the European Union.

Clear majorities in all European countries surveyed see greater interaction between the West and Muslim worlds as a threat. This is true of 79% of the population in Denmark, 67% in Italy, 67% in the Netherlands, 68% in Spain, 65% in Sweden and 59% in Belgium. This corresponds to a growing fear among Europeans of a perceived 'Islamic threat' to their cultural identities, driven in part by rising immigration from predominantly Muslim regions.

A recent poll found that only 21% of Europeans supported Turkey’s bid for EU membership. Nicolas Sarkozy’s successful presidential campaign in France included strong opposition to Turkish EU membership. A 2006 poll found that the main reason Germans opposed Turkey’s membership was 'fear of a growing influence of Islam in Europe'.

Although some might expect the United States, Israel and the Middle East to be more likely than Europe to feel threatened by the 'other,' the opposite is the case. In the United States (70%), Canada (72%) and Israel (56%) majorities say that greater interaction is a benefit." (p.p. 24-25)