By Richard Mellor in California
The video below gives a clear example of what antisemitism is and what it is not. Criticising Israel, a nation state, is not antisemitism. Opposing Zionism is not antisemitism either. Zionism, a racist ideology or Jewish extremism, is at the heart of the crisis in the Middle East and Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the occupied territories.
The image used by the Trump administration to which Bernie Sanders refers in the video, is clearly antisemitic propaganda. It is undeniable when one looks at the image the Nazis used to whip up hatred and violence against Jews in Germany and throughout Europe.
Then there is another example on the left; the poster used by the White Army forces, the counterrevolutionaries in Russia who fought the Bolsheviks and the Russian workers’ who overthrew feudalism and capitalism. The US, Britain and France had forces in that game.
The poster below is an image of Leon Trotsky, a key leader of the Russian Revolution in that same role as the devilish Jew. Many of the Bolshevik leaders were Jews, as were many revolutionaries fighting to overthrow Tsarism, the brutal feudal regime that had discriminated against them for centuries, forcing them to live in selected areas and waging regular pogroms (mob riots) against their communities.
The capitalists of Western Europe supported the White armies. Up until this period Russia’s economy was in the grasp of western banks and western capitalists were afraid their assets would be appropriated if the Russian Revolution was successful.
It is inconceivable that Trump and his advisors aren’t aware of the antisemitic nature of their campaign material. Trump can just deny it, as he did when asked what he thought about the Signal fiasco, as there are no real consequences for doing so; there is no opposition party in the US and the trade union hierarchy is silent, in the main.
It is my view that the Jew-hating image is directed at his extreme right wing White Nationalist, Evangelical Christian, neo-fascist base, a right bunch of antisemites, all of them.
Trump, unlike Hitler, does not have an organised right wing militia he can call out at any moment to smash strikes, protests and opposition in the streets. But there are numerous groups, some of whom answered his call on Jan 6 2021 to storm the US Capitol, who can and will fill the role of Hitler’s brownshirts at some point in time – the image is fodder for them.
I think Trump is in a stronger position this time around. If he is forced to quit after this term in some way or another, he will just as likely call his thugs out again. Workers, organised and unorganised need to take this seriously, and be prepared to defend ourselves and our communities with our own self-defence organisations if events turn really bad, really fast.
Feature picture is a still from the video, with Bernie Sanders at a Senate committee hearing, showing the Trump election poster alongside one from the Holocaust Museum
From the US socialist website, Facts for Working People. The original can be found here.
