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Antisemitism, Holocaust Denial, and Germany’s Far Right: How the AfD Tiptoes around Nazism
Author(s): Kahn, Michelle Lynn
Date: 2022
Topics: Antisemitism: Far right, Holocaust Denial, Political Parties, Politics, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Islamophobia
Abstract: This article examines antisemitism and Holocaust denial in contemporary Far-Right German politics with a focus on the party Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD). The article argues that the AfD has attempted to ‘tiptoe around Nazism’—a phrase coined by the author, which describes how the party has strategically and haphazardly reacted to scandals as they arise in order to avoid being associated with Nazism and losing moderate voters. The first section investigates how the AfD has reacted to various internal scandals that have damaged its reputation. This analysis encompasses the party’s fraught relationship to the Islamophobic, anti-refugee organization PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamicization of the Occident) as well as the ‘Höcke Affair,’ in which prominent AfD leader Björn Höcke denigrated the Berlin Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe as a ‘monument of shame.’ The second section examines the AfD’s proactive attempts to tiptoe around Nazism by portraying itself as philosemitic and pro-Israel and courting Jewish voters as part of its controversial subgroup Jews in the AfD (Juden in der AfD, JAfD). Here it explains how JAfD members, particularly Jews who immigrated to Germany from the former Soviet Union, have rationalized their paradoxical support for this outwardly antisemitic and denialist party. The conclusion situates the AfD in the broader transatlantic context of Far-Right extremism, highlighting trends that may signal—yet, more likely, will fail to bring about—the party’s demise.
Choosing who to hate? The Extreme and Radical Right's Foreign Policy between Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and Russophilia
Author(s): Wondreys, Jakub; Zulianello, Mattia
Date: 2024
Topics: Antisemitism: Far right, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Islamophobia, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Political Parties, Politics, Racism, Ukraine-Russia war (since 2014)
Abstract: Although extensive research has been conducted on the extreme right (ER) and radical right (RR), their foreign policy remains understudied. Hence, we provide a comparative analysis of 42 ER and RR parties in Europe to identify their stances on two key issues of contemporary international politics: the Israeli-Palestinian and the Russia-Ukraine conflicts. The results suggest that ER and RR parties do not choose who to like but who to hate more: either Israel (Jews) or Palestine (Muslims); either Russia or the West (and Ukraine as its proxy). However, ER and RR parties are substantially different in their positions towards both conflicts, and a stance in one conflict corresponds to a specific position in the other: the ER tends to be supportive of Palestine and Russia, while the RR supportive of Israel and Ukraine. We argue that these profound differences are due to a combination of ideological and competitive incentives.
Jewish voting intentions on the eve of the 2024 UK General Election
Author(s): Lessof, Carli; Boyd, Jonathan
Date: 2024
Topics: Elections, Political Parties, Surveys, Main Topic: Other
Abstract: On the eve of the 2024 UK General Election, national polls show the Labour Party ahead of the
Conservative Party by 20 percentage points. An average of polls at the time of publication has Labour
at 41.9% and Conservatives at 22.2%, with Reform UK at 15.0%, well ahead of the Liberal Democrats,
Greens, Scottish National Party (SNP), Plaid Cymru and other parties. These polls do not, however,
show the voting intention of Jewish people in the UK. The JPR Research Panel provides the research
infrastructure to gather nationally representative data about Jewish people’s behaviours and attitudes
on a wide range of social and political issues. This paper presents initial data on voting intentions for
4 July 2024, based on 2,717 UK-based Jewish adults who responded to a survey between 14-20 June
Representations of Holocaust protagonists in history education in Polish primary schools under the rule of the Law and Justice party
Author(s): Stec, Katarzyna; Sadlik, Sylwia; Kucia, Marek
Date: 2024
Topics: Holocaust Education, Curriculum, Schools: Non-Jewish, Political Parties, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial
Abstract: This article examines how the ‘historical policy’ of the Law and Justice party influenced Holocaust education in Poland at the mandatory primary school level (7–14-year-olds). It analyzes the party’s programs vis-à-vis the Holocaust and the representations of Holocaust protagonists – perpetrators, victims, and others – in the history core curriculum, history textbooks, and teaching practice as presented by teachers in interviews. The analysis shows that the representations of Holocaust protagonists in Polish primary school history education are considerably influenced by the nationalist approach originating from the ruling party's ‘historical policy’ and stressing the salvation of Jews from the Holocaust by Poles.
“Everyone I know Isn't Antisemitic” Antisemitism in Facebook Pages Supportive of the UK Labour Party 1
Author(s): Guhl, Jakob
Editor(s): Hübscher, Monika; Von Mering, Sabine
Date: 2022
Topics: Social Media, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Online, Antisemitism: Left-Wing, Political Parties
Abstract: Since Jeremy Corbyn was elected as the leader of the Labour Party in September 2015, there have been major public debates relating to concerns about antisemitism in the UK Labour Party. Social media dynamics were often at the center of these discussions, but there has been little systematic, large-scale analysis of the phenomenon. This article analyzes left-wing antisemitism within public Facebook pages supportive of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom between 2015 and 2019. It finds that while none of the posts with the sample analyzed by the party pages themselves were clearly antisemitic, 56% of all comment sections contained at least one, and in the majority of cases more than one antisemitic comment, and that in 59% of the cases these comments went unchallenged. This does show that while online antisemitism within pro-Labour communities is relatively small in volume, it remains easily accessible and is not always called out.
‘This Really has the Potential to Destroy us’: Jeremy Corbyn's Management of the Problem of Anti-semitism in the Labour Party
Author(s): Shaw, Eric
Date: 2021
Topics: Antisemitism, Attitudes to Israel, Israel Criticism, Political Parties, Politics, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: During Jeremy Corbyn's period as leader, Labour was convulsed by a row over claims of widespread anti-semitism in the party, with Corbyn under sustained attack for his alleged complacency—and even connivance. The main purpose of this article is to help explain how the Corbyn leadership managed the ‘anti-semitism crisis’. The first section reviews the sequence of events, the key aspects of the crisis and the various steps taken by the Corbyn leadership. The article then analyses the two sets of factors which drove Corbyn's response. The second section utilises the concept of ‘schemas’, cognitive shortcuts to shed light on how the leadership framed the problem of alleged endemic anti-semitism. It argues that the Corbyn leadership's schemas of Israel were integrally linked to those it held on anti-semitism and played a major role in determining the course of action it took. The third section contends that the Corbyn leadership's decisions and choices were also governed by its approach to party management, in particular by its two central precepts, ‘the adversarial frame of reference’ and the ‘ethic of ultimate ends’. The overall conclusion is that the inadequacy of the Corbyn leadership's schematic understanding of anti-semitism and of its managerial precepts help explain its failure to resolve the anti-semitism crisis.