Rising From the Muck: The New Anti-Semitism in Europe

by Pierre-André Taguieff

Never since the end of World War II have anti-Jewish sentiments gained such currency in France among so many different social groups. Never have these sentiments been so publicly expressed and met so little intellectual and political resistance as they have since the year 2000. As the number of anti-Jewish incidents escalates, the anti-racist demonstrations that ordinarily would respond to them are nowhere in sight. Important questions therefore need to be put now about the shockingly common acceptance of anti-Semitic attitudes and behavior. In this important book, Mr. Taguieff surveys the landscape of contemporary anti-Semitism, describing its leading figures, the role of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, the Islamic influence in promoting anti-Zionism, and the blindness, complacency, or connivance of various institutions, groups, and individuals. The new wave of anti-Semitism spreading around the world, the author shows, is based on a polemical and fanciful amalgam of Jews, Israelis, and "Zionists" as representatives of an evil power. In the eyes of the new anti-Jews, the world's ills can be explained by Israel's existence. The chief accusation, purveyed especially by international Islamic circles and the heirs to Third Worldism, is that "Zionism," far from being a respectable nationalism like that of the Palestinians, is actually a form of colonialism, imperialism, and racism. The old European anti-Semitism, Mr. Taguieff notes, was a particular kind of racism, directed against Jews. The new worldwide anti-Semitism seeks to turn the charge of racism against the Jews.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Pierre-André Taguieff (born 4 August 1946) is a philosopher and director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in an Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris laboratory, the CEVIPOF. He is also a member of the Cercle de l'Oratoire think tank.

Taguieff is the author of a number of books and papers on racism and antisemitism, including The Force of Prejudice: On Racism and Its Doubles (2001) and Rising from the Muck: The New Antisemitism in Europe (2004). He is known in particular for his studies on the French National Front and populism.

Reviews

[Claudie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un livre de 2002 prémonitoire.

[Alejandro Soifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es un libro interesante aunque quizás un tanto desactualizado: resultado de una recopilación de conferencias que su autor dio a principios de la década de los 00s aparece muy marcado por los atentados del 11 de septiembre. Por otra parte su punto focal está puesto en Francia y la inmigración magrebí-musulmana por lo que quizás el tema que promete el título queda un poco atrofiado en el tratamiento que le da. Continuador de la línea de ideas de "el choque de civilizaciones" el texto quedó un poco avejentado por el paso del tiempo y no indaga en las raíces profundas del tema: sionismo-judaísmo y la judeofobia moderna resultado de esa asociación.