Friday, January 13, 2006
In an earlier post, Merry Christmas to you too, Hugo, I posted about the recent anti-Semitic remarks of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, “The world offers riches to all. However, minorities such as the descendants of those who crucified Christ” have become “the owners of the riches of the world...”
According to The Forward, representatives of Venezuela's Jewish community are defending Chavez:
Officials of the leading organization of Venezuelan Jewry were preparing a letter this week to the center, complaining that it had misinterpreted Chavez's words and had failed to consult with them before attacking the Venezuelan president.
"You have interfered in the political status, in the security, and in the well-being of our community. You have acted on your own, without consulting us, on issues that you don't know or understand," states a draft of the letter obtained by the Forward. Copies of the letter are also to be sent to the heads of the World Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Committee, among other Jewish groups...
Before dismissing this protest as the product of Venezuelan dhimmis, I'd suggest reading the article which makes a very interesting point:
This is a good chance to get a glimpse at this "Liberation Theology" -- a sort of nexus between Christianity and Marxism, and a frequent ideological fellow traveller with leftist anti-semitism. The trouble with the excuse is that while many may recognize the rhetoric of Liberation Theology, many more, even in Latin America, will recognize the themes of plain old-fashioned Jew-baiting.
This is difficult to fully come to terms with, to fully comprehend. On the one hand invoking the particularly repugnant "christ killer" demagoguery sets off a viscerally based revulsion; it's repugnant on so many levels - socially, historically, intellectually, debased forms of social/political manipulations, etc. - that one's entire being is awash in an inability to comprehend, excepting on the level of revulsion.
On the other hand there's these protestations by Venezuelan communities which at least appear to be univocal, at least as judged by this report.
So, what to think of this? Tentative judgements are in order. Some facts: Chavez is certainly a demagogue and presents ideological issues, e.g., vis-a-vis Castro; problems with assimilationist Jewish communities and individuals are often highly complex and not easily comprehended; difficult for many or even most of us to empathize with or comprehend the Venezuelan situation without investing in assumptions which in turn may prove to off the mark or entirely unfounded.
So it's all tentative while it certainly remains intriguing. There's similar, if peripheral, intrigues as well, such as Evo Morales in Bolivia. Hmmmmm.
Interesting link.
The "Christ-killer" language is a trope of liberation theology. It has long been used to demonize "capitalist" opponents -- thus the Chavez comments. Personally I reject the basis of liberation theology as in any way relevant to Christianity because it focuses on arbitrary "unempowered" group assignments, and because it justifies, even encourages violence on one side. The political use of the imagery is vulgar and distasteful -- not to mention that it trivializes Christian beliefs.
However, this very same imagery is being used in the case of "Palestinian liberation theology" -- note that Sabeel regards itself as an ecumenical liberation theology center. In this case, liberation theology is using its standard language of incitement and refusal to condemn violence -- directed against Israelis. Here it is more easily seen as a resurrection of medieval anti-Semitism, and at the very least fosters anti-Semitism in others.
Was aware Christ was identified as a socialist within "Liberation Theology" but was not aware this identification was so complete as to additionally refer to capitalists as christ-killers. Given the following however, tentative judgements and some notable suspicions remain fully warranted.
Bartholomew's reports on this story, in doing so linking to a Weekly Standard article from Aug. 2005 entitled Hurricane Hugo. At the end of the link at Bartholomew's it's clear Chavez wasted no time in formalizing a new relationship with someone of note, from Iran. It would seem, without making any final judgements, that all this remains a developing issue. The following from the Weekly Standard article:
"Hostility to Jews has become one of the hallmarks of the Venezuelan government under Hugo Chávez, the radical populist who became president in 1999, and of Chavismo, the neo-fascist ideology named for him. In January, the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor released a "Report on Global Anti-Semitism." The report documents how openly anti-Semitic the Venezuelan government now is."
The combination of decidedly leftist and fascist motifs in Venezuela should not surprise. It may be deemed too obvious to note, but there are contemporary instances (e.g., Arafat's fascist lineage combined with recent historical leftist support of Arafat's and others' tactics and programs) but even the origins of Fascism stemmed, through Mussolini, from Marxist interests and praxis. At any rate, it certainly appears that the Simon Wiesenthal Center's concerns should not be merely dismissed, tout court, and that continuing concerns are fully warranted. We live in interesting times.
Did some research at the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and found this list of reports. Within that list the above referenced "Report on Global Anti-Semitism" (just released on 1/5/05) is available, among other reports of note.
Nice work!