I am a socialist. A Marxist. A long standing member of the PCF, DSA, and the UK Labour Party. I’m a trade unionist in the CGT.
I’m a fierce internationalist & anti-colonialist.
I’m also a Jew. Moreover, I am an Israeli.
In my religious community I’ve been questioned and doubted more times than I can count about my commitment to my faith due to my political beliefs. I’ve been called a self-hating Jew.
In my national community I’ve been called a traitor. A spy. An aide to those who would kill us.
Conversely, on the left I’ve been called a Zionist pig. A spy. Not a real leftist. A colonizer.
To many on the Jewish right I’m an antisemite and a race traitor.
To my comrades on the left I am an apologist for Israel.
Alienated everywhere.
The past 24 hours have been most disturbing. For those Palestinians facing yet another horrible day of occupation and death AND to Israelis facing a shocking of chaos and death.
I live abroad and don’t face any danger to my life. I am not a victim and this thread shouldn’t be seen as such. Simply sharing my feelings.
Many will reply here and call me a self-hating Jew and a traitor, again.
Others will call me an apologist for Israel.
Days like this show me why I’m so lonely. Not welcome in my religious community, my national one, or my political one.
The Eternal Jew.
People love to say autistic people don’t understand nuance. I’ve been accused of this my entire life.
But the reality is, I get nuance. I’ve fought for a better place my entire life. And still do.
But it’s most of you casual onlookers who don’t get nuance.
And to my fellow committed Jews on the Left, I see you so so so very much.
We are not alone. Our values as leftists and as Jews make us who we are. We fight for the change we want NEED in this world.
I'm struggling to find words to express how I feel about this post. I admire your strength, or perseverance, or whatever you call it, to deal with all of that hate and divisiveness and still continue to do the great and amazing work that you do.
@theautisticcoach@mazeldon@communism@actuallyautistic
Thank you for sharing your views of a human!
Being human always incurs great difficulty from joining a group, which would give their agenda absolute priority - which turns most of them inhuman at a certain point.
@theautisticcoach@mazeldon@communism@actuallyautistic So many of my heroes are/were Jewish, though I am not. I can only imagine how not only recent events, but so much in the last 30 years has been anguish for you to witness. I am angry at those that oppress, and angry that people who won't/don't get hurt are encouraging destruction. And I am livid that people will exploit the "isms" to perpetuate both, ignoring consequential pain they inflict and endangering even more lives. I see you.
My grandfather was Jewish. He fought in France during the war, then immigrated to Canada. He was not practicing, but to bigots, that doesn't matter. I have Jewish blood.
I recognize Israel, and its right to exist. I also recognize Palestine, and its right to exist. I do NOT support the bloodshed perpetrated by either side.
Basically, I don't want people fighting and dying.
If that makes me an anti-semite or a Zionist, or anti-Islamic, or whatever, then so be it.
People whose entire mental functioning depend on logical chains of cause and effect, or simply “intellectual sense making” don’t see nuance?
To NT people who use this tired stereotype; I don’t think that word means what you think it means.
I’m really sorry this is happening Matt. I can relate to how you feel both as a fellow autistic AND as an anarchist from a country with a right wing government and a population with imperialist delusions of grandeur, living abroad, and enduring being lumped together with whatever group that is convenient at the moment to “other” you.
@theautisticcoach@mazeldon@communism@actuallyautistic Solidarity, Matthew. Israel as a concept is one thing; Israel as a state has been a completely other thing. My stance on it is usually not welcome, even in my fairly diverse reform shul. I already feel like an outsider, and my political stance just makes the alienation worse. ☹️
@arisummerland@theautisticcoach@mazeldon@communism@actuallyautistic I believe in the right for Palestinians to have a state and for Jews to have a state. I don't know that that goes over well in most Jewish religious circles. It is one of many reasons why I disavowed my religion and am simply Jewish by heritage only.
my girlfriend found this, and it's ... indescribable, what this means to me. my Hebrew name is Yonah, bc I felt so drawn to him as a biblical character, and yet I wasn't fully able to put my connection to him into words, until this article
"We know why Jonah runs because the prophet himself tells us at the end of the text. Jonah objects that God spares the Assyrians the consequences of their actions. They have done evil and they do not deserve to retain their status as the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Jonah is not particularly impressed with the fasting and the public repentance; but he knows that God finds such behavior acceptable and averts their doom. If Jonah knows that there will be no real change and that Nineveh’s might and cruelty will ride roughshod over his people, why should he prophecize to them? Why do they not deserve justice?"
the idea of my namesake as an autistic dude who has no interest in participating in the absolution of bullies and abusers, who is "grieved unto death" over the loss of a giant plant, who struggled with haShem and is RIGHT ... it makes my name and my identity fit me more than I knew when I first chose them
To my Jewish #ActuallyAutistic comrades who are preparing for Rosh Hashana, you need not wear formal clothing.
You must wear clothing that you’re comfortable in & that fits your sensory needs to be present in your most authentic way to honor yourself & the Divine.