The issue that isn’t being addressed in the campaign The woke takeover of the academy, culture and government is the driving force behind the surge in antisemitism and the war on the West. Rolling it back is imperative. Jonathan Tobin
It didn’t make it into either presidential debate conducted this year. Nor is it on any of the top 10 lists of issues most important to Americans in 2024, such as the one produced by the Pew Research Center. But those who think that woke ideologies, which have captured so much of America’s education system, as well as the government bureaucracy and even the arts, pose only a minor threat to America’s future are mistaken.
As much as any other topic, the fate of this wildly successful movement will determine what kind of country Americans live in for decades to come. And as fateful as the decision will be for the entire electorate as to whether the government should take the initiative in rolling back the woke tide, it will be especially important for American Jewry.
If there is one thing glaringly apparent since Oct. 7, it is the surge in antisemitism, primarily fueled by the political left’s widespread belief that Israel is a “settler/colonial” and “apartheid” state. Added to that is the ultimate expression of “white” supremacy—a label that has been extended to cover all Jews who support it and even those who don’t.
The reason for this enthusiasm for radical movements that see Zionism as a form of racism is the way it fits neatly into the mindset of critical race theory and intersectionality, which divide all of humanity into two eternally warring groups: people of color who can only be victims, and “whites” who are always oppressors.
This same set of beliefs has inspired the widespread adoption of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) rules throughout the education system and virtually every other sector of American society. Moreover, this woke catechism was officially incorporated into every government department and agency by President Joe Biden on his first day in office in January 2021. That means that along with all the other woke commissars dominating admissions and discipline in higher education, as well as much of corporate America, and casting and programming choices in arts organizations, they are now also present throughout the federal bureaucracy.
Such people have created a culture in which racial and ethnic quotas dominate. That’s because “equity,” in practice, means the opposite of equal opportunity. Inclusion means only drawing in certain minority groups that are defined as victims and not others, like Jews, whom DEI bureaucrats don’t deem real minorities despite the long Jewish history, right up to the present, of being subjected to discrimination and violent, murderous attacks.
Needless to say, as events on college campuses throughout the nation during the past year have shown, protecting the non-approved minorities, like Jews, is not a priority or even much of a consideration for DEI since it considers its job to aid the victims, not those whom it has falsely labeled as members of the oppressor class and therefore “white.”
Far from being, as it has been put down by liberal apologists for DEI and critical race theory, a marginal culture war issue that has little impact on the lives of ordinary Americans, the last year has proven the opposite. This is not limited to colleges and universities. The torrent of antisemitic incidents in secondary and elementary schools within the past year showed just how prevalent the woke mindset has become among administrators, teachers and teachers unions.
They have not only championed curricula that adopted critical race teachings that erase Jewish history and rights but also often turned a blind eye to discrimination and even attacks on Jews.
This is not merely a Jewish issue but one that impacts all Americans, because it is part of a far bigger ideological war against Western civilization and values and the history of this nation. The woke view of the United States as being born in sin and irredeemably racist, as the fraudulent though very influential New York Times “1619 Project” first published in 2019 taught. But as much as this threatens everyone, it is the Jews who, whether they were prepared to think seriously about the issue, were made to feel its ramifications this past year.
Supporters of Israel’s extinction and terrorism against Jews everywhere dominated college campuses, while thinking themselves advocates for a righteous rather than a genocidal and antisemitic cause.
The influence of ‘Settler/Colonialism’
Literary critic, poet and biographer Adam Kirsch provides a timely explanation for a lot of what has happened since Oct. 7 in his new and highly important book On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence and Justice (Norton).
In his slim volume, he traces the origin of this woke ideology and puts it in the context of far-left beliefs that speak of the illegitimacy of all “settler” states such as the United States, Canada and Australia. The reason why Israel is the focus of so much of the left’s advocacy is simple.
Some of them may call the United States “Turtle Island,” a made-up name for the North American continent as it existed before the European discovery of America, and demand hypocritical and meaningless “land acknowledgments” as institutions speak of which Native American tribes lived there in the distant past before European settlers arrived with no intention of divesting themselves of their property. But no one, not even in the fever swamps of the far left, thinks there is the slightest chance the United States will be dismantled and all descendants of Europeans deported.
Israel is a different story. It is a tiny, vulnerable nation of fewer than 10 million people, as well as one whose Jewish majority is part of a people targeted by the world’s oldest hatred: antisemitism. Its destruction is something that can be imagined, and indeed, that is exactly what Palestinian Arabs who support Hamas and other terrorist movements, as well as the so-called moderates of the Palestinian Authority, dream about all the time.
That combination of vulnerability and the link to a widespread form of hatred makes Israel so attractive a target for the woke left. Although it is an integral part of a general war on the West that threatens the values and beliefs of most Americans, this ideology is what has also fueled the post-Oct. 7 surge in antisemitism and the emergence of supporters of Israel’s destruction as a voter group that one of our two major parties—the Democrats—must consider as it conducts its campaign and maps out foreign policy.
That’s why it is so depressing that antisemitism and its woke supporters and rationalizers are not being spoken of much or debated in the 2024 election campaign.
Indeed, this election—like almost every other one ever fought in this country—will be decided by the opinions of voters about which of the presidential candidates will best handle the economy and tame the inflation that has had a disproportionate impact on the ability of middle, working class and poor Americans to get by.
Other issues such as illegal immigration, health care and crime will also play a decisive role in determining the outcome, with more ideological concerns like abortion, racism and climate change ranking far below on the list of voter priorities. Worries about woke ideology rank even lower.
What the government can do about it
It is natural for Americans to worry first about their livelihoods, their ability to afford healthcare and whether our borders are overrun by illegal immigrants who are (regardless of whether we sympathize with their plight) having a devastating impact on many communities, as well as depressing the wages of working-class Americans. Still, the takeover of the U.S. education system, corporate America and the arts by woke bureaucrats will have as much, if not a greater, influence on what kind of a country we live in going forward.
There have been some successful examples of pushback against DEI culture among some universities, especially those in Florida, where the state government, led by Gov. Ron DeSantis, has played a key role in restoring sanity to public institutions.
Some elements of corporate America have also begun to realize that allowing their human resources departments to be run by woke commissars makes it harder for them to hire the best and most qualified candidates for jobs and promotions and creates potential legal liability if that results in lawsuits about discrimination based on race. While hopeful signs, these are more the exceptions to the rule of DEI dominance than anything else.
What could a new administration do about any of this? A great deal.
First of all, Biden’s executive orders should be rescinded. As important as that would be, the real priority would be for the Justice Department to unleash its civil rights division on any public institution that, in the name of DEI, is engaging in discriminatory practices as well as leading to, as has happened at so many colleges, to inaction against woke-inspired antisemitism.
If that were to happen—something that the controversial and much-lied-about Project 2025, produced by the Heritage Foundation, actually calls for—then the woke tide could be rolled up in relatively short order. DEI pledges, required for being hired as a college professor in many institutions, would be placed in the dustbin of history along with the much-despised McCarthyite pledges of the 1950s.
This would do more to counter the increasing wave of Jew-hatred than the entire contents of the toothless “U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism” promulgated last year by the Biden administration.
This would be a political winner for either party that implemented it, but the political left wants no part of a rollback of its animating ideology. As a New York Times feature published this week made clear, leftist academics want no part of anything that would strip them of their dominance. That’s especially true if it made viewpoint diversity rather than obsessions about race a staple of our education system.
An issue that is so important to the future of this nation and the fight to preserve the values and the history of America and Western civilization, as well as that against antisemitism, deserves more attention as we choose a president and a new Congress.
If those who wish to make permanent the left’s imposition of woke indoctrination are allowed to prevail, then the consequences for all Americans, and especially Jews, are incalculable.
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