Walking in the shoes of others
Marian McNichol considers the issue of cultural violence
Resolving the current conflict around what constitutes anti-Semitism requires us to walk a mile in the other’s shoes.
Peacebuilding requires that we understand the root causes of conflict. It is more than direct physical violence against the person. There are also the more hidden forms of violence that feed conflict. These include structural violence, when a society creates or possesses institutions and organisations that discriminate against a particular group of people or privilege a particular group of people.
Cultural violence
A third form of violence is cultural violence, when an attitude or commonly held views or visual imagery is present in a society that values one group more than another.
Cultural violence exists on many levels, against many different groups in society. Its presence is often only felt and noticed by the group affected. Ageism and negative portrayals of disability are examples of cultural violence. The absence of people of colour within the mainstream media is another example.
The Holocaust was a series of acts of horrendous direct violence, resulting in the death of six million Jewish people. It was built on 2,000 years of structural and cultural violence. Structural violence occurred when Jewish people were barred from most professions, had to live in certain areas and were always less likely to be treated equally by legal systems.
Jewish people remember the structural violence just as much as they remember the Holocaust. They know structural violence as a precursor to direct violence.
True peacebuilding also requires that cultural violence be ended within a society. Cultural violence towards Jewish people may be something as simple as serving pork without alternatives, fixing work events regularly on a Friday evening when Jewish people expect to be at home to celebrate the Sabbath, and talking about Britain as a Christian country.
Cultural violence is talking about Jewish people as if they were homogenous, presenting stereotypes as if they are true of all Jewish people.
These acts of cultural violence affect an individual’s sense of belonging, their sense of safety within a society. Anti-Semitism is another name for this cultural violence when it is aimed at Jewish people.
We know that people cannot engage in peacebuilding if their core needs, both physical and psychological, are not met.
Psychological needs include a need to believe that systems around you are fair and just, that you have the same rights to justice as everyone else, that you have the same rights to economic wellbeing as everyone else. It means that you are valued as a member of society and that you will be protected by the systems operating in that society.
We no longer have state-sanctioned direct violence against Jewish people and, hopefully, we no longer have structural violence within Britain aimed at Jewish people. However, we do have many examples of cultural violence. Jewish people will recount them to you if you ask them in a safe space.
Anti-Semitism, cultural violence, creates a sense of insecurity. If you are not Jewish you may not be aware of it, just as, if you are a man you are unlikely to be sensitive to acts of sexism and if you are white you are unlikely to be sensitive to acts of racism.
Safe spaces
Telling people that it doesn’t exist when they know it does is counter-productive.
The only way forward for peacebuilding is to create safe spaces where these accounts of cultural violence can be told and trusted allies can take these stories back to those who commit them with a request that they stop.
Only when a change of attitude has occurred will the psychological need for safety and belonging be met. People can then engage in real peacebuilding.
Everyday acts of anti-Semitism can be committed thoughtlessly, carelessly or, occasionally, deliberately. Sometimes they are committed with a sense of righteousness, when linked to the unjust treatment of Palestinians, but two wrongs never make a right.
Jewish people who choose to support the state of Israel, and see its existence as an important safeguard for themselves and their families, may find involvement with Quakers and with the Labour Party challenging when the Israeli government is called to account. Jewish people cannot be held to account for the actions of the Israeli government. Doing so is anti-Semitism.
Jewish people have a long tradition of fighting for justice, many as key members of the Labour Party and there must be real distress at experiencing this cultural violence in a place they previously felt they belonged.
Quakers also have a history of being allies of Jewish people against Nazism and now, when sometimes our support for Palestinians spills over into anti-Semitism, we also cause real hurt.
None of this prevents us being strong allies of the Palestinian people. None of it negates the rights of the Palestinian people to justice for the direct violence, the structural violence and the cultural violence that are daily occurrences for them, both in Israel and in Gaza and the West Bank.
We must state clearly that these acts of violence are perpetrated by the Israeli government through its illegal occupation.
We can support the nonviolent resistance. We can work on boycott, divestments and sanctions against the Israeli government. We can call for the rule of international law to be applied to Israel and pressure our government to uphold the rights of the Palestinians. We can campaign against the export of weapons to Israel.
A call to examine the possibility that we may be anti-Semitic is a call to walk in the shoes of the Jewish people here in Britain, who experience cultural violence and who are afraid it may lead to structural violence and then to direct violence. If people’s genuine fears are heard then true peacebuilding can begin.
Comments
Thank you for this. I have been troubled and perplexed by developments in the last few weeks. This article helps me to understand better all the emotional and psychological elements of cultural violence and to apply them not only to anti-Semitism but across society where there are many other examples.
By suehampton@btinternet.com on 6th September 2018 - 12:02
Please login to add a comment
