Thank you, Tim Snyder, for this article. I've been trying to articulate this message over the last couple of weeks and you did it so much more elegantly and eloquently than I ever could. Friends, this is a really important concept, and the fascist right is doing everything they can to strip the words and concepts of true anti-Semitism of their meaning, while using it as a cover for incarcerating a green card holder without providing evidence that he broke any laws. Please also read the article about anti-Semitism in the Oval Office. When fascism rises, Jews are often the first to pay with their lives, and there is so much coded and overt anti-Jewish rhetoric it's alarming. For instance, "globalist" always means "Jew." "Globalist economics" means Jews control the world economy. "New York values" means Jewish. "New York humor" means Jewish. It matters, and the most relevant cognate to what is going on in the United States right now is Hitler's Germany. No hyperbole. No joke. And that didn't end well for Jews or virtually anyone else.
I agree. A truly great column. I wonder how my Orthodox relatives see it - the ones that think Israel, with its own immoral authoritarian leader, can do no wrong. This antisemitic "plot" is just another cog in the Trump/RW/Putin disinformation machine. And since a lot of people want to believe it, they will.
I just listened to some of it. I'm not sure I agree that Trump is mentally gone. I just think as he ages, he's become increasingly disgusting. There are no guardrails. Nobody is pushing back. So Trump will say whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Yes, any former President would have received a verbal beating from a lot of people. But Trump is a mafia "Don;" a Putin installed King. He can do and say what he wants without consequences.
You both could be right. It is a commonplace that people slipping into dementia lose their ability (if they ever had it) to control their own actions. Dementia can be a form of "in vino veritas". Nasty people show their nastiness more openly. People who used to know that it was unacceptable to use the "n-word" in polite company will go back to saying it and other vicious things. People who were kindly by nature remain kindly. At any rate, Trump can be manipulated, and can in turn manipulate his cult.
I'd agree, too, Bonnie, except how he begins referring to "our government."
No. It's, rather, Putin's government. That of U.S. billionaires. That of our legacy and mainstream media who've all neutered themselves. Netanyahu's. Mohammed bin Salman's. Plus that into which all the communist Chinese cadres enriched themselves by the U.S. billionaires who offshored the millions of jobs from our American working classes.
Two things can be true at the same time: the anti-Semitism can be real, and it can be weaponized by bad-faith actors for their own ends. I am not sure why it is necessary to gaslight Jewish students who say they experienced anti-Semitism.
Q: How do students get into "higher" education from K-12, anyway?
Answer: They spend years prepping for and taking standardized tests.
If they'd read, discussed, and wrote essays on full novels, memoirs, histories, and the people in them -- as individuals, in complicated contexts -- they could be alert to any and all of the stereotypes which deny individual humanity.
The testing does the opposite. It breeds concupiscence in seeing only categories, groups, and abstractions.
That's what Lewis Powell and his Chamber of Commerce pals thought, too.
The monetizers, the commercial corporate, the ideologues all, Frau Katze, hated the ferment, passion, and energy American youth back then got from the many novels they read, the many films they saw, the many songs all knew. Civil rights. Anti-war. Women's lib. Environmentalism.
So the Powell memo of 1971 meant above all else to neuter all the schools, rid all of those humanities.
Which is what, with all their new, coordinated, far-right foundations they did. Then they were free to commence their mass offshoring decades, with no restraint from any humanities in any schools anymore.
I agree; thank you for writing this. I've been trying to articulate this, as well, but definitely did not have the words to do so. This helps tremendously.
When TS says: "Anti-American activity" is a very broad category of behavior, and of course, when simply defined at a given by the president, perfectly arbitrary," I'm thinking that those activities include freeing from jail people who beat our police officers, appointing Emil Bove and Kash Patel to senior law enforcement roles, threatening our good neighbor Canada and our NATO ally Denmark, as well as cottoning up to Putin in Putin's efforts to reassemble the Soviet Union. But maybe that's just me.
"There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about" Margaret Wheatley
BernieSanders is an authentic and TRUSTED TRUTH-TELLER and leader. Bernie's message is resonating with ALL of the American people - Democrats, Independents and Traditional Republicans.
Bernie is forming a PRO-DEMOCRACY COALITION OF CITIZENS. Bernie is building a caring COMMUNITY.
The Democratic Party Leaders and Lawmakers need to follow Bernie's lead and form a pro-democracy coalition of lawmakers. Strength is in unity;
On the American Left emotion has replaced united strategic voting - as people have been urged to believe that their vote is an individual exercise in personal expression. Rather than a joint exercise to take power. (Which tactic the Right has taken to heart.)
Video games do that. All TV advertising does that. The billionaires' social media algorithms do that. All schools do that whose bottom line is nothing more than the numbers, the points gotten on standardized testing.
I am an American Jew and Zionist, born in the shadow of the Holocaust. And a progressive activist. I have witnessed the growth of antisemitism in the American Left. From old time Russian antisemitism folded into Soviet anti Zionism. And NOI leader Louis Farrakhan's European church antisemitism folded into his own influencer brand. (Antisemitism is not native to Islam.)
I have opposed successive and increasingly extremist Netanyahu regimes. And the baleful AIPAC and CUFI influence on American politics. (Biden not enforcing the Leahy laws to pause offensive military aid to IDF units violating humanitarian law, may have cost Harris Michigan and Wisconsin and critical votes elswehere - as Putin ally Jill Stein swooped in to exploit the suffering of American Palestinians and their allies. Not necessarily winning votes for Stein, but suppressing votes for Harris.)
I can sort antisemitism from anti Zionism, and both from righteous and necessary critique of Netanyahu's apartheid and now genocidal ethnic cleansing agenda.
The embrace of Zionism by racist right wing religious extremists here and in Israel and the cynical exploitation of 'antisemitism' by Americans and Israelis is the worst thing that could have happened to Israel. It has also elided the history of antisemitism. And has lead to Israeli policy making real, what previously were lies by Israel's enemies. To my mind, for many Jews, especially in the ultra Orthodox Kahanist camp - Never Again has come to mean This Time, My Turn.
While I agree with everything you wrote here, I really wish the fact--and it is well-documented--that Khalil was a chief instigator of chaos at Columbia could be stated as well. Stating that clearly would not change anything about the violation of rule of law, or the Trump/Musk antisemitism and their "weaponizing (real) antisemitism to undermine democracy and the rule of law," as Amy Spitalnick wrote.
Not including that--or, as some have done, pretending Khalil was peaceful--is an erasure of history and a lie by omission.
It is mostly projection - the reverse is true. And then rinse and repeat. Lies, lies, lies. And then come up with another story. They are very good in sowing mistrust. That's their goal. But Europe is going to crush them. We don't want Putin to win. The current BS sprad by US that Ukraine cannot win is BS. They can and will win. Putin is about to fall to pieces. Economy is down. Everything is down.
Why do you want to say this? Is it not normal to protest against genocide of Palestinians? Are they not the original inhabitants of Palestine now called Israel?
TS: "Words will have become just tools to achieve the vision of the Leader."
The sick thing about all of this, is that the Leader - in this case Netanyahu - has made being against the Israeli policy and IDF war crimes EQUAL to being antisemite.
Are you in this authoritarian ultra right camp who is now bombing Damascus? Just to evade justice (reminds me of the Orange felon). Are you not aware that Israel is joining the axis of evil (Russia - USA - Israel)? Never did support Ukraine?
And Trump and his evangelists of course agree because these fools believe in raptor nonsense and want to revert jews into christianity or kill you. So they are indeed antisemites but are seen as heroes by Netanyahu and his fascist cult.
Let us be very very happy with people like Khalil and the U of Columbia. I suppose you never watched Al Jazeera Patricia?
It is not normal to support terrorist who openly claim that their goal is mass killing of the Jews and eradication of Israel.
Define "original inhabitants" please. If you use the definition of the word indigenous - no, they aren't.
And don't bring Ukraine into this, please. Despite Israeli government policy (which is totally fine to criticize), 69% of Ukrainian support Israel in their fight for their homeland
Your reply shows you are not at all informed about what is going on.
You are completely brainwashed as you don't even know your history.
After decades of torture and suppression and not wanting to share even a normal existence, this is what you get.
I bring in what I want. Ukraine never received any support by Israel despite them being promised Patriot rockets.
Why are AIPAC supporting Trump, Musk and the billionaires and not give a cent to Jews for Peace? Why are so many rich jews on the wrong side of history? 'Ich habe es nicht gewusst'? We will see. If Timothy Snyder is correct, they will find out too late.
I am very well informed on what is going on. It's just I don't use Qatar sponsored media and an organization that tokenizes Jews (while not being founded by Jews) as my source of education
And I was not replying to you for the second time. I was responding to Munro. And let us be very very clear: Israel is a fascist country: it has become what many jews in Europe say: they are like the nazi's they torture Palestinians, the rape women. In short: they are like russia. Not so strange because many Russian oligarchs live there or have a dual passport.
Israel’s UN vote signals shift toward Russia
Israel’s first UN vote against Ukraine raises questions about the country's strategic and moral direction.
There are two sides. That is like calling America Fascist because of the MAGAS thst are fascist. Some Zionist are as bad as the fascists and colonialists. Many are peaceful who went to live there because America and other countries would not take them in after they survived the camps. I hope everyone reads all the comments as there is much hatred and bias being spewed all around and where is Professor Snyder to mediate a thoughtful discussion?
And I am replying to you, to which I do not need your permission.
You are being disrespectful to me by calling me brainwashed, not engaging in good faith with arguments and assuming I don't know russia. Well, maybe don't operate on assumptions - I am Ukrainian and very well aware. Again, it is totally fine to criticize current Israeli government. It doesn't make your point right, or disputes mine or Patricia's point.
I don't understand what you are trying to achieve, but as of now you are not making sense
yes 2 million Jews in Ukraine died. Let's face it, Trump wants Ukraine to fall to Russia and to grab Greenland for himself HIMself in the name of AmeriKa
Yes, thank you! Two things can be true at the same time - trump is using "antisemitism" as a weapon against democracy, and Khalil is very much an antisemite and Columbia protests were supportive of hamas, a terrorist organization, compared to which few things can get more antisemitic
No. Khalil is just protecting his family and relatives. That some jews don't understand that, especially if you are from countries with an history on that oppression and murder, is beyond my imagination and comprehension.
Israel is on the wrong track. It is sliding very fast into fascism. It is bought by Russian oligarchs. Their teachers are given in by their pupils, just like in Russia. Brainwashed. All Palestinians are terrorists, all are Hamas. In the mean time Israel does not want to release the real Palestinian leader who is in jail for over 20 years - free Marwan Barghouti. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/15/hold_hopes-diminish-that-pivotal-palestinian-leader-may-be-released
No of course not because N. does not want a two state solution. Nor USA.
In the UK it is the prerogative of students to protest. Universities have always accepted protest as long as hate speech and violence are avoided. Sadly the US control seems to be seeping across the Atlantic.
I will check the veracity as my son went there and lives there. if ture you are correct.
but if you see what I posted about THE MESSAGE and my inlaws survivors husband being born in Bergen Belsen as relocation camp ...I do not want all protestors deported
I don't want anyone deported unless due process of law (assuming that exists) happens. I just don't want history erased either. Those are not mutually exclusive.
This disturbs me as well, Patricia. The real problem on college campuses is the inability of campus administrations to clearly draw a line between protected free speech (legal and must be allowed on campus) and harassment, intimidation, physical violence, and property damage, done in the name of a cause (illegal and should be stopped by the same law enforcement mechanisms as other criminal behavior). Trump has taken the very real problem of moral/legal confusion on these campuses, and co-opted it as part of his "crusade" against certain immigrants/foreign students. So the legitimate criminal complaints against Khalil - that likely should have been made by Columbia - have been buried by Trump's message that foreigners who don't behave as his administration deems appropriate will be deported.
Antisemites also knew exactly what JD Vance meant when he called our great Universities, "the enemy of the people."
Joseph Goebbels once said, “It would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle. They are mere words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas and disguise.”
This is where we are today when the RusPublican party and their propaganda media outlets over the last year have redefined words like patriot to mean revolutionary, truth means fiction, love means hate, dignity means degradation, vileness is virtuous and so on. The word is simply a sound or letters on paper, the meaning behind them can be moved around like a slide rule. For maga today a circle is indeed a square.
And the public doesn't have enough sense to say "Eff them all". People love to be conned, if it flatters them. Skepticism and suspicion are not habits of mind - people aren't willing to think that they could be the subjects of manipulation by malign actors.
I have all I can cope with in addressing the hostility to established medicine and to science. In the twilight of my life, I do not want to have to learn how to treat measles.
Thank you. I wrote the following to my Jewish family and non-Jewish friends this morning under the heading “Punishing Elon Musk”.
Trump is punishing Columbia University and other universities for not doing enough to fight antisemitism. By punishing I mean blocking large amounts of government research grants, $400 billion from Columbia. Yet, his enforcer, Elon Musk, with a history of antisemitism and public displays of Nazi salutes roams free destroying the Executive agencies that protect people, animals and land that have no other champion. Trump too has a history of antisemitism, for example, only hiring Jewish lawyers and financial managers because, you know, that's what Jews are good at. And, don't get me started on the October 2024 recreation of the 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden in NY. What's fair punishment for Musk's antisemitism? Remove him from his position as Trump's enforcer? Fine him billions? Disappear him back to South Africa? Unlikely because Musk's behavior is prized by the MAGA degenerates that elected Trump and who inhabit the circus that is the Trump regime. The Trump regime will have to come down before Musk disappears.
Musk can buy any politician. The people need to leave X, need to ostracize anyone still driving a new Tesla (and certainly that p-extender fugly "Cybertruck", AKA "Swastikar"), need to refer to him as Apartheid Boy Little Hitler, ketamine addict, and just refer to him as being pathetic. Pop the supposed "glamor" of Musk and his money. People like that just hate being laughed at, even though they fancy themselves Caligula (or Caligula's horse).
Born in a Syrian refugee camp, Khalil has talked about his Palestinian heritage and was a major figure during last spring and summer's protests on the Columbia University campus in New York City. The protests included occupation of classrooms and a large tent encampment and criticized Israel for attacking Gaza in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.
Many university campuses also saw similar protests, which also criticized the Biden administration for not doing more to stop Israel's attacks on Gaza, with some participants calling it a genocide.
During the protests, Khalil acted as a lead negotiator for student protesters calling on the university to cut ties with Israel amid the war in Gaza, end student-exchange programs and close Columbia's campus in Tel Aviv, as well as financial transparency on the school’s investments. Demonstrators had also demanded amnesty for students and faculty disciplined or arrested during protests.
An excellent and telling discussion. Trump and his ilk are draining the term "antisemitism" of its meaning and impact and import. What should be the most serious and grave accusation imaginable is deployed as an all-purpose slur against people or institutions that the Trumpists (or Netanyahu and his coterie) don't like. I go to Columbia several times a week and have seen very little that I would consider antisemitic (a little yes, but only a little). It is clear that the accusation is being used to bully and silence those who are Palestinian or advocate compassionate concern for the plight of the West Bank and Gaza, including, of course, numerous Jewish students and faculty. This is shameful and will do lasting damage to our ability to discuss and understand antisemitism and other forms of prejudice. It will do nobody any good in the long run, however much Trump and his supporters think it gets them some leverage against the great US universities in the short run.
Many thanks for a really fine and important essay, Prof. Snyder.
"It is the rulers who decide who are the good Jews and the bad Jews, the real Jews and the fake Jews. The point of all this is that all Jews, and Jews especially, have to be obedient to the ruler, or else." This takes me back to last year, when, "At a 'fighting antisemitism' event, Trump says Jewish voters will bear 'a lot' of blame if he loses" (9/19/24; updated 9/20/24):
“In remarks ostensibly focused on combating antisemitism, former President Donald Trump questioned why he lacks commanding support from Jewish voters and suggested that they would have 'a lot to do' with a loss in November if their support for his campaign does not grow.
'I’m not going to call this a prediction, but, in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss if I’m at 40%,' Trump said during a campaign event titled 'Fighting Antisemitism in America,"'citing an unnamed poll that he said showed him with two-fifths of Jewish voters’ support.”
At the time it reminded me of Hitler's response when, right after the Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union and Army Group North ran into resistance from the Red Army, he told the Jews in Germany that he would hold them responsible if Germany fails.
And let us not forget that, during an address to American Jews before the 2016 election, Trump referred to Benjamin Netanyahu as "your prime minister," a familiar antisemitic "dual loyalty" trope.
Dr Snyder, I rarely disagree with you, but I think you are undermining your point by trying to say that Khalil is innocent and has not expressed antisemitic views. He has openly supported hammas and the organization he leads has spread uncensored hammas propaganda, and has led to Jewish students on Columbia campus being unsafe.
That doesn't justify the way this administration is using his case to attack democracy and higher education, and this administration is very much antisemitic.
But trying to say he has just been exercising free is speech is a stretch.
I go to Columbia every week. The idea that anybody is unsafe there is ludicrous, unless you buy the Trump-Netanyahu line that any advocacy of the Palestinian cause is antisemitic. I know it is not, having talked to student demonstrators, and there has been precious little that I would consider antisemitic in the rhetoric (a degree this Fall, not last Spring). I have seen more bullying of pro-Palestinians by pro-Israelis than the other way around. Khalil, as I understand it, was an intermediary and negotiator with the administration to try to keep things in bounds; pro-Palestinian, yes, of course (what would you expect?) but not an instigator of any of the excessive actions. Columbia, despite Trump's false accusations, has done and is doing a tremendous amount to contain the situation, probably too much, but for the need to placate the right.
I am sorry, but your personal view does not negate how hundreds of Jewish students felt for the past 1.5 years. Columbia even had to settle a lawsuit where it had to provide better security for Jewish students
That's my observation. I know how it is claimed that "hundreds of Jewish students" "felt", but I doubt that it is true to a great extent. That's not my on-the-ground observation. As to the settlement, the university has cravenly caved in to the attacks of the right ,and the fact that it settled is essentially meaningless.
Again, observation of 1 person is not a reliable marker of objective reality in any way shape or form. And your readiness to dismiss experience of Jewish students doesn’t help your case either. That experience have been documented, and included a person being punched in the face for wearing a kippah, just as 1 example. I work at University of Michigan, where the encampment was much smaller, yet we had several assaults on Jewish students, including an incident of a guy being brought to the ground and beaten for answering “yes” to the question “Are you Jewish” from a random student on campus street.
You can’t ignore that just because “you doubt it is true to a great extent” - that is you ignoring documented facts based on a personal anecdote.
No doubt there are some incidents of real antisemitism, in addition to those cited over and over again to amplify the supposed problem. The point is that the idea of antisemitism at Columbia has, per my observation, been grossly exaggerated, for unworthy political purposes.
One anecdotal observation is not a reliable account of the problem. If you really are interested in what makes people make antisemitism claims (that you continue to try to dismiss), please read the article. It discusses at length why it's a problem, documented problem.
I’m not sure about him but there’s plenty of videos of students going to extremes. Blocking students and taking over a building. And some of the chants expressed a desire for Israel to disappear.
Thank you Prof. Snyder for a clear and forceful explanation of an important dimension of the authoritarian threat we are facing.
One can't explain everything in one article, but an important element of this set of issues should be added: the weaponization of "antisemitism" by Netanyahu and his US supporters against all critics - Jews, Muslims, liberals, all - of his many war crimes and human rights violations.
“Look! The gallows, fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai [aka Pence?], who spoke good on the king’s behalf, is standing at the house of Haman.” Then the king said, “Hang him on it!” So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai.
I'm reciting a psalm in her honor and in our hope.
Psalm 109
When his case is called for judgment, let him be pronounced guilty. Count his prayers as sins. Let his years be few and brief; let others step forward to replace him. May his children become fatherless and his wife a widow; may they be evicted from the ruins of their home. May creditors seize his entire estate and strangers take all he has earned. Let no one be kind to him; let no one pity his fatherless children. May they die. May his family name be blotted out in a single generation. Punish the sins of his father and mother. Don’t overlook them. Think constantly about the evil things he has done, and cut off his name from the memory of man. For he refused all kindness to others, and persecuted those in need, and hounded brokenhearted ones to death.
This article depressed me. Because I really appreciate Tim Snyder's insights into Ukraine-Russia but I felt like the article was overly dismissive of the possibility that Mahmoud Khalil actually did act in a way that was deeply offensive to Jewish students and did help foster a hostile environment on campus (for instance, he advocated for "armed resistance" and was a leader at demonstrations where material promoting Hamas, a fascist organization, was distributed). There is no question that Khalil has rights to free speech and due process, but I see many people going beyond arguing for his rights and treating him like a hero. I think one of the reasons the Trump administration may be taking up the cause of anti--Semitism is because some people on the left seem to have a very real blind spot for anti-Semitism on the left (they have no problem perceiving it on the right) and therefore this is an easy issue for Republicans to score points on.
He has a right to free speech. And if his speech (and actions) offend other students they have a right to complain about it. Some of the commenters here seem to be suggesting that the students who complained about anti-Semitism are disingenuous, or imagining things, or in league with "rich donors." Why not just give those students the benefit of the doubt? But the bigger issue is that if you are afraid of democratic backsliding and authoritarianism, it will be that much harder to defeat when some of the people in your own camp, the people on the side of democracy, themselves slide into illiberalism and conspiratorial thinking.
Thank you, Tim Snyder, for this article. I've been trying to articulate this message over the last couple of weeks and you did it so much more elegantly and eloquently than I ever could. Friends, this is a really important concept, and the fascist right is doing everything they can to strip the words and concepts of true anti-Semitism of their meaning, while using it as a cover for incarcerating a green card holder without providing evidence that he broke any laws. Please also read the article about anti-Semitism in the Oval Office. When fascism rises, Jews are often the first to pay with their lives, and there is so much coded and overt anti-Jewish rhetoric it's alarming. For instance, "globalist" always means "Jew." "Globalist economics" means Jews control the world economy. "New York values" means Jewish. "New York humor" means Jewish. It matters, and the most relevant cognate to what is going on in the United States right now is Hitler's Germany. No hyperbole. No joke. And that didn't end well for Jews or virtually anyone else.
I agree. A truly great column. I wonder how my Orthodox relatives see it - the ones that think Israel, with its own immoral authoritarian leader, can do no wrong. This antisemitic "plot" is just another cog in the Trump/RW/Putin disinformation machine. And since a lot of people want to believe it, they will.
listen to MSNBC https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-on-trump-s-vile-antisemitic-attack-on-schumer-trump-s-mind-is-gone-it-is-shattered-234272325736
Very compelling.
I just listened to some of it. I'm not sure I agree that Trump is mentally gone. I just think as he ages, he's become increasingly disgusting. There are no guardrails. Nobody is pushing back. So Trump will say whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Yes, any former President would have received a verbal beating from a lot of people. But Trump is a mafia "Don;" a Putin installed King. He can do and say what he wants without consequences.
You both could be right. It is a commonplace that people slipping into dementia lose their ability (if they ever had it) to control their own actions. Dementia can be a form of "in vino veritas". Nasty people show their nastiness more openly. People who used to know that it was unacceptable to use the "n-word" in polite company will go back to saying it and other vicious things. People who were kindly by nature remain kindly. At any rate, Trump can be manipulated, and can in turn manipulate his cult.
Agree on Lawrence’s reaction to Trump’s vile attack on Schumer!!
I'd agree, too, Bonnie, except how he begins referring to "our government."
No. It's, rather, Putin's government. That of U.S. billionaires. That of our legacy and mainstream media who've all neutered themselves. Netanyahu's. Mohammed bin Salman's. Plus that into which all the communist Chinese cadres enriched themselves by the U.S. billionaires who offshored the millions of jobs from our American working classes.
Thank you, Tim Snyder. I referenced you and George Saunders in a post today, and I hope you approve!
https://open.substack.com/pub/ronstewart1/p/on-words?r=1edy6n&utm_medium=ios
Two things can be true at the same time: the anti-Semitism can be real, and it can be weaponized by bad-faith actors for their own ends. I am not sure why it is necessary to gaslight Jewish students who say they experienced anti-Semitism.
Sone of the schools were too permissive with the protests. I would say:
- no camping
- no bullhorns
- no blocking or harassing other students
- no disrupting classes
- no building takeovers
You mention schools, Frau Katze.
Q: How do students get into "higher" education from K-12, anyway?
Answer: They spend years prepping for and taking standardized tests.
If they'd read, discussed, and wrote essays on full novels, memoirs, histories, and the people in them -- as individuals, in complicated contexts -- they could be alert to any and all of the stereotypes which deny individual humanity.
The testing does the opposite. It breeds concupiscence in seeing only categories, groups, and abstractions.
Things were pretty heated back in the 1960s too,
That's what Lewis Powell and his Chamber of Commerce pals thought, too.
The monetizers, the commercial corporate, the ideologues all, Frau Katze, hated the ferment, passion, and energy American youth back then got from the many novels they read, the many films they saw, the many songs all knew. Civil rights. Anti-war. Women's lib. Environmentalism.
So the Powell memo of 1971 meant above all else to neuter all the schools, rid all of those humanities.
Which is what, with all their new, coordinated, far-right foundations they did. Then they were free to commence their mass offshoring decades, with no restraint from any humanities in any schools anymore.
No disagreement here. Universities are both sympathetic to minorities and anti-Semitic, racist...It's the nature of free speech.
That's not free speech, Michael. It's default group allegiance.
This group. That group. Doesn't matter. Everyone's illiterate now to the arts which nurture us as individuals in what Hannah Arendt called plurality.
I agree; thank you for writing this. I've been trying to articulate this, as well, but definitely did not have the words to do so. This helps tremendously.
listen to MSNBC https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-on-trump-s-vile-antisemitic-attack-on-schumer-trump-s-mind-is-gone-it-is-shattered-234272325736
Very compelling.
listen to MSNBC https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-on-trump-s-vile-antisemitic-attack-on-schumer-trump-s-mind-is-gone-it-is-shattered-234272325736
Very compelling.
When TS says: "Anti-American activity" is a very broad category of behavior, and of course, when simply defined at a given by the president, perfectly arbitrary," I'm thinking that those activities include freeing from jail people who beat our police officers, appointing Emil Bove and Kash Patel to senior law enforcement roles, threatening our good neighbor Canada and our NATO ally Denmark, as well as cottoning up to Putin in Putin's efforts to reassemble the Soviet Union. But maybe that's just me.
"There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about" Margaret Wheatley
BernieSanders is an authentic and TRUSTED TRUTH-TELLER and leader. Bernie's message is resonating with ALL of the American people - Democrats, Independents and Traditional Republicans.
Bernie is forming a PRO-DEMOCRACY COALITION OF CITIZENS. Bernie is building a caring COMMUNITY.
The Democratic Party Leaders and Lawmakers need to follow Bernie's lead and form a pro-democracy coalition of lawmakers. Strength is in unity;
unity is in community.
🇺🇸🗽⚖️🗳🗣
"Fascism places emotion over reason." Another gem worth remembering.
"Fascism places emotion over reason."
That is true of many ideologies.
On the American Left emotion has replaced united strategic voting - as people have been urged to believe that their vote is an individual exercise in personal expression. Rather than a joint exercise to take power. (Which tactic the Right has taken to heart.)
Interesting commentary. Thank you!
Emotion over reason, lin?
Video games do that. All TV advertising does that. The billionaires' social media algorithms do that. All schools do that whose bottom line is nothing more than the numbers, the points gotten on standardized testing.
I greatly appreciate the clarity of your explanation and the fine account of the historical context underpinning it. Thank you.
I am an American Jew and Zionist, born in the shadow of the Holocaust. And a progressive activist. I have witnessed the growth of antisemitism in the American Left. From old time Russian antisemitism folded into Soviet anti Zionism. And NOI leader Louis Farrakhan's European church antisemitism folded into his own influencer brand. (Antisemitism is not native to Islam.)
I have opposed successive and increasingly extremist Netanyahu regimes. And the baleful AIPAC and CUFI influence on American politics. (Biden not enforcing the Leahy laws to pause offensive military aid to IDF units violating humanitarian law, may have cost Harris Michigan and Wisconsin and critical votes elswehere - as Putin ally Jill Stein swooped in to exploit the suffering of American Palestinians and their allies. Not necessarily winning votes for Stein, but suppressing votes for Harris.)
I can sort antisemitism from anti Zionism, and both from righteous and necessary critique of Netanyahu's apartheid and now genocidal ethnic cleansing agenda.
The embrace of Zionism by racist right wing religious extremists here and in Israel and the cynical exploitation of 'antisemitism' by Americans and Israelis is the worst thing that could have happened to Israel. It has also elided the history of antisemitism. And has lead to Israeli policy making real, what previously were lies by Israel's enemies. To my mind, for many Jews, especially in the ultra Orthodox Kahanist camp - Never Again has come to mean This Time, My Turn.
While I agree with everything you wrote here, I really wish the fact--and it is well-documented--that Khalil was a chief instigator of chaos at Columbia could be stated as well. Stating that clearly would not change anything about the violation of rule of law, or the Trump/Musk antisemitism and their "weaponizing (real) antisemitism to undermine democracy and the rule of law," as Amy Spitalnick wrote.
Not including that--or, as some have done, pretending Khalil was peaceful--is an erasure of history and a lie by omission.
If anything, russians has shown that best propaganda is when you take a little bit of truth and add a whole ton of lies to suit your cause
It is mostly projection - the reverse is true. And then rinse and repeat. Lies, lies, lies. And then come up with another story. They are very good in sowing mistrust. That's their goal. But Europe is going to crush them. We don't want Putin to win. The current BS sprad by US that Ukraine cannot win is BS. They can and will win. Putin is about to fall to pieces. Economy is down. Everything is down.
Slava Ukraini!
Don't try to explain russia to a Ukrainian, and I would appreciate if don't use my country to be an asshole to people you don't know online.
I said what I said
I don't sport with antisemitism. Especially not those from countries who are still steeped in Jewish blood. Bye!
Why do you want to say this? Is it not normal to protest against genocide of Palestinians? Are they not the original inhabitants of Palestine now called Israel?
"But for those who know him, Khalil was a student, a steady negotiator and a leader whose activism placed him at the center of a national movement for Palestinian solidarity." https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/12/who-is-mahmoud-khalil-arrest-palestinian-activist-columbia
TS: "Words will have become just tools to achieve the vision of the Leader."
The sick thing about all of this, is that the Leader - in this case Netanyahu - has made being against the Israeli policy and IDF war crimes EQUAL to being antisemite.
Are you in this authoritarian ultra right camp who is now bombing Damascus? Just to evade justice (reminds me of the Orange felon). Are you not aware that Israel is joining the axis of evil (Russia - USA - Israel)? Never did support Ukraine?
And Trump and his evangelists of course agree because these fools believe in raptor nonsense and want to revert jews into christianity or kill you. So they are indeed antisemites but are seen as heroes by Netanyahu and his fascist cult.
Let us be very very happy with people like Khalil and the U of Columbia. I suppose you never watched Al Jazeera Patricia?
It is not normal to support terrorist who openly claim that their goal is mass killing of the Jews and eradication of Israel.
Define "original inhabitants" please. If you use the definition of the word indigenous - no, they aren't.
And don't bring Ukraine into this, please. Despite Israeli government policy (which is totally fine to criticize), 69% of Ukrainian support Israel in their fight for their homeland
I was replying to Munro.
Your reply shows you are not at all informed about what is going on.
You are completely brainwashed as you don't even know your history.
After decades of torture and suppression and not wanting to share even a normal existence, this is what you get.
I bring in what I want. Ukraine never received any support by Israel despite them being promised Patriot rockets.
Why are AIPAC supporting Trump, Musk and the billionaires and not give a cent to Jews for Peace? Why are so many rich jews on the wrong side of history? 'Ich habe es nicht gewusst'? We will see. If Timothy Snyder is correct, they will find out too late.
I am very well informed on what is going on. It's just I don't use Qatar sponsored media and an organization that tokenizes Jews (while not being founded by Jews) as my source of education
Well you are not informed.
And I was not replying to you for the second time. I was responding to Munro. And let us be very very clear: Israel is a fascist country: it has become what many jews in Europe say: they are like the nazi's they torture Palestinians, the rape women. In short: they are like russia. Not so strange because many Russian oligarchs live there or have a dual passport.
Israel’s UN vote signals shift toward Russia
Israel’s first UN vote against Ukraine raises questions about the country's strategic and moral direction.
https://thejewishindependent.com.au/israels-un-vote-signals-shift-toward-russia
I suppose you read this paper? One of the few allowed?
All I am saying is supported by jews outside Israel, by (forbidden)Haaretz and all informed jews abroad.
There are two sides. That is like calling America Fascist because of the MAGAS thst are fascist. Some Zionist are as bad as the fascists and colonialists. Many are peaceful who went to live there because America and other countries would not take them in after they survived the camps. I hope everyone reads all the comments as there is much hatred and bias being spewed all around and where is Professor Snyder to mediate a thoughtful discussion?
And I am replying to you, to which I do not need your permission.
You are being disrespectful to me by calling me brainwashed, not engaging in good faith with arguments and assuming I don't know russia. Well, maybe don't operate on assumptions - I am Ukrainian and very well aware. Again, it is totally fine to criticize current Israeli government. It doesn't make your point right, or disputes mine or Patricia's point.
I don't understand what you are trying to achieve, but as of now you are not making sense
yes 2 million Jews in Ukraine died. Let's face it, Trump wants Ukraine to fall to Russia and to grab Greenland for himself HIMself in the name of AmeriKa
Also, my history? Who do you think I am?
please see my comments above. and let me know your thoughts
Yes, thank you! Two things can be true at the same time - trump is using "antisemitism" as a weapon against democracy, and Khalil is very much an antisemite and Columbia protests were supportive of hamas, a terrorist organization, compared to which few things can get more antisemitic
No. Khalil is just protecting his family and relatives. That some jews don't understand that, especially if you are from countries with an history on that oppression and murder, is beyond my imagination and comprehension.
Israel is on the wrong track. It is sliding very fast into fascism. It is bought by Russian oligarchs. Their teachers are given in by their pupils, just like in Russia. Brainwashed. All Palestinians are terrorists, all are Hamas. In the mean time Israel does not want to release the real Palestinian leader who is in jail for over 20 years - free Marwan Barghouti. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/15/hold_hopes-diminish-that-pivotal-palestinian-leader-may-be-released
No of course not because N. does not want a two state solution. Nor USA.
Al-Jazeera is extremely biased. Not reliable.
Al-jazeera is actually considered factually reliable and biased left politically. It scores well compared with other media. https://adfontesmedia.com/al-jazeera-bias-and-reliability/
I don’t know about Khalil himself but there’s plenty of photos and videos of protesters being very disruptive.
In the UK it is the prerogative of students to protest. Universities have always accepted protest as long as hate speech and violence are avoided. Sadly the US control seems to be seeping across the Atlantic.
And it's very safe to be Jewish on campus in the UK. /s
I will check the veracity as my son went there and lives there. if ture you are correct.
but if you see what I posted about THE MESSAGE and my inlaws survivors husband being born in Bergen Belsen as relocation camp ...I do not want all protestors deported
I don't want anyone deported unless due process of law (assuming that exists) happens. I just don't want history erased either. Those are not mutually exclusive.
Agreed!
This disturbs me as well, Patricia. The real problem on college campuses is the inability of campus administrations to clearly draw a line between protected free speech (legal and must be allowed on campus) and harassment, intimidation, physical violence, and property damage, done in the name of a cause (illegal and should be stopped by the same law enforcement mechanisms as other criminal behavior). Trump has taken the very real problem of moral/legal confusion on these campuses, and co-opted it as part of his "crusade" against certain immigrants/foreign students. So the legitimate criminal complaints against Khalil - that likely should have been made by Columbia - have been buried by Trump's message that foreigners who don't behave as his administration deems appropriate will be deported.
Antisemites also knew exactly what JD Vance meant when he called our great Universities, "the enemy of the people."
Joseph Goebbels once said, “It would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle. They are mere words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas and disguise.”
This is where we are today when the RusPublican party and their propaganda media outlets over the last year have redefined words like patriot to mean revolutionary, truth means fiction, love means hate, dignity means degradation, vileness is virtuous and so on. The word is simply a sound or letters on paper, the meaning behind them can be moved around like a slide rule. For maga today a circle is indeed a square.
And the public doesn't have enough sense to say "Eff them all". People love to be conned, if it flatters them. Skepticism and suspicion are not habits of mind - people aren't willing to think that they could be the subjects of manipulation by malign actors.
I have all I can cope with in addressing the hostility to established medicine and to science. In the twilight of my life, I do not want to have to learn how to treat measles.
Thank you. I wrote the following to my Jewish family and non-Jewish friends this morning under the heading “Punishing Elon Musk”.
Trump is punishing Columbia University and other universities for not doing enough to fight antisemitism. By punishing I mean blocking large amounts of government research grants, $400 billion from Columbia. Yet, his enforcer, Elon Musk, with a history of antisemitism and public displays of Nazi salutes roams free destroying the Executive agencies that protect people, animals and land that have no other champion. Trump too has a history of antisemitism, for example, only hiring Jewish lawyers and financial managers because, you know, that's what Jews are good at. And, don't get me started on the October 2024 recreation of the 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden in NY. What's fair punishment for Musk's antisemitism? Remove him from his position as Trump's enforcer? Fine him billions? Disappear him back to South Africa? Unlikely because Musk's behavior is prized by the MAGA degenerates that elected Trump and who inhabit the circus that is the Trump regime. The Trump regime will have to come down before Musk disappears.
Musk can buy any politician. The people need to leave X, need to ostracize anyone still driving a new Tesla (and certainly that p-extender fugly "Cybertruck", AKA "Swastikar"), need to refer to him as Apartheid Boy Little Hitler, ketamine addict, and just refer to him as being pathetic. Pop the supposed "glamor" of Musk and his money. People like that just hate being laughed at, even though they fancy themselves Caligula (or Caligula's horse).
no black and white
Born in a Syrian refugee camp, Khalil has talked about his Palestinian heritage and was a major figure during last spring and summer's protests on the Columbia University campus in New York City. The protests included occupation of classrooms and a large tent encampment and criticized Israel for attacking Gaza in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.
Many university campuses also saw similar protests, which also criticized the Biden administration for not doing more to stop Israel's attacks on Gaza, with some participants calling it a genocide.
During the protests, Khalil acted as a lead negotiator for student protesters calling on the university to cut ties with Israel amid the war in Gaza, end student-exchange programs and close Columbia's campus in Tel Aviv, as well as financial transparency on the school’s investments. Demonstrators had also demanded amnesty for students and faculty disciplined or arrested during protests.
Musk’s X platform is a sewer of hateful ideas including antisemitism.
please read my comments as well ...
An excellent and telling discussion. Trump and his ilk are draining the term "antisemitism" of its meaning and impact and import. What should be the most serious and grave accusation imaginable is deployed as an all-purpose slur against people or institutions that the Trumpists (or Netanyahu and his coterie) don't like. I go to Columbia several times a week and have seen very little that I would consider antisemitic (a little yes, but only a little). It is clear that the accusation is being used to bully and silence those who are Palestinian or advocate compassionate concern for the plight of the West Bank and Gaza, including, of course, numerous Jewish students and faculty. This is shameful and will do lasting damage to our ability to discuss and understand antisemitism and other forms of prejudice. It will do nobody any good in the long run, however much Trump and his supporters think it gets them some leverage against the great US universities in the short run.
Many thanks for a really fine and important essay, Prof. Snyder.
"It is the rulers who decide who are the good Jews and the bad Jews, the real Jews and the fake Jews. The point of all this is that all Jews, and Jews especially, have to be obedient to the ruler, or else." This takes me back to last year, when, "At a 'fighting antisemitism' event, Trump says Jewish voters will bear 'a lot' of blame if he loses" (9/19/24; updated 9/20/24):
“In remarks ostensibly focused on combating antisemitism, former President Donald Trump questioned why he lacks commanding support from Jewish voters and suggested that they would have 'a lot to do' with a loss in November if their support for his campaign does not grow.
'I’m not going to call this a prediction, but, in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss if I’m at 40%,' Trump said during a campaign event titled 'Fighting Antisemitism in America,"'citing an unnamed poll that he said showed him with two-fifths of Jewish voters’ support.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-jewish-voters-will-bear-lot-blame-loses-fighting-antisemiti-rcna171938
At the time it reminded me of Hitler's response when, right after the Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union and Army Group North ran into resistance from the Red Army, he told the Jews in Germany that he would hold them responsible if Germany fails.
And let us not forget that, during an address to American Jews before the 2016 election, Trump referred to Benjamin Netanyahu as "your prime minister," a familiar antisemitic "dual loyalty" trope.
Dr Snyder, I rarely disagree with you, but I think you are undermining your point by trying to say that Khalil is innocent and has not expressed antisemitic views. He has openly supported hammas and the organization he leads has spread uncensored hammas propaganda, and has led to Jewish students on Columbia campus being unsafe.
That doesn't justify the way this administration is using his case to attack democracy and higher education, and this administration is very much antisemitic.
But trying to say he has just been exercising free is speech is a stretch.
I go to Columbia every week. The idea that anybody is unsafe there is ludicrous, unless you buy the Trump-Netanyahu line that any advocacy of the Palestinian cause is antisemitic. I know it is not, having talked to student demonstrators, and there has been precious little that I would consider antisemitic in the rhetoric (a degree this Fall, not last Spring). I have seen more bullying of pro-Palestinians by pro-Israelis than the other way around. Khalil, as I understand it, was an intermediary and negotiator with the administration to try to keep things in bounds; pro-Palestinian, yes, of course (what would you expect?) but not an instigator of any of the excessive actions. Columbia, despite Trump's false accusations, has done and is doing a tremendous amount to contain the situation, probably too much, but for the need to placate the right.
I am sorry, but your personal view does not negate how hundreds of Jewish students felt for the past 1.5 years. Columbia even had to settle a lawsuit where it had to provide better security for Jewish students
https://www.adl.org/campus-antisemitism-report-card/columbia-university
That's my observation. I know how it is claimed that "hundreds of Jewish students" "felt", but I doubt that it is true to a great extent. That's not my on-the-ground observation. As to the settlement, the university has cravenly caved in to the attacks of the right ,and the fact that it settled is essentially meaningless.
Again, observation of 1 person is not a reliable marker of objective reality in any way shape or form. And your readiness to dismiss experience of Jewish students doesn’t help your case either. That experience have been documented, and included a person being punched in the face for wearing a kippah, just as 1 example. I work at University of Michigan, where the encampment was much smaller, yet we had several assaults on Jewish students, including an incident of a guy being brought to the ground and beaten for answering “yes” to the question “Are you Jewish” from a random student on campus street.
You can’t ignore that just because “you doubt it is true to a great extent” - that is you ignoring documented facts based on a personal anecdote.
As of Columbia doing “tremendous amount, probably too much”, I will just leave link to this great article from Atlantic - https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/03/columbia-antisemitism-israel-palestine-trump/682054/?gift=3w3A396v0WZjPeQCCl-KTliCLw4iliL4893uCBKx49I&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
No doubt there are some incidents of real antisemitism, in addition to those cited over and over again to amplify the supposed problem. The point is that the idea of antisemitism at Columbia has, per my observation, been grossly exaggerated, for unworthy political purposes.
One anecdotal observation is not a reliable account of the problem. If you really are interested in what makes people make antisemitism claims (that you continue to try to dismiss), please read the article. It discusses at length why it's a problem, documented problem.
Denying antisemitism doesn't help the cause, and you can advocate for the right of Palestinians without the need to deny antisemitism and extremism. Here is another article, written by a Palestinian who has lost 33 family members in Gaza in the last 1.5 years, talking about this and calling out extremism as unhelpful to Palestinian cause - https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/03/palestine-israel-pragmatism/682027/?gift=3w3A396v0WZjPeQCCl-KTglVlDO_sQx2OnqQCXOcG2M&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Both links are gift articles, so no paywall
I’m not sure about him but there’s plenty of videos of students going to extremes. Blocking students and taking over a building. And some of the chants expressed a desire for Israel to disappear.
I hope Prof Snyder does not hide behind his words and actually comments on the complexity.
Thank you Prof. Snyder for a clear and forceful explanation of an important dimension of the authoritarian threat we are facing.
One can't explain everything in one article, but an important element of this set of issues should be added: the weaponization of "antisemitism" by Netanyahu and his US supporters against all critics - Jews, Muslims, liberals, all - of his many war crimes and human rights violations.
I have been casting about how to describe this abuse of the term "antisemitism". The best I have so far is "performative Zionism".
Esther slays!
“Look! The gallows, fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai [aka Pence?], who spoke good on the king’s behalf, is standing at the house of Haman.” Then the king said, “Hang him on it!” So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai.
I'm reciting a psalm in her honor and in our hope.
Psalm 109
When his case is called for judgment, let him be pronounced guilty. Count his prayers as sins. Let his years be few and brief; let others step forward to replace him. May his children become fatherless and his wife a widow; may they be evicted from the ruins of their home. May creditors seize his entire estate and strangers take all he has earned. Let no one be kind to him; let no one pity his fatherless children. May they die. May his family name be blotted out in a single generation. Punish the sins of his father and mother. Don’t overlook them. Think constantly about the evil things he has done, and cut off his name from the memory of man. For he refused all kindness to others, and persecuted those in need, and hounded brokenhearted ones to death.
This article depressed me. Because I really appreciate Tim Snyder's insights into Ukraine-Russia but I felt like the article was overly dismissive of the possibility that Mahmoud Khalil actually did act in a way that was deeply offensive to Jewish students and did help foster a hostile environment on campus (for instance, he advocated for "armed resistance" and was a leader at demonstrations where material promoting Hamas, a fascist organization, was distributed). There is no question that Khalil has rights to free speech and due process, but I see many people going beyond arguing for his rights and treating him like a hero. I think one of the reasons the Trump administration may be taking up the cause of anti--Semitism is because some people on the left seem to have a very real blind spot for anti-Semitism on the left (they have no problem perceiving it on the right) and therefore this is an easy issue for Republicans to score points on.
I don't think that you have to think that Khalil is right in his opinions to think that he has the right to free speech in the USA.
He has a right to free speech. And if his speech (and actions) offend other students they have a right to complain about it. Some of the commenters here seem to be suggesting that the students who complained about anti-Semitism are disingenuous, or imagining things, or in league with "rich donors." Why not just give those students the benefit of the doubt? But the bigger issue is that if you are afraid of democratic backsliding and authoritarianism, it will be that much harder to defeat when some of the people in your own camp, the people on the side of democracy, themselves slide into illiberalism and conspiratorial thinking.