no guarantee that a form of opposition to religious involvement in politics,
such as is already developing in USA, will not become important again. This
opposition will probably not deserve the title of anti-clericalism as previously
understood, because the fundamentalists’ support is based inpopulismrather
than, supposedly, the interests of the upper classes.
Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism, in political terms the discrimination against or persecution of
Jews, is nowadays associated in most people’s minds withHitler’sGermany. In
fact it has a very much longer history, has had some political importance in
most Western societies, and is by no means a spent force. The historical origins
of anti-Semitism are complex and date back to the Middle Ages and beyond.
Most European nations practised some form of discrimination against Jews,
more or less intermittently and with varying degrees of clerical approval, for
centuries before 19th-century anti-Semites, and later theNational Socialist
party, changed the emphasis of anti-Semitism from religious to racial hatred.
To Hitler the Jews constituted an international conspiracy and exercised the
real power in all the nations opposed to Germany, whether capitalist or
communist.
Modern anti-Semitism is a common element in right-wing political creeds
for a largely functional reason: such creeds base much of their appeal on
nationalismand an ideal of national unity that denies the existence of
important conflicts within thenation. It is a common feature of societies,
from the level of the playground to international relations, to have a group of
‘outsiders’ against whom others can unite;racismoften characterizes the
selection of this group. In a political system such a group might be blamed for
the social ills that might otherwise be attributed to the rulers or the social
system. These reflexes can exist in both right-wing and left-wing systems, as
evidenced by Nazi and Soviet anti-Semitism. Where a Christian tradition is an
important part of the historic national identity, anti-Semitism is a peculiarly, if
sadly, apt creed. Thus, for example, American right-wing movements such as
the John Birch Society and the Ku Klux Klan have tended to be most popular
in parts of the American South where Christianfundamentalismis very
strong; such movements have never omitted to add anti-Semitism to their anti-
black stance, despite the integration of Jews into American society. From the
1980s onwards economic depression and increasedimmigration, particularly
from theThird Worldand Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, led to a
resurgence in support forneo-fascismin Europe; again, anti-Semitism was
often a strong element of such political platforms, even though immigration of
Jews was minimal. In the new Eastern European party systems, anti-Semitism
was a feature of several right-wing nationalist parties. TheArab–Israeli
Anti-Semitism