Conflicting Zionisms in the context of George Orwell's Notes on Nationalism

Charles B.

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Conflicting Zionisms in the context of George Orwell's "Notes on Nationalism"

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Abstract

I begin this essay with an anecdote: when I read the headline announcing the resignation of Fidel Castro, I asked several American friends their instinctive reaction to Castro, regardless of their views on his forty-nine year rule. While the reactions were not as visceral as one might expect (these friends were born toward the end of the Cold War), they tended to describe his rule as "pointless" or "negative." One friend in particular, after giving a relatively positive assessment of his reign over Cuba, added: "I still think he is an asshole." These opinions demonstrate a predominantly negative feeling many Americans feel toward communism (and communist Cuba in general), regardless of their thoughts on or knowledge of the ideology's actual merits. Americans considered the existence of a socialist regime a mere ninety miles from Florida a national insult during the Cold War, and this feeling visited itself in a less extreme form on these Americans' children. Regardless of this generation's views on American policy or even the merits of the unfettered market, relatively few have a positive view of Cuba.

Introduction.
George Orwell's essay 'Notes on Nationalism'.
1. Continuum of nationalism.
Orwell's Theory of Nationalism.
Secular and religious Zionism as positive nationalisms.
1. Religious Zionism's status as a positive nationalism.
2. Why secular and religious Zionism allied with each other.
3. The case of El Al vs. Danielowitz.
How and why Religious Zionism preserves the Jewish nature of the state of Israel.
Conclusion.

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[...] Princeton: Princeton University Press Salmon, Yosef. Religion and Zionism: First Encounters. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University Magnes Press Schwartz, Dov. Faith at the Crossroads: A Theological Profile of Religious Zionism. Translated by Batya Stein. Leiden: Brill Shefer vs. State of Israel. 506/88. Supreme Court of the State of Israel (24 November 1993). Stromberg, David. “Nothing to Write Grandpa Frost.” Ha'aretz 26 January 2008. Online. Available: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/948073.html February 2008. Yosifof vs. Attorney General. CrimA 112/50. Supreme Court of the State of [...]

[...] Supreme Court of the State of Israel November 1963). Ganin, Zvi. An Uneasy Relationship: American Jewish Leadership and Israel, 1948- 1957. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press Golan, Matti. With Friends like You. New York: The Free Press Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Online. Available: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/1950_1959/Law_of_Return_5710- February 2008. Orwell, George. “Notes on Nationalism.” Originally published in Polemic, London Online. Available: http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/nationalism/english/e_nat February 2008. Ravitzky, Aviezer. “Religious and Secular Jews in Israel: A Kulturkampf?” Israel Democracy Institute. Jerusalem: Old City Press Rose, Jacqueline. [...]

[...] This ties in well with Orwell's opinion that: “having picked his side, he persuades himself that it is the strongest, and is able to stick to his belief even when the facts are overwhelmingly against him.”[10] Thus, setting up what became known as the “status series of compromises on matter of jurisdiction of halakhah and secular law—seemed a logical course of action until the other side at length withered away.[11] In recent years, this anomaly has shown signs of breaking down, and secular and religious Zionists have both demonstrated that neither had any intention of allowing the compromise to last. [...]

[...] Again, this definition is lacking in complexity and to go into greater detail would be beyond the scope of this essay, but the Jewish religion is the one unifying aspect of the many cultures, languages, and ethnicities that fall into the amorphous category of The Israeli Matti Golan, for example, states that while he does not believe in God, it is important to his identity to wake up on Yom Kippur knowing that it is Yom Kippur.[16] His secular Zionism—“feeling Jewish” as he calls it—still has its roots in religious holidays. [...]

[...] It is worthwhile to pause for a moment to state that the foregoing may give the impression that nationalism is completely unchangeable and thus any conflict between two nationalisms will be locked in a sort of Manichaean struggle without end. This is not the impression I wish to give, and Orwell is at pains to distance himself from this view. Indeed one could argue that the whole category of transferred nationalism is a way of avoiding this charge. However, it remains the case that in two conflicting nationalisms no resolution is possible so long as the ideologues involved focus their nationalist feelings toward opposing goals. [...]

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