Zionism

Zionism or Jewish Nationalism is a political ideology which says that Jewish people have a right to a nation in part of or all of the holy land of Israel, which Jews are indigenous to. Supporters argue that this is a necessity to provide a safe areas for Jewish people to live and practice their religion in peace and safety (note that Zionism became popular after the Holocaust), critics argue that it's a violent ideology used to justify a system of apartheid and Palestinian oppression.

Types of Zionism

Arab Zionism

Zionism as supported by Arab nations. An example would be the Hashemites during World War 1. They were promised to rule the Middle East by the British, and they and the Zionists came to a deal where modern-day Israel, the West Bank, Northern Syria, the Gaza Strip and Jordan would become a Jewish state (roughly similar to the old one in scope), itself inside a new Arab state to replace the Ottomans. The Hashemites abandoned the idea and, with the support of the British, broke with the Balfour Declaration and San Remo Conference which established modern Jordan (then called Transjordan) as inside this, and founded the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Green Zionism

Green Zionism is a synthesis of environmentalist and Zionist politics, arguing that Israel must be a clean and sustainable civilization. It has been influential in several Kibbutzim, which have made efforts to reduce their impact on the environment.

Labor Zionism

Labor Zionism or Socialist Zionism combines Zionist and socialist politics. Some Labor Zionists argue that the creation of a socialist society would correct the "inverted pyramid" of Jewish society. Jews were forced out of normal occupations by Gentile hostility and competition, using this dynamic to explain the relative predominance of Jewish professionals, rather than workers. Jewish society, they argued, would not be healthy until the inverted pyramid was righted, and a substantial number of Jews became workers and peasants again. This, they held, could only be accomplished by Jews in their own country. Labor Zionism has been hugely influential in the creation of the Kibbutzim and Moshavim.

Anarcho-Zionism

A type of Zionism which supports the right of Jewish people to create communes inside Israel, and establish them as an escape from anti-semitism, and holds allowing this to happen is natural and should be supported in a Anarchist Society. Anarcho-Zionism does not hold the state as essential to Zionism, but rather the community.

Neo-Zionism

An idea, mainly purported by Anti-Zionists, of a new type of Zionism, based on mass expansion. No group has ever called itself Neo-Zionist, and the term was coined alongside Post-Zionism.

Post-Zionism

Post-Zionism is a position that argues Israel has fulfilled its functions, but it raises further questions about Israel's future, such as:

• Is the state of Israel indeed a safe shelter for the Jewish nation?
• How does Israel keep its Jewish and Democratic character?
• Should all the blame for the continuation of the conflict fall on the Arab side?

Post-Zionists argue that Israel must serve a function as a democratic and egalitarian state in a region of brutal authoritarianism and inequality.

Revisionist Zionism

A Zionist which supports Conservative (usually moderate right-Libertarian) positions, as opposed to Labour Zionism, which was the status quo at its inception. Revisionist Zionism currently accepts and supports things like Universal Healthcare and Gay Rights in Israel, but has advocated for economic deregulation and a more capitalist structure overall.

Criticism

Critics of Zionism are generally called Anti-Zionists, and criticisms can divided into 'good' and 'bad' criticisms. Good criticisms recognise that Jews and Zionists are different groups of people, and are thus not critical of Jewish people or Jewish religion. Bad criticism does not recognise that Jews and Zionists are different groups of people, and is often used as a cover for antisemitism. Bad criticism also fundamentally rejects Jews as a people, their history in Israel, and their ethnic or cultural connection to Israel. Criticism such as denying Zionism uniquely supporting other forms of statism like it falls into this category.

Here at libsoc-wiki, we stand with all Jews of the world against antisemitism from the left and right. Along with all other people against any form of bigotry.

Bad Criticism

Ilhan Omar declaring Zionism is fundamentally evil. This would be like saying Native Americans moving into their home is bad.

Mansour Abbas declaring Jews are an ethnic group with no connection to Israel.

Some people (including much of the modern Jewish community) argue that that, as Zionism is the idea Jews should establish communities inside Israel where most Jews are from (as it is an ethnoreligion and Arabs are from Arabia), and that ideology is separate from the modern Israeli state, declaring Zionism evil is an attack on the Jewish communities right to exist as an entity at all, separate from criticizing Israel.