Antiracist movements claim generalizable freedom while anti-antisemitism insists on Jewish exceptionalism

Evidence

There is a generality, a gesture at least to generalizability if not universalism, fueling antiracist social movements: to be free, like others; to be self-determining, independent, treated as a human being, like others. The case against antisemitism, by contrast, turned on the insistence to be left alone, to be free perhaps but even if it meant others’ constriction and devaluation, even destruction. The legacy perhaps of a “Chosen People.” That’s what exceptionalism amounts to. The national(ist) drive to an independent homeland, the grounds for so many coalitional struggles against invasive forces, became for Jews the destruction of homes and hopes for those perceived to stand in the way. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 117

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to this reader’s threatened-privilege generalization test: the author argues anti-antisemitism resists extension to other struggles, an axis-specific exceptionalism that mirrors what a generalization test must contend with. — connects to: Antisemitism’s antirace struggle claims exceptionalism while other antiracist movements claim universalism. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 117

Broader Connections

• Antisemitism’s antirace struggle claims exceptionalism while other antiracist movements claim universalism. #corroborates (0.95) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 117