New antisemitism spreads among immigrant groups only as their identity awareness grows

Evidence

What is true of racism in general is also true of a specific form of the phenomenon, antisemitism. On the one hand, the hatred of Jews reproduces the classic attitudes and is based on modes of thought which have historical depth and whose expression is facilitated by the rise of economic crisis and social difficulties. But on the other hand, antisemitism is taking on new forms and is also part of new social relationships. Thus it can be encountered not only amongst the extreme right-wing nationalists, which is not surprising, but also, frequently, amongst immigrant-origin populations often originating in the Arab-Muslim world, or who have discovered, or rediscovered, Islam. It is then based on the amalgam that equates all Jews with Zionists and, therefore sees them as the sworn enemies of Muslims and Arabs; at the same time, Jews are accused of having links with the world of finance, the media, and the powers that be. But the important factor here is that this antisemitism only begins to develop when the groups which are its bearers begin to express an awareness of identity, in the same way as the Black Americans who identify with Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam and are no longer “blacks” but, in the first instance, “African-Americans.” — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3179

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that antisemitism among immigrant-origin populations only develops once identity awareness emerges — a counterintuitive mechanism linking identity formation to prejudice transfer — is dense enough to sit with.
• SEED: Angle: how marginalized groups can adopt the prejudices of their oppressors as a byproduct of identity consolidation — parallel cases beyond antisemitism.