Description
Book SynopsisOutcast is an exploration - and explanation - of how the very possibility of recognising anti-Jewish racism has been displaced by the commonplace leftist belief that when Jewish people cry 'antisemitism!' their true intent is to cover up the real racism propagated by Israel against the Palestinians. This has come about through the academic notion that racism is a colonial phenomenon of 'white over black' domination, as well as the antisemitic idea of 'the Jewish question': that something must be done about the harm Jews pose to humanity. Outcast shows that when both are translated into an understanding of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Zionism and all associated Jews become the representation of racism incarnate, demanding the unprecedented wipe-out of Israel. As a route forward, Camila Bassi offers an analysis of the conflict through the wider historical context of European antisemitism, colonialism and nationalism, and free from 'the Jewish question'. Escaping the confines of identity politics, including 'racial' identity politics, based on the idea that there are intrinsic differences dividing and excluding humanity, Outcast makes the case for a genuinely universal politics of human liberation.
Trade Review'Through a forensic and detailed excavation, Bassi illustrates the subtle and insidious ways antisemitic tropes, presumptions and fallacies continue to creep into a wide range of academic arguments and left-wing political policies. Singular in its willingness to swim against the currents of so many contemporary political tides, this is a substantive academic work that should stimulate academic debate far beyond its immediate subject matter.'
-- Dr Mitch Rose, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, Aberystwyth University
'Outcast makes an original and unusually valuable contribution to the existing literature on contemporary Left antisemitism. This compelling book, drawing as it does on direct experience as well as on key scholarly work, provides a searching analysis which also demonstrates some welcome hope of redemption.'
-- Lesley Klaff, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism
