To be clear, SlutWalk rejects Jews as Jews
THE JUNE controversy over the Chicago Dyke March’s decision to kick out participants carrying Star of David rainbow flags lives on.
On July 22, SlutWalk Chicago took to Twitter to clarify that it was not in fact banning “the Star of David” from its upcoming event but, rather, just “Zionist displays”.
What struck me more was another tweet from that thread, one aiming for inclusivity: “We support people showing their Jewish and LGBTQ+ pride. Please show yours if you feel so moved! Just leave the Zionism at home.”
Leaving the Zionism at home is not a straightforward demand. The Star of David is on the Israeli flag but is also a symbol antisemites reproduce, such as that poster with Theresa May in evocative earrings.
Is a Jew who embraces the symbol as a rejection of antisemitism but who does not run screaming from it because of its Israeli connotations, a Zionist? Put another way: Is “Zionism” here a positive embrace of Israel as a Jewish state? Or is it simply about existing, as a Jew, and not meeting an arbitrary and poorly explained purity requirement?
What’s playing out in this new purge of “Zionism” from US progressivism is a crude, uninformed attempt at dividing the world into absolute categories of privileged and oppressed. The existence of antisemitism — an ideology based on hating Jews for perceived privilege — does not fit into this framework. Intersectionality offers Jews the language for explaining this complexity, but progressive spaces regularly remind us the language is not for us.
Unfortunately, the SlutWalk tweets make clear this is not simply a matter of Jewish progressives needing to stand alongside people they may disagree with regarding Israel, in the interests of solidarity. It’s about exclusion on the basis of unapologetic Jewish identity. If that’s not antisemitism, what is?
The SlutWalk movement speaks for women like me — feminists, of any sexual orientation, who do not think a woman has “consented” to assault by wearing a miniskirt. My opposition to antisemitism alike is also existential. And if I have to choose, I’m stuck.