Behind the Aegis
Behind the Aegis's JournalInternment camp for Jews in Second World War a little-known piece of New Brunswick history
RIPPLES, N.B.—As a 15-year-old facing the threat of Nazi Germany in Austria, Fred Kaufman could barely imagine that he would soon find himself separated from his family, peering through the barbed wire fence of an internment camp deep in the woods of New Brunswick.
Internment Camp B70, located in Ripples, N.B., housed more than 700 Jews in the early months of the Second World War. More than 70 years later, it is a piece of New Brunswick history rarely spoken of and little known by many.
As the situation for Jewish families in Austria worsened in the months leading up to the war, Kaufman’s father decided to send his son to England — one of 10,000 Jewish boys taken to the United Kingdom as part of a relief effort known as the Kindertransport.
“It was a tough decision to split up the family,” Kaufman said in an interview from his home in Toronto.
But then-British prime minister Winston Churchill was worried there could be spies among the Jews, and he asked Canada and Australia to house them as internees.
more:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/08/03/internment_camp_for_jews_in_second_world_war_a_littleknown_piece_of_new_brunswick_history.html
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This was something I had never seen or heard of before! Hat tip: Mosby in the Jewish Group
Oklahoma couples sue for marriage equality
Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal group, is defending the Tulsa County Clerk’s Office against a lawsuit involving marriage equality because a federal appeals court ruled the governor and attorney general have no standing.
Two lesbian couples from Oklahoma, including one married in California, challenged the state’s ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional.
They believe the Defense of Marriage Act ruling bolsters their case. The case was filed in federal court in Tulsa in 2004 where it has been stalled. However, they are challenging the section of DOMA that still stands, allowing one state to refuse to recognize a marriage performed in another state.
Now that the DOMA ruling has been issued, attorneys for the couples are urging U.S. District Judge Terence Kern to rule in the case.
http://www.dallasvoice.com/couples-marriage-equality-state-10153990.html
HOT DAMN! Anyone wanna come to our wedding?!
ADL: US anti-Semitic incidents down 14%
The total number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States fell by 14% in 2012, continuing a three-year trend of incremental declines, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, issued Monday.
The ADL Audit reported a total of 927 anti-Semitic incidents across the US in 2012, including assaults, vandalism and harassment, marking a 14% decline from the 1,080 incidents reported in 2011.
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“Unlike years ago, when racists handed out pamphlets on street corners or sent them through the mail, the Internet provides racists and bigots with an outlet to reach a potential audience of millions.
"This explosion of viral hate is impossible to quantify, but it may have led to a migration of sorts where the haters and bigots are more likely to take to the Internet to express themselves anonymously, rather than acting out in a public setting,” added Curtiss-Lusher.
“The danger, of course, is that these online expressions can inspire and fuel real-world violence.”
more: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4408907,00.html (bold added)
Thoughts?! Speak up!
'Lucky Jew' Statues: Are Polish Figurines A Symptom Of Anti-Semitism Or Just In Bad Taste?
WARSAW, Poland -- Shortly after receiving a sneak peek of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews (there are no exhibits yet: the museum is to open to the public in 2014), I walked along the cobblestone streets of the Old Town section of Warsaw for some sightseeing, when something caught my eye.
A shopkeeper was selling the souvenir staples: long Polska scarves for the chilly Polish winters, Poland magnets, and untraditional tourist fare like a statue of what, at first glance, appeared to be an innocuous, even cute, depiction of a religious Jew. At first I thought maybe my family back home would enjoy it.
Then I looked closer. The Jew, wearing a yarmulke and tallit, had a large, hooked nose. In his hand was a shiny coin.
This was disturbing to me, especially just after hearing of the tales of Jews sent to concentration camps and the remnants of the Warsaw Ghetto who died fighting -- due in part to the stereotypes that I saw on the figures. Who buys these things, I wondered? As it turns out, Poles do. Tourists do. Even the head of the Anti-Defamation League. (All for different reasons.)
more: http://www.ibtimes.com/lucky-jew-statues-are-polish-figurines-symptom-anti-semitism-or-just-bad-taste-photo-1320991#
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I think this surpasses "bad taste" and is an expression of anti-Semitism. Given Poland's history of Jew hate, I can't say I am terribly surprised.
ETA photo:
Twitter may face legal action over anti-Semitic tweets (some very offensive pictures included)
Following a wave of anti-Semitic posts on Twitter, anti-racism groups in France say they were looking at all legal options to target the authors of thousands of offensive tweets - and possibly Twitter itself.
French anti-racist groups on Tuesday said they were launching wide-ranging legal action following a wave of anti-Semitic posts on microblogging site Twitter.
The move follows an explosion last week in the use of the Twitter hashtag #unbonjuif - meaning “a good Jew” - to spread anti-Semitic jokes online.
By October 10, the hashtag was trending third in France (meaning it was the third most popular tagged subject on the site in the country) and a deluge of offensive posts -- as well as tweets decrying the racist tone of many of the comments -- continued for days.
And with anti-Semitic hate crimes on the rise in France, organisations like SOS Racisme and the French Jewish Students Union (UEJF) said they were determined pursue those that took part through the courts.
more...
Samples of the tweets:
(Translation: A good Jew)
(Translation: A good Jew should be cooked just right)
(Translation: A good Jew with his friends and girlfriend)
Jewish-American voters not straying from Obama
Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution
The AJC — that’s the other AJC, the American Jewish Committee — has just released a new poll of Jewish-Americans. Its findings suggest that GOP efforts to make inroads with Jewish voters are having just as much success as are similar efforts to court black Americans, Hispanics and other minorities.
In other words, a biseleh.
In a similar poll four years ago, 56 percent of American Jews identified themselves as Democrats while 17 percent said they were Republican. Fifty-seven percent said they backed Obama, while 30 percent backed John McCain.
The numbers in 2012?
In other interesting numbers:
– 72.6% approve of Joe Biden as vice president.
– 63.3% disapprove of the selection of Paul Ryan as the GOP veep nominee; 41.4% disapprove strongly.
– Asked to name the most important issue driving their presidential vote, just 4.5% named U.S-Israeli relations. Just 1.3 percent named Iran’s nuclear program.
– 61.5% identified the economy as the most important issue. Health care was second, at 16%.
– 77.8% approve of Obama’s handling of national security.
– 64% would support U.S. military action against Iran if diplomacy and sanctions fail to end its nuclear program; 35 percent would oppose such action.
Read more: http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2012/09/28/jewish-american-voters-not-straying-from-obama/
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Full poll results here:
http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=846741&ct=12208961
Hat tip to aaaaaa5a for this in LBN...http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014249893
Semitic Anti-Semitism
At the risk of preaching to the choir (or the “minyan,” we guess?), there is an issue that we at the Jewish Voice would like to clear the air about, and that is, exactly what constitutes anti-Semitism, and when, if ever, it “doesn’t count.”
Anti-Semitism is defined as “Hostility and prejudice directed against Jewish people; (also) the theory, action, or practice resulting from this.” (Thank you, Oxford English Dictionary.) Note that nowhere in the definition of the term is it stipulated that the source must be non-Jewish, or “non-Semitic.” While one may assume that most instances of anti-Semitism involve non-Jews, this needn’t necessarily be the case, just as a person expressing racist views about people of African descent wouldn’t be rendered any less of a bigot by being black. A self-hater of any race or religion might be confused, but they still hate.
Why do we bring this up now, you ask? Comedienne Roseanne Barr, in her ongoing attempts to stay “edgy” and culturally relevant, managed to make waves last week with a Tweet about “Jewish mind control.” Now, Roseanne has a history of making nonsensical remarks (such as “I’m running for president”), some of them anti-Jewish or anti-Israel. What really bothers us, however, is her defense against critics: “I’m a Jew, so refrain from calling me an anti-Semite.” Maybe if Roseanne would refrain from acting like (and probably, being) an anti-Semite, perhaps people would stop calling her one. Being Jewish can’t shield you from factually-based accusations of anti-Semitism, any more than a rich person could rob a bank, then get away with it by telling the Judge “I can’t possibly be a thief; I already have money!”
On a related note, Arab activists will sometimes deflect charges of anti-Jewish bigotry by explaining that, being “Semitic” themselves, they are incapable of anti-Semitism. As world-renowned historian and Mid-East scholar Bernard Lewis once put it (and I’m paraphrasing here): this is the logical equivalent of saying that a translation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion printed in London is anti-Semitic, but one printed in Cairo is not because Hebrew and Arabic are cognate languages.
more: http://jewishvoiceny.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1858:semitic-anti-semitism&catid=101:jv-editorial&Itemid=284
Austria investigates alleged anti-Jewish cartoon
VIENNA (AP) — Austrian authorities are investigating a cartoon on a rightist political leader's Facebook page that critics say smacked of anti-Semitism by showing a repulsive fat banker with a large hooked nose and what appeared to be Star of David patterns on his cufflinks, an official said Tuesday.
The rightist Freedom Party has called criticism of the caricature politically motivated and said its leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, denies the cartoon posted on his Facebook page Sunday was directed against Jews.
Strache accused his detractors of "trying to link me to something insidious" and said they were seeing Stars of David where there were none. He also said that anyone who automatically assigns ethnicity or religion to a hooked nose is a racist.
Still, the investigation could lead to legal action against those who were responsible for the cartoon.
Thomas Vecsey of the Austrian Prosecutor's office said Tuesday that legal experts will decide in the next few days whether to charge those responsible for the posting with incitement to religious or ethnic hatred, a criminal offense in Austria.
more...
For the real 'good read', read the comment section.
The Sounds of Hate: The White Power Music Scene in the United States in 2012
The recent tragic shooting spree at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in which Wade Michael Page killed six people before killing himself after a shootout with police, has drawn attention to the shadowy world of white power music. Page, a committed white supremacist and member of the Hammerskins, a hardcore racist skinhead group, was heavily involved in the white power music scene in the United States. He played in a number of white power bands over the previous 12 years, most prominently the bands Definite Hate and End Apathy.
Page was just one of hundreds of white supremacist musicians listened to by thousands of white supremacists in the United States and beyond. Today, white power music permeates the subculture of the white supremacist movement. Not all white supremacists enjoy white power music, but many of them do, especially neo-Nazis and racist skinheads. For listeners, white power music is not simply entertainment. It is music with a message, a medium used to express an ideology suffused with anger, hatred and violence.
White Power Music in the United States
Today, white power music is well established in the United States, where it has existed for three decades. Hate music arose originally in Great Britain in the 1970s as the skinhead subculture that originated there diverged into two different streams: a traditional skinhead stream and a racist skinhead stream. As racist skinheads emerged, they created a white supremacist variation of the skinhead-related music genre called Oi! (sometimes also known by the deliberate euphemism “Rock against Communism” or RAC). In the late 1970s, and more so in the early 1980s, both the racist skinhead subculture and its music crossed the Atlantic to the United States and Canada.
During the 1980s, the racist skinhead subculture grew and evolved, especially on the West Coast, where it also interacted with the punk music scene that was strong there at the time. As a result of this intermixture, another genre of white power music was born: hatecore punk, a racist version of hardcore punk. Hate music grew as the racist skinhead movement spread, especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s. By this time, a number of American hate music bands had formed—some of which, such as Bully Boys, still exist today.
continued...
Anti-gay crimes rarely prosecuted in Texas by name
When Ruth Clattenburg found her son inside the apartment they shared off West Bitters Road the morning of February 21, 2010, he'd been dead for hours. Shot execution-style in the back of the head, Troy Martinez Clattenburg, 24, was propped up against a dryer in the hallway between his bedroom and bathroom in boxers and a T-shirt. After frantically notifying neighbors, the mother rushed back to the apartment to cover her son with his favorite blanket, trying to warm the cold body.
When details of the crime first began to surface, Clattenburg's death seemed to be textbook example of murder sparked by anti-gay hate. Cody Carmichael, who was eventually charged, convicted, and sent to prison for the murder, told police Clattenburg made an unwanted pass at him as he and another friend drank and smoked pot inside Clattenburg's apartment. Carmichael told investigators he left, borrowed a black .380-caliber handgun from the friend, and returned to the apartment. When Clattenburg turned his back after opening the door, Carmichael fired a single round. According to an investigator's report, Carmichael told police that Clattenburg "did not see it coming."
Clattenburg's mother never went back inside the apartment after her haunting discovery. And in the two years since the murder relatives of Clattenburg, along with local activists, have criticized authorities for not prosecuting the murder as a hate crime, either at the state or federal level.
Although the family "wanted a hate-crimes charge from day one," as Clattenburg's sister Ginger Hicks put it, the family never got one. "Hate-crimes laws were passed to protect people like my brother Troy, and who are they protecting if nobody's familiar with it and nobody's using it?" Hicks asked.
"It's obviously too late for Troy, but what about preventing other tragedies?"
continued...
Hat-tip to douglas9 who has posted this in "Good Reads" here.
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