This week I was working on different follow-up projects. I applied for some travel and research grants to get my planned study going. It was a very intense week. Especially because I had to write lots of mails back and forth. It is not very helpful if calls for fellowships are online available and the organizers do not know about! So, I had lots do with clarifying and waiting for answers. I was also asked to write for a Canadian website about the Holocaust and Holocaust related issues. The payment was not very good and after some negotiations with the website owner, I decided not to work for him. It is a nice project but since I make a living (more or less…) with my writing, I can not work for less than my usual standard.
I wrote new articles for Brockhaus, which were published already this week. You can check them out here, but most of them are behind a paywall… sorry about that 😊
Another important meeting took place on Wednesday afternoon. Organized by the ISGAP, The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism https://isgap.org/
I joined a virtual gathering to discuss the “Antisemitic response to the Hamas attacks of October 7th in Germany”. The attendees tackled the analogy the anti-Israel demonstrators draw, to right wing activists by using the very same arguments, statements and even terms.
It is difficult to deal with all the hate.
Although, it was an academic discussion, the concern of attendees was tangible. I am worried, too. Not only for my Jewish and Israeli friends, but for our society and democracy.
As I wrote already in 2020: “The western liberal model of democracy is confronted with numerous challenges these days. Especially the increasing of populist ideas from actors, parties and governments threatens our democracy. Additionally, the lack of support by citizens for the concept of democracy as well as a division of society provoke the system. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote back in 1835 about the ongoing connection between democracy and crisis. He stated that democracies are in the status of permanent crisis, this is their nature. And this nature is a huge problem: because of being used to the status of permanent crisis, democracies do not realize when it turns seriously. Living in democracies means to take part, to discuss, to be affected and to cause trouble. Being in a status of crisis means to be in a status of excitement. Democracies have the great virtue of being adaptable. But to be adaptable democracies need individuals that take responsibility and “be in charge”.”
Being an expert and citizen of the western liberal democracies, I am not sure, if I do believe in “individuals that take responsibility and “be in charge” at the moment. I know that there are still some individuals left, but they are not enough. I think we all need to take responsibility and feel in charge – my contribution is based on education. I believe in the statement of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z”l:
To defend a country you need an army, but to defend a civilization you need education.