The most important thing is not to fear at all

big-gadje-world:

I’m not getting involved in this whole mess & not commenting on who said what & things of that nature, nor am I taking sides, whatsoever..
I do, however, feel like something should be cleared up regarding who runs Holocaust memorials. 

Government programs that have resulted in Holocaust memorials or museums are run by the American government. 

The U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. is not an independent institution. It is a government institution. The chair persons of the  museum are appointed by the sitting president. 

Yes, I am full well aware that much of the focus of the Holocaust Museum is centered around the Jewish Holocaust. However, there is extensive research being done at this institution that provides evidence for & documents the suffering of other Holocaust victims. 

I am also well aware that the original chair, Elie Wiesel,who was appointed by president Carter, has said some problematic things in terms of victim inclusion. 

Most, if not all, of such institutions and memorials throughout the world have chair-persons appointed by the government of their respective nations. Yes, it does fall on the shoulders of these appointees, who are largely Jewish, to be inclusive of all Holocaust victims. However, the fact that these persons are chosen by governments comprised largely of White people, it could be the possibility that certain chairs are appointed because they have exclusionist views. 

That does not make exclusion acceptable, nor does the fact that these people are government appointees justify any exclusion. It also does not justify the use of slurs on any such memorials.

The individual who was appointed to chair the memorial in New York was Jewish. There was no consultation with Rromani about the memorial. It is inexcusable that the memorial contains a slur, but blaming an entire group of people for the mistake of one such individual, who was commissioned by the city, is also unacceptable. 

In Europe, quite a few Rromani memorials, the few we have, were designed or created by Jewish artists. These artists are commissioned by the government in which the memorial exists. Yes, Jewish artists could decline the work, or could consult Rromani persons while creating the memorials, but these are individual grievances & not a systematic oppression at the hands of European Jews..

It is likely that these artists are also given certain criteria and plans to which they must adhere & do not have free artistic jurisdiction over memorial projects. 

These governments, in both America & Europe, could appoint or commission Rromani persons for the design of Rromani Holocaust memorials, but more often than not, the persons given the responsibility for creating these sacred sites are White or Jewish. 

These are in public spaces. Private memorials can be private, but public ones should be inclusive. These public projects are the responsibility of the government, which is largely White & non-Jewish.

I am not excusing the people who are given these responsibilities, but it is by no means appropriate or acceptable to blame a group of people for the fuck ups of individuals. 

It must also be noted that White people write & publish our textbooks, the very textbooks that exclude many Holocaust victims & contain slurs. 

It is not the responsibility of Jewish persons to stick their necks out for European Rromani, though many do. It is, however, the responsibility of anyone commissioned to make a Holocaust memorial or chair a Holocaust institution to be as inclusive & respectful as possible, White, Jewish or otherwise. 

We can be angry & we have a right to feel anger and pain over these things, but we cannot allow our anger to become hate. The only way we can solve these issues are by inter-racial dialogue & recognizing that it is White supremacy that continues too exploit our pain, on both ends of the spectrum. We need to fight the system that has created this divisiveness instead of succumbing to it.
 

And we Jews, when we discuss the Holocaust, the Porrajmos, the Shoah, we need to speak up in our own communities and institutions, in our schools and in our synagogues, about our Romani allies who were victims in the horror.

We may not be responsible for the erasure. But in no way can we be silent as it continues to go on.

thearcanetheory:

I really can’t with the antisemites on this website

We have ONE DAY as an ethnic polity to mourn OUR OWN KIN

There are a frillion other days of the year internationally that recognize the victims of Hitler and Nazism - ALL the victims

Yom HaShoah is a Jewish memorial day about the JEWISH victims

Butting into a conversation going BUT YOU’RE BIGOTED BECAUSE WHAT ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE is like busting into someone else’s house when they’re sitting shiva for their grandfather and demanding they acknowledge someone else’s death RIGHT THERE AND THEN

There’s a time and a fucking place, and this isn’t it.

PS, hacking random Jewish personal websites, emails, and blogs on this specific day and then claiming it’s because antizionism is believable to absolutely no one with any sense in their head. And you know, bothering some random Jewish person is totally helping free Palestine and erase the on-the-ground abuses that happen courtesy of a military and government.

thearcanetheory:

There is actually very little to the Israel/Palestine issue mess to which the Holocaust is currently relevant or applicable to.

Talking about the post-war trauma of the Jewish people: relevant

Talking about the guilt the Western world had in perpetrating and not stopping mass genocide on an industrial jaw-dropping scale, and how they tried to fob that off in various ways, thus resulting in this bullshit: relevant

Talking about how the West will do anything to get rid of its ethnic minorities including shoving them out of their borders even directly after a mass genocide: relevant.

Talking about the anti-Semitic shit imported into the Arab world pre-, during- and post- war and how that affected Jews in the Middle East: relevant.

Talking about “the Holocaust happened therefore Israel is perfect and can do no wrong”: NOT RELEVANT. (also wrong)

Appropriating Holocaust imagery to launch it against either Jews or Palestinians: NOT RELEVANT (and also really gross and factually incorrect. DON’T.)

Trying to emotionally manipulate the audience in (EITHER) specific political direction: REALLY GROSS AND IRRESPONSIBLE. DON’T.

Talking about the Holocaust when confronted with the horrific shit Israel has done: NOT REMOTELY RELEVANT

The Holocaust happened. It happened over 50 years after the formation of Zionism and Hebrew national self-determinant thought, in it’s various streams. It happened after other genocides and ethnic cleansings. IT HAPPENED.

But it is NOT your political prop to use to beat others over the head with. Not on either of the many sides of this political mess. If you use this horrific event in history as nothing more than an emotional club, you receive my hairiest eyeball. 

THIS MESSAGE IS ALSO RELEVANT FOR MY FELLOW TRIBE MEMBERS.

Yes, our people suffered the Holocaust, alongside others. This does not give you the right to take our history and use it with which to beat your opponents over the head, especially when whipping out the Holocaust instead of addressing actual issues regarding Israel-Palestine. DO NOT TREAT THE HOLOCAUST AS YOUR GET-OUT-OF-JAIL-FREE-CARD. (Which is a different thing altogether than referencing the actual effects of the Holocaust re: the conflict.) If you cannot win your argument without resorting to emotional manipulation and not facts, I strongly advise you to reconsider your argument.

This is a very problematic topic because of the way the Holocaust DID interact with and reverberate along many social axis, especially directly post-war. It’s a complicated topic and ought to be handled with care. Take care that you do not use an emotionally fraught piece of history as an emotional club, rather than the watershed history-altering event/series of events that it actually was. To do so is to reduce the significance of our history, and the history of all who suffered alongside us, and to over-simplify some truly complex, but incredibly important historical and sociological processes.

GENTILES

Recognize the incredible seminal importance of the Holocaust, especially in the context of a long history of the Jews being persecuted for their ethnicity and their religion, and generally being “foreigner” and “not from here.” (Europe especially (but other places as well) has a very long history of telling Jews to “go back to where you came from” and the ever-present “go back to Palestine!!!” In fact, many white gentiles tell us that today - both “get out of Palestine!” *as well as* “go back to Israel!”)

 Understand the incredibly deep trauma the Holocaust has had on the entire Jewish people, and the inter-generational affect of this. Realize this, and LISTEN when a Jewish person is trying to explain this to you, especially when it comes to the cultural milieu and mindset of the modern Diasporic Jew, and Jews in general. Do not call it “the Holocaust card.” That shows us that you aren’t listening when trying to explain the VERY REAL EFFECTS of such an incredibly large genocide that destroyed over 1/3 of our people WORLDWIDE. Not one-third of European Jews; ONE THIRD OF ALL JEWS IN EXISTENCE ON THE PLANET. That’s fucking huge, and it is within living memory. LISTEN WHEN WE TALK ABOUT OUR HISTORY AND HOW IT AFFECTS US TODAY. You are free to disagree, but to shut us down wholesale is another thing altogether.

I also highly recommend everyone read these posts.

amanda-gayfried:

Things that are exactly like the Holocaust, according to the internet at large:

• Israel
• the meat industry
• abortion
• websites that don’t let you publish your pedophile Draco Malfoy smut
• any facet of American life that inconveniences you

Things that are nothing like the Holocaust:

• The Holocaust (Whiny Jews Effect)

(via stfupenguins)