Racial Identity

I was thinking back to seeing a Palestinian and an Israeli meet at a copy of the famous Israel West-bank barrier that was set up in London. It was a furious exchange and I remember the Israeli shouting to the Palestinian had he ever tried living in Israel under the threat there. It doesn't matter who was right or wrong, there was a lot of grief here to get around first, and it moved me to tears.

But this morning I was thinking what I would say argumentatively now that I have seen the Israelis moving in very dishonest ways over the whole Israel thing.

I would ask of the Israeli, where were your parents born. For the Palestinian there is a good chance they were indeed born in the region, so it is not a level playing field here (and I suspect the Israelis know this). We know they were not born in Israel cos it didn't exist then. So perhaps they were born in America. Now even better if the person at the wall was born in US too because we can say that they are American. What greater identity do you need than you are American. I for example am born in Nottingham and I consider myself English... even while having descendants from Scotland, Belgium, Poland, and Spain. What is an English anyway given that we are a mix of Celt (from Spain), Celt from UK, Roman, Saxon, French, Danish and many others. So why is this Israeli making so big a deal over Israel. Can't you just say: if Israel is so horrible then return to your mother country America (assuming they were born in America)?

But what if they were born in Israel. My friend was born in America but moved to UK and considers themselves an English now because their family is from England. Could not the Israeli whose parents were not born in Israel really consider themselves something else?

But then I know people from Malaysia who consider themselves Chinese, and people from England who consider themselves Indian even while in both cases it was several generations ago that a diaspora came from these countries. In their minds I guess there is a longing for this "homeland" that cements their identity, even while it is long gone. It is not exactly like I have a longing for Poland give my ancestor came from their over a century ago.

But there is something deeper. People who see themselves as "Chinese" look like Chinese. It is more than a country it is a look. Isn't it weird to call how people "look" after a "place" they are completely different things. It is like calling a plate made by a process "china" cos that is where the technique originated. It is not actually "China" there is nothing chinese about a bone-china plate: it can be made with locally sourced bone and clay and be made completely in another place. Just like Wedgewood made its copies of Japanese "willow pattern" inspired by Japan but nothing Japanese about it. So a "Chinese" person who was born and lives in England has no part of them that is Chinese. Every atom is from England. But perhaps they have inherited something from their parents. Sad fact is most Chinese in the West become "Chinesified" by being sent to Chinese school by their parents. It is an intention to make them Chinese rather than something that happens. Most Chinese if fact have lost any Chinese identity - they can barely speak the language let alone read it, and they have almost no knowledge of customs and rules. Any more than most English know anything any more about the Jewish custom of Christmas (Jesus was Jew). Anyone can learn Chinese, and be "Chinesified". But perhaps the point is the intention to hold onto this "identity." Who else but a "Chinese" would want their children "Chinesified." Well their are plenty of Sinophiles in the West who are better Chinese than most of the Chinese.

But i won't completely discredit identity. There are small details of culture that cannot be taught and come from being born of people who originated in China no matter how much they have adopted local customs. I bet somewhere in me is still legacy of my Polish roots... and then there is DNA. Well we are 50% related to the banana, and 95% related to Chimpanzees so this is something to ignore. All humans are essentially the same biologically.

So how is the Jew any different? Well there is just one difference: unlike the Chinese, Indian, African whose "homelands" still sort of exist (altho very changed in the last century) for the Jew the "homeland" is a myth that has been handed down over the millennia about escaping slavery in Egypt and being delivered to a "promised land." I find it extraordinary how many times that mythology is presented again and again in Jewish history. But then it happened for ultimate real with the Nazis, and the British actually did deliver them a "homeland." for real. So now the Jews have what the Chinese, Indians and Africans have always taken for granted: a real homeland. But as I hope I have begun to show it is a myth for all of them, just as I can't walk into Poland and claim it as a "homeland." Ultimately what makes a place yours is that you are born there, or your descendants or their descendants... but it grows weaker and more tenuous as you step into the mists of time.

I suspect once the Jews have savoured this new found reality of having a material "homeland" time will come when it returns once again to mythology and like all people in this highly mobile world with technology soon to make global travel a thing of just a few hours, and even space travel a reality the whole basing of identity on a place like Israel of China will become a thing of the Past. For now I suppose the Jews need to feel this reality, but one day the myth will begin to fade.