Full transcript
0:00The A to Z of isms... Zionism.
0:02For its supporters, Zionism is the national liberation movement
0:06of the Jewish people.
0:07For its opponents, it is a means to establish a settler-colonial state
0:11in the developing world.
0:13Theodor Herzl, a Viennese journalist and playwright,
0:16founded the modern Zionist movement in 1897.
0:19Yet many orthodox Jews strongly opposed the rise of Zionism.
0:23They believed that the Jews would only return to Zion,
0:26the land promised by God to the Jews in the Hebrew Bible,
0:29with the eventual coming of the Messiah.
0:31Jews should therefore not force God's hand.
0:34There were many types of Zionist - Marxist, religious and nationalist,
0:38Liberal, Social Democrat - the forerunners of today's
0:41political parties in Israel. But Zionism and Arab nationalism
0:45arose during the same period of history,
0:47with claims over the same piece of land -
0:50a geographical area, known for centuries to Jews as
0:53the Land of Israel. This is the ideological basis
0:57of the seemingly intractable Israel-Palestinian conflict.
1:01While there's been a Jewish presence in the Holy Land
1:03since biblical times, at the beginning of the 20th Century
1:06the Jews were few in number compared to Christian and Muslim Arabs.
1:10Unlike other national liberation movements whose supporters
1:13were actually living on the territory that they wished to free,
1:16Zionist Jews had first to emigrate from a far-flung diaspora,
1:20build an infrastructure, and only then initiate a liberation struggle.
1:24Zionism therefore does not fit into conventional theory.
1:28So, is Zionism wrong or just different?
1:31In the aftermath of the French Revolution, many 19th Century Jews
1:35began to regard themselves as a people
1:37with a history, literature, culture and language -
1:40and not just followers of an ancient religion, Judaism.
1:43Many were highly influenced by progressive national movements
1:46in Europe, such as the Risorgimento of Mazzini and Garibaldi
1:50for a united Italy,
1:51and Irish Republican efforts to throw off the yoke of British domination.
1:55The example of Russian revolutionary Lenin
1:58influenced the socialist Zionist leader
2:00and first prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion.
2:03Lenin demonstrated what could be achieved
2:06with a handful of supporters.
2:08Many East European Jews wanted to escape the heavy hand
2:11of Russian anti-Semitism,
2:13so the early Zionists were often revolutionary socialists
2:16who not only wished to build a new country,
2:18but also to construct a new society, unlike the ones they had just left.
2:23One of the building blocks of this new society was the kibbutz,
2:26a self-sufficient, self-governing collective.
2:29There were many possible territorial solutions where a Jewish state
2:31could be built. They ranged from the Portuguese colony of Angola
2:35to the Jewish Autonomous Region in the USSR, Birobidzhan
2:39on the border of China.
2:40Herzl even approached the British with the idea that Uganda might be
2:45"a night shelter" on the road to the Land of Israel.
2:48Some supporters believe that Zionism completed its task
2:51when the state of Israel was established in 1948.
2:55Others believe that the Zionist project cannot be considered complete
2:58until Israel is at peace, secure within its boundaries
3:02and within the wider region,
3:03and creates a fairer society for all its inhabitants.
3:10Thanks for watching! :)
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