When ‘Zionism’ becomes a dirty word

Gil Troy

To Israel activists, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s cancellation of Valentina Lisitsa’s piano solo earlier this month is worrisome.

Lisitsa, a Ukrainian, attacked Ukrainian nationalism so passionately and crassly that the organizers deemed her intolerant. A Ukrainian nationalist online newspaper, Euromaidan Press, focused on her posting “photos of spear-carrying, half-naked African villagers juxtaposed with Ukrainians,” with the caption “New school year begins in Odessa with teachers forced to wear Ukrainian tribal dress, a truly European custom.” Beyond this, the article accused her of being snide, mean-spirited and a propagandist for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mea culpa, I’m out of my depth. I have a rough sense of what’s going on in Ukraine, and sympathize with Lisitsa’s critics rather than with Putin’s totalitarian bullying. So, first valuable lesson for Israel activists: we assume most non-combatants understand the subtleties of the Israeli-Arab conflict as we do. Next time you start talking to someone about Israel, think how little you know about Ukraine, and proceed accordingly, hopefully becoming more humble, clearer, and making fewer assumptions about what people know and how they should feel.

Meanwhile, I am outraged that Lisitsa’s words outraged people when more outrageous attacks on Israel have become acceptable. Making the ugly apartheid accusation against Israel, charging Israel with genocide, segregation and oppression, are all as untrue and offensive as Lisitsa’s tweets. 

I don’t believe a far left or Palestinian concert pianist would lose a gig over similar anti-Israel tweets. This summer, Steven Salaita did lose a tenured position in Illinois over tweets but they were much harsher. He condoned murder by tweeting: “I wish all the f…ing West Bank settlers would go missing. He justified Jew hatred by tweeting: “Zionists: transforming ‘anti-Semitism’ from something horrible into something honourable since 1948.”

This outrage gap is a serious problem. On campus, super-sensitive, politically correct students complain about “micro-aggressions” they perceive in body language or nuanced words, yet many of these same students commit macro-aggressions against Israel and the Jewish People. They worry about scholarly books, articles and lectures analyzing racism, sexism, homophobia, sexual assault, being “triggering,” while often being the most likely to launch offensive salvoes against Israel and Zionism.

These double standards lead to a most un-Canadian conclusion. Precisely because of the power of political passions and the relativism of political judgments, I condemn the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for cancelling the performance. Given my disappointment in so many establishment judges, especially on campus, I would rather trust free speech and the free marketplace of ideas. Better to trust most people to ignore Lisitsa’s ugliness than empower modern elites to determine whether her politics make her suitable for performing Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto.

This analysis particularly applies regarding a concert pianist or mathematician whose political words are irrelevant to their performing or problem-solving. It is trickier with humanists or social scientists. If a colleague showed such poor judgment as to tweet offensive and intolerant words, I would fear a similar inability to be suitably restrained when teaching controversial subjects or properly tolerant when facilitating student discussions. Still, the repressive alternative is worse.

I write as a proud liberal democrat championing free speech – as well as an embattled Zionist. I know – and regret admitting this – that in too many elite circles today, especially in academia, Zionism is so despised that simply calling yourself a Zionist can be seen as offensive and “racist,” let alone micro-aggressive and triggering.

Zionism is already politically incorrect on too many campuses, among too many Middle East scholars. What happens if Zionism goes from being not PC to “verboten”? If we have tolerated all kinds of other assaults on free speech, we will have few allies left and no foundation left on which to stand. And so, with full contempt for Ms. Lisitsa’s tweets, tone and tolerance for totalitarianism and terrorism, I say, nevertheless, let her play Rachmaninoff, so those of us with politically incorrect opinions can still express ourselves.