JOURNALfor the STUDYof ANTISEMITISM

30 JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ANTISEMITISM [ VOL. 3:27
ANALYZING ANTISEMITISM
We still face the challenge of linking indicators and formalized criteria
to comprehensive approaches that can account for the changing meanings
of the phenomenon. This challenge becomes even more urgent in light of
the new significance and connotations of antisemitism that are constructed
in Latin America as well as in the Jewish world. By this we mean the convergences
of its classic expressions with processes such as criticism of the
Israeli government’s dealing with the Israel-Palestinian conflict and of
Israel as a whole—beyond particular governments—the framing of an anti-
Zionist language with antisemitic content.
There are differences between antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and anti-
Israelism; simultaneously, though, they overlap, carrying mutually referring
meanings and significance. The socio-political, religious-cultural, and economic
historical dimensions of antisemitism interact with the current political
and ideological contexts. Latin America’s historical and ideational
trajectory has articulated through the components of anti-Americanism,
anti-colonialism, and anti-imperialism a specific dynamic that reinforces the
mutually referring meanings. 5 The fluid overlapping acts as a “cultural
code” that identifies wide sectors of public thought and media. 6
ECONOMICS AND DEMOCRACY IN MEXICO
Mexico’s integration into the international economic system has been
fragmented. In the framework of growing inequalities, the search for inclusive
political forms parallels strong and persistent trends of exclusion, thus
hindering democracy itself. The impact of economic crises on the Jewish
community in Mexico, while not as acute as in the Southern Cone (e.g.,
Argentina), has also been a determinant of radical changes concerning
organized Jewish life. Globalization processes, while deteriorating the economic
standing of various sectors, have brought different segments of the
higher- to-middle classes into the most dynamic venues and advantageous
positions for tapping into transnational commerce, high technology, services,
the sciences, academia and its institutions, and the financial sectors.
Thus, Jews’ interaction with diverse sectors of society widens.
5. Cf. Robert S. Wistrich, Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred (London: Thames
Methuen), 1991; Bernard Lewis, Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict
and Prejudice (New York: Norton), 1986.
6. Shulamit Volkov, “Readjusting Cultural Codes: Reflections on Antisemitism
and Anti-Zionism,” in Jeffrey Herf (ed.), Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism in
Historical Perspective: Convergence and Difference (New York: Routledge), 2007:
39-43.