Black/Far-Righ Anti-Semitism: the Odd Couple.

Besides, Segolene Royal’s win of the socialist patty nomination for presidential candidacy, an odd couple seems to be forming on the far-right in France, as The Independent pointed out today:

Jean-Marie Le Pen, veteran xenophobe and leader of the powerful French far right, chatted amiably in public with Dieudonné M'bala, a black comedian, one-time anti-racist campaigner, now the champion of a conspiracy-obsessed and anti-Semitic segment of the far left.

Now Dieudonné is a formerly popular comedian who has broken with most of his friends, including his former partner Jewish comedian Elie Semoun because of his anti- semitic humor. But his words are not just bad-taste humor, Dieudonné has a whole theory that the problems of black people, can be traced to Israeli and Jewish influence.

"those Jews that criticise me are all former slave-merchants who now control the media and the banks" (Wiki)

In many ways, this theory is not unlike that of Louis Farrakhan (from The Nation of Islam) in the U.S. as John Lichfield also from The Independent did not fail to notice a few months ago.

Even in the US today, according to this survey, more blacks (36% in 2005) hold anti-Semitic attitudes than overall Americans (14% in 2005) - although, a similar percentage of Hispanics also hold anti-Semitic views, 29% in 2005, although a greater number of them were those nor born in the U.S.

While it is easier to see why some Muslims may be anti-Jewish, given the political situation in the Middle-East what’s up with those anti-Semitic blacks in France or in the U.S.?

Eric Marty, professor of contemporary literature at Paris-VII University, links the Dieudonné phenomenon to the similar savage hatred of Jews among some American black radicals, which began in the 1960s.
He says it a question of transfer of anger from real causes of black suffering - white slave masters, white prejudice - to a rival victim, "someone who is identified as more of a victim than yourself". (The Independent)

I find this interesting because in my opinion, it is not so much religion (Islam v. Judaism) which causes tension, or is at the root of anti-Semitism rather than the social mores of the lowest classes. The Jews are used as scapegoats for all that is wrong in a process of victimization. Granted, the recent policy of Mighty America with the Bush administration has certainly not helped.