From India led by the Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, to Israel, whose government includes ministers of religious Zionism, passing through Algeria, where Islamist rebel groups plunged the country into a civil war during the “black decade” (1992-2002): several Political-religious movements have acquired considerable weight in historically secular countries.
In The paradox of national liberations (PUF, 240 pages, 18 euros), the American philosopher Michael Walzer studies the trajectories of these three States – India, Algeria and Israel – to understand how, after the independence obtained by an emancipatory left, a religious counterrevolution – which is embodied in different ideologies depending on the context – manages to take over minds and/or power.
In the three countries you studied, you describe secular national liberation movements, and even those that oppose religious traditions. What can we say about them?
In these three countries, I describe certain movements that allowed access to independence as “liberationist,” because they had a double ambition. Of course, they intended to free their people from a colonizer: British for India and Israel (in the certainly particular context that preceded the birth of the Hebrew State), French for Algeria; and they also wanted to free him from a mentality considered retrograde, to direct him towards a horizon of progress.
Also the liberationists of the Indian Congress Party, the National Liberation Front [FLN] in Algeria or the left-wing Zionist party that was Mapaï in Israel, criticized religious traditions for two things. Not only had they accustomed their people to passivity in the face of the colonizer, but they were also an obstacle to their emancipation once independence was acquired.
If we find such ideas in Jawaharlal Nehru [1889-1964, premier chef de gouvernement indien] –but not with Gandhi, who is an exception–, Frantz Fanon [1925-1961, essayiste français impliqué dans la lutte pour l’indépendance de l’Algérie] o ben bella [1916-2012, premier président de la République algérienne]perhaps he is among the founders of Israel, for example Ben-Gurion [1886-1973]that are expressed with greater force.
For historical Zionists, Judaism is the religion of exile. In their minds, the rabbis have taught the Jews resigned submission for centuries. The creation of the State of Israel, a secular State, should allow, according to them, to break with this humiliating docility, creating a “new Jew”, master of his destiny. In my opinion, Zionism was thus built against Judaism.
You have 78.07% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
