Solidarity Splinters, by Keith Kahn-Harris – 11 March 2025

From New Humanist

Opposing ideas about antisemitism threaten to split the anti-racist movement. A new book seeks to bridge the divides

Many of us are still reeling from Trump’s decisive election victory. One of the most difficult aspects to come to terms with is how this most divisive and bigoted of men managed to create a kind of “rainbow coalition”. Not only did he bring together Christian nationalists and libertarian tech oligarchs, Trump won a majority of the Hispanic male vote and even managed to pull in one in three of the black vote. Apparently, both racists and their victims found a place under the umbrella of the new president.

Whereas the Republicans managed to build and sustain a diverse coalition, it was evident throughout Kamala Harris’s campaign that the Democrats were finding it much more difficult to bring together those groups that, on paper, would seem to have a common interest in opposing Trumpian racism. While it wasn’t the only factor that put the voting bloc under strain, irreconcilable differences over Israel and antisemitism were the most visible sign that something had broken. While the traditional Jewish Democratic majority stayed together (about 80 per cent of Jewish voters supported Harris), others who opposed Harris’s perceived support for the war in Gaza found the prospect of voting for her a bitter pill to swallow. For example, much of the Arab-American population in Dearborn, Michigan (the only Arab majority city in the US) voted for Trump or third-party candidates in disgust at Harris.

It’s been evident for some time that coalition-building across the “progressive” liberal-left spectrum has become more and more difficult to achieve. Some of that difficulty concerns the flood of information we are subjected to in the online age. It’s harder now to ignore differences with one’s potential allies, particularly when it comes to hot-button issues such as Israel-Palestine and gender politics. At stake here are questions of solidarity, a term much used in progressive politics. Do we need a “strong” kind of solidarity based on empathy and friendship within a movement founded on shared values? Or is it better to rely on a “weaker” or more fluid version of solidarity – the concept as it is traditionally understood – in which diverse groups work together towards a set of specific goals?

British journalist Rachel Shabi implicitly leans towards a stronger solidarity, rooted in shared understanding. Her new book Off White: The Truth About Antisemitism explores how differences over antisemitism and Israel are fracturing anti-racist solidarity.

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Keith Kahn-Harris is a writer and sociologist and the author or co-author of 8 books.

Solidarity Splinters, by Keith Kahn-Harris – 11 March 2025

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