Episode 25: Citizens of the Whole World: Benjamin Balthaser on the history of diasporism and anti-Zionism in the American Jewish left
In episode 25, I speak with Benjamin Balthaser about his new book, Citizens of the Whole World: Anti-Zionism and the Cultures of the American Jewish Left, just published by Verso. Benjamin tells me about his beloved communist grandparents and his own background as a labor activist and longtime member of Jewish Voice for Peace. We discuss the historical precedents to the current eruption of anti-Zionism among U.S. Jews on the left as we dig into the history, especially from the 1970s, of Jewish diasporism as a political identity. Benjamin shows us how diasporism grew out of the practical politics of the 1970s in response to the collapse of the New Left, the Jewish institutional turn towards Zionism, and the emergence of “identity politics.” We end by talking about the challenges of intersectional solidarity then and now, asking what we can learn from these earlier generations about maintaining our commitments to the liberation of all people, even when contradictions arise.
This episode was recorded in two sections; you will notice a shift in sound quality after the musical break. We reference a future episode on the history of the red scare and its effects on Jewish institutions. Stay tuned!
Books, movements and groups mentioned or discussed:
Peter Beinart, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning
Peter Beinart and Angela Davis, “What a Lifetime of Struggle Taught Angela Davis” on The Beinart Notebook podcast
Daniel Boyarin, The No State Solution: A Jewish Manifesto
Judith Butler, Parting Ways: Jewishness and the Critique of Zionism
Abraham Cahan, The Rise of David Levinsky
Marjorie N. Feld, The Threshold of Dissent: A History of American Jewish Critics of Zionism
Michael Gold, Jews Without Money
Geoffrey Levin, Our Palestine Question: Israel and American Jewish Dissent, 1948-1978
Shaul Magid, The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance
Philip Roth, Portnoy’s Complaint
Myron Perlman and The Chutzpah Collective
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Music by Ben Roberts: Benjamin.Roberts447@gmail.com
Comments and ideas to Juliealicecarr@gmail.com
Benjamin Balthaser
Benjamin Balthaser is an associate professor of multi-ethnic U.S. literature at Indiana University, South Bend. He is the author most recently of Citizens of the Whole World: Anti-Zionism and the Cultures of the American Jewish Left (Verso 2025). He is also an associate editor at American Quarterly.
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