A Danish petition to ban non-medical circumcision has gathered over 20,000 signatures since it was introduced on February 1. Needing only 30,000 more signatures to force a vote in the Danish Parliament, this petition seems likely to reach that goal with ease. Under regulations passed in January, petitions can force a vote in parliament if they meet two requirements: 1) They are approved for posting on the Folketinget, or Citizen Proposal, which is the official website of the Danish Parliament. 2) They gather 50,000 signatures within six months of their introduction. With the first criteria met and the second one well within sight, this petition appears likely to force a vote in Danish parliament. Proposed and promoted by the group Denmark Intact, the petition seeks to ban non-medical circumcision for boys by setting the minimum age requirement for the procedure at 18 years. Additionally, the petition proposes a punishment of up to six years in prison for anyone who is found guilty of violating the law. Supposedly motivated by the desire to promote freedom of choice, the chairperson of Denmark Intact opined, “If people want to let themselves be circumcised then they should have the opportunity to make that choice as an adult. Otherwise, they ought to be allowed to grow up with their body intact.” Described in the petition as a form of abuse and corporal punishment, non-medical circumcision is a fundamental part of Jewish faith. Ritual circumcision, or Brit Milah, usually occurs in synagogue eight days after birth and is symbolic of one’s partnership with God. Additionally, non-medical circumcision is a tradition practiced in Islam. With Denmark serving as a home to over 8,000 Jews and several hundred thousand Muslims, the discriminatory nature of this bill should not be underestimated. This petition is the latest in a string of anti-Semitic legislation that has emerged all over Europe in recent months. On February 6, Polish President Andrzej Duda signed a bill into law that criminalized any reference to Polish complicity in Nazi war crimes against Jews during the Holocaust. This bill, which was passed on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, drew concern from the United States Congress, who feared the free speech limitations this legislation might impose. Despite signing the bill into law, President Duda is going to allow the country’s constitutional court to evaluate the law, leaving open the possibility of future amendments. Just a few weeks removed from the enactment of their Holocaust bill, the Polish parliament is expected to vote on a bill that will ban kosher and Halal slaughter. This “animal welfare” bill, which would also include a ban on exporting Kosher meat from Poland, would disproportionately affect Jewish communities across Europe. Similarly, the Icelandic parliament is expected to vote on a bill which would ban circumcision without a medical cause “on a person unable to provide informed consent.” Like the Danish petition, this Icelandic bill includes a six-year prison term for those found guilty of performing non-medical circumcision. The Danish petition, in addition to its Icelandic counterpart, are indicative of a rise in anti-Semitic legislation that could establish a dangerous precedent. As Rabbi Andrew Baker noted in his address at the University of Vienna, Danes should be fearful of this petition, as well as the Icelandic bill, because “countries will somehow look to one another,” drawing inspiration from the anti-Semitic legislation passed in other countries. The potential for this domino effect implies that response to this prejudiced petition be treated as not just an infringement on the right of Danish Jews, but on the European Jewish community as a whole.
The Louis D. Brandeis Center would like to bring attention to an exciting opportunity being offered by our colleagues at the European Sociological Association (ESA). The ESA Research Network 31 is looking for papers for its biannual conference, which is being held on September 5-6, 2018 at the University of Ferrara, Italy. This conference will be a tremendous opportunity for scholars to perform a comparative exploration of the necessary conditions for racism and anti-Semitism. In 2014, the Brandeis Center commended the Network after they passed the first proactive anti-boycott resolution by a professional European academic association. Additionally, in 2015 they approved ethical guidelines which prohibited ESA associates from boycotting themselves or their respective institutions. It is actions like these which suggest that not only is ESA an important association for encouraging valuable scholarly research, but also that they remain committed to combatting anti-Semitism. Information regarding this conference can be found below. Global perspectives on racism, antisemitism and nationalism Mid-term conference Ferrara, 5-6 September 2018 University of Ferrara (Italy) Department of Human Sciences – Urban Studies Laboratory The ESA Research Network 31: Ethnic Relations, Racism and Antisemitism invites submissions of abstracts for its biannual mid-term conference. The conference will be held from 5 to 6 September 2018 at the University of Ferrara, Italy. We will hold sessions that focus on theoretical, methodological and empirical aspects of research on antisemitism and racism, also in a comparative framework. The network’s perspective is to bridge an exclusive divide between the understanding of antisemitism and of racism, exploring the correspondences and affinities, but also the differences and contrasts. Our over-arching question is to understand what are the material conditions and the social, political and historical contexts shaping variations in antisemitism and racism, across time and across different European and global contexts. Besides papers on general theoretical approaches to antisemitism and racism, we are particularly interested in papers that address global processes of racialization and nationalization and focus on how these dynamics are locally scripted and sculpted by global, large, planetary processes of exploitation, appropriation and dispossession. This also concerns an analysis of how the consequences of global crises, economic as well as ecological, are racialized. Our special concern lies in (but is not limited to) the following issues. A perspective on the gendered dimensions of all these issues is most welcome: Theoretical/conceptual and methodological approaches to the actuality of antisemitism and racism in a global perspective. Racial colonialism and the emergence of Capitalism in Western Europe Theoretical and empirical studies on environmental racialization, food racism and energy racism Appropriation of natural resources and racialized labour Neo-liberalism and politics of racialization Racism and Antisemitism in post-colonial approaches Anti-Romany racism Antisemitism and anti-Muslim resentment in European extreme-right movements Racism, antisemitism, fascism, and authoritarianism Nationalism and racism: old frames for new dynamics Antisemitism, Jihadism and Islamism Racism, antisemitism, nation, class and gender – intersectional approaches During the sessions, each speaker will have 20 minutes. All presentations will be made in English. During the Conference a roundtable on the issue of “The weakness of Anti-racism in fighting the new emerging forms of global racism” will take place. Please send an abstract including eventual institutional affiliation to the local committee of the mid-term conference: Alfredo Alietti (alfredo.alietti@unife.it) Dario Padovan (dario.padovan@unito.it) Deadline: 20 May 2018