Coronavirus unleashes new wave of antisemitism, xenophobia - opinion
Antisemitism has reared its ugly head in exceptionally explicit ways during the pandemic, labeled by some as “coronasemitism.”
By JONATHAN HAROUNOFF, STEPHANIE POSNER, ARMAN AMINITHOUSANDS OF New Yorkers gather in Foley Square last week at the No Hate. No Fear. solidarity march against the rise of antisemitism(photo credit: ERIK MCGREGOR/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES/JTA)
SARS-CoV-2 may be a novel coronavirus that we are still wrapping our heads around, but the antisemitism and xenophobia that has spiked during this outbreak is anything but new.History has shown that outbreaks can lead to fear and hatred toward specific groups, which is oftentimes exacerbated by misinformation brought on by diseases that are poorly understood or have just been discovered.Many were quick to point to the world’s inadequate preparedness to tackle a virus of COVID-19’s debilitating magnitude. Bill Gates’s 2015 TED talk and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2018 prediction that tens of millions could die in the next pandemic are oft-cited examples of unfortunate prescience. What was less discussed, however, was how grossly unprepared we were for the virus-spawned hate and scapegoating that time and again have accompanied such outbreaks.Antisemitism has reared its ugly head in exceptionally explicit ways during the pandemic. Some are even labeling this phenomenon “coronasemitism.” The world saw an 18% rise in major antisemitic attacks worldwide in 2019, as well as a new iteration of that millennia-old hatred in the form of coronavirus-related antisemitism, according to a report published in April by the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University. But disease-induced antisemitism can be traced back to the Middle Ages when Jews were persecuted after being accused of spreading the bubonic plague in what later came to be known as the Black Death. 150 years later, Jewish émigrés were blamed for the spread of syphilis in Europe.A recent survey carried out by psychologists at Oxford University found that 20% of Brits believed Jews had insidiously created the novel coronavirus to destabilize the world for financial gain. In Germany, protesters wore yellow stars on their clothing while protesting government-mandated public health restrictions, drawing parallels between laws requiring German citizens to wear face masks and the symbols that identified Jewish people during the Holocaust. In March, an FBI report warned that white supremacist groups across the US were calling on members to spread the virus to Jews, “if contracted, through bodily fluids and personal interactions.” And in Iran, a member of parliament said he considered “the coronavirus outbreak a type of biological attack from America and the Zionist regime.”Jewish people are hardly the only targets of virus-related slurs. Following a spate of racially motivated attacks on Asian-Americans across the US, the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, the Anti-Defamation League and 258 other organizations penned a letter in mid-March to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, urging them to “publicly denounce the increase in racist attacks and discrimination against the Asian-American community” and “take tangible steps to counter the hysteria around the novel coronavirus, such as passing a joint resolution denouncing the racism, xenophobia and misinformation surrounding it.”The past half a century is replete with virus-induced assaults on racial, religious and national groups. Haitians were accused of spreading HIV/Aids in the early 1980s, Mexicans were singled out during the H1N1 swine flu outbreak in 2009, and in the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Africans and those of African descent were stigmatized worldwide.Governments and businesses worldwide will, no doubt, be thinking about ways they can be better prepared for future outbreaks, whether that be through stricter health protocols, pandemic-resilient financial planning or better supply chain management. Another key consideration must be how governments, businesses, and individuals better prepare for the scapegoating that is just as infectious and virulent as the diseases that facilitate its spread.Governments can begin by rigorously enforcing and developing existing anti-discrimination laws. In the midst of public health emergencies, leadership must communicate vital health information and swiftly denounce acts that falsely scapegoat specific religious, ethnic or racial groups.Businesses also play a critical role. Their size and access to capital enable them to counter hate through different channels: internally, ahead of future public health emergencies, they can educate their employees by hiring professionals to lead seminars and working groups. Human resources departments can develop zero-tolerance policies and training geared toward eliminating specific acts of discrimination. Externally, companies can direct their corporate philanthropy and social media efforts toward charities whose missions involve addressing xenophobia or racism. Firms can match employee-giving directed toward such organizations, and they can leverage their marketing platforms to denounce such fear and hatred, and to draw attention to their charitable partners.Most importantly, individuals must learn more about discrimination instigated by disease and take advantage of their roles as consumers and voters to keep governments and businesses in check. We must all hold each other accountable to stem the spread of hate.Jonathan Harounoff is a British graduate of Columbia Journalism School, and an alumnus of the Universities of Cambridge and Harvard.Stephanie Posner is a British graduate student at the Yale School of Management and the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. She was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University and is an alumna of Cambridge University.Arman Amini is a management consultant, and a Zuckerman Fellow at Harvard University.
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