Geoffrey Brahm Levey

Philip Mendes

Over the past two decades, Australian Jews have been at the center of significant Australian political and ideological debates, including: the War Crimes legislation and the associated Helen Demidenko controversy; anti-vilification legislation and broader concerns over multiculturalism and racial tolerance; and the on-going Israeli-Arab conflict, and its local manifestations such as the recent Hanan Ashrawi and Sydney Peace Prize affair. There is a strong public perception that Jews are an influential group in terms of their social and economic resources, and access to key political groups and players. In particular, popular literature portrays Australian Jews monolithically, as speaking with a single voice rather than as a diverse community with many different factions and perspectives. There has been little informed, research-based analysis of the political activity and allegiances of Australian Jewry. Scant attention has been paid hitherto to the particular factors and forces that determine Jewish political activities and agendas: the impact of socio-economic and organizational structures of the Jewish community, and the controversial question of "who speaks for Australian Jewry?"; the local and global influence of universalistic values and ideologies such as liberalism, conservatism, socialism, Zionism and anti-Semitism; and the influence of specific Australian political issues and debates, ranging from positions on the Middle East conflict to the pursuit of Nazi war criminals and concerns over immigration, multiculturalism, and race relations. This book - an edited collection of new contributions from distinguished Australian academics - contextualizes, illuminates, and explains the contemporary politics of Australian Jewry. It critically analyzes the broad themes above through relevant case studies and source material, and situates the politics of Australian Jews through comparisons with general patterns in Australian politics, the politics of other minorities in Australia, and the politics of other Western Jewish communities. The book contains a detailed appendix of Jewish Parliamentarians, from 1849 to the present.

Jews and Australian Politics

The concept of "authenticity" enters multicultural politics in three distinct but interrelated senses: as an ideal of individual and group identity that commands recognition by others; as a condition of individuals’ autonomy that bestows legitimacy on their values, beliefs and preferences as being their own; and as a form of cultural pedigree that bestows legitimacy on particular beliefs and practices (commonly called "cultural authenticity"). In each case, the authenticity idea is called on to anchor or legitimate claims to some kind of public recognition. The considerable work asked of this concept raises a number of vital questions: Should "authenticity" be accorded the importance it holds in multicultural politics? Do its pitfalls outweigh its utility? Is the notion of "authenticity" avoidable in making sense of and evaluating cultural claims? Or does it, perhaps, need to be rethought or recalibrated? Geoffrey Brahm Levey and his distinguished group of philosophers, political theorists, and anthropologists challenge conventional assumptions about "authenticity" that inform liberal responses to minority cultural claims in Western democracies today. Discussing a wide range of cases drawn from Britain and continental Europe, North America, Australia and the Middle East, they press beyond theories to consider also the practical and policy implications at stake. A helpful resource to scholars worldwide in Political and Social Theory, Political Philosophy, Legal Anthropology, Multiculturalism, and, more generally, of cultural identity and diversity in liberal democracies today.

Geoffrey Brahm Levey

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