Categories
  Encyclosphere.org ENCYCLOREADER
  supported by EncyclosphereKSF

Zio (pejorative)

From Wikipedia - Reading time: 7 min

Zio (/ˈzaɪoʊ/ ZY-oh) is a pejorative term for Zionists, commonly used by anti-Zionists. The term is described by academics,[1] politicians and Jewish organizations as antisemitic, including the American Jewish Committee and the British Labour Party.

History of pejorative use

[edit]

The use of the compounded "Zio" as a slur is first recorded by the 1990 edition of the American Jewish Yearbook as in the term "Zionazi", spraypainted as graffiti on the campus of SUNY-Binghamton.[2] The website WikiZio, run by former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) David Duke uses "Zio" as a noun or as a hyphenated or unhyphenated adjective. Other variations of "Zio-" include "Zio-Communism", "Zio-economics", "Zio-supremacism", and "Zio-occupied America".[2]

Ben Samuels, writing for Haaretz, has claimed that the term was popularized first by David Duke and then later by leftists and members of the British Labour Party.[3] In 2016, the British Labour Party released an inquiry into antisemitism stating that "Epithets such as [...] 'Zio' and others should have no place in Labour party discourse going forward." Speaking at the inquiry's launch, party leader Jeremy Corbyn stated that "'Zio' is a vile epithet that follows in a long line of earlier such terms that have no place whatsoever in our party."[4] Tony Greenstein, a Labour Party activist, was accused of antisemitism and expelled from the party in 2018 for using the term "Zios" among other allegations.[5][6]

In 2017, the organizers of the Chicago Dyke March faced accusations of antisemitism after their Twitter account used the term "Zio tears".[7][8][9]

Reception

[edit]

According to the American Jewish Committee (AJC), "Zio" is used by antisemites to disguise their antisemitism as merely anti-Zionism, asserting that "Zio" is actually a short-hand euphemism for "Jew".[10] Mosaic Magazine has said that "Zio" is a "new anti-Jewish slur".[2] Writer Ariel Sobel has also claimed that "Zio" is an antisemitic slur with roots within antisemitic right-wing extremist circles that has been adopted by progressives.[11]

Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer has described the "Zio-Nazi term as hate speech.[12]

Zionist as pejorative

[edit]

During the Israel-Hamas war, the term "Zionist" became a pejorative slur among the political left.[13]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ ""It's in the Air": Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias at Stanford, and How to Address It A REPORT FROM THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ANTISEMITISM AND ANTI-ISRAELI BIAS OF THE JEWISH ADVISORY COMMITTEE AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY" (PDF). May 31, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "Who're You Calling a "Zio"?". Mosaic Magazine. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  3. ^ Samuels, Ben (18 July 2017). "'Violent History' of 'Zio': How Chicago's Dyke March Adopted an anti-Semitic Slur Dear to White Supremacists". Haaretz. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  4. ^ "Labour antisemitism report tells members to stop using 'Hitler, Nazi and Holocaust metaphors'". The Independent. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  5. ^ "Tony Greenstein's 'notorious antisemite' libel claim dismissed by court". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  6. ^ "Britain's Labour expels Jewish anti-Zionist activist over 'anti-Semitic' remarks". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  7. ^ Sommer, Allison Kaplan (14 July 2017). "Chicago Dyke March Collective Revels in 'Zio Tears' in Twitter Rant". Haaretz. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  8. ^ Stern, Mark Joseph (25 July 2017). "This Is a Safe Space. No Jews Allowed". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  9. ^ "Chicago Dyke March Drops Pretense, Deploys Anti-Semitic Term Popularized by Neo-Nazis". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  10. ^ "Zionist / "Zio"". American Jewish Committee. April 2021. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  11. ^ "Why Are Progressives Using an Anti-Semitic Slur Coined by the KKK?". The Jewish Journal. 19 June 2019. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  12. ^ Feinberg, Tali (2021-11-11). ""Hit back hard," Holocaust scholar says of "Zio-Nazi" slur". Jewish Report. Retrieved 2024-09-17.
  13. ^ Guyer, Jonathan (2024-05-12). "How 'Zionist' became a slur on the US left". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 | Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zio_(pejorative)
3 views |
↧ Download as ZWI file
Encyclosphere.org EncycloReader is supported by the EncyclosphereKSF