You can't use that term, it's waaassist!
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GREENWICH — The Republican Town Committee of Greenwich is defending its use of the term "globalist" in online posts last week aimed at Scott Kalb, a Jewish Democrat running for the Board of Estimate and Taxation.
The word "globalist" has multiple meanings, one of which is an antisemitic trope, according to the American Jewish Committee.
Gobalist can refer to a political ideology that advocates for international policies, but it has also been deployed as a pejorative term, including in recent years by some Republican politicians.
“Globalist is used to promote the antisemitic conspiracy that Jewish people do not have allegiance to their countries of origin, like the United States, but to some worldwide order — like a global economy or international political system — that will enhance their control over the world’s banks, governments, and media,” the AJC site reads.
The Anti-Defamation League has also identified the word as an “antisemitic dog whistle.”
Joe Montanaro, vice chair of the RTC, rejected the idea that their posts — which have been condemned by the Democratic Town Committee —were antisemitic. He said the DTC was making "false discrimination claims.”
“The word ‘Globalist’ is not used by us as a reflection of someone's religion. That's ridiculous and outlandish to even consider publishing,” Montanaro wrote in an email. “Our calling someone a Globalist, as in those who believe in Globalism, is a condemnation of a belief system that puts a country or, in this case, OUR town's interests squarely behind a broader agenda.”
Montanaro also noted that Kalb served on an advisory board to a World Economic Forum panel on long-term investing. The WEF is an international nonprofit and lobbying organization.
“We don't focus on people's religion, race or ethnic backgrounds as the Democrat party is seemingly obsessed with doing,” Montanaro wrote. “Race, ethnicity and religious affiliations have absolutely nothing to do with the RTC informing voters of his (Kalb’s) track record.”
Myra Clark-Siegel, regional director of the AJC in Westchester and Fairfield counties, said people may use the word “globalist” without meaning harm, but its use should not be normalized.
“It is a term, like many terms that are used, in some cases unwittingly, and in some cases with intent. And it definitely gets, I would say, the attention in a negative way of many Jews when they hear the term 'globalist' because of the connotations that it has,” she said.
“We cannot normalize in any way, shape, or form, the use of these kinds of terms,” she said. “They are dangerous, they are hurtful, and they should never be part of political or civil discourse.”
The DTC called the RTC’s posts shameful.
“It’s a shame that a once venerable, storied party would stoop to racist tropes, coded innuendo, and Photoshopped images to smear neighbors volunteering to run for public office,” Joe Angland, chairman of the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee, wrote in a statement. “But that’s no longer a surprise to anyone following today’s Greenwich’s Republican Town Committee.”
You can see what the RTC posted here. Oh, the humanity!
— GreenwichRTC Twitter
The World Economic Forum — “you will own nothing, and you will be happy” — advocates a central, world government, run by the members of the WEF and their designees. Central planning, centralized “redistribution” of wealth, universal laws restricting energy use, and so on. Kalb serves on that organization’s board, where he advocates for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing and is recognized as an “expert” on the topic.
Some Greenwich residents may want someone on the Board of Estimate and Taxation who is a member of the World Economic Forum, believes we should invest our pension funds in socially-woke ventures that pay a lower rate of return, but “do justice”; or who believes that tax money should be allocated to, for instance, bike paths, not road repaving, installing solar panels on municipal buildings rather than maintaining and replacing gas furnaces, etc. And if that’s what a majority of voters want then that’s what we’ll get, but they should know what they’re voting for when they cast their ballot. Greenwich Democrats don’t want voters to know who Scott Kalb is and what will guide his spending decisions, so they resort to their usual tactic of declaring facts off-limits, using the spurious claim of an “ism” to end the discussion. Bah.
Bonus material:
Let’s see what a somewhat-neutral, mostly-pro globalism organization says about the term:
Publisher’s Welcome | Deputy Editor’s Welcome | Note to Potential Authors
About 420 B.C., over 2,400 years ago, the philosopher Democritus of Abdera wrote: “To a wise man, the whole earth is open. For the native land of a good soul is the whole earth.”
At The Globalist, we believe such a “wise man” or woman to be the audience we are writing for.
The globalist’s watchwords: Inclusivity and curiosity
Globalists are not an elite circle of business or political leaders attempting to push forward their vested interests.
They are rather an inclusive and diverse group, driven by life-long curiosity. A globalist thinks deeply about the world and has a holistic view of global challenges.
Anyone with an openness to learning about, and from, the world is a globalist.
Rejecting binary solutions
By nature, globalists tend to be empathetic. They are willing to put themselves in the shoes of others and to listen to alternative points of view without judgement.
Globalists do not believe in black and white divisions between “us” and “them,” or in the inevitability of a clash of civilizations. For they are aware that such binary options are tantamount to a denial of our common humanity.
Humanity’s borders? The whole earth
While proud of their national identities, true globalists acknowledge that borders are ultimately arbitrary lines drawn on a map.
The only definitive borders that humanity cannot alter are those of the whole earth, a planet that is our common heritage and responsibility. Globalists are thus free of the over-heated emotions of jingoism.
