On the main Z Word site, there’s a new essay by Africa analyst Michelle Sieff. Entitled “Nasser’s Legacy: Pushing Anti-Zionism in Africa”, Michelle offers a thorough critique of the notion that there is a unified Afro-Arab bloc in confrontation with the State of Israel.

Co-opting African nationalists was a key political project of the Arab nationalist movement, notably Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt. As Michelle writes, during the 1950s, there was some resistance:

“Though African nationalists welcomed the support, they did so with a certain amount of skepticism. First, they recognized that Nasser’s rhetoric in the Philosophy of Revolution replicated European colonialist tropes. As one African scholar explained: ‘The role that Nasser envisioned for Egypt in Africa smacks of a latter-day version of the white man’s burden, complete with references to Egypt’s ‘manifest destiny’ and ‘civilizing mission’ in the ‘interior of the Dark Continent.’”

That skepticism about the intentions of the Arab world, in conjunction with a suspicion of anti-Zionist ideology, has always remained. As Michelle notes, by the end of the 1990s, “…forty African governments had restored ties [with Israel] and several that had never had a formal relationship were added to the list.”

Michelle concludes with a discussion of the ongoing genocide in Darfur, which is a particularly gruesome symbol of the fact that Arab and African interests don’t always coincide:

“A wide swathe of civil society groups have come together in the Save Darfur Coalition in the US and elsewhere to demand a response to the tragedy. It is up to civil society groups in the coalition who reject anti-Zionism to reveal how groups who expound similar discourses - perhaps in other venues - are unintentionally aiding the Sudanese regime and its apologists in their efforts to escape accountability for their atrocities. By unmasking how these efforts to strategically frame and demonize Zionism serve the interests of one of the most repressive governments in the world today, it might be possible to begin fracturing the ties between progressive left-wing and liberal groups and anti-Zionist discourses, both in Africa and the West.”

For ease of reading, here’s a link to the PDF version.