Well, I need to get this off my chest somewhere, and I think you guys are the best people to understand it.
A friend I’ve known for almost eight years has been acting really strange lately regarding Zionism and anti-Semitism. Sure, we’ve both always been on the left and openly anti-Zionist, but in recent months he’s been very fixated on the possible sale of land in our country to Israeli businessmen, and from that point on he started falling into a lot of anti-Semitic propaganda that seems straight out of “Europe: The Last Battle.”
I’ve had conversations with him about how important it is to separate ethnicity/culture from its most fascist manifestations, and that we must remain vigilant so as not to fall for propaganda that only serves to turn you into an anti-Semite and thus “justify” Israel.
But no matter what I say, he sticks to his almost Strasserist or National Bolshevik stance, completely denying the Holocaust, treating all Jews as fake victims and claiming that “their entire culture is wrong,” yet still sharing pro-left content mixed with material typical of “traditional and conservative” 14-year-olds.
The situation makes me very sad, mainly because I know he’s a kind-hearted person who’s had a rough life, but I don’t know—I’ve been through the same thing and learned to stand firm against fascist propaganda.
Before this whole thing, he started to share a lot of anti immigrant, kinda racist things but I was able to talk him out of it, but now he doesn't realize he is doing the same thing as before. Or maybe he does.
I used to send him a lot of anti-racist propaganda like the one in the picture but now I feel I completely lost him.
I just need a hug.
I understand the feeling, I've lost people to far right radicalization too, including one I had previously considered a comrade. He was also a decent person who went through a lot of shit and was genuinely anti-capitalist and supported the anti-imperialist struggle but they got to him with homophobia, transphobia and unhealthy ideals of masculinity. I would spend hours patiently explaining things to him and he would snap out of it for a day or two, then get back to ranting about how they are coming to trans our innocent children and indoctrinate them with gender ideology. It's terrifying how you can spend so much effort, patience and goodwill only for it to be undone over and over again by sensationalist fascist scare propaganda.
While it can be genuinely hard and painful to do so, please prioritize your own mental health and wellbeing and don't feel guilty about reducing contact if it gets too bad. You are doing your best as a friend and communist, but it's material conditions and class intrerest that have the greatest pull on what each person chooses to believe and if you find yourself in an unfavorable engagement it's fine to pull back from a losing battle.
Hugs and solidarity to you, I hope the dude snaps out of it, but if he doesn't remember it's not your fault.