TWO ZIONISM FROM THE STANDPOINT OF ITS VICTIMS i Z io n ism and the A ttitud es o f E urop ea n C o lo n ia lism Every idea or system o f ideas exists somewhere, is mixed in with historical circumstances, is part o f what one may very simply call “ reality.” One o f the enduring attributes of self-serving idealism, how ever, is the notion that ideas are just ideas, and that they exist only in the realm o f ideas. The tendency to view ideas as pertaining only to a world of abstractions increases among people for whom an idea is essentially perfect, good , uncontaminated by human desire or will. Such a view also applies when the ideas are considered to be evil, absolutely perfect in their evil, and so forth. W hen an idea has becom e effective— that is, when its value has been proved in reality by its widespread acceptance— some revision o f it will o f course seem to be necessary, since the idea must be viewed as having taken on some o f the characteristics o f brute reality. Thus it is frequently argued that such an idea as Zionism , for all its political tribulations and the struggles on its behalf, is at bottom an unchanging idea that expresses the yearning for Jewish political and religious self-determination— for Jewish national selfhood— to be exercised on the promised land. Because Zionism seems to have culminated in the creation o f the state o f Israel, it is also argued that the historical realization o f the idea confirms its unchang­ ing essence and, no less important, the means used for its real­ 56