spanishspy
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Post by spanishspy on Nov 5, 2019 6:24:35 GMT
In 1902 noted Zionist Theodor Herzl wrote a book entitled The Old New Land, speculating what a Jewish-colonized Palestine would look like in the then-future 1920s. Long story short, it's run in a quasi-socialist manner with democratic businesses and labor cooperatives, and with Jews, Arabs, and others living in harmony.
It was a very influential book in the Zionist movement, and became a big inspiration for the foundation of the modern Israeli state. The novel is a namesake of an Israeli city; The Old New Land in Hebrew is 'Tel Aviv.'
I feel like there's so much untapped potential here for alternate historians. In particular, there's a bit in which one Jewish character speculates about bringing this version of civilization to Africa, which feels ripe for deconstruction.
A side note: I learned of this book in the introduction to Zion's Fiction: a Treasury of Israeli Speculative Literature, edited by Emanuel Lottem and Sheldon Teitelbaum. The introduction traces a history of Jewish speculative literature and characterizes The Old New Land as science fiction, and therefore argues that Israel is the 'science fiction country,' and therefore it's natural that the country has produced so much science fiction and fantasy (with the unspoken next step that you should read their anthology).
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Nov 5, 2019 12:10:28 GMT
In 1902 noted Zionist Theodor Herzl wrote a book entitled The Old New Land, speculating what a Jewish-colonized Palestine would look like in the then-future 1920s. Long story short, it's run in a quasi-socialist manner with democratic businesses and labor cooperatives, and with Jews, Arabs, and others living in harmony. It was a very influential book in the Zionist movement, and became a big inspiration for the foundation of the modern Israeli state. The novel is a namesake of an Israeli city; The Old New Land in Hebrew is 'Tel Aviv.' I feel like there's so much untapped potential here for alternate historians. In particular, there's a bit in which one Jewish character speculates about bringing this version of civilization to Africa, which feels ripe for deconstruction. A side note: I learned of this book in the introduction to Zion's Fiction: a Treasury of Israeli Speculative Literature, edited by Emanuel Lottem and Sheldon Teitelbaum. The introduction traces a history of Jewish speculative literature and characterizes The Old New Land as science fiction, and therefore argues that Israel is the 'science fiction country,' and therefore it's natural that the country has produced so much science fiction and fantasy (with the unspoken next step that you should read their anthology).
Would that be related to the British offer at one point of a Jewish homeland in Uganda? I know there was some support for that among some of the Zionist community at the start of the 20th century but I suspect it would have ended up somewhat similar to OTL Israel with a Jewish state surrounded by hostile neighbours, only black Africans rather than white Arabs.
A lot of the early Jewish settlers were strongly socialist, hence the political important of the kibbutz movement in the early period of modern Israel.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Nov 5, 2019 15:35:56 GMT
In 1902 noted Zionist Theodor Herzl wrote a book entitled The Old New Land, speculating what a Jewish-colonized Palestine would look like in the then-future 1920s. Long story short, it's run in a quasi-socialist manner with democratic businesses and labor cooperatives, and with Jews, Arabs, and others living in harmony. It was a very influential book in the Zionist movement, and became a big inspiration for the foundation of the modern Israeli state. The novel is a namesake of an Israeli city; The Old New Land in Hebrew is 'Tel Aviv.' I feel like there's so much untapped potential here for alternate historians. In particular, there's a bit in which one Jewish character speculates about bringing this version of civilization to Africa, which feels ripe for deconstruction. A side note: I learned of this book in the introduction to Zion's Fiction: a Treasury of Israeli Speculative Literature, edited by Emanuel Lottem and Sheldon Teitelbaum. The introduction traces a history of Jewish speculative literature and characterizes The Old New Land as science fiction, and therefore argues that Israel is the 'science fiction country,' and therefore it's natural that the country has produced so much science fiction and fantasy (with the unspoken next step that you should read their anthology). Going to read it, seems it is online at the Jewish Virtual Library: Altneuland |
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spanishspy
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Post by spanishspy on Nov 5, 2019 18:57:07 GMT
In 1902 noted Zionist Theodor Herzl wrote a book entitled The Old New Land, speculating what a Jewish-colonized Palestine would look like in the then-future 1920s. Long story short, it's run in a quasi-socialist manner with democratic businesses and labor cooperatives, and with Jews, Arabs, and others living in harmony. It was a very influential book in the Zionist movement, and became a big inspiration for the foundation of the modern Israeli state. The novel is a namesake of an Israeli city; The Old New Land in Hebrew is 'Tel Aviv.' I feel like there's so much untapped potential here for alternate historians. In particular, there's a bit in which one Jewish character speculates about bringing this version of civilization to Africa, which feels ripe for deconstruction. A side note: I learned of this book in the introduction to Zion's Fiction: a Treasury of Israeli Speculative Literature, edited by Emanuel Lottem and Sheldon Teitelbaum. The introduction traces a history of Jewish speculative literature and characterizes The Old New Land as science fiction, and therefore argues that Israel is the 'science fiction country,' and therefore it's natural that the country has produced so much science fiction and fantasy (with the unspoken next step that you should read their anthology).
Would that be related to the British offer at one point of a Jewish homeland in Uganda? I know there was some support for that among some of the Zionist community at the start of the 20th century but I suspect it would have ended up somewhat similar to OTL Israel with a Jewish state surrounded by hostile neighbours, only black Africans rather than white Arabs.
A lot of the early Jewish settlers were strongly socialist, hence the political important of the kibbutz movement in the early period of modern Israel.
I'm not sure if there was any direct inspiration, but Herzl supported the plan so it's possible that there is. And I've read about early Israeli socialism; it's one of the reasons that the Soviet Union was expecting Israel to be an Eastern Bloc state after its foundation. |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Nov 5, 2019 19:05:48 GMT
Would that be related to the British offer at one point of a Jewish homeland in Uganda? I know there was some support for that among some of the Zionist community at the start of the 20th century but I suspect it would have ended up somewhat similar to OTL Israel with a Jewish state surrounded by hostile neighbours, only black Africans rather than white Arabs. A lot of the early Jewish settlers were strongly socialist, hence the political important of the kibbutz movement in the early period of modern Israel.
I'm not sure if there was any direct inspiration, but Herzl supported the plan so it's possible that there is. And I've read about early Israeli socialism; it's one of the reasons that the Soviet Union was expecting Israel to be an Eastern Bloc state after its foundation. And instead it turn around, the Soviets went on to support the Arabs while Israel got the United States as it sugar daddy. |
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