She wanted ‘to challenge the part of [her]self that is white-appeasing’
The director of Villanova University’s Counseling Center is facing backlash for comparing Zionism to fascism at a psychology conference last month in Philadelphia.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Nathalie Edmond gave a presentation on “dismantling oppression” which featured a slide show depicting “a spectrum of ‘acceptable discourse.'”
One slide showed “cultural freedoms” on one side and “Zionism and fascism” on the other.
Another slide titled “The Colonized Mind” included Zionism alongside “internalized racism,” “homophobia,” “rape culture.”
Edmond’s session was part of the day-long International Society for Improvement and Teaching of Dialectical Behavior Therapy conference. Dialectical behavior therapy, aka DBT, posits that “two opposite things can be true at the same time.”
In what was called a “polite and respectful” exchange, Edmond (pictured) was called out for the “huge, huge antisemitism” in her presentation by a University of Washington graduate student.
The student alleged the slides were “effectively anti-Jewish” and “troubling misinformation.”
Philadelphia Anti-Defamation League Director Andrew Goretsky said his office received “quite a few” complaints about the presentation, and he subsequently met with Villanova officials urging them to “clarify” that the slides “did not represent the university’s view.”
Goretsky also urged Villanova to implement antisemitism training.
In a statement, Villanova told The Inquirer that Edmond “spoke in a private capacity and her views, like the diverse views of our nearly 2,000 staff members, do not and should not be perceived to represent the position of [the] University.”
MORE: Professor who praised Hamas attacks to teach Columbia course on Zionism
Edmond did not offer a comment to The Inquirer, but put out a YouTube video in which she described the backlash to her presentation as a “modern-day lynching.”
[Edmond acknowledged] that her slides had caused harm while also pushing back against the idea “that simply the mention or critique of Zionism is antisemitic.”
“I really try to take an intersectional antiracism view that tries to combat antisemitism while also tries to amplify the voices of Palestinian people who are currently experiencing a genocide,” Edmond said in the video.
She described a backlash that has been “fierce and painful” and included efforts to get her fired, to get her psychology license revoked, and to harm her consulting business. As a Black woman, Edmond added in her YouTube video, “What I have experienced digitally I would describe as a modern-day lynching.”
Edmond also noted in the video she “wanted to be brave and to challenge the part of [her]self that is white-appeasing.” She added “My anti-racism includes the collective liberation, not of just one group of people, not just black people, but all people.”
Edmond further criticized the “annihilating rage” with which Zionist Jews have “come at her” regarding “any hint of critique” of Zionism: “My view of Zionism is that it’s much more than Jewish Zionism. It’s Christian fundamentalist, conservative right-wing because to me, that’s part of colonialism. Like when I think of empires.”
According to her university bio, Edmond’s “clinical interests and areas of expertise” include “mind-body-spirit connection,” “racial stress and trauma,” “body positivity and acceptance,” and “experiences of marginalization and exclusion.”
MORE: UCLA conference attendees to ‘reframe’ Zionism and work to ‘dismantle’ it
IMAGE: Mindful and Multicultural Counseling/YouTube
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