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Beyt Tikkun, a Jewish Renewal congregation, will lead picketing Sunday outside the Austrian consulate at 41 Sutter St. in San Francisco.

Much of my family was murdered by Nazis who were intent on wiping out every last Jew on the planet. Not only did the Nazis often face very little opposition, but sometimes, as in the case of Austria, they received enthusiastic cooperation throughout Europe.

So it's wonderful to see a new generation of Europeans who are genuinely motivated by a desire to rectify the past, in part by standing up to neo-Nazis.

Jorg Haider did not win electoral support from a majority of Austrians. And a significant minority of them have demonstrated against his anti-immigrant xenophobia and his explicit praise of past Nazis.

When hundreds of thousands of Austrians demonstrated against Haider last month, it sent a message to the rest of us: It's time to stand up in public and say "no" to Haider.

This week, Haider stepped down as leader of the Freedom Party. But he doesn't plan on leaving politics and his party has not renounced its xenophobic stance.

I hope that Californians voting on Super Tuesday — March 7 — will be asking their candidates whether they are willing to take even firmer stands against trade with Austria.

But whatever they say before the primaries, the candidates of both major parties tend to put the "bottom line" interests of maximizing the wealth of corporations above any kind of ethical considerations when it comes to issues of trade.

The violations of human rights now taking place in Chechnya by the Russians, or in Tibet by the Chinese, far exceed anything likely to be done by Haider's crew in Austria. Yet the principle of money uber alles will shape America's policy no matter which party is in power.

And that leads me to a word of caution: Even though I think it important that we demonstrate and punish those who choose to align themselves with neo-Nazis, we ought not to demonize many of the people who are attracted to ultra-nationalist, fundamentalist or other right-wing movements.

Should we oppose them and punish their activities? Yes.

But if we ever want to be effective in countering them, we need to think more deeply about what it is besides pure racism that draws people to these parties at this time.

Much of the nationalist reaction against immigrants — upon which right-wing movements have built their mass following — is obnoxious but understandable. It's part of a deep fear that the forces of globalized capital are going to destroy one's own local society.

For some, the focus of this fear is economic: Global capital seeks to find the cheapest possible way to produce its goods. This leads to exporting production to countries where cheap labor is available, importing immigrants to work at lower wages or developing technology that can eliminate jobs altogether.

For others, the focus of this fear is that the cultural weight of the dominant market society obliterates all cultural differences and historical specificities. Globalization means rebuilding the world in the form of a giant shopping mall filled with global corporations selling standardized products.

There is nothing irrational about these fears. The truth is that globalized capital seems almost unstoppable. In its wake will come both economic and cultural destruction that is hurtful and harmful to the interests of many people.

If progress means the triumph of selfishness and materialism — and the subordination of love and caring to the attitude of "what's in it for me?" — it's not hard to see why many people yearn for the preservation of community.

People who don't imagine themselves sailing to wealth on Internet stock holdings want a community in which they will be valued simply because they are an Austrian, German, Russian or whatever. Or just because they are part of a particular religious community.

Nationalist and religious communities offer a kind of safety and validation of self that many people will never get from the marketplace.

The communities also offer values such as love and awe that are greeted with cynicism by the "everything has its price" mentality of the media and marketplace.

But instead of mobilizing against globalization itself, the fears get thrust upon immigrants or minorities or other groups that are seen as momentarily benefiting from globalization.

That's irrational.

Haider and his reactionary companions in Europe and the United States tap legitimate fears, but then misdirect that anger towards those who are vulnerable and powerless — toward imagined world conspiracies, some of which blame the Jewish people.

Conversely, we Jews often end up identifying with the forces of globalization, imagining that they will provide our salvation.

But the 20th century showed us that these forces are rarely willing to champion the "demeaned others," such as Jews or homosexuals, who unfairly take the blame for the impact of globalization.

The more we identify with "progress" as defined by corporate globalization, the more we seem to justify the unfair anger that gets displaced on us.

But for those of us committed to a spiritual politic, the challenge is daunting.

We must speak with compassion to those who are attracted to right-wing nationalist positions. Simultaneously, we must refuse to let their reactionary politics shape public policy or their neo-fascist leaders become accepted by the family of nations.

If we want to stop a return of neo-fascism in the 21st century, it is this more nuanced path which must be pursued.

I only wish there had been a similarly nuanced movement in Germany in the 1920s, before the Nazis became the primary way people could express their anger.

Yet this naunce should not prevent us from saying a powerful "no" to the Austrian government and its hateful nationalist party. So I hope you'll join me at the demonstration on Sunday.