Connection between Paris, Sydney, Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda Explained

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Sherry Darling

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Shoot, this may even speak to the War on Christmas. :wink: :p (I hope I don't regret bringing that up LOL).

Anyway, a wonderful articel I came across on globalization, economic uncertainity, identity and violence.

Here's a taste:

But what is the special status of such scapegoats in the era of globalization? After all, strangers, sick people, nomads, religious dissidents and similar ‘minor’ social groups have always been targets of prejudice and xenophobia. Here I suggest a single and simple hypothesis. Given the systemic compromise of national economic sovereignty that is built into the logic of globalization, and given the increasing strain this puts on states to behave as trustees of the interests of a territorially defined and confined ‘people’, minorities are the major site for displacing the anxieties of many states about their own minority or marginality (real or imagined) in a world of a few mega states, of unruly economic flows and compromised sovereignties. Minorities, in a word, are metaphors of the betrayal of the classical national project. And it is this betrayal – actually rooted in the failure of the nation state to preserve its promise to be the guarantor of national sovereignty – that underwrites the worldwide impulse to extrude or to eliminate minorities. It also explains why state military forces are often involved in intra-state ethnocide.


http://www.india-seminar.com/2001/503/503 arjun apadurai.htm
 
Thanks Birthday boy. :kiss:


Acrobat, I am taken aback by your response. You seem to have taken what Appadurai wrote (your quoting MISattributed his words to me---don't I wish :D) very personally as if he's accused YOU of racism.

Did you read the article? He makes a very balanced, specific, complex and nuanced arguement. Economic globalization can make people feel insecure both in terms of economic security and identities, particularly the "losers" of neoliberalism. You can't really blame an impersonal force but you can blame the immigrants who are taking "your" jobs. Meanwhile, said immigrants or naturalized minorities feel equally threatened because they know some folks don't want them there and often state policies (funding for health care, education, etc) discriminate, in effect if not in intention. I've done quite a bit of studying of neoliberalism over the past few years and the dynamic Appadurai describes is identifyable in just about every violent conflict in the headlines--or overlooked by them--today.

Given that, do you have any thoughts on his arguement other than just to say you're not a racist? :D
 
Perhaps we should apply the same methodology to historical conflicts beyond the scope of the 20th and 21st century.
 
Sherry Darling said:

Did you read the article?

Yes.

I dont agree with the the guy. For 1 example he has given there are 100s of counter-examples when the so-called "minorities" ( i dont like the term minority/majority on basis of color or religion ) co-exist peacefully, contribute to the society , to the economy and to the country.

To conclude , I fucking dont care what people like you think of me or not think of me.
 
AcrobatMan said:


To conclude , I fucking dont care what people like you think of me or not think of me.

My we are cranky aren't we?

Perhaps you should get your head out of you ass before you post next time.
 
AcrobtMan, my goodness! :ohmy: I went out of my way to explain that Appadurai's article was NOT a personal attack. You appear determined to take it personally, though, so have at it, I guess. :shrug: You do need, however, to show me where *I* made a personal remark about you, since you just made that false accusation, or kindly withdrawl that accusation.


Moving on to a point that you made

For 1 example he has given there are 100s of counter-examples when the so-called "minorities" ( i dont like the term minority/majority on basis of color or religion ) co-exist peacefully, contribute to the society , to the economy and to the country.

This is an interesting point. You've hit on what interests me with this social problem exactly. Why is it that in some places, various diverse socieities do just fine and in others, genocide results. Appadurai identifies a couple things that I think go some way to explaining it.

1. scarces resources (or the perception thereof)--state handouts, jobs, land, whatever

2. political salience of identity (which is often related to scarce resources). Identities are at least in part constructed politically. In Serbia, for example, yes, there was some sort of history (as far as I know, and I'm no expert on this conflict) of Serb nationalism but at the same time, Croats, Bosnians and Serbs lived together, worked together and intermarried just fine. Milosevic had to work to make the Serbian identity matter poltically again, at least that's my understanding from Yayha Sadowski and Mary Kaldor, who've written about it.

If you throw those two factors together, you have a much higher chance of trouble, is a main thing I took from the article.


A-Wanderer--very interesting idea. Go for it. I'm interested to see what you come up with. :)
 
AcrobatMan, kindly quit the unprovoked attacks. You should mind your own language. Consider this a warning. Clean it up and calm down or stay out of the thread if you don't think you can do either.
 
Coming to the topic, I dont think that things work at some places and genocide happens at other.

Most of the cases, there is no problem for people of different races/cultures/color to co-exist.

Only in few places, there are clashes - its not because of lack of resources or political identity. Its because of

1) Not wanting to mingle as a whole in the society. Some religious issues provoked or some stuff. Imposing rules on others.

2) Some politicians manipulate things to their advantage as in one of ur examples. saying nationalism or political leads to violence/genocide isnt just right.
 
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