[interact_list] [WCAR/UN racism Durban conference] Grouping under 'states', and 'exiles' .
- From: Akio Fujita <A.Fujita@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: superflychic98@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 21:17:55 +0100
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/world/United_Nations/
European Union to Apologize For Slavery And Colonialism
Sep 7 2:04 PM EDT (Associated Press)
(We are feelin and thinkin in 'many' parallel timescales and
levels. I think it's not wrong. )
Finally, at Durban conference, EU decisively chose to speak of
'apology'. This should make us busy, cause there is one thing, CR or
PS has been rather neglecting of recognition.
Why Europeans/West now feel sorry for their prejudice and ranking
mentality?
This topic would be relatively hard to tackle down while we are in
Bradford. (So I will expand my survey for this, naturally)
Cuz, in Britain or England, or in Bradford, it seems lecturers
really don't care about what other Europeans are thinking. There is
no focus on this kind of issue even when it seems so relevant to
subjects we are studying. I would question why, but what I know is
lecturers wouldn't answer explicitly, answers by themselves, with
their own decision and incentives or motives.
Britain has been 'accused' of being passive and reluctant about
applying 'apology' into the resolution at Durban (see Guardian
site), actually, Tony Blair himself has been very positive about
UK's commitment to African Continent (it's been on his election
agenda, and he's been committing to African Union project, which
in this August there were few world conferences.)
So why UK's been hesitating? - answer wouldn't be that clear and
would be ready, but one thing I can do is to look inside of other
European states willingly supporting the resolution, for example
Belgium - and if one thinks of the context of situations in South
Africa, Sierra Leone, and Congo - it really makes one wonder -
why? now? (Belgium's interest still looks much vested in
conflict...I admit my knowledge on this country is really scant
yet.)
But there is one trend in European history, once they make this kind
of 'ethical' or 'normative' progress, it would be surely registered
and recognised as 'the step forward, (western) humnanity made' -
as often Oliver talked about the progress of international law
system and gradual progression, arise of international ethics. It
would be roughly at the scale of 50 years to 100 years thing,
- In a way, it can be thought in this way, societies were devastated
after the second WW, and after that there were certain moral
concerns, ethical reflections about humanity - but at the turn of
this century, we got no 'big event' to think about - to reflect
about ourselves - so may some European conscience - decided to apply
this rather sudden and drastic step - otherwise societies would
become more loose and rough in affluence and in struggles within
widening disparity.
To understand or set perspectives for this EU resolution,
dept would need cooperation between Oliver and a person like David
Francis, - how it's 'hollow' compared to the actual day to day
timescale of situations in Sierra Leone, or South Africa - or in
many European societies and US - or how it's 'substantial gain' for
the history of humanity, at its very macro scale.
Unless this resolution turn out to be something flawed - sweet talk
or beautiful document with the 'instant' or quick aim for political
bargainning, the dept will need to consider about what happened in
Durban, as the whole dept.
We got ments/faces, if they start to cooperate within themselves
we students would get more neat pictures and understandings of
many different levels of this event, political or ethical, mere
'an event' or 'a progress' of human history. But if not, as I've
been feared of - the dept will start to internally deplete -
the issues we are studying and dealing requires perspectives about
specialisation and cooperation - even more apparently for
'professionals'. If they do start to work on this, it would be okay.
[Or may will soon find more 'other agendas' - there is a bit of
smell may the dept go for this direction, then walls and
discommunications between 'sects' of the dept will increase.]
There are changes going in outside - so one needs internal changes
for adoptation, but I don't think I can think of anyone in lecturers
thinking and seeing things in this way.
For how UK has been in Durban see
http://www.guardian.co.uk/unracism/
esp articles at 7th Sept.
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P.S. (taken from survey note I made for Durban)
...At the start of the liberation in North America,
those Afro-Americans thought of going back to their homeland.
'Because there won't be a hope that we can gain equal status with
whites, no matter how long we and our children going to stay and live
within this country, with white people.'
So they thought they cannot stay there (even it was already after
generations since their ancestors took away from Africa) - they thought
they should go back and that's the only hopeful way. Still it was soon
to be noticed that they really cannot go back and stay there too.
And we came to have much population of this planet became 'exile'
in various ways. Some are happy, some aren't. Now exiles are not
only Afro-Americans, decents of generations of enslaved Africans -
still these exiles don't know about and don't think about how those
Afro-Americans thought about their way when they were started to
be released. And we can see how things are in US now and how it
could be.
Many ways to think about these issues - still I feel humans are only
rolling - we are still not much in control of how we live; how we
start our lives and how we spend it and how we end it. Then, may
someday people, or those many exiles come to think like this, 'where
is my home' - and ' still, my home is not recognisable anymore, it's
changed and I'm also changed.' - if exiles are relatively happy and
satisfied in this way, may things continue to roll on. Still, if
exiles come to feel this is unhappy, and this is so hard to carry
on, they really come to question, why they cannot return to their
home, and who or what kind of ideas have been ruinning their home,
- and even themselves. Still, 'Home', 'Land', 'Identity', - these
things would start to vapour if one really try to check those
issues. And usually we only can find ourselves included, placed in
much more large stories and currents.
Still there always be a question about what we should retrieve, and
what we should control, and what we should leave uncontrolled.
A.
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