[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Heretical to the Asia concept
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 04:00:58 +0100
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Heretical to the Asia concept
By KAZUO OGOURA
The European Union is a community founded on the concept of Europe. This
concept has been nurtured by the historical consciousness of Europeans to
overcome national rivalries and to maintain European traditions. The process of
consolidating such consciousness has, however, been accompanied by a process of
excluding anything that is un-European -- that is, anything, whether political
or religious, that deviates from the norm of being "European."
Christianity offers an obvious example. The Roman Catholic Church, in
particular, has maintained its orthodoxy by excluding the heretical. One
feature of monotheistic Christian civilization is the elimination of heresy.
This phenomenon is actually evident to a greater or lesser degree in all
religions, but in historical terms it has not featured as prominently in
Buddhism or Confucianism, for instance, as it has in Islam or Christianity.
The attitude of modern-day Europe to issues like human rights and the death
penalty exudes this logic of eliminating heresy to protect European values.
When an extreme rightwing regime came to power in Austria, all of Europe vented
its criticism. One could say that this reaction reflected more than just regret
over Nazism and warning against the rise of new racism. It was in fact a part
of the process of protecting European values by excluding the heretical.
Similarly, a move is afoot to revoke the observer status of the United States
and Japan on the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers over the issue of
the abolition of capital punishment. This can only be viewed as a manifestation
of Europe's refusal to accept as peers and include in its group those who
violate "European values," even if they are developed, democratic states like
Japan and the United States.
As the concept of Europe has taken root, Europeans have maintained -- in
parallel with the exclusion of heresy -- a constant awareness of that which is
un-European, the "other."
We must not forget that throughout its history Europe has affirmed its identity
by juxtaposing itself with the other. The other was at different times Muslim
culture, primitive societies refusing European enlightenment, non-Christian
societies, autocratic communist states, U.S. Fordism, or even Japanese-style
business practice.
Indeed, throughout its history Europe has needed an other, has created
"others," and has built up its own identity in the context of its opposition to
and contrast with the other. In this sense, the process of European integration
has been an exercise of rejecting and pushing aside "others" as well as an
exercise of assimilating different elements.
Asia, meanwhile, is not a concept that Asians made themselves but is, rather,
something that Europeans invented for their own convenience. In modern times --
that is, after the collapse of the Chinese kingdom and the colonization of Asia
by Europeans -- except for the shared history of anti-colonial movements in
Asia and Africa, almost nothing has been done by Asians to exercise political
leadership or organize a social movement for the creation of Asia as an entity,
to conceive of an "other" against which to contrast it, to separate themselves
from that other, and to deepen the concept of Asia.
Asia does not need the concept of "others" to consolidate the concept of Asia.
In fact, "others" exist within Asia itself, rather than outside, due to rising
nationalism in some Asian countries.
In addition to the elimination of heresy and the presence of the other, there
is another important idea that Asian people have to bear in mind when
considering the European community. This is the idea of overcoming nationalism.
The concept that nationalism must be overcome has its roots in a history of
fierce conflicts among nation-states.
European history consists of conflicts between nationalisms and antagonism
between nation-states. It was the process of overcoming such rivalries that led
to the European community. That effort was based not on the simple objective of
putting an end to war but on the conviction that overcoming nationalism was
vital to the creation of an interdependent world.
Turning our eyes to Asia, however, we see a divided Korean Peninsula and a
China that still clings to the issue of Taiwan. Under these circumstances,
nationalism remains a highly important rallying cry for national unification in
East Asia, particularly in China and South Korea. There is no national or
ethnic consensus that nationalism is something that must be overcome; on the
contrary, there is every indication that emphasizing nationalism will remain an
important element of these countries' domestic politics and foreign policy for
some time to come.
Under these circumstances we should ask ourselves how an East Asian Community
can be formed without overcoming nationalism. This question raises serious
issues for the people of East Asia. In this context, Japan can play a key role
as virtually the only industrialized democratic country in Asia, because it no
longer needs such nationalism as a force for national unification.
Therefore, in the interests of all of Asia, Japan must refrain from resorting
needlessly to parochial nationalism that serves no purpose other than to divert
economic or political frustration onto others. East Asian neighbors of Japan
should, on their part, refrain from using the question of the past damage
inflicted upon them by Japan for the purpose of their own domestic political
convenience or of diplomatic maneuvering vis-a-vis Japan.
People and nations in East Asia could, in their endeavor to reach a consensus
for forming an East Asian Community, learn much from this history of forming
the concept of Europe.
Kazuo Ogoura, professor of political science at Aoyama Gakuin University, is
president of the Japan Foundation. He served as Japanese ambassador to Vietnam
(1994-95), South Korea (1997-99) and France (1999-2002).
The Japan Times: Jan. 16, 2006
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