Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 18:10:07 +0000 From: "steve.devos" <steve.devos-AT-krokodile.co.uk> Subject: Re: How it is This is a multi-part message in MIME format. Carole, This is a reasonable point - but I'm struck by the fact that whilst Beckett was writing in this way, Lyotard/Fanon and Sartre were raising the neo-colonialism issue in ways that still resonates today. It is clear that Beckett was in a very different social and historical moment than we are, hence the question. The mass migrations, the circulating flows of the multitudes as they run from the regions devastated by the imposed Western socio-economic systems are unstoppable. This is an inevitable aspect of the ongoing process of modernisation which has encouraged massive migrations from rural areas to meteropoliton centers within each country and across the globe. We can all recognise the flows of people from south to north but also from south to south - these including the temporay workers or immigrants amoungst the southern regions, but let us not forget that the number of refugees that are in Iran dwarfs the numbers that have washed up on the shores of Europe. For those who have been forced to wash-up on the shores of europe, the misery of the forced migration has to be seen to be believed, the support we can offer is limited. Incidentally the majority of the current wave of migrants are from eastern europe, only a comparatively small number has been arrriving from North and Central Africa. Current estimates are that last year the UK had 250,000 migrants, (Gov figures are 150,000). These volumes are not really significant enough to fundamentally impact the local culture, any impact will be positive. The amnesty and automatic citizenship offered this weekend was probably one of Blunket's more surprising but intelligent and liberal actions. Immediately after this Blunkett announced new asylum bill... http://www.guardian.co.uk/Refugees_in_Britain/Story/0,2763,1072270,00.html (for details) regards steve http://www.krokodile.co.uk carole lindholm wrote: >Steve, > >On Tue, 28 Oct 2003 09:03:00 +0000 > "steve.devos" <steve.devos-AT-krokodile.co.uk> wrote: > > >>I read this and wondered if anyone else thought it was >>odd to read an email from SA which says "...if I can be >>Irish and then French I could just as well be Danish or a >>dog..." I am wondering at the narrow range of "proper >>names" and whether it is just me that thinks that the >>narrowness is not reflexive of our unreconstructed >>eurocentrism ? >> >> > >The phrase "if I can be Irish and then French" was a >reference to Samuel Beckett, an Irishman who became a >French citizen. > >And I'm hardly eurocentric. Other whites in South Africa, >who still feel somewhat European, complain that their >vision of Europe involves migratory flows of Muslims and >Africans crisscrossing it like blood vessels. And of course >they're horrified by this thought. > >I disagree. Personally I think the British government >should open up Sangrette and let those asylum seekers come >pouring in by the millions. Same for the rest of West >Europe. That might be the end of Britain and Western Europe >as we know them, but speaking as a South African, this >would be a good thing, in my opinion. > >Carole > > > >=>Download ringtones, logos and picture messages at Ananzi Mobile Fun. >http://www.ananzi.co.za/cgi-bin/goto.pl?mobile > > >
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Steve, On Tue, 28 Oct 2003 09:03:00 +0000 "steve.devos" <steve.devos-AT-krokodile.co.uk> wrote:I read this and wondered if anyone else thought it was odd to read an email from SA which says "...if I can be Irish and then French I could just as well be Danish or a dog..." I am wondering at the narrow range of "proper names" and whether it is just me that thinks that the narrowness is not reflexive of our unreconstructed eurocentrism ?The phrase "if I can be Irish and then French" was a reference to Samuel Beckett, an Irishman who became a French citizen. And I'm hardly eurocentric. Other whites in South Africa, who still feel somewhat European, complain that their vision of Europe involves migratory flows of Muslims and Africans crisscrossing it like blood vessels. And of course they're horrified by this thought. I disagree. Personally I think the British government should open up Sangrette and let those asylum seekers come pouring in by the millions. Same for the rest of West Europe. That might be the end of Britain and Western Europe as we know them, but speaking as a South African, this would be a good thing, in my opinion. Carole =Download ringtones, logos and picture messages at Ananzi Mobile Fun. http://www.ananzi.co.za/cgi-bin/goto.pl?mobile