Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 20:17:40 +0000 From: "steve.devos-AT-krokodile.co.uk" <steve.devos-AT-krokodile.co.uk> Subject: questions of ethnicity eric/all In truth I agree that the hopes of Iraq moving from a 'National Socialist' (aka Baathist) secular state to a liberal or even neo-liberal secular state is [as you suggest] low. Blair and Bush in the interests of their neo-liberal/neo-conservative agenda do, rather obviously desire the kind of ethnicity, of ethnic state which will be run by strange men with flowing beards and their even more reactionary doctrines. If not Blair and Bush would not have acted in the way they did. [Even Blair can't be that stupid, well perhaps...] It is a common part of third way/neo liberal doctrine to conflate ethnicity and religion - what seems to be happening here is that they are deliberately refusing the notion that a 'secular state' is possible outside of Western Europe. It being generally believed (by the third way) that as the soveriegn state is no longer soveriegn that it will collapse into horrible ethnicities - which is perhaps why they are so keen on them. However forgive me for once hoping that the local agenda will resist the ethnic requirements of the globalising agenda.... The Lyotardian joke that occurs to me, suddenly, is that as Lyotard describes the "jews" in "Heidegger and the Jews" - 'having no representation to spread, no formula suitable for remedying evil...' (p143) isn't that precisely the state that Blair/Bush have got themselves into ? bests steve ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++= Steve, I think you are misreading me. The whole idea of the South seceding from the US is something of a joke. I don't really believe it will happen, for all the obvious reasons. I meant it as a counter-example to show why desires for ethnic self-determination are usually frustrated by the real-politic orientation of the world. In that we are in agreement. However, that globalist confinement does not succeed in eliminating the desire. That is why I am more dubious than you seem to be about the possibility of truly creating a secular nation-state in Iraq, at least for the short term. eric --- StripMime Warning -- MIME attachments removed --- This message may have contained attachments which were removed. Sorry, we do not allow attachments on this list. --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts --- multipart/alternative text/plain (text body -- kept) text/html ---
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