Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 22:21:56 +0100 From: Joćo Paulo Monteiro <jpmonteiro-AT-mail.telepac.pt> Subject: Re: M-I: Bellicose Who? Louis R Godena wrote: > > Joao M writes: > > >Or did you have me in mind, particularly? Bang, bang! Run for cover, you > >crazy jew. Or by the saintly remains of D. Nuno Alvares Pereira, I swear > >I'll make an ash-tray of your dried liver. That is, if I can get away > >with it without a moderators' admonition. > > Joao, as one Portuguee to another, this isn't very funny. But then, neither > was Lou Proyect's post. There's enough violent irrationality in all of us > to obviate the need to recall ethnic origins. > Well, maybe you're right. As you may remember from previous exchanges, I don't believe in deeply ingrained ethnic traits, or group survival instincts based on "ethnicity". Irrationality and blind violence are usually involved in situations of deep mistrust and fear among human groups. Any human groups. Not particularly "ethnic" groups, say the serbs against the muslims, the germans against the jews, or the portuguese against the angolans. If you'll go to a footbal match, you'll see plenty of irrationnal violence among members of the same ethnicity. It seems that men have an inate instinct for goup solidarity on a territorial basis. But that can work with a multitude of combinations. For instance, on a neighborhood basis, that solidarity can easily cross national or racial lines. You can be a "blood"/"creep" or a Chelsea fan without being a bigot and a fascist. What's specific about nationality is class domination and political history. Ethnicity is nothing but a scientific construct, based on national (political) realities. They are all "imaginary identities". I have (and so does Lou Proyect) an easygoing or even an affectionate relation with what my upbringing has made of me. But I am totally devoid of national pride or even a sense of national belonging. Lou is misinformed about the portuguese, but I would never take his remark personally. I tried to make a joke out of ethnicity and war. These are, of course, heavy subjects to make jokes about. But this is not Srebrenica or the Gaza strip. This is Marxism-International. What I was trying to say was: -come on, are we all internationalists, or are we all worshipers of "ethnic" totems made of the dead penises of our (landed or not) ancestors? I, for one, refuse to be encompassed by any notion (even a fairly accurate one) of "portugueseness". I'm sorry for all inconviniences. As a confidence building measure, I'm trying to quit smoking. Joćo Paulo Monteiro --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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