File spoon-archives/marxism-thaxis.archive/marxism-thaxis_1998/marxism-thaxis.9803, message 256


Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 20:25:54 +0100
From: Hugh Rodwell <m-14970-AT-mailbox.swipnet.se>
Subject: Re: M-TH: Cultural hegemony


I wrote:

>>Just a little note from reality, at least as reflected in on-the-spot news
>>pictures from CNN. The placards being showed to the cameras in Kosova,
>>Jakarta and wherever are in what languages? The local language and the
>>language of international cultural hegemony. Is that Chinese? No. Is it
>>Japanese? No. Is it English? Yes.
>>
>>Stop the ethnic cleansing in Kosova!
>>
>>Perhaps Yoshie could tell us what that is in Japanese for future use?

And Yoshie must have assumed I was challenging her about being a Japanese
nationalist, at least linguistically, because she responded:

>I don't give a damn about the future or no future of the Japanese language.
>Personally speaking, I don't care if it ceases to exist tomorrow. However,
>in *none* of the posts I sent to the list in this thread and on related
>topics, I have never advanced an argument for linguistic or cultural
>"preservation" for its own sake. Search the archive, you won't find it.
>Your response is based on a misreading.

Where could anyone get the idea I meant that? Do I imply anywhere that
Yoshie is arguing for linguistic or cultural preservation for its own
sake?? No! I'd be much more likely to argue like that than she is, utopian
though the very idea of it is. Yoshie is misreading *me*.

I don't talk about linguistic preservation anywhere. I give yet another
example supporting Yoshie's point about Anglo-American imperialism still
going strong. Why should she get upset if I rub in her point *against
Dennis* by asking for a concrete bit of text in a language from the culture
Dennis claims is asserting a new hegemony? Just a bit of Brechtian
stop-and-think theatrics. In the classroom I often try and use the many
languages the kids speak to illustrate this or that, and most of the time
there's no problem. Sometimes the issue is sensitive though, as language
and the social connections it represents are a pretty central part of most
people's makeup.

Perhaps the reference to the Serbian war crime of ethnic cleansing hit a
nerve and Yoshie thought I was trying to dredge up old stereotypes and
mobilize anti-Japanese chauvinism against her in some private war. I hope
not. The working class has no country. Neither Japan nor England nor the
United States. (If I may be permitted a little joke at the expense of my
own party, perhaps we can make an exception of Argentina! End of joke...)

I'm not at war with Yoshie at all. Her posts are among those I most look
forward to reading -- a day without something from her and the mailbox
seems empty. But this doesn't mean I swallow everything she says. No free
lunches as Bob says. I'm critical of her agnosticism on the organizational
question, and consider her positions on some questions (eg abortion at
whim) unnecessarily sectarian, and I've said so.

If there's anything in my attitude towards her she feels is hostile, then I
wish she'd bring it out into the open and say so. The way things are
developing in the world, we'll need all the cooperation and mutual
understanding we can get to put the Marxist message across as fast and
straight as we can. And feeling we have to watch our backs when we're
discussing among comrades hampers this work.

Cheers,

Hugh




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