File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postcolonial_1999/postcolonial.9904, message 39


From: "Lawrence Phillips" <lawrence-AT-lphillips.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Kosovo, Bombs and Imperialism
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 1999 13:59:59 +0100


The war of 1812! It's deeply ironic to read such nationalistic posturing
even if it is intended to be tongue in cheek given the horrors of Kosovo. By
the way, I'm not so sure the people of Panama and Grenada are really 'push
overs' in the sense you imply. Faced with the military and economic might of
a superpower, their capitulation seems to reflect pragmatism than than any
inherent weakness of spirit. I use 'spirit' in the sense of a keen
appreciation of their own land and culture which I'm sure Panamanians and
Grenadians don't really want to see laid waste. Perhaps self-preservation
rather than 'pushover' might be more apt here.

Now Serbia isn't led by pragmatists who care deeply for their own people.
But by self-interested demagogues keen for an opportunity to buttress their
own position through a situation where they can play the nationalist card.
It doesn't take a great deal of theory to see that bombing or even invading
with ground troops in such a situation isn't going to prevent attrocities
encouraged by the same nationalism which such actions simply exacerbate.
It's no different with Saddam Hussian. By bombing and attacking his country
is not to strike at what such 'leaders' care about. It's their own power
which motivates them, and in a weakened country their position becomes all
the more sucure.

However, I do not intend to advocate military action action either. It seems
to me that all the NATO countries continue to expend vast amounts on their
military budgets which they are hard put to justify to their voters. What
better vehicle than 'humanitarian warfare'. What a paradox, huh!

I think a little more attention needs to be paid to the polititians'
rhetoric as well. They seem to use varied angles to motivate their own
populations but these three seem to most prominent to me: 1) it's action to
help a helpless underdog; 2) it's to stop the rise of a new Hitler; 3) it's
a nationalistic crusade in the sense that moral righteousness is on 'our
side'. The Hitler rhetoric is of course spurious, but it seems to work
remarkably well. I seem to recall it was also used with Saddam Hussian. The
near universal demonisation of Hitler's regime in the educational systems of
all NATO countries seems to have produced a relatively pliant population
when it comes to military action against the 'next Hitler'. A war everyone
wants to fight and support since it is unquestionably a  'good' war. Rather
than a lesson of history, it has become a rallying cry for knee-jerk
belligerence. It is worth recalling that the circumstances which allowed
Hitler to rise to power were a consequence of imposing harsh reparations on
Germany after the Second World War. And where are we (NATO countries) today?
engaged in a venture to impose another treaty seen as intollerable by one of
the negotiating parties. I'm certainly not saying the Serbs are right, but
the only way out of this is to get a settlement which the majorities
representing both sides of the conflicting aspirations in Kosovo can be met.
Both Serbs and Albanians are historically entitled to live in Kosovo, and it
seems to me unless some accomodation can be met in those terms, there will
simply be more violence today or in the future whoever ultimately emerges
from this with the upper hand for the moment. Edward Said holds a similar
position on Palestine/Israel. Both peoples have strong claims to the region
which cannot be resolved through a using some kind of aparthied based on
partition or military victory and the complete banishment of Serbs or
Albanians. An accomodation has to be forged in which both peoples and
traditions can live on the same land. And if this sounds Utopian, remember
Tito managed it for forty odd years.

The plight of Kosovars is appalling, but NATO achieves nothing by forcing a
treaty onto the Serbs which perhaps puts off the humanitarian disaster until
another day. Worse, it creates an environment in which attrocities that are
really reminiscent of of the Nazis can florish. As will be apparent, I have
no easy answers to offer here (I too need to vent a bit as someone put it)
and can only offer frustrated/angry/horrified observations. But the war of
1812! Come on guys.

Lawrence Phillips

-----Original Message-----
From: Jemfire-AT-aol.com <Jemfire-AT-aol.com>
To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
<postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
Date: 03 April 1999 04:43
Subject: Re: Kosovo, Bombs and Imperialism


>....I apologize for the "creepy rhetoric"......."Bananna Republic'" was my
>shorthand for the quick and easy invasions of Panama and Grenada I had in
my
>mind.......the thought I was trying to convey was that the Serbs would be
no
>easy pushover in a ground war like SOME countries here in our
>hemisphere......."proud people" was my shorthand for the Serbs being
>stubborn and very hardened by warlike conditions more so than say....our
>Canadian neighbors.........******************************AND OH BY THE
>WAY..Folks this is an electronic medium where facial features, tone of
voice,
>non-standard syntax, and idioms can trip up those of us who may not take
the
>effort to read between the lines, or read whats NOT there to get at the
real
>intended meaning.......please do not be offended by words that to you don't
>jibe. I will make every effort to sharpen my prose so as to not offend
>unintentionally.  I am not formally trained nor do I have a University
>degree... I am just a factory worker in Houston on an assembly line working
>along many different races of people trying to make sense of exploitation,
be
>it in a factory, country, or a postcolonial web ring.  Sincerely
>Jemfire...........................Go Fast......Go Left!
>
>
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>



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