Date: Sat, 1 Jul 2000 09:10:29 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Take the money and fight !


Eric,
I was agreeing with you up to your final point when
you said:
... some people are
> being a little disingenuous when they draw their
> salaries from institutions
> funded by certain reasonably prosperous states,
> while at the same time
> railing against every move made by these same states
> and their neighbours.
> Those who wish to change the world by violence
> should be prepared to fight
> and die next to their comrades on the barricades,
> rather than becoming
> desktop revolutionaries, perpetuating the struggle
> from the safe sanctuary
> of academe in the metropolitan countries.

It is relevant to remember that the man who is
accredited with starting  the whole Ôpostcolonial
thingÕ, Edward Said, works in exactly  the kind of
western academic institution you were referring to.
Yet his book, Oriantalism, was far more
ÔrevolutionaryÕ and influential than decades worth of
Arabic scholarship (conducted in Arabic countries).
This is for two main reasons:
1) Training: it is a fact, sad though it may be, that
the rigor of academic research in the west is superior
(on the whole) to that of the middle east (perhaps
with the exception of Israel which to all intents and
purposes is a western country). 
2) Language: this goes back to your favourite subject!
Said wrote his work in English. This instantly gave
him a wider audience than an academic writing in
Arabic (who would have to find a suitable translator
and a very adventurous publisher before his work could
reach a western audience).
Oriantalism gave him the popularity needed to be able
to shine the spot light on other issues of a more
political nature (i.e. the Palestinian right for a
state of their own). What do you suggest he should
have done? Carried arms and joined the PLO during
their terrorist days! Where would that have got him?

Access to western academic institutions is of
paramount importance to third world scholars (even
those who support revolutionary causes). Such scholars
are in a unique position to create a bridge of
understanding between east and west (as well as
criticise every criminal foreign policy pursued by the
western country where they are working).  Perhaps not
coming from a third world country yourself, you fail
to appreciate that point.

So in conclusion, my advice to third world scholars
working in the west is simple: take the money and
fight.


===="All the wolves in the wolf factory paused at noon, 
for a moment of silence."
........from laughing Gravy by John Ashbery.
---------------------------------------------------------
Looking for something good and original to read?
Check out: http://www.mesopotamia.free-online.co.uk

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