Re(2): RE: Miscellaneous and Paradox

From: Martin Owen (mowen@rem.bangor.ac.uk)
Date: Sat Jan 22 2000 - 09:55:43 PST


At 08.41 -0700 0-01-22, Phillip White scrobe:
>>how
>>does one resist and then refute american hegemony?

and Eva rejoins:

"Well, it's a double-bind, isn't it? Isolationism is no solution -- no GOOD
solution. Nor are fundamentalistic jihads back to the future. On the other
hand, resistance and refutation seem to me to necessarily take place on
american conditions. I may be wrong. But isn't that in the nature of
hegemony?"

What kind of low power hegemony?
As much as one may villify Sadam Hussein, Ayotolah Khomeni, Slobadan
Milosovitch or any of the other paraiahs we are urged to oppose, one must
try to see the world, and certainly US captialism, from their perspective.
These people are at the extreme and of a spectrum of world peoples
deseprate to secure their hold onto the means of life on this planet. Not
only do fundemental needs have to be satisfied, but the continuing
trajectory and reproduction of the diverse cultural and linguistic
patterns. This can be viewed as a static right wing nationalism or fascism
which is easy enough to identify, however many peoples of the world want
to assert the right to develop their identities through the, at least
partial, reproduction of the culture of their fathers and mothers without
wanting to oppress others in the process. Renee ( I think, sorry if I am
wrong ) is detecting this in Galicia, where the rights of Gallega form a
significant part of the people’s politicisation. The European Economic
Community has 51 groups of autochthonous peoples whose linguistic history
does not conform to their state language. Speakers of about 10 of these
languages are in a postion where there is an economic imperative for the
assertion of linguistic rights.

This is not a simple backward regressive nationalism, or wanting to
support say the kind of quaint “oirishness” that might find favour in
Boston on St Patrick’s day. Organisations like Udrhas na Gealtacht exist
to support the struggle of people who chose to continue their life in the
Irish language and participate fully in the twenty-first century from
their homes in the Gaeltacht. One way this happens is building cheap
factories for cheap labour where Microsoft manuals get shrink wrapped.
Another is to look to the village of Nokia in Finland, and discover ways
their developments can be emulated, however it does not seem possible or
desirable for every Breizh village or Fryske town to have a
telecommunications and rubber boot company.

Latterly however those of us in peripheral economies feel less inclined to
seek and subsidise colonial industries, and we have more realistic
ambitions than to hope for a Nokia for every community. Part of the
political stuggle which this Internet technology facilitiates is, as I
have said in an earlier post, is its appropriation for intra and inter
peripheral communication. Previously the “natural” communication for me
was with London, now it is just as possible for me to collaborate with
Udine, San Sebastian or Galway, and build up value added partnerships and
supply chains which are built on a different heirarchy and founded on our
cultural diversity. This is particularly true in the knowledge industries,
and we can see it starting with the media industries. It must be added
however that media and education industries may be a special case as
having a living language can mean that there is an opportunity for an
independent media and education system to develop. The key issue is that
these choices are deliberate political acts. They are political acts in
opposition to the prevailing hegemony, and can only success if the
political will is there for them to happen. This is not in the interest of
Time-Warner-AOL or the Western Governors University.
It is not a European phenomenon, it is also not confined to autochthonous
minorities, but migrant groups as well. I believe it is a hope of the
world.

How can people in the US help? By acting in the same way themselves?

Martin



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