[Peace-discuss] [Peace] Fwd: #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS RALLY

[C. G. Estabrook]

One must of course distinguish Muslim peoples from Islam and various political movements associated with them.

Similarly, one should distinguish Jews, Judaism and Zionism:

~ Jews - a ‘people’ defined (largely) by descent: you belong if your parent(s) did.  

~ Judaism - a religious tradition, one of the three major Abrahamic traditions descended from the religion of ancient Israel - Christianity, (Rabbinic) Judaism, and Islam.

~ Zionism - a modern political movement, a nationalism similar to the other destructive nationalisms of the 20th century. 

“The Enlightenment and its Romantic aftermath gave birth to two doctrines distinguished only by the letter s. The first was that people had the right to self-determination; the second was that peoples had such a right. The former belief is the keystone of modern democracy, and indeed of socialism; the second is a piece of romantic mystification, a fact which has not prevented a good many on the political Left from endorsing it. Nor has its philosophical basis been much examined in the standard literature on nationalism.

“There is nothing in the fact of being Irish or Tibetan which entails that you have a right to political self-determination precisely as Irish or Tibetan, other than that to be Irish or Tibetan is to be human, and so to enjoy a right to self-determination on those grounds. The Irish qua Irish have no more title to collective self-determination than have the freckled, red-haired or bow-legged. Golfers and grocers have not so far demanded their own political state, and the Cornish qua Cornish would have about as much natural title to it as them…” [Terry Eagleton]

Eagleton’s eminent sense does I admit make me a bit uncomfortable: my family is Cornish and left Cornwall for Massachusetts in 1660 because they chose the losing side in a revolution. The present process of devolution in Europe - Scotland, Catalonia, Veneto, etc. - leads me to hope for the recognition of a Cornish State, once that German usurper, Charles ‘Windsor,’ is turfed out...

—CGE


On May 7, 2014, at 12:29 PM, ya'aQov <yaaqovz at gmail.com> wrote:

> Karen,  Vukoni, all,
> 
> Boko Haram are Islamist Militants, yet N O B O D Y on this list says
> anything about Islam.
> How come? probably because we are afraid of what we'll find out. ?
> 
> D. Green,, CGE, DJohnson, SJP, all eager to connect Judaism to Zionism
> and Aggression (and  the State of Israel gives  them ample warrant for
> that) -- but N O B O D Y dares
> inquiring into how Islam gives ample warrant for Aggressions such as
> the kidnapping of the school girls.
> 
> Do I point out your bigotry?  Yes, I do.
> 
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