Nationalisms

[Lars Martin Fosse]

nanda chandran [SMTP:vpcnk at HOTMAIL.COM] skrev 7. august 2000 12:35:
> Is the record all that clean when it comes to Western history?

Noone claimed it was. Apparently, you read very selectively, since I have
been repeating the errors of Europeans and Westerners ad nauseam.

> Do white children in America study in their text books that their
> ancestors commited genocide on the native Indian population?

I'll leave this to the Americans to answer.

> Or do school books in Spain teach Spanish children about the
> genocide of the Incas by their ancestors? Or the brutalities
> inflicted on non-believers in the name of inquisition. The same
> applies for the Portuguese too.

Again, I'll leave this to the Spanish or Portuguese members of the list.

> Do children in Germany study that their countrymen not so long ago,
> did away with six million Jews?

German bookstore are full of books on the holocaust. I don't know the
curriculum in German schools, but there is no lack of information about
Nazi history in German society. Those who are in denial for ideological
reasons are not so for lack of information.

> Or do Russian children know that Stalin killed as many or probably
> more?

Stalin's crimes were already denounced by Krustchev (pardon the probably
erronous spelling) in 1956. But you probably don't have to tell the
Russians about it in the schools. It is still within living memory.

> Or do English children know that their current wealth is a result of
> systematic loot of countries like India? The wealth that British
> citizens enjoy today is directly linked with the dire poverty of the
> people in India. Will a English child know for her to live comfortably as
a
> citizen of a developed country, there're probably fifty children starving
in
> India?

This is at best a simplification of matters. Or have you overlooked the
fact that India has a runaway demography? And that the Indians have had
half a century to set things right? If children are starving in Indian
today, the British are not to blame. The Indian politicians have to carry
that responsibility themselves.

> Atleast in these cases there can be little negative effect politically
> - for all these countries committed these crimes on alien lands and
> fled with the loot or like in America there're no native Indians to
> protest against what had happened.

No protesting native Americans in America? Don't you read the papers?

> Take the case of Britain - that that British brutalized the Celts and
> the Picts is well remembered by the affected peoples. But how well
> documented is this part of history in England?

I'll leave this to the British members of the list.

>How well documented is
> the savagery let loose on the aborigines of England by sucessive bands
> of Saxons and Normans - the rapes, the pillages, the decapitations, the
> cultural repression?

All this things are well known. Ever heard about Robin Hood and his merry
men fighting the evil Normans?

> If this information in all its gory detail is taught in the schools of
> England, what effect do you think that this will have on the psyche of
> the English children? Will the English then be able to strut around
> claiming to be the torch bearers of civilization?

Are they making that claim?

> And What do you think will the reaction of the Scots, the Irish and the
> Welsh be? The Scots and the Welsh would come out with their own form of
> the IRA! And London will burn!

As you would have noticed if you had read the papers, the Scots and the
Welsh have acquired a certain autonomy lately. And that the IRA are on the
verge of making peace.

> One could go on and on about the misdeeds of European nations. European
> history is unmatched for its barbarism. So where's the scholarly
> objectivity here, when it comes to telling what really happened?

Every objection you raise only proves your ignorance. Whether Europe is
unmatched for barbarism is of course a matter of debate, but I have
certainly not claimed that we were pillars of uprightness. I suggest that
you do some serious reading - perhaps take a history course - before you
raise this sort of objections.

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse

Dr. art. Lars Martin Fosse
Haugerudvn. 76, Leil. 114,
0674 Oslo
Norway
Phone: +47 22 32 12 19
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Email: lmfosse at online.no