Black as Evil

[Dr Y. Vassilkov]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Raveen Satkurunathan" <tawady at YAHOO.COM>
To: <INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK>
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2000 8:11 PM

> Problems in Eastern Europe are fundamental and result from over 70 years
of
> suppression and denial of legitimate national rights of minority groups in
> the name of ideology. The resultant ethnic conflagrations are not just an
> out come of "public discussions" of these problems but a reflection of
pent
> up REAL frustrations and aspirations of these people and the violent
> suppression of it by those who oppose it. In my view public discussions
all
> along would have prevented such carnage.
>
> We also had a case of smooth separation of the Czech and Slovak people who
> were able to separate by publicly discussing about their problems than to
> kill each other. So you need two to tango!
>
You are quite right, problems in Eastern Europe are fundamental, and their
roots go even much deeper that the Soviet period - many centuries, probably
a millenium back, to the period when the borders of different cultural
worlds - Christian and Islamic, Western and Eastern Christian - took
distinct shape in such regions as Balkans and Caucausus. Behind the ethnic
clashes there are also such factors as the rivalry of ethnically different
local groups of bureaucrats and mafia bosses for the oil and other natural
resources, transport communications etc. But it was not so easy to make
common people fight with their neighbours for the aims of such kind - and
then the time came for "patriotic" intellectuals of all these nations who
started "public discussions" with the neighbours. The topics were usual: 1.
autochtonism, i.e. "we and nobody else lived on this territory since time
immemorial", and 2. ethnic superiority. By the way, it is too an ideology,
and in some aspects it is much worse even than the Soviet ideology which it
had replaced (this old ideology was at least "internationalistic").
    Sorry, I understand this is not an Indological topic. I only felt that I
had to answer.
    Best regards
                                                                    Yaroslav
Vassilkov