This is a good evaluation and indeed the press is choosy. Many people want China to be boycotted because of Darfur, even though the press is not on that bandwagon. However people in China do not know that it is also Darfur, and the treatment of /Chinese dissidents and workers,and not only Tibet, which might temper the gut reaction of Chinese nationalist response to criticism.
The issue of indigenous people is very important where settled people have come into the area. Part of the problem of Kosovo is that Albanians settled there (also Macedonia/Greece, Borneo etc) and some old cultural sites for Serbs are on that territory. Other people who are not being heard are the Zapatistas in Mexico, where the US has helped the Mexican government against them (as is the case with most indigenous peoples in Latin America), the Berbers all over North Africa, the Bedouins in Israel who are not the other Palestinians, and so forth. The problem is social groupings which define themselves by religion (Islamists, Zionists, Mormons) and create states on that alone, while there are groups on that same land that want to have their own cultural identity and religion. Also the problem of idologies that are not inclusive, but which says a nation must have one language, ideology, clothing, habits etc. Fear is the quickest way to mobilise people.
The newspapers also are venal in that they will choose stories that they can sell. Stories of despair like sex trafficking and Darfur don’t last so long as people don’t want to look at the details of large scale despair for very long when there is no quick fix and when it involves them alsalso needing to change.
The economic aspects are crucial. While I do not advocate stasis of borders, it is important to build even at a rudimentary level a global moral sense and some sort of international adjudication that can prevent the worst excesses and try to promote a point of view that will see positives in sharing land and cultures and economic opportunity. It is not so easy as some cultures have their wealth in their heritage and not in being materialistic (KhoiSan), so the materialistic cultures would have to learn to value that and not look down on those peoples as lazy or primitive or unwilling to "get ahead."
This is a good evaluation and indeed the press is choosy. Many people want China to be boycotted because of Darfur, even though the press is not on that bandwagon. However people in China do not know that it is also Darfur, and the treatment of /Chinese dissidents and workers,and not only Tibet, which might temper the gut reaction of Chinese nationalist response to criticism.
The issue of indigenous people is very important where settled people have come into the area. Part of the problem of Kosovo is that Albanians settled there (also Macedonia/Greece, Borneo etc) and some old cultural sites for Serbs are on that territory. Other people who are not being heard are the Zapatistas in Mexico, where the US has helped the Mexican government against them (as is the case with most indigenous peoples in Latin America), the Berbers all over North Africa, the Bedouins in Israel who are not the other Palestinians, and so forth. The problem is social groupings which define themselves by religion (Islamists, Zionists, Mormons) and create states on that alone, while there are groups on that same land that want to have their own cultural identity and religion. Also the problem of idologies that are not inclusive, but which says a nation must have one language, ideology, clothing, habits etc. Fear is the quickest way to mobilise people.
The newspapers also are venal in that they will choose stories that they can sell. Stories of despair like sex trafficking and Darfur don’t last so long as people don’t want to look at the details of large scale despair for very long when there is no quick fix and when it involves them alsalso needing to change.
The economic aspects are crucial. While I do not advocate stasis of borders, it is important to build even at a rudimentary level a global moral sense and some sort of international adjudication that can prevent the worst excesses and try to promote a point of view that will see positives in sharing land and cultures and economic opportunity. It is not so easy as some cultures have their wealth in their heritage and not in being materialistic (KhoiSan), so the materialistic cultures would have to learn to value that and not look down on those peoples as lazy or primitive or unwilling to "get ahead."
Thanks for a good article.