Well said all, good thread. Hank
On Tue, Apr 13, 2021 at 9:14 PM Brian Holmes <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Allan, > > You are right about the imprint which slavery has left on the United > States, that has been the single most important national discussion over > the last year and there is always more to understand about it - especially > the specific histories of particular places, histories that people who live > in those places would rather not know about. It is vitally important to > tell these true tales - for instance, the story of the KKK sheriff of > Hennepin county. The slave patrols of the old Southern planters are at the > origin of today's police, and that is a US history, the ugliest and most > damaging one. Whoever ignores it is complicit in the devastating > recrudescence of an ideology that has never died, but only bided its time, > awaiting fresh opportunities. > > But I suggested that these histories are not so specific to the US, > because of life experience. > > I lived in France for 20 years and like most French people, I believed the > myth of equality. Although I was well aware of racism in the US, I did not > notice that despite all the grand principles, the French police > consistently arrested, beat, imprisoned and killed people of African origin > at the slightest pretext. That state of willful ignorance held tight until > the so-called "revolte des banlieues" in 2005, which I read about in the > papers while visiting Chicago, then experienced first hand when I returned > home to France. I went out to demonstrate one afternoon in solidarity with > the banlieues - but almost no one came to that demo, especially not the > institutional left, whose keywords are equality and solidarity. In fact, > France is absolutely as racist as the US, and this is becoming increasingly > clear to younger people in that country over the course of the last year or > so. Despite that rising awareness, mainstream French society turns a blind > eye to its own violence, its own radical exclusion of racialized Others, > and refuses to ask why France has become the major target of terroism in > the Western world today. Meanwhile the doctrine of the "Great Replacement," > forged by the French racist Renaud Camus, has become the central dogma of > American white supremacists. > > Now, you are right that everywhere is unique. But the slave trade was > begun by Europeans. And colonialism was big business in Europe up to the > 1950s. Today, the EU is walling itself off against the migratory waves > caused in large part by the violently unequal economic and symbolic > relations between white Europe and its near neighbors. The murder that > protects European lifestyles today is the harbinger of a much more violent > future, if nothing changes. So I would like to hear other unique stories > from other European countries. > > There is a strong temptation, where I am concerned, to attribute this > racist violence to the maintenance of class difference. How to make some > people work for almost nothing, so that others can enjoy the cheap and > sickening delights of consumer societies predicated on freely exploitable > labor? If I did not know how China treats its minorities, I would think > this kind of capitalist domination was a specifically European thing, due > specifically to that civilization which dominated and plundered the entire > world, before unleashing such destructive conflagrations in the twentieth > century that finally, the European countries had to choke back their > murderous rage and cloak it in the humanistic veils that prevail today. > You'd be nuts to think that Europe is immune to racism. And yet one can say > the same thing about China and India, and probably a whole lot more places. > > Whether it's capitalism, or some deeper atavistic drive that makes people > act in these ways, I don't know. But I do think everyone, everywhere, ought > to inquire more deeply into the foundations on which their own privilege, > or lack of it, is based. > > in solidarity, Brian > > > > > On Tue, Apr 13, 2021 at 11:27 AM Allanmini2 <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Hello >> Thank you Brian sharing your outrage; besides the points you mention, we >> should also be clear about the origins and purposes of policing; while >> globally there are obvious similarities there are also distinctions and >> these can be telling. Without going into all the details, in the U.S. the >> origins are connected to slavery and the posses that marauded and ran wild >> throughout the South and parts of the North; the Underground Railroad was >> not only a train that led to freedom but also the means to avoid >> slave-catchers - early incarnations of the modern police. Here lies the >> immorality and cultural bedrock that underpins most (if not all) police >> forces in the U.S.. The absolutely wanton hand-out of military equipment >> from the U.S. Pentagon just adds fuel to the fire - exponentially. >> best >> allan >> >> Sheriff Earle Brown, founder of the city where Daunte Wright was >> murdered, was a longtime member of the KKK >> <https://www.thenorthstar.com/p/sheriff-earle-brown-founder-of-the?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoyOTExMzM1NywicG9zdF9pZCI6MzUxMDk3MDcsIl8iOiJWZkIvRiIsImlhdCI6MTYxODMzMDkwNiwiZXhwIjoxNjE4MzM0NTA2LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMjc3NjU3Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.yJnZe8fgW5RQoaNn4CIBTGjmM7YS40GYgZBcQfiQJBk> >> "This >> country has history. It has context. And if you simply scratch and sniff >> the surface of almost any period of American history, you’re bound to get a >> big whiff of racism and white supremacy. And that’s exactly what we see in >> the town where police shot and killed 20 year old Daunte Wright this past >> Sunday. Until Sunday, I had never heard of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota >> before. Like so many American towns, its founding was literally rooted in >> white power on the farm of a Klansman named Earle Brown. Of course, that >> fact alone could color how we see Brooklyn Center, but it’s so much deeper >> than that. Earle Brown was not simply a racist farmer who kept to himself, >> he was the Sheriff of all of Hennepin County - home to Minneapolis. Under >> his watch, the KKK thrived in Hennepin County, burning crosses and having >> hooded marches all over town" Shaun King - The North Star >> >> # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission >> # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, >> # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets >> # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l >> # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected] >> # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject: > > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l > # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected] > # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
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