Immigration restrictions, racism and xenphobia

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Friday January 28, 2005 · 4:52 PM PST

2005/01/28 · 16:52

Here's something I've heard all too often, in New Zealand, in the United States, in the U.K. and even on dKos: "Immigration restrictions are just common sense -- restricting immigration has nothing to do with racism."

Most recently, Tory opposition leader Michael Howard was at it, declaiming in his best pompous voice that "It's not racist, as some people claim, to talk about controlling immigration - far from it. It is plain common sense."

Excuse me while I snort incredulously.
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Why I'm feminist

dove

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Monday January 17, 2005 · 1:13 PM PST

2005/01/17 · 13:13

I've been feeling listless for the last couple of days, so what better than a listy kind of diary?

I don't remember a time when I wouldn't have called myself feminist -- I have never been in the "I'm not a feminist, but-" camp. But it's true that the way I think about feminism has changed. As a teenager, I used to be all for equal opportunities in the military. But now I just want an end to militaries.

Anyway. On with the laundry list.
I'm feminist Read More

Freedom as an end and a means

dove

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Friday January 14, 2005 · 11:08 AM PST

2005/01/14 · 11:08

In Development as Freedom Amartya Sen writes that "Each type of freedom is not only an end in itself, but leads to other freedoms" In other (less eloquent) words, different types of freedoms are mutually supportive and reinforcing. Being literate, for example, increases your ability or freedom to know what the government is doing. Freedom to join a union gives you a better chance of getting freedom from poverty. He envisions a virtuous circle, where access to one kind of freedom is not only a good in its own right, but is also the means by which other freedoms may be gained. Read More

Edinburgh bookseller fired for blogging

dove

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Wednesday January 12, 2005 · 1:20 PM PST

2005/01/12 · 13:20

Until very recently, Joe Gordon was a senior bookseller at a Waterstones branch in Edinburgh, where he had worked since 1993. Waterstones is one of the major U.K. bookchains, with multiple branches in most major towns and cities.

Like most booksellers, Gordon is passionate about books, as a casual perusal of the archives of his blog, The Woolamaloo Gazette shows. He's also quite fond of films, writes the odd bit of political stuff (he likes Al Franken!) and took some nice photos of snow on Christmas Day.

In recent days, however, the Woolamaloo Gazette has been preoccupied with other more personally pressing matters: a few days ago, Joe Gordon has became the first known employee in the U.K. to be sacked (without notice, no less) for the content of his blog. Read More

Congo Watch: Crossing the Border

dove

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Monday January 10, 2005 · 5:29 PM PST

2005/01/10 · 17:29

The DRC has borders aplenty. A vast country with a relatively tiny corridor to the sea, it borders Angola, the Republic of the Congo, Zambia, the Central African Republic, Uganda, Sudan, Burundi and Rwanda. It's a country of just under 59 million people, with over 250 distinct ethnic groupings. It has been embroiled in civil war since 1997 and during that time about 4 million people died as a direct cause of war. Each of them had their own name, their own story, their own hopes, their own fears and their lives were every bit as important and real as yours and mine. For a while it seemed that the civil war was ending there, but on December 14 George Monbiot wrote that the Rwandan army had crossed into the North-Eastern DRC.
A more recent report suggests that they have since retreated. Let's hope it's true.
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Playing happy families, or why nation as family is a bad metaphor

dove

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Saturday January 08, 2005 · 2:23 PM PST

2005/01/08 · 14:23

Motherland. Fatherland. Homeland. Patriotism. The national family.
So much of the language that's used to incite patriotism/nationalism is rooted in ideals of home, in ideals of domesticity, in familial ideals. Hearth and homestead, familiarity, good food, comfort, cosiness. Citizens are encouraged to think of the nation as akin their mother or father and of other citizens as their siblings. Sometimes the metaphor is even more defined. The nation is the nourishing mother, the alma mater, the government is the providing father and preserver of her sexual virtue, the pater familias. The citizens are the children, who must be obedient, respectful and above all else, loyal to the family.

Comforting, no? Cosy? Egalitarian and all that, to think of your fellow citizens as your brothers and sisters?
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To Stay or Go through a foreign pair of eyes

dove

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Tuesday January 04, 2005 · 6:17 PM PST

2005/01/04 · 18:17

The "Should I Stay or Should I Go" debate re. emigrating from the U.S. seems to be in full swing today due to LL's announcement that he will be moving to Vancouver.
Many of my close friends in the U.S. are not U.S. nationals and when I think of them it's with a low-grade anxiety, a nagging fear and a sense of threat, as though a door were slowly, almost imperceptibly, closing on them. Increasingly I feel that same worry and concern for my friends who are U.S. nationals. So I am glad that LL is leaving.

I think that the presumption of some that those who leave are giving up, abdicating their responsibilities, abandoning their brethren, or turning their backs on political activism, is deeply mistaken. I think that presumption weakens our ability to resist the Bush regime by blinding us to the fact that all politics - even the most local of politics - is ultimately global in its implications.
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On unclear visions

dove

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Saturday January 01, 2005 · 4:38 PM PST

2005/01/01 · 16:38

This one's personal -- political too in bits, but mostly personal. Probably horribly self-indulgent, in fact. It's not about world politics, empires, the evils of patriotism or why freedom of movement matters, which seem to be the things I find myself grawing at endlessly like a dog with a very ancient bone. If that's what you're after, I'm afraid this ain't the diary for you today. Read More

In death, imperialism lives on

dove

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Friday December 31, 2004 · 5:43 PM PST

2004/12/31 · 17:43

Jeremy Seabrook wrote about the tsunami in today's Guardian. He highlighted the
strange (strained?) calculus through which 'western' lives matter more than other lives. In particular, he sees in the distinctions being drawn in the U.K. media between 'Westerners' and 'locals,' a reinscription of imperialism, where 'locals' serves as a euphemism for 'natives.'

It's a powerful article. It's worth reading in full. And it's uncomfortable reading. Read More

Iraq Islamic party to withdraw from elections

dove

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Tuesday December 28, 2004 · 3:58 AM PST

2004/12/28 · 03:58

In this morning's Guardian Michael Howard writes that Iraq's largest mainstream Sunni Muslim party pulled out of the election race yesterday. They cite continuing violence North and West of Baghdad that will make a "fair and free" vote impossible.

So far, the Iraq Islamic party have stopped short of actually boycotting the elections: their non-participation is framed in terms of the need for greater security and -- if I'm reading it right -- the need to actually inform people that there is going to be an election. They'd like it postponed by six months. Read More

Congo Watch aka 'giving a damn about the Congo'

dove

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Monday December 27, 2004 · 1:36 PM PST

2004/12/27 · 13:36

A couple of weeks ago, George Monbiot wrote that "it's hard to find anyone who gives a damn about the Congo."

The article was about the resumption of a civil war that has claimed about 3.8 million lives so far. Among other things, the war is being fought over control of diamonds and coltan (I wrote a diary about this, if you're wondering what coltan is) Read More

Abandoning American exceptionalism

dove

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Friday December 24, 2004 · 5:07 PM PST

2004/12/24 · 17:07

During the short time I've been posting here, I've been struck by how widespread is the notion that the U.S. is exceptional and unlike any other country. Sometimes this exceptionalism is described as a good thing - the U.S. is exceptional because it is the `best' nation in the world, or because its ideals are unique, or its Constitution and its system of checks and balances make it superior to any governmental system. Other times, this exceptionalism is portrayed as a bad thing - the U.S. is uniquely vulnerable to terrorism, the U.S. is uniquely opposed to universal health-care, the U.S. is uniquely immature or uniquely inward-looking and so good ideas that could work elsewhere would never work in the U.S. Read More

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