> From: Peter Grimes <p34d3611@jhu.edu>
> For what it's worth, I think it no more "centric" to
> perceive the "beginning" (whatever that "REALLY" means) of the
> MWS in Europe than it is to place human origins in Africa,
bravo, certainly so! the phobia of eurocentrism has ideological-
psychological origins (a sense of historical fault),
not rational-scientific reasons and it can lead us to the idiocy of
unlimited 'political correctness'.
At the same time the historical fault of Western Civilization and Western
Capitalism (f.e. in grabbing and humiliation of Central Africa, India, South
America) is real and
serious, but it must be compensated (re-balanced) not with rewriting World
history by scholars but with paying historical social/cultural/economic debts
by Western governments and peoples (also by Russians in ex-colonized
and also grabbed sevearely Middle Asia and Far North).
Is it possible to decrease the gap between the Western core and
postcolonial periphery by creation and promotion a new ideology of Paying
Historical Debts?
F.e. it can be realized by budjet support of social-cultural programs in
peripheral countries (especially education), propitious regime of
investments from a core country to its peripheral 'historical creditor', low
customs for goods streams from periphery to core, etc.
I realize that it is not more than utopian phantasy now, but if Western
intelligentsia began to feel the historical fault for Capitalism, why not to
try to utilize this ideological factor in humanistic global practice?
Andrei Korotaev (whom you know well and who can correct me now in case of
misunderstanding) once wrote that elimination of slavery in America and
serfdom in Russia was NOT(!) economically based and profitable, just the
ideology of human freedom played the main role in this radical and
historically very fast transformation.
Why not to imagine that new ideology of Paying Historical Debts (or smth like
this) can become a significant and
humanistically oriented 'anti-Systemic' force?
I would be grateful for comments,
best wishes, Nikolai
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Nikolai S. Rozov # Address:Dept. of Philosophy
Prof.of Philosophy # Novosibirsk State University
rozov@cnit.nsu.ru # 630090, Novosibirsk
Fax: (3832) 355237 # Pirogova 2, RUSSIA
Moderator of the mailing list PHILOFHI
(PHILosophy OF HIstory and theoretical history)
http://darwin.clas.virginia.edu/~dew7e/anthronet/subscribe
/philofhi.html
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