The Barbarian and Lévi-Strauss

Published in Bursa
(Romania) on 18 October 2010
by Cristian Pîrvulescu (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Adriana Iotcov. Edited by Jessica Boesl.
“The barbarian is, first and foremost, the man who believes in barbarism,” said Claude Lévi-Strauss, the father of cultural anthropology, in his 1952 book Race and History, showing the impact of racial stereotypes on culture and social action. However, there is still an unfilled gap between Lévi-Strauss’ science and “common sense” philosophy. Although Claude Lévi-Strauss’ argument that races do not exist in the biological sense has been confirmed by genetic research, the cultural and social differences that generate racism have not died out. What is more, the current economic crisis — similar to the one in the period between the two world wars — fuels the fears that, in turn, bring all residual racism to the surface.

Racism and social hatred, often combined in a cocktail that is as ambiguous as it is dangerous, as proven by anti-Semitism during the last century, are an expression of the failure to understand or empathize with other people. This is why the old totalitarian slogan, “workers of all countries, unite!,” can be joined by “racists of all countries, unite!” And it wouldn’t be the first time! Periods of economic depression have given rise to monstrous political regimes before. But even more so than in the past, current events are not rooted directly in racism, but in the social and economic sphere.

For the extremists in Romania or the Sarkozists, the Roma people are not the problem: The real issues are criminality and insecurity. Just as it is not Obama’s “race” that is the issue for the American far right, but the state of the economy.

Tolerated, if not actually encouraged — and not just for electoral reasons, but as a reflection of wrongful convictions as well — racism tends to inevitably intensify political extremism.

From the obsession with removing the word “Roma” from the Romanian language and using the pejorative “gypsy” instead, to the problem of the “visible minorities” in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland or Sweden, to the claims of the tea party movement and the Mama Grizzlies, European and North American ultra-conservatives are dominated by the terrible fear of a barbaric invasion.

However, the so-called conservative revolution is, in fact, not that new. Not only Mussolini and Zelea Codreanu, but Hitler and Franco as well, announced popular conservative revolutions nearly a century ago. And their allies were somewhat similar to the instigators today: business circles affected by the crisis and scared of change, religious cults that reject science, and so on. The attempt to go back in time to the “golden age” of neoliberalism threatens to damage the democratic foundation of institutions. In the U.S., for instance, the tea party “revolution” places the Republican Party in a delicate situation in the coming mid-term elections. Will the party survive this extremist assault? Because, as 20th century history shows us, conservative revolutions generate radical forms of political regimes and fascism. And Romania was no exception.

This is why it is not the “no taxation without representation” slogan that takes center stage in political debates today, although it may seem so, but the so-called popular racism instead. Will the barbarian inside our citadel manage to impose the logic of conflict on the entire society once again?


Barbarul şi Levi Strauss

"Barbar este cel ce crede în barbarie" explica, arătând impactul stereotipurilor rasiale asupra culturii şi acţiunii sociale, în cartea sa apărută încă din 1952, Rasă şi istorie părintele antropologiei culturale Claude Levi Strauss. Dar între ştiinţa lui Levi Strauss şi filosofia "common sense" prăpastia nu a fost umplută. Chiar dacă ideea susţinută de Claude Levi Strauss că în plan biologic rasele nu există, a fost confirmată de cercetările genetice, diferenţele culturale şi sociale care generea-ză rasismul nu s-au estompat. Ba mai mult, criza economică actuală - ca şi cea dintre cele două războaie mondiale - alimentează fricile care la rândul lor scot tot rasismul rezidual la suprafaţă.

Rasismul şi ura socială - de multe ori combinate într-un amalgam pe cât de ambiguu, pe atât de periculos, cum a demons-trat-o antisemitismul secolului precedent - exprimă incapacitatea de a înţelege şi empatiza cu celălalt. De aceea, mai vechiului slogan totalitar "muncitori din toate ţările, uniţi-vă!" i se poate adăuga "rasişti din toate ţările, uniţi-vă!". Şi n-ar fi prima dată! Depresiunile economice au născut şi altă dată regimuri politice monstruoase. Dar, mai mult decât în trecut justificarea acţiunilor nu ţine direct rasism, ci de sfera socială sau economică.

La extremiştii de la noi sau la sarkozişti, nu romii sunt problema, ci criminalitatea şi insecuritatea. Aşa cum pentru extrema dreaptă americană nu "rasa" lui Obama e în chestiune, ci starea economiei.

Privită cu indulgenţă, dacă nu chiar încurajată - şi nu doar din motive electorale, ci şi din convingere - ura de rasă împinge inevitabil spre supralicitarea extremismului politic.

De la obsesia eliminării din limba română a cuvântului "rom" şi folosirea cu asupra de măsură a peiorativului "ţigan" la problema "minorităţilor vizibile" în Franţa, Belgia, Olanda, Elveţia sau Suedia sau la revendicările Tea Party Movement şi Mamas Grizzly ultraconservatorii europeni sau nordamericani trăiesc frica paroxistică a venirii barbarilor.

Aşa zisa revoluţie conservatoare nu e însă chiar atât de nouă. Atât Mussolini şi Zelea Codreanu, cât şi Hitler sau Franco anunţau o revoluţie conservatoare şi populară acum aproape un secol. Iar aliaţii lor aduceau oarecum cu cei ce astăzi seamănă vânt: cercurile de afaceri afectate de criză şi speriate de schimbare, cultele religioase care refuză viziunea ştiinţei, etc. Încercarea de a întoarce timpul înapoi la "vârsta de aur" a neoliberalis-mului riscă să afecteze armătura democratică a instituţiilor. În SUA, spre exemplu, la alegerile parlamentare de la mijlocul mandatului "revoluţia" Tea Party Movement pune Partidul republican într-o situaţie dificilă. Va rezista acest partid puseului extremist? Căci, aşa cum ne arată istoria secolului trecut, revoluţiile conservatoare au condus spre forme radicale de expresie politică şi spre fascism. Iar România nu a făcut excepţie.

De aceea, dincolo de aparenţe, nu sloganul "No Taxation without Representation" e în centrul dezbaterii politice astăzi, ci rasismul aşa zis popular. Oare va reuşi din nou barbarul din interiorul propriei noastre cetăţi să impună întregii societăţii logica conflictuală?
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