Connor: Blood Binds Men
By SAM DERHEIMER
News Writer
Blood binds men more firmly than other union, according to Walker Connor of the Middlebury College political science department.
Such sentiment, Connor argues, is the very reason underlying China's claim to a Taiwan that has existed autonomously for years. It is why Indonesia refuses to acknowledge East Timor's independence. It is, in fact, the most prevalent cause of ethnic conflict in the world today, he explained.
Though Connor is quick to admit that other significant factors do exist, the focus of his lecture was to establish the predominance of "ethnonationalism," or cultural nationalism.
"The tremors that follow those fault lines," Connor said, "are potentially more cataclysmic."
No bonds, Connor argued, are as fundamental or as strong as those linking one man to another through culture. A sense of shared blood reaches farther and endures more than any political or business bond ever could.
And so, conflicts like that seen between Kosovo and Yugoslavia continually present themselves.
"Because these nations believe they have shared blood, they believe they belong together," Connor said. Ethnonationalism often binds people together so tightly, it becomes a difficult situation when some members of a group attempt to break away.
Conflict between nations that lack such a cultural bond can also be traced to the same concept of ethnonationalism. Connor, in fact, cited a lack of cultural allegiance as the primary factor behind the violence between nations.
Only through, "a feeling of total divorce, of non-identity" Connor noted, do such violent and brutal attacks become capable.
"The nature of the violence that comes with ethnic conflict never fails to shock," he said.
He called on the audience not to under-estimate the power of ethnonationalism. "We need to learn to see things through Armenian, Russian and German eyes," Connor said.
The problem in understanding where ethnic conflict comes from is that we too often look simply for rational and factual explanations. Until we can learn to recognize that it is the "passions and perceptions of a culture" that dictate its behavior, we will continue to see violence, he said.
All News Stories for Tuesday, November 2, 1999
