tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565845984512808077.post3655465665673157191..comments2024-03-19T21:41:42.835+01:00Comments on Poemas del río Wang: The taste of traveling, 1905Studiolumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06377777909296284368noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565845984512808077.post-23076372833557254812012-09-29T15:56:54.477+02:002012-09-29T15:56:54.477+02:00Well, colonization is still a sensitive matter in ...Well, colonization is still a sensitive matter in France, especially when it comes to the colonization of Algeria and, of course, to the Algerian War. Right-wing lawmakers even put forward in 2005 a law about the benefits of colonization (i.e. of french colonization) which would have imposed on high-school teachers to teach the "positive values" of colonialism if, in consequence of the uproar, the president Chirac repealed this paragraph. Nonetheless, it was difficult this year, in some towns of southern France to commemorate the end of the Algerian War, fifty years ago, due to the presence of pieds noirs, french population who resided in Algeria and immigrated to France after 1962.<br />But if we go back to the beginning of the 2Oth century or to the end of the 19th, it was a part of the French or of the English ideology that European countries had a civilizing duty toward extra-european regions — and that they were acting in conformity with this aim. I didn't search about the Dutch colonization and how French looked at it, but of course, German colonization was seen in the darkest way because of the two Moroccan crisis (1905 and 1911) and of the genocide of the Herero and the Namaqua (1904 and 1907). The textbook was written for students in their last year at school, just before their baccalauréat, at a time when less than 1% of French youngsters reached this stage (mostly young boys and even fewer girls). These young men, in case of war, and of course the war was very near even if they didn't know it, were to be officers — so this book, which emphasized on the qualities of French allies (even if Russia was also quite a strange ally) and on the dangerous nature of its ennemy, is in its way preparing officers-to be to be involved in a war. The chapters about Germany insist on the economical power of the country, on its will of expansion and on the character of the German people (hard to work, disciplined, obedient). So the textbook is not so much an academic book as a political one. The very last chapter is about imperialism and ends with a few lines about the dangers of the time (the "German Eagle") and the "French lark's mission of peace" and "universal solidarity".<br />Catherinenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565845984512808077.post-63305520911854724842012-09-27T10:25:30.239+02:002012-09-27T10:25:30.239+02:00Tamás Deák commented in the Hungarian version:
Th...Tamás Deák commented in the Hungarian version:<br /><br />There is a very exciting and interesting point in this post, which would also deserve a separate reserach, namely the French indignation over the Dutch colonial relationships.<br />This political error also occurs in the novels of the absolutely humanist Jules Verne: the violence of the Anglo-Saxon / Germanic type colonial methods, their ruthlessness against the natives, their considering them as non-humans (let us think about the statement of Major MacNabbs – who also considers himself as “oppressed” – on natives and monkeys in <i>Captain Grant’s Children,</i> which was fully accepted in the era) – but French colonialization is never like this, it is always some kind of a “cultural mission”.<br />I have not read more about this topic, but this is the second time when I meet this political error, which thus seems to have been an integral part of contemporary French thought, so I will look for it.<br />One would think that after the Second World War – which was essentially but the application of 19th-century colonial methods in Europe itself – the European, or more precisely, Western society has come to mind, but this is clearly not the case. Not only because after the war they immediately continue where they left it in the colonies or even in Europe (see OAS), but because even those not yet living in that period consider it perfectly normal and right.<br />I had the “luck” to listen to a twenty (!) years old Dutch Nazi boy about this subject (yes, he was a real Nazi in the exact meaning of the word, just for him the Muslims were the “Jews”), who talked completely unrestraine about this, while an Indonesian was sitting next to him (who later explained to him a couple of things…)Studiolumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06377777909296284368noreply@blogger.com