I'd like to address some of what was discussed in class today. We crossed over into the economic/political realm while discussing genocide and ethnic cleansing, and after having given these connections some thought I wanted to share a hypothesis about where the line can be drawn.
Often in the past sorting individuals by ethnic groups was done for means of manipulation and control (as was the purpose of the British in colonial Africa, where people were grouped into different "tribes" in order to pit them against each other and maintain the political dominance of the overlords). People can identify with multiple groups and ethnic identity is subject to change. But manipulation of these ethnic groups by more advantaged and able powers is distinctly different from their attempted destruction. In accordance with the U.N.'s definition of genocide, the important things to remember, when determining if actions are generally violent/show a lack of human compassion or if they are actually genocidal, are: 1. If members of a group that identify similarly are targeted, and 2. there is violence or an attempt to destroy their culture or their people. The exploitation of third-world countries as a result of capitalism is not ethnic discrimination--it is economic discrimination. The people are not targeted with violence; they end up on the wrong side of an unfortunate system due to their location on the globe.
That's why there is a difference between the oblivious consumer of goods that are mass-produced for pennies on the other side of the world by a suffering populace, and a footsoldier who carries out someone else's orders in executing members of a race. Both people can claim the absence of responsibility, as there is a disconnect between them and the reality of what they are doing, but one person is killing someone, and the other is partaking in the economic system. I am not advocating the exploitation, but merely maintaining that there is a line between economic and systemic problems and genocide and ethnic cleansing. The difference is shown by the examples of the British colonialists in Africa who sought to manipulate and control groups, versus the Nazis and Young Turks who sought to destroy and eradicate groups.
Often in the past sorting individuals by ethnic groups was done for means of manipulation and control (as was the purpose of the British in colonial Africa, where people were grouped into different "tribes" in order to pit them against each other and maintain the political dominance of the overlords). People can identify with multiple groups and ethnic identity is subject to change. But manipulation of these ethnic groups by more advantaged and able powers is distinctly different from their attempted destruction. In accordance with the U.N.'s definition of genocide, the important things to remember, when determining if actions are generally violent/show a lack of human compassion or if they are actually genocidal, are: 1. If members of a group that identify similarly are targeted, and 2. there is violence or an attempt to destroy their culture or their people. The exploitation of third-world countries as a result of capitalism is not ethnic discrimination--it is economic discrimination. The people are not targeted with violence; they end up on the wrong side of an unfortunate system due to their location on the globe.
That's why there is a difference between the oblivious consumer of goods that are mass-produced for pennies on the other side of the world by a suffering populace, and a footsoldier who carries out someone else's orders in executing members of a race. Both people can claim the absence of responsibility, as there is a disconnect between them and the reality of what they are doing, but one person is killing someone, and the other is partaking in the economic system. I am not advocating the exploitation, but merely maintaining that there is a line between economic and systemic problems and genocide and ethnic cleansing. The difference is shown by the examples of the British colonialists in Africa who sought to manipulate and control groups, versus the Nazis and Young Turks who sought to destroy and eradicate groups.
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