Part 37 (1/2)
In the doctrine of Marx and Engels, the proletariat appears endoith all the qualities associated with Divinity in the prototypic Book (the Old Testaht almost all the time There is a self-creativefroe in the world No one should lightly discard the Utopian core or the ideal eainst a world of freedom where each person participates with the best one has to offer, and is rewarded with everything one needs Free education, free medical care, access to art and liberty in a context of li of talent and harmony with nature, of shared wealth and emancipation froion)
It should be pointed out that, within the system, the entire practical human experience related to literacy-and the accomplishments listed above are literacy- based-was subsidized
In no other part of the world, and under no other regime, were so many people subjected to literacy That the systenore so they did not care for: fascinating art, interesting poetry and music, the massive collection and preservation of folklore, spectacular mathematics, physics, and chemistry arose from beneath terror and censorshi+p To survive as an artist, writer, or scientist meant to force creativity where alime on Earth did people read so much, listen to music more intensely, visit museums with more passion, and care for each other as fas, episodes of brutality notwithstanding It is too simplistic to accept the line that people read more in East Europe and the Soviet Union because they had nothing else to do The pragmatic frameas set up under the assumption of permanence, stability, centrality, and universality founded on literacy
It goes without saying that the e (in political discourse and in social life) played its role in the quasi-unanimous silent rejection of the system, even more in silent, cowardly co on the individual fell apart, people saw themselves in the merciless mirror of opportunistic self- betrayal The records will stand as a testi does not lead only to Solzhenitsyn's novels, Yevtushenko's poetry, Shoshtakovich's music, and the romantic Samizdat, but also to putrid words about others, kin included The opaqueness of literacy partially explains why this is possible Soranted by literacy (ie, complicity established in society) explains how it became a necessary aspect of that society Gerranted, than their fascist leaders; the peoples in the Soviet block were not better, exceptions granted again, than the leaders they accepted for such a long time
But ent relatively unnoticed by experts in East European and Soviet studies, as well as by governe The systeh overrated) and over-engaged in security activities-tight control of the population, econoe, active attey The structure within which people were to realize their potential-one of the ideals of communism-had few incentives But all this, despite the impact of the yet unfinished revolution, is only the tip of the iceberg, the visible side when one looks from the riverbank of the free world where incentives lead to self-sufficiency and complacency The major aspect is that the dynamics of the systee This applies especially to the major shi+ft-from the industrial model to post-industrial society, to a context of practical experiences of human self-constitution freed from the restrictions carried over from the politics of mind and body control-experienced by the rest of the western world
Levels of expectation beyond the satisfaction of i, shelter), and of literacy-associated expectations (education, access to art and literature, travel), could not be satisfied unless and until levels of efficiency imatic context of industrial societies were matics Despite the fact thathouses, more libraries, as well as more artists, theaters, opera houses, symphonic orchestras, research institutes, and more museums than in the rest of the world were politically and economically supported in the Eastern Block (almost to the extent that the secret police was), activities related to literacy had only a short-tere of them This was proven dramatically by the proliferation of coraphy a the breakdown of the power structure in various countries of the Block, and followed by an even faster focus on entertainment television and obsession with consu to the breakdown-each country had its own drauard by events in the Soviet Union-took place with the nation staring at the TV screens, seduced by the dynamics of the live transmission for which literacy and prior literate use of the medium were never well equipped The live drama of the hunt for Ceausescu in Romania, the cliue, Sofia, and Tirana continued the spirit of the Polish tele-dra the atte the literate media any role but that of late chroniclers The initial lessons in democracy took place via videotape Various networks, from WTN (World-Wide Television News) to CNN, but priy of the fax machine, which absorbed essential literacy into a focused distribution of individual ital networks were, and still are in that part of the world, they played an important role Not political ical docurams, and live sequences In the meanwhile, entertainment took over almost all available bandwidth What the rest of the world consu with fashi+on, fast food chains, soft drinks, and consumer electronics) penetrated the lives of those whose revolt took place under the banner of the right to consume Here, as in the rest of the world, the spiritual and the political split for good The spiritual gets alimony; the political becomes the executor of the trust
What failed the syste to new productive experiences: the framework for optiressive mediation and further specialized hu and coordination based on individual freedom and constraints assumed by individuals as they define their expectations Parallel to the literate structure of a politics that failed is the experience of churches in the Soviet Block In a show of defiance towards the political dictatorshi+p, people attended church, itself a mainstay of literate praxis (independent of the book or books they adopt for their basic prograion was able to assert its literate characteristics through the imposition of constraints-so like those of the political systean to experience the low attendance that the rest of the world is already familiar with
No e, it is probably still too early to understand all the implications of the major political event represented by the fall of the Soviet elobal econoence of new national states and forceful national movements when the post-national state and the trans-national world are already a reality? The question is political in nature Its focus is on identity Identity reflects all the relations through which people constituted theion, nation-defined by biological and cultural characteristics, shared values, religion, a sense of common space and time, and a sense of future
A world of worlds
”We have made Italy, noe have tothe firstof the Italian Parliament A little over 100 years old, the nation-state was the ible product of the political practical experience in the prag structure is so well reflected in literacy Together with the nation-state, the modern notion of nationality was defined and became a major force of political life As part of the political consciousness in the age of industrial production, national consciousness played a very precise role, ultimately expressed in all forms of nationalisical characteristics, language, lore, and practical experiences were constituted in a fraoals Gere (Hoch Deutsch) and was consolidated through its literacy Italy went through a similar process In other instances, nations were born as a result of voluntary political acts: the United States, the nations declared independent after the fall of the Soviet Union, Croatia, Macedonia, some of the Arab countries, and a number of African nation-states, once colonial powers could no longer afford to resist the force of change As with everything pertaining to politics, national politics entails expectations corresponding to past phases (the basic passions that once made up tribal solidarity), to instances of human interaction well overhauled by the new realities of the integrated world
What, if any, explanation can one find in the dissolution of Yugoslavia? Against the background of conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina, this question has divided many well intentioned intellectuals (not only in France) inclined to solve an absurd situation of genocide Intellectuals questioned what appeared to be irreducible religious contradictions between Catholic and Orthodox Christians, or between Christians and Moslems The old conflict between the pro-fascist Croatian Ustash and the Serbian Chetniks dedicated to the vain goal of a greater Serbia was also on their minds They also wondered what the chances of the new nation-states of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, and ions and republics of the former Soviet Union were Hoill the Cooals and purposes of nation-states take over those assumed in a nebulously defined commonwealth? And how can one explain the enormous discrepancy between the attempt to constitute a broad European Community (actually, the United Markets of Europe), while other parts of Europe break into s tribalisious adherence, or how much of the functions of literacy at work can be read in the political fervor of nationalistic activis, cannot address a full paragraph of questions These questions suggest that the politics of nations is soit requires not soon the broad picture of its dynamics
Between the old city-state, the early empire (Roman, Byzantine), theto shared space used rip of the Papacy), and today's world of ration and huious, or psychological reasons), we find inserted the settled universe of nation-states and their respective literacies In this universe, literacy and religion undergird the legal systee, ethnicity, ways of working, culture, superstitions, prejudice, art, and science
Within the nation-state's borders, citizens are subjected to a political practical experience of hoeneity, centralism, and uniformity, required by the efficiency expectations of the Industrial Revolution The ideal of cos empire of reason declared by the Stoics, runs counter to the ideal of the nation-state, which celebrates national reason and willingness to colobal econo empire of a different nature resulted The new statement says that Christians, Mosle a national identity, are part of the global econoration each run its own course Commerce, with all its imbalances and unfairness, the alration of industries take more and lobality
Politics, even when it acknowledges globality, focuses on national definitions To an outside observer, a nation's politics appears insignificant, powerless in coh it claih ulations
The trans-national world has its own impetus It continues to evade political constraints, ascertaining its own life It was described from the perspective of its financial and economic condition as The Borderless World (the title of Kenichi Ohinally This is yet another reason for the low interest in public life on the part of the wealthy in our days
When the new southern republics freed by the breakdown of the Soviet Union debate which for they should adopt-Arabic, Cyrillic, or Roman-and how to define their respective nations, they still look for national identifiers
Turkmanis and Uzbekistanis, Latvians and Estonians, Ukrainians and Georgians, Hungarians and Ro Poles comb their territories in search of business opportunities The same takes place in many other countries, whose citizens are obsessed nty, with access to financial means more than with self-deter traditional enemies, more than with a constitutional foundation or universal protection of huh, while national identity is more and more superseded by people's a-nationality, ht to self-determination, face as their first task not the future but the past: definition of their national identity Nevertheless, the civilization of illiteracy does not promise that Italians can be made for all these new countries Rather, these nations will beco ways, a-nationals, citizens of the world econorant populations settled in ethnic neighborhoods where access to consuia for soeneralize Many prejudices still heat the furnaces of hatred and intolerance Enough citadels fromatic framework maintain hopes for expansion and cultivate a politics appropriate to ages long passed But regardless of such unsettling develope of denationalization, absorbed into a world of econolobality, less and less dependent on the individual and thus less and less subject to political doges in the condition of hues in the self-identification of the individual and of groups of people E space, and more on connections free of arbitrary borders, even of ele to culture and history New political experiences, still subjected to expectations carried over froly, the nature of political experiences changes assu, and legality are redefined
Tribal chiefs s of the Middle Ages, and, with the advent of a new society, into presidents There is, nevertheless, no reason to believe that in a universe of distributed tasks and massive parallelism, a need for political centralism and hierarchy will re of the civilization of literacy; and his wife becomes the queen, in defiance of all the literate documents that justify presidency
Executive power, in conjunction with the legislative and judicial branches, implements ideals of liberal political dematics of industrial society But once new circu structure reflected in the power structure undergoes change as well
In the spirit of the dynae, one should notice that, in a fraitiuorous, are after all irrelevant if not based on related facts New circumstances already made the function of president strictly ceremonial in many countries In other countries, a president's ability to exercise power is impeded by laws that rated economies, turn even the most visionary heads of states (when they happen to be visionary) into witnesses to events beyond their control Politics does not happen at levels so remote from the individual that individuals disconnect themselves from the political ceremonial It happens closer and closer to where ideals and interest crystallize in the form of new human interactions
Who would represent the country if the function of head of state were abolished? How can a country have a consistent political syste laws? Such questions originate, without exception, within literacy's system of expectations The extreme decentralization that is made possible by the new means of the civilization of illiteracy requires, and indeed stimulates, different political structures
Instead of the self-delusion and dee of the politically concerned citizen, we should see the reality of citizens pursuing goals that integrate political elements Literacy resulted in a politics of representation that ended up in effectively excluding the citizen fro Rationalized in the structures of democracy, political ideals are now a matter of efficient human interaction A president's perfore of inforreements relevant to the people involved, executed in view of reciprocal needs and future developments, result more andlittle to do with them
The majority of political functions, as they apply to presidents, congresses, or other political institutions, still originate in forms characteristic of past political experiences They are based on allegiances and comatics of today's world The fact that heads of states are also heads of the military (coestemancipation, women are valid candidates as heads-of-state all over the world However, sexual bias has kept wo the military competence that a commander-in-chief is expected to have Another example: What is the reason for a president to be at the funeral of a deceased head-of- state? Blood ties used to bond kings and nobilitybefore fast transportation could carry a monarch to the deceased in less time than it took for decay to set in A fareished today at the funeral of a japanese es to the spectacle of politics, not to its substance The expensive, and delusive, literate perforuration, parades, and state visits is more often than not an exercise in hypocrisy These spectacles please only through their cynical pandering to the people's desire for circus Prage of state bureaucracies When the historic necessity of states winds up to be no more than the expression of remote tribal instincts, the literate institution of state becomes superfluous
Political idolatry, commercial nationalism, and ethnic vanity affect politics atas a forical coold ames, the number of nobel Prize laureates, and achievements in the arts and sciences with a fervor worth a better cause Borders of pride and prejudice are maintained even where they have de facto ceased to exist No scientist who achieved results in his or her field worked in isolation fro all over the world The Internet supports the integration of creative effort and ideas, beyond borders and beyond national fixations, often expressed as ration Art is internationally nurtured and exchanged
Rhetoric and politics
Political prograers, cars, alcohol, sports events, artworks, and financial services, are marketed
Success in politics is valued in ly elusive political impact The expression ”People vote their pocketbooks” bluntly expresses this fact But are they voting? Poll after poll reveals that they are not Illiterates used to be excluded fro oners in a large number of European countries