[ALBSA-Info] What is Hellenism?

[Besnik Pula]

Hello,

I wanted to interject in this discussion, less regarding the issue of ID
cards and Greek nationalism than with the labels employed by the author in
describing various political currents in Greek society. These are relevant
not only for the Greek case but for the way many (self-defined) Western
media commentators (I wouldn't really call them analysts, in these cases)
invoke stereotypes and racist imagery to describe societies or social
movements they deem "non-Western".

Specifically, Helena Smith writes that there is a clash between "two
Greeces", one that is "western" and apply described as "modern, open,
reform-minded, civic, competitive risk-taking and international" -- all the
positive images associated with a "western" society, and another "eastern"
Greece that is "traditional, parochial, phobic, unskilled and introverted"
-- in other words, one that is not only "backward", but even diseased
("phobic") and impotent ("unskilled").

Smith is certainly not the originator of this supossed east-west cultural
divide, of this construct that essentializes "the West" by associating it
with positivistic notions such as progress and free markets, and "the East"
with hopeless "backwardness", traditionalisms and fundamentalisms. It has
been a prevalent feature of Western discourse since at least the early
modern period, and is certainly in use today, even as some authors propose
that we should expect a "clash of civilizations", of these large cultural
groupings with these irreconcilble beliefs and practices -- "the West"
should beware of these "unfriendly civilizations".

The greater tragedy is that this ideologically-driven construct has been
internalized by those in "eastern" societies, especially in "gray zones"
such as the Balkans, where struggles for designating societies' identities
and values as "European" -- i.e. "Western" -- permeate political discourse,
the issue of Greek ID card being no exception. In nationalist discourse, it
is almost always the neighboring nation that is "eastern" and "backward",
while our own society is "western" and "progressive". For example, Albania's
most spoken-out champion on this issue is undeniably Ismail Kadare, who at
one point proposed that Albanians collectively reject Islam and embrace
Christianity as proof of their affiliation with "the West" and their
rejection of "the East". One notices that essentializing categories of
"West" and "East" as categories of analysis are prevalent in Kadare's
political writings and in the thinking of most Albanian politicians and
intellectuals.

Smith is now extending that construct to intrasocietal disputes, such as the
identity card issue in Greece. While ignoring the problems and conflicts of
interests that Kostas pointed out in his e-mail, she goes on to suggest that
the root of this issue is the "eastern" character of some segments of Greek
society, who are against the "westernizing" tendencies of others, namely the
Greek government.

While I would personally support the Greek government's drive to remove
religious affiliation from ID cards, since having them entails an
essentialism of a different sort -- religious affiliation as an indicator of
civicness -- we must be wary of comments such as Smith's that invoke
ideological constructs of "western" and "eastern" as categories of analysis
and explanation. 

Regards,
Besnik


>>> The problem is that there are two Greeces: one that is western,
>>> modern, open,
>>> reform-minded, civic, competitive, risk-taking and international; and
>>> one that
>>> is eastern, traditional, parochial, phobic, unskilled and
>>> introverted.