On Thu, 19 Jul 2001, Max Sawicky wrote:
> A people are not a race.
Max, on taking a nap, I've decided you're right and I'm wrong. I got carried away with the argument, and with functional, historical and theoretical equivalances. "Volk" is not the same as "Rasse." They once meant the same thing. They don't any longer. Similarlities aside, there is a big political line crossed simply in the offical enshrinement of the word itself. German newscasters use the word "Volk" every day and no one thinks anything of it. If they suddenly used race instead, we'd all head for the hills.
Similarly, an even bigger a qualitative line is crosed when the word itself is incorporated into the laws -- and not crossed when it is not. In terms of descent, there is no difference between the definition of a German under Nazi German law and that made in the law of the Germany of 1990. But the absence of the word race is crucial. Germany of 1990 was not a racialist state. Nor is Israel today. What both are are states that have an ethnic definition of nationality. Which is something qualitatively different.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com