[lbo-talk] What is genocide?

[Jerry Monaco]

On 5/7/06, Jim Farmelant <farmelantj at juno.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On Sun, 7 May 2006 11:17:19 -0400 "Yoshie Furuhashi"
> <critical.montages at gmail.com> writes:
> > On 5/5/06, Chuck Grimes <cgrimes at rawbw.com> wrote:
> > > But there is also a problem with the term
> > > geneocide that needs to be firmed up.
> >
> > The term "genocide" is not like the term "H2O," so it's not possible
> > to firm it up.  It's one of those essentially contested terms -- like
> > racism -- whose varied usage necessarily reflects contradictory class
> > and other social interests.
>
> I am inclined to think that the term is one of those abused
> terms like "terrorism" that have been reduced to near
> meaninglessness through overuse. While in the case
> of  "terrorism," the term was always from the beginning,
> suspect, in the case of the term "genocide," the term
> has been rendered meaningless by its use or rather
> abuse by what Yoshie describes as "contradictory class
> and other social interests."
>

Two of Chomsky's pieces are very good on these points.  His recent Amnesty
International lecture in Dublin
http://www.chomsky.info/talks/20060118.pdf

And his essay "moral truisms, empirical evidence, and foreign policy"
http://www.chomsky.info/articles/200310--.pdf

In the AI lecture he states

"Relative clarity matters.  It is pointless to seek a truly precise
definition of "terror," or of any other concept outside of the hard sciences
and mathematics, often even there.  But we should seek enough clarity at
least to distinguish fro two notions that lie uneasily at its borders:
aggression and legitimate resistance."

About half of the lecture is how Chomsky maintains relative clairty on such
a concept as "terror".

Also a good review of the history of the word "terror" starting with the
French Revolution by Eagleton at Red Pepper

The roots of terror - Terry Eagleton....
http://www.redpepper.org.uk/society/x-sep05-eagleton.htm
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