Boris Buden: Europe Is A Whore V

EuropeIs A Whore (continued)

Recognised?
The story seems to have had an happy ending. Croatiawas recognised by the international community in January and became a memberof the United Nations. But again it paid dearly. Perhaps too dearly. Theidentity which has been formed in the process of recognition and in whichthe Croats have been finally recognised is the identity of a pure victim.It was neither the identity of an infantile self-projection about "industrious,honest and diligent people", nor a heroic myth of defenders and savioursof European culture. Moreover, every attempt to be acknowledged in any kindof self-constructed identity - in some unique quality, or some authenticcontent - has failed. Nothing of that kind moved Europe, or its democraticpublic to accept Croatia in its authenticity. Croatia was recognised onlyafter it became a victim. It meant, after it became perceptible in the universalterm of a victim. Slavoj Zizek describes this as a typical way in whichthe Western democratic world behaves toward the Third World: "... the"Other" from the third world has been recognised as a victim,that is to say, only in so far as it is a victim. But the real object ofthe fear is the "Other" who is not prepared to play the role ofa victim - this "Other" has been immediately denounced as a terroristor a fundamentalist. But this form of recognition in its apparently extraideologicalsense is the only way to preserve the proper distance to the "Other"and in so far it belongs to the procedure of exclusion. Both Zizek and Rihasee in this phenomenon the very problem that Western democracy has withitself. Riha: "... the democratic experience is only able to fulfillits assignment when it succedees, not to determine that which can not bereduced to the formal discourse of democracy by the exclusion procedure,but to include it as an undeterminable heterogeneity."
The statement, "we are already like the Kurds,"means not just a dissillusioned sobering up after euphoric but false expectations,but it is also very lucid conclusion about ones own identity. The countrythat saw herself as the part of Europe, the authentic and unique one, hasfinally been recognised by Europe as the part of the Third World. The realrecognition has succeeded only as a false recognition and as such also shapesones identity. But it brings to this identity, as Charles Taylor pointsout, "real damage" and "real distortion". "Non-recognitionor misrecognition can inflict harm, can be a form of oppression, imprisoningsomeone in a false, distorted, and reduced mode of being."
The terms in which Croatia has been "misrecognised"and rejected are the terms of nationalism. It has been exactly this phenomenonof nationalism which invited that cold antipathy of Europe towards politicalevents in former Yugoslavia. The European democratic public has seen inthese political conflicts only the outburst of primitive tribal passions,a kind of political struggle which great European democratic nations hadlived out in much earlier stages of their cultural and political development.The Croats, as a political and cultural subject - as well as the other nationsof former Yugoslavia - have been excluded from the sphere of the moderndemocratic culture of the West. The Croats have been "misrecognised"as something unacceptable in their particularity, a historical anachronismand in their existence totally unauthentic.
The consequences of this deep narcissistic injury aregrave. Its symptoms spring up everywhere. In his analysis ofthe phenomenon of ressentiment Michael André Bernstein stresses exactly this point: "Aslong as one desires an original, authentic consciousness and voice, as longas the fact of living a belated and already scripted existence is seen asthe ultimate wound, making any claim to personal dignity derisory, abjectionmust remain consciousness' dominant emotion, and ressentiment will structure the narratives one lives, the narratives one tells,and ultimately, the narratives in which one figures as one more increasinglywretched character." But Bernstein also sees in the phenomenon of ressentiment, its very efficacy asa historical force: "... for all its shabbiness and self-loathing,there is a potential for extraordinary violence and a rage whose ferocityhas been repeatedly mobilized by political movements."
Ressentiment toward Europe is a constant of what wecall Croatian identity. We can find its traces in the most sublime productsof the national culture, but also at the lowest point of manipulated, nationalmass consciousness. It is an integral part of the national ideology butalso a theme everywhere present in the everyday political practice, especiallyin political propaganda. Ressentiment toward Europe places Croatian identitybetwen the developed democratic world of the West and the so called ThirdWorld. In a symbolic sense it occupies a borderline area between the two.Ressentiment toward Europe discloses the very ambivalent nature of thisidentity, its so called "double-bind" character. The tragicalrepetition compulsion in which the Croatian identity gets involved againand again is also to be deduced to this ressentiment.
Behind a pile of stinking newspapers
"Europe is a whore" - this oath is a symptomof the Croatian ressentiment toward Europe. No wonder that we can find italso in the newspaper articles we analysed here:

Europe has shown itself as a lady who undoubtedly has fine manners but who is nothing else but a maitresse who has been different from that one in the front of hotel Esplanade only by her decent lipstick. I hope it is never to late to sober up.
Banket u Blitvi(Banquet in Blithuania) is the title of a novel of Miroslav Krleza. It isan allegory on the moral and political situation of a little European nationafter it has finally achived its independence after a bloody war. The tensionwhich starts the action of the story arises from an ambivalent relationbetween two characters: the first, colonel Barutanski*, is a man of action who unscrupulouslyrealises his political project of national independence and keeps himselfconstantly in power through terror. The other, Niels Nielsen, is a bourgeoisintellectual, who has been led in his political activity by strong moralprinciples and who has not only struggled against the powerful dictatorbut also questioned the whole project of national liberation. The pointin which Krleza stresses one of the most important differences between thetwo of them is their relation to Europe. The cruel autocrat Barutanski wrotealready as a grammar-school boy in his school work openly and clearly: "Europeis a whore and as a whore should be shot down." For Niels Nielsen,on the other hand, this idea is a nightmare. Once he dreamt about it: "Ayoung naked woman bathes in a clear alpine lake. A girl, a fair blonde.This is Europe. Barutanski, hidden behind a pile of stinking newspapers,and armed with an Hotchkiss machine gun aims at this young, beautiful, fairgirl. Another moment and the turquoise, crystal-clear water will reddenwith this warm European blood (...) "Stop it, for God's sake!",cried Nielsen, gripped with mortal fear, and ran desperately to stop Barutanskifrom shooting.

REWIND LITERATURE


EuropeIs A Whore (continued)


	Recognised? The story seems to have had an happy ending. Croatiawas recognised by the international community in January and became a memberof the United Nations. But again it paid dearly. Perhaps too dearly. Theidentity which has been formed in the process of recognition and in whichthe Croats have been finally recognised is the identity of a pure victim.It was neither the identity of an infantile self-projection about "industrious,honest and diligent people", nor a heroic myth of defenders and savioursof European culture. Moreover, every attempt to be acknowledged in any kindof self-constructed identity - in some unique quality, or some authenticcontent - has failed. Nothing of that kind moved Europe, or its democraticpublic to accept Croatia in its authenticity. Croatia was recognised onlyafter it became a victim. It meant, after it became perceptible in the universalterm of a victim. Slavoj Zizek describes this as a typical way in whichthe Western democratic world behaves toward the Third World: "... the"Other" from the third world has been recognised as a victim,that is to say, only in so far as it is a victim. But the real object ofthe fear is the "Other" who is not prepared to play the role ofa victim - this "Other" has been immediately denounced as a terroristor a fundamentalist. But this form of recognition in its apparently extraideologicalsense is the only way to preserve the proper distance to the "Other"and in so far it belongs to the procedure of exclusion. Both Zizek and Rihasee in this phenomenon the very problem that Western democracy has withitself. Riha: "... the democratic experience is only able to fulfillits assignment when it succedees, not to determine that which can not bereduced to the formal discourse of democracy by the exclusion procedure,but to include it as an undeterminable heterogeneity." The statement, "we are already like the Kurds,"means not just a dissillusioned sobering up after euphoric but false expectations,but it is also very lucid conclusion about ones own identity. The countrythat saw herself as the part of Europe, the authentic and unique one, hasfinally been recognised by Europe as the part of the Third World. The realrecognition has succeeded only as a false recognition and as such also shapesones identity. But it brings to this identity, as Charles Taylor pointsout, "real damage" and "real distortion". "Non-recognitionor misrecognition can inflict harm, can be a form of oppression, imprisoningsomeone in a false, distorted, and reduced mode of being." The terms in which Croatia has been "misrecognised"and rejected are the terms of nationalism. It has been exactly this phenomenonof nationalism which invited that cold antipathy of Europe towards politicalevents in former Yugoslavia. The European democratic public has seen inthese political conflicts only the outburst of primitive tribal passions,a kind of political struggle which great European democratic nations hadlived out in much earlier stages of their cultural and political development.The Croats, as a political and cultural subject - as well as the other nationsof former Yugoslavia - have been excluded from the sphere of the moderndemocratic culture of the West. The Croats have been "misrecognised"as something unacceptable in their particularity, a historical anachronismand in their existence totally unauthentic. `The consequences of this deep narcissistic injury aregrave. Its symptoms spring up everywhere. In his analysis ofthe phenomenon of` ressentiment `Michael André Bernstein stresses exactly this point: "Aslong as one desires an original, authentic consciousness and voice, as longas the fact of living a belated and already scripted existence is seen asthe ultimate wound, making any claim to personal dignity derisory, abjectionmust remain consciousness' dominant emotion, and` ressentiment `will structure the narratives one lives, the narratives one tells,and ultimately, the narratives in which one figures as one more increasinglywretched character." But Bernstein also sees in the phenomenon of` ressentiment`, its very efficacy asa historical force: "... for all its shabbiness and self-loathing,there is a potential for extraordinary violence and a rage whose ferocityhas been repeatedly mobilized by political movements."` Ressentiment toward Europe is a constant of what wecall Croatian identity. We can find its traces in the most sublime productsof the national culture, but also at the lowest point of manipulated, nationalmass consciousness. It is an integral part of the national ideology butalso a theme everywhere present in the everyday political practice, especiallyin political propaganda. Ressentiment toward Europe places Croatian identitybetwen the developed democratic world of the West and the so called ThirdWorld. In a symbolic sense it occupies a borderline area between the two.Ressentiment toward Europe discloses the very ambivalent nature of thisidentity, its so called "double-bind" character. The tragicalrepetition compulsion in which the Croatian identity gets involved againand again is also to be deduced to this ressentiment. Behind a pile of stinking newspapers `"Europe is a whore" - this oath is a symptomof the Croatian ressentiment toward Europe. No wonder that we can find italso in the newspaper articles we analysed here:` Europe has shown itself as a lady who undoubtedly has fine manners but who is nothing else but a maitresse who has been different from that one in the front of hotel Esplanade only by her decent lipstick. I hope it is never to late to sober up. `Banket u Blitvi`(Banquet in Blithuania) is the title of a novel of Miroslav Krleza. It isan allegory on the moral and political situation of a little European nationafter it has finally achived its independence after a bloody war. The tensionwhich starts the action of the story arises from an ambivalent relationbetween two characters: the first, colonel Barutanski*, is a man of action who unscrupulouslyrealises his political project of national independence and keeps himselfconstantly in power through terror. The other, Niels Nielsen, is a bourgeoisintellectual, who has been led in his political activity by strong moralprinciples and who has not only struggled against the powerful dictatorbut also questioned the whole project of national liberation. The pointin which Krleza stresses one of the most important differences between thetwo of them is their relation to Europe. The cruel autocrat Barutanski wrotealready as a grammar-school boy in his school work openly and clearly: "Europeis a whore and as a whore should be shot down." For Niels Nielsen,on the other hand, this idea is a nightmare. Once he dreamt about it: "Ayoung naked woman bathes in a clear alpine lake. A girl, a fair blonde.This is Europe. Barutanski, hidden behind a pile of stinking newspapers,and armed with an Hotchkiss machine gun aims at this young, beautiful, fairgirl. Another moment and the turquoise, crystal-clear water will reddenwith this warm European blood (...) "Stop it, for God's sake!",cried Nielsen, gripped with mortal fear, and ran desperately to stop Barutanskifrom shooting.

	`REWIND` `LITERATURE`