I apologise for continuing a thread that isn't really Minneapolis
related, but I really feel the need to respond. I'm deeply troubled about
this notion of 'tribalism'. One only need to look at the history of modern
imperialism to realize that the world isn't made up of equally competing
ethnic groups 'in happy mutual robbery' (to take a phrase from my friend
Mr. Weiss) The truth is that the violence that continues through the globe
is built on and perpetrated by a deeply hierarchal power structure that is
imbedded in all of us and continually reproduced. While not neccessarily
condoning it, one must recognize that there is a fundamental difference
between the violence perpetrated by the colonized as opposed to the
colonizer. To tie this back to the issue of immigration, the United States
creates the conditions that cause the immigration, that can certainly be
seen in the Hmong community as well as the Somalian community as well. To
reduce the complex and nuanced nature of our global economic system to a
cabal of feuding 'tribes' doesn't do justice to our understanding.
Robert Wood St Paul resident... student/janitor at the University of
Minnesota anti-authoritarian Marxist/recent member of the Green Party
