When minorities are forcibly evicted from some of their land that is ethnic cleansing. When they are forcibly evicted from nearly all of their land and only tiny remnant communities survive, that amounts to genocide. Most Americans today seem to believe that genocide is an evil act committed by brutal dictators for the sheer joy of killing. At they same time they made legends and great heroes of the frontiersmen who led the fight against the Indians. This may be the greatest example of the “double standard” known to history.
There are three general reasons for the ethnic and religious cleansing;
i. An ethnic group that the nation wants to exclude from citizenship inhabits land that the nation wants to include as part of its own territory. This was the reason for the cleansing of Indians from the Unites States and the cleansing of Palestinians from Israel.
ii. There are many cases where two or more groups with different identities inhabit the same area. This usually causes problems for newly developing, market economy nation-state and often leads to violence but in most cases it does not lead to all out ethnic cleansing. Unfortunately the situation is so common that even though it leads to ethnic cleansing only in a small percent of the most difficult cases that still accounts for many such instances known to history. This was the reason for the religious cleansing in India and Netherlands.
iii. In a few aristocrat peasant societies and more often in imperial colonies, a situation has arisen where an ethnic minority becomes the commercial class of the society. This happened with the Jews in Central Europe and with the Greeks and Armenians in Ottoman Turkey. The British imperialists sometimes brought Indians to their colonies in Africa and elsewhere to perform the role of small shopkeeper or to labour on the plantations. In the 19th century large numbers of Chinese infiltrated into Southeast Asia and became the primary commercial class in Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia while these countries were under imperial control. In aristocratic states and imperial colonies it was quite possible for a foreign minority to dominate small-scale commerce and industry. When the change is made to a market economy nation-state it is absolutely impossible for this situation to continue. Commerce and industry are the life blood of a modern nation state. They cannot continue to be dominated by a foreign minority. This, along with the number two problem stated above was the reason for the Holocaust of the Jews.
In the last sixty years something like 120 new nation states has been created. Most of them were previously colonial possessions. The local populations did not form the boundaries of these countries in any kind of natural way. They were established by imperial conquerors and in many cases have no relationship to natural ethnic or economic territories. The inevitable outcome has been chaos and confusion for many of these new nations. Many of these countries have already endured episodes of ethnic violence and ethnic cleansing. Many more such episodes can be expected in the future.
There are three general reasons for the ethnic and religious cleansing;
i. An ethnic group that the nation wants to exclude from citizenship inhabits land that the nation wants to include as part of its own territory. This was the reason for the cleansing of Indians from the Unites States and the cleansing of Palestinians from Israel.
ii. There are many cases where two or more groups with different identities inhabit the same area. This usually causes problems for newly developing, market economy nation-state and often leads to violence but in most cases it does not lead to all out ethnic cleansing. Unfortunately the situation is so common that even though it leads to ethnic cleansing only in a small percent of the most difficult cases that still accounts for many such instances known to history. This was the reason for the religious cleansing in India and Netherlands.
iii. In a few aristocrat peasant societies and more often in imperial colonies, a situation has arisen where an ethnic minority becomes the commercial class of the society. This happened with the Jews in Central Europe and with the Greeks and Armenians in Ottoman Turkey. The British imperialists sometimes brought Indians to their colonies in Africa and elsewhere to perform the role of small shopkeeper or to labour on the plantations. In the 19th century large numbers of Chinese infiltrated into Southeast Asia and became the primary commercial class in Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia while these countries were under imperial control. In aristocratic states and imperial colonies it was quite possible for a foreign minority to dominate small-scale commerce and industry. When the change is made to a market economy nation-state it is absolutely impossible for this situation to continue. Commerce and industry are the life blood of a modern nation state. They cannot continue to be dominated by a foreign minority. This, along with the number two problem stated above was the reason for the Holocaust of the Jews.
In the last sixty years something like 120 new nation states has been created. Most of them were previously colonial possessions. The local populations did not form the boundaries of these countries in any kind of natural way. They were established by imperial conquerors and in many cases have no relationship to natural ethnic or economic territories. The inevitable outcome has been chaos and confusion for many of these new nations. Many of these countries have already endured episodes of ethnic violence and ethnic cleansing. Many more such episodes can be expected in the future.
To be continue...... part 3
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