Re: Nations, National Minorities and Genocide

[Ed George <edgeorge@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

But mechanical definitions of 'the nation' don't work. The only thing
that counts as a valid criterion of the existence of a nation is whether
or not the people concerned think they are a nation. Once you begin to
attempt to defend the existence of a nation against the begrudgers by
using objective criteria the very same begrudgers will come up with
other objective criteria to deny that nation's existence. If the
Blackfoot people think they are a nation then a nation is what they are.
There is no need to prove this to anybody. If they wish to express this
nationhood through 'national recognition, independence, sovereignty and
self-determination' (which are only four ways of saying the same thing)
then anyone - let's not even say Marxists - who even considers
themselves close to being a socialist or even a democrat is absolutely
duty bound to support them to the hilt. But self-determination needs to
be fought for. Forgive me for quoting Trotsky: writing on the Ukraine in
the 1930s he expressed what self-determination really means better than
anyone I think:

'The slogan of an independent Ukraine [...] [means] only [...] that she
will again determine for herself and of her own free will the question
of her interrelations with other sections of the Soviet Union and her
western neighbours. [...]

'In order freely to determine her relations with other Soviet republics,
in order to possess the right of saying yes or no, the Ukraine must
return to herself complete freedom of action, at least for the duration
of this constituent period. There is no other name for this than state
independence.'

To win this, I fear, we need a revolution. But the fight to win this is
the only path by which the revolution can travel.

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