Anti-Eurocentrism: Idealist Diversion from Anti-racism/anti-imperialism

[Carrol Cox <cbcox@xxxxxxxxx>]

    The ongoing critique in scholastic circles of "euro-centrism"
more and more appears as a member of that large family of
ideological persuasions generally called "post-modernism,"
defined here as a purely academic compensation for the
material defeats the movements of the '60s  Karl and Frederick
described this sort of maneuver rather well in *The German
Ideology*. If we can no longer (or so it seems) win real
battles against racism and imperialism, we can invent
specialized areas of scholastic dispute in which we can
win brilliant battles against imaginary opponents. The trick
is to reverse cause and effect, and by attacking the effects
(which exist purely in the superstructure of rarified
scholastic dispute) we can soothe feelings wounded by
our inability to oppose effectively the victories of racism
and imperialism of the last few decades.

Along with other postmodern jargon, "eurocentrism" needs
to be retired from our vocabulary, since it acts only to deflect
attention from the ills it pretends to name.

Carrol