One World, Many Peaces

Who's Protecting the World's Endangered Languages (All 7000)? These Guys

 

When an insect only seven people have ever seen goes extinct in a place you need a government grant to get to, more than just environmentalists feel a part of our world has gone forever. Understandably so. But what about when a language once used by thousands is down to its last speaker, and the universe of relations and ideas that language conveys will not survive them? Who protests, who runs worldwide campaigns or passes legislation against hazardous, toxic notions like "official languages" and "world languages" that creep onto and kill ways of understanding what it means to be human? A group of fifty linguists meeting at the first-ever Endangered Languages Information and Infrastructure Workshop, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, realize the tragedy but aren't superheroes.

In the last 500 years, half of the world's languages have become extinct. What is new is the accelerated rate of language extinction today. Linguists predict that in the next 100 years nearly 90 percent of the world's 7,000 languages will become extinct, with a best case scenario at only 35 to 50 percent surviving (Krauss,1992). "When we lose, say, 50 percent of languages, we're losing 50 percent of human cognitive ability," says linguist Lyle Campbell.  "Linguistics is a study of human cognition, what makes the mind tick, click, and work. It's our responsibility as linguists to do what we can." Unfortunately for Campbell and his colleagues, words difficult to pronounce just aren't as cute and cuddly as panda bears and Hollywood superstars have yet to milk endangered languages for their publicity value. Try asking a panda whether or not there is life after death. Unfortunately, while hundreds of groups protect species for biodiversity, none protect endangered languages for logodiversity.

The admirable work of these linguistics overlooks one major possibility based on a historical actuality: that as languages die, new ones can and are created not in their place, but in the space they leave behind. "A language is not just words and grammar; it is a web of history that binds all the people who once spoke the language, all the things they did together, all the knowledge they imparted to their descendants," says Anthony Aristar, professor of linguistics at Eastern Michigan University, in Science Daily. There is also such a thing as the languages of the future, beyond but also in between the lingua francas that are most likely to survive: English, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic. The languages of the future, whatever they may look or sound like, will be made from those of the present, which is why the study of multilingualism is at least as important as current event that can literally speak to the future.

Two Major Intellectuals, Levi-Strauss and Ayala, Die; What the World Has Gained

"Loss" is a word commonly heard when someone dies, as in "a loss to us" or "the world's loss." But what about what we and the world have gained because someone has lived? This may be the more inspiring and pragmatic question to ask of everyone, but especially in noting the passing of two of the great 20th century intellectuals today as centenarians: Claude Levis-Strauss at 100, the French anthropologist and a founder of the widely influential structuralist school of critical analysis; and Francisco Ayala at 103, the paradigmatic anti-fascists sociologist and novelist. The following is less of a tribute than a well-deserved acknowledgment.

Trained as a philosopher in France, Claude Levi-Strauss taught in Brazil from 1935 and came to prominence with his landmark Tristes Tropiques (trans. A World on the Wane), which has since become a classic. In it he proposed that so-called "primitive" mythologies are structurally analyzable in the same way as "civilized" ones, calling into question two centuries of "progressive" thinking. The work had a profound influence not only in anthropology, but also in sociology, philosophy, political science, history and literary criticism, among other fields. He became a member France's prestigious Academie, which rushed to pay homage to him today. Just recently, Levi-Strauss expressed contempt at dying in a world he "does not love," and remarked that the purpose of structuralism was a "search for unsuspected harmonies" by drawing parallels and analogies between otherwise unrelated thought and social systems.  The next-generation of French intellectuals (including Jaques Derrida and Michel Foucault) are often called post-structuralists because they focused on changes in structures over time, in deference.

The Spanish intellectual Francisco Ayala coincidentally followed a similar trajectory as Levi-Strauss, spendinghis early career in South America before return to his home country, where accolades eventually followed. After receiving his doctorate in law from Madrid University in 1930, he went on a lecture tour in Argentina, when the fascist Franco took power back in Spain (1936). In Buenos Aires, he taught sociology and founded the literary journal Reality, where the works of Jorge Luis Borges were first published, among other literati. After moving to Puerto Rico in 1950, he taught at several premier university in the U.S. (including Princeton and the University of Chicago) before returning to Spain in 1975, the year Franco died. His key works include The Usurpers and The Lamb's Head, each of which critically examines the relations between individual consciences, social consciousness and the state. He was awarded the prestigious Cervantes Award in 1991 and the Prince of Asturias Award in 1998.

While it is safe to say that Levi-Strauss' influence on Western intellectual history is more pronounced than that of Ayala, the latter was a catalytic figure in Latin American literature and thought as well as the epitome of anti-fascist writers in exile. It is also safe to say that the worldwide intellectual landscape of the 21st century, of which I and we are all a part, would not be what it is without them. In death as in life, Levi-Strauss and Ayala are turning point current events that have brought us to a better understanding of the past and present so as to create a better future.

Che Who? Obama's Global Cult of Personality Begins

President Obama has now reached a pinnacle of global popularity cults matched only by Che Guevara. Cults of personality are a constant throughout human history, but in recent times they have been primarily based on nationality, race and/or ideology, a powerful propaganda machine and a perception of merit (think Nelson Mandela, Adolf Hitler, George Washington and Mao Zedong). Obama has now earned himself a place among them and others, and has bettered them in certain respects.

Obama was limited to the national, racial and ideological cults until late last week, when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to him for, as his campaign rhetoric went and acceptance speech acknowledged, "change" and "hope" that have yet to turn into any actual results, national or global. And in this too he has a lot in common with Che, but that is not my point here. There are much bigger problems and possibilities than Obama talking the talk but not walking the walk yet. Literally and for only 10 months.

As the New York Times reports: "A CD of President Barack Obama's inaugural speech has sold a half million copies in Japan, leading publishers to flood the market with over a dozen language-learning titles centered on his oratory." The worldwide market is about $8 Billion dollars annually. Then there is the infamous Obama Chia Pet, not to mention the innumerable  T-Shirts, posters and other thingamabobs meant only to make money by capitalizing and so perpetuating Obama's cult of personality.

Thanks to mass media and the Internet, the scope of the scope and speed of the spread of Obama's cult of personality is beyond anything Castro could have imagined in plastering Havana with Che posters after his victorious revolution in the 1950s. Obama too has brought about a unique global revolution, as previously reported on One World, Many Peaces, but it has yet to bear any fruits worth saving the seeds for future generations, as he would have us believe. Kings and queens never had it so sweet. Liberalism has not had a comparable cult since Adam Smith, but he put forth some powerful ideas at least.

So this is a warning to the world now and in the future: Obama's global cult of personality is just beginning, and there may be no stopping it even if he his killed tomorrow. He would actually then become the martyr that all long-lasting cults of personality depend on:  religious (i.e. Jesus), philosophical (i.e. Socrates), racial (i.e. Dr. Martin Luther King) and political (i.e. Gramsci). Cults, of personality and otherwise, tend to inhibit their members ability to think, let alone participate in constructive critical dialogue. Therein lies the danger that only Obama himself can temper.

Because Obama's global cult of personality is in its infancy and has done nothing (and so nothing wrong), it is all the easier to become an unknowing, unthinking member. I, for one, still want to believe that he will be an agent of change towards peace and prosperity worldwide that would equal his cult of personality.  But I will not sacrifice constructive critical dialogue in his or anyone else's name (including my own), and deeply fear for those who do and will, and what can happen at their mercy. As a current event creating the future, Obama's global cult of personality cannot be a neutral force.

Swedish Spanking Ban Spreads Nonviolent Culture Globally

Sweden is known for a lot of great things: it's massages, its Nobel prizes, its filmmakers, its fair dames, and let us not forget smörgåsbord with a variety of herring. Generally, however, spanking and bans on it do not come to mind. Yet this week Sweden is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of their ban on spanking children,  which proponents argue has done much to spur a nonviolent culture across the country-- and abroad.

Twenty-four other countries around the world passed similar spanking bans since 1979, when Sweden was the first to do so. At the time, traditional spankers claimed that the ban would lead to undisciplined children and could not be enforced. They turned out to be wrong: the percentage of children spanked has dropped from 90% to 10%, youth crime has decreased in Sweden since the mid-1990s, and violent crime has not gone up.

The Swedish ban on spanking is based on the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, about which UNICEF says the following on its website:

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights—civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. In 1989, world leaders decided that children needed a special convention just for them because people under 18 years old often need special care and protection that adults do not. The leaders also wanted to make sure that the world recognized that children have human rights too.

Although the "legally binding" statement must be taken with a grain of salt because the U.N. itself has no legal way to enforce it, the Convention as a whole is heartening. 

Whether you want the right to spank your child or not, it is plausible that there is a direct correlation with Sweden's consistently strong appearances on the Global Peace Index and the spanking ban. To the old saying "spare the rod, spoil the child" can now be added another: "spare the child, and spoil the violence." Spanking in Sweden is less of a current event today than it was thirty years ago, but the more nonviolence future it has helped create is our present.

Winner of Spain's Prestigious Peace Prize: The City of Berlin

Marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the triumphal subsequent reunification of Germany into an economic and political powerhouse (largely non-militarily), the City of Berlin has been award Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias Peace Prize. The Peace Prize is one of series presented each year in the Arts, International Cooperation, Social Sciences, Communication and Humanities, Technical and Scientific Research, Letters, Sports and Concord, often compared with the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Prince of Asturias Foundation, which awards the prizes of $72,000 and a sculpture by Joan Miro, had this to say about its choice on its website:

The Berlin Wall, symbol Europe's reunification, was for decades the worldwide representation of the Cold War. The peaceful revolution, which on 9th November 1989 lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall and subsequently to the reunification of Germany, has captivated millions of people worldwide, contributing significantly towards the reestablishment of the balance between the East and the West.

Few would disagree, but many wonder what the city will do with the money, and whether this will continue the precedent for other state-corporations to win again, rarely the case with the Nobel Peace Prize, which has been awarded to humanitarian organizations. Why this would be a problem has not been addressed.  The Concord Prize has been awarded annually since 1986.

Past Prince of Asturias Peace Prize laureates include J.K. Rowling, author of the worldwide Harry Potter Series phenomenon (2003); conductor Daniel Barenboim and critic Edward Said for their work with a Palestinian-Israeli orchestra (2002); Doctors without Borders (1991); Stephen Hawking (1989); and the City of El Salvador (1987). Spain's peace prize can be more flexible as to who receives the award, unlike the Norwegian Nobel Prize, constrained by instructions in its namesake's will.

This year's other winners include: in the Arts, architect Norman Foster; in International Cooperation, the World Health Organization; in Social Sciences, broadcaster David Attenborough; in Communication and Humanities, the Autonomous National University of Mexico; in Technical and Scientific Research, Martin Cooper and Raymond Samuel Tomlinson for their developments in mobile and internet technologies; in Letters, essayist and poet Ismail Kadare; and in sports, Yelena Isinbayeva, considered the best pole-vaulter of all time. All in all, a group that is creating our future in being current events themselves.