DC 9 My Side Before All Else - Generating Sacreds And Absolutes

SOME DYNAMICS OF CONFLICT-AFFECTED CULTURES AND SOCIETIES 9 DC 9: MY SIDE BEFORE ALL ELSE- GENERATING SACREDS AND ABSOLUTES When we put sacred positions and beliefs before relationships with different others those not sharing our beliefs are shut out. Such actions mobilise ‘our people’ into a homogenous crowd where unanimity is demanded and people become intolerant of any insiders who express different points of view. “My people” and ‘my place’ comes before all else. Sacred and absolutes become ‘lightning conductors’ for emotions associated with identify. SACREDS AND ABSOLUTES Although we often behave as if not, societies are places which depend on all manner of people interdepending with one another. Often these interdependencies are not talked about until crises or pandemics. e.g. The linkages of food producers, transport drivers, food distributors and pharmaceutical producers and suppliers in the Covid pandemic.. e.g. The ways many now greet

more people in neighbourhoods in a pandemic threat and the new appreciation there is for care workers and health workers. e.g. The ‘new knowledge’ many of us gain when so many ‘national identities’ turn out to be far more diverse than has been previously acknowledged. e.g. The new research that shows that Black people from North Africa were part of the Roman colonisation of Britain since the second century.xxii Local essentialism is a dynamic that asserts the power of one ‘apparently distinct group’ and fails to recognise different others living there, in that same area. Such local essentialism works against the value of all those working to support the common good and denies different others an equal place. It asserts the growth of identity politics and sacred beliefs, beliefs that often become absolutes, un-bargainable points of identity characterized by: “Even if the other kills me, they can never take my beliefs away, I will be buried with my own people!” . Ethnocentrism is the conviction that the ways of one’s own group or tradition are better than anyone else’s.”xxiii The term ‘ethnic’ derives from it. When we are ethnocentric, we make our culture or identity more important than relationships with different people around us. When we identify with pride the groups or traditions to which we belong and assert that we will defend or fight for them, we experience what people caught up in sectarian conflict experience. When we put forward a notion of our country having one pure, monochrome identity we are being ethnocentric. In much older societies, and at other times, ethnocentrism was always part of how tribes and peoples thoughtxxiv. Arguments about who first coined the term ethnocentrism abound. However its use refers to the technical name for the view of things in which one’s own group is the centre of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it.xxv In Northern Ireland, ethnocentrism is about cultural identity and interests. On the surface it is about defending people and fighting for their safety. Deeper down it is about real or presumed interests; and still deeper it is about securing an identity at the expense of different others. We need this theme understood more widely. We are all capable of acting in this manner. We place sectarianism within a broader set of ethnocentric behaviors, because the term refers to elevating a land, territory or belief to be unassailable, a sacred or an absolute.

COMMUNITY TOO CAN BE USED AS A SACRED OR ABSOLUTE TERM-AS SUCH IT IS EXCLUDING Pavlich speaks of the often hidden and violent edges of traditional models of communityxxvi. In a contested society these violent and exclusionary edges are often very evident. Identities can become very localised, future prisons that may limit opportunity and imagination for adults and children alike. Local essentialism closes people to difference. Such dynamics feed the exclusion of cultures and a politics of ‘ethnic essentialism’6 that is ‘only my group and my place counts above all else’ . At this time, even some secure states are experiencing the growth of ethnocentric groups in their midst who are unwilling to share with different others. While ethnic Irishness or Britishness has been easily tenable on the fringes of our historic cultures they do not reflect the growing diversity in these different countries. The emergence of local essentialism necessitates that the ethnic frontier and the metropolitan centers learn together. As citizens within an expanded Europe, there is a restorative historical healing necessary around Islamic, Christian and Jewish relations especially, as well as with all other religious faiths. Promoting good relations between people of different religious beliefs, political opinion, racial groups, sexual orientation, diverse abilities and social backgrounds are the modern challenge for citizens in all societies, if they accept it. This restorative challenge asks us if our existing cultural and political formations have the space and openness to encompass different others; or do our major traditions only want others if they assimilate into our existing ways? Such restorative spaces are opportunities to resolve the challenge of creating safety and security for all. They challenge all of us to change our behavior as well as the views we have of others whose class, religion, gender, ability, race or politics differs from ours 6 Ranjit Sondhi CBE explores ethnicity in a variety of ways. See for example his talk to the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, 2008. https://evergreenessays.blogspot.com/2006/07/indian-civilisation-is-so-rich- complex.html

DC9: MY SIDE BEFORE ALL ELSE-GENERATING SACREDS AND ABSOLUTES

Summary

When the land, tradition or belief people hold is put above all else- -especially above relationships with the different other in their midst-sacreds, absolutes, or un- bargainable positions are generated. Without a priority being given to the need for relationships between us, especially between parties who do not agree, open communication about working and living together becomes more difficult. When people enjoy respectful relationships with different others, the best elements of these different identities and cultures that serve the common good, can enhance all.