Why Terrorism Happens | Clarissa's Blog
Identity politics really is something new. It now has the hegemony when it comes to left and right populist discourses.
Of course, I have read Marechera concerning the ‘war of liberation’, which the Rhodesian forces called “terrorism”. There were, indeed, quite a few acts of terrorism — which is to say, gratuitous violence. The roots are clearly in something other than contemporary identity politics. In a way, I think, reading Marechera, it was in a desire NOT TO have the particular identity ascribed by the colonials. The guerrillas wanted to refuse an identity, rather than to accept one. So they refused, for instance, Christianity, which they identified as a white man’s religion. They also wanted to throw off the servile identity of the black servant.
Having done all that, and had a successful revolution, now Christianity is in full bloom like never before, and class hierarchy remains, with servants who are exclusively black working for their black and white masters. Furthermore, identity politics has begun to take a hold, especially in the liberal, artsy circles of contemporary Zimbabwe.
Identity politics really is something new. It now has the hegemony when it comes to left and right populist discourses.
Of course, I have read Marechera concerning the ‘war of liberation’, which the Rhodesian forces called “terrorism”. There were, indeed, quite a few acts of terrorism — which is to say, gratuitous violence. The roots are clearly in something other than contemporary identity politics. In a way, I think, reading Marechera, it was in a desire NOT TO have the particular identity ascribed by the colonials. The guerrillas wanted to refuse an identity, rather than to accept one. So they refused, for instance, Christianity, which they identified as a white man’s religion. They also wanted to throw off the servile identity of the black servant.
Having done all that, and had a successful revolution, now Christianity is in full bloom like never before, and class hierarchy remains, with servants who are exclusively black working for their black and white masters. Furthermore, identity politics has begun to take a hold, especially in the liberal, artsy circles of contemporary Zimbabwe.
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