Utopia — Hope — Has Wings But Does Not Use Them

September 6, 2022 5:04 AM

The foolish thought is that Europe is dual: the West of Rome and the East of Constantinople/Moscow. West is a colony of the USA, East a colony of China. As long as West does not recognise East and vice versa, as long as the two halves of the symbol do not unite, Europe — Europa — will remain that young woman abducted by the lust of an ancient and patriarchal god. from Open Letter to Europe by Chus Pato, translated by Erín Moure.

The Open Letter to Europe project with letters from Durs Grünbein in 2021, Krisztina Tóth in 2020, Ilija Trojanow in 2019, Athena Farrokhzad in 2018 and Stefan Hertmans in 2017. [letter links are to PDF files]

posted by chavenet (8 comments total)

I’m a bit puzzled by that paragraph, especially the reference to China.
posted by Phanx at 7:38 AM on September 6, 2022 [6 favorites]

I didn't get it that paragraph either. I'm not familiar enough with eastern Europe to know whether China is a significant modern influence. IMO it's not been a major historical influence since Ghenghis Khan (and that wasn't really China).

To be fair, I'm not sure whether I properly understood the rest of the letter. It really sounded more like an argument for finding a counterbalance to US cultural/political hegemony but frankly it would make more sense to argue that together we are big enough to stand besides other world powers. (Like a bundle of twigs tied together is strong)
posted by plonkee at 8:36 AM on September 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

I feel like it's a common British thing to view China, in a strange way, as the ultimate opposite pole. Everything that feels far away and beyond British/European/"Western" influence or familiarity, in their minds, is ceded to China. It doesn't seem to be about real political analysis but more about a mental ne plus ultra or w/ev.

Maybe it extends to Galicia as well, idk.
posted by fleacircus at 8:48 AM on September 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

China has been investing heavily in eastern Russia with their belt and road initiative over the last decade, and gets a significant amount of their oil and gas from Russia. That investment has dropped off this year, as while China is supporting Putin politically, individual companies are wary of western sanctions, so there's a pivot to the middle east going on. And the Chinese economy is also under heavy strain, particularly youth unemployment, drought and the real estate crisis.

But it's definitely a lot more complex than West=US colony, East=Chinese colony.
posted by Absolutely No You-Know-What at 9:24 AM on September 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

My father was born in Galicia in a village south of Krakow when Galicia was part of Austria-Hungary and there was no Poland at that particular time. It's interesting how many Galicias and Galatias there are in Europe -- not to mention Turkey -- those Celts got around back in the BCE day when Rome and China were two empires that had kinda sorta heard of each other but never exchanged embassies. So perhaps this is in part another case of the past not even being past.
posted by y2karl at 12:21 PM on September 6, 2022 [5 favorites]

My step father's family came from Warsaw. Came in the 1920' or 30'. Just odd as I was reading this post, I glanced at this book I just aquired, it belonged to someone from Krakow, I believe who moved to Saganaw, Mi. Anyone want to translate?

from the article:
"it is never on the side of power, whatever the power; it is on the side of potential, of possibility, and answers to that possibility. It is not to be confused with its representatives nor with those who govern it, because it is not a representation, it is a presence on Earth."
posted by clavdivs at 5:25 PM on September 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

From Ellis Island Records I came to find out my father came over in 1913 on the ocean liner Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse from Wasglciewice, Galacia and that his birth name was Wladyslaw. Which is how I came to find out what the name Walter is in Polish.

Apart from that, when asked directly, he did recall seeing the Statue of Liberty on the way into harbor. He never spoke about his past.
posted by y2karl at 6:45 PM on September 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Like a bundle of twigs tied together is strong

Are you saying what I think you are saying?
posted by sjswitzer at 5:00 PM on September 7, 2022 [1 favorite]