27 september 2019 IN 2012 the Dutch politician-philosopher Thierry Baudet published “The Significance of Borders”. In that book he intended, as the sub-title of the book mentions, to demonstrate “why Representative Government and the Rule of Law Require Nation States”. While I believe that that proposition itself might be correct, the argumentation or “proof” provided […]
Monthly archives: September 2019
23. Dutch -Gelijkheid
24 september 2019 Artikel 1 van de Nederlandse Grondwet met als titel “gelijke behandeling en discriminatieverbod” luidt als volgt : “Allen die zich in Nederland bevinden, worden in gelijke gevallen gelijk behandeld. Discriminatie wegens godsdienst, levensovertuiging, politieke gezindheid, ras, ģeslacht of op welke grond dan ook, is niet toegestaan.” Niets abnormaals, denkt u, en gelijk […]
22. Food For Thought – F. Fukuyama in foreword of “Political order in changing societies” (S.P. Huntington)
24 september 2019 Page XVI-XVII “One factor in particular is the peculiar nature of the contemporary international system, one that despite good intentions arguably promotes political decay. If one examines historical cases of state formation and state building in the regions of the world that have strong states (primarily Europe and East Asia), the uncomfortable […]
21. Dutch – Stof Tot Nadenken : de “heimat” van 2002 tot 2019
23 september 2019 In 2002 publiceerde Pim Fortuyn zijn boek “De verweesde samenleving”. Daarin schreef hij een aantal nu toch profetisch klinkende statements. Onder andere de volgende : ” Meer dan ooit dienen samenlevingsverbanden te worden gekoesterd en onderhouden… (blz. 202) De onderklasse heeft in politiek opzicht nauwelijks een stem van betekenis meer…(blz. 203) De […]
20. Food For Thought – European Values
19 september 2019 After Ursula von der Leyen presented her new Commission, the function of commissionary Schinas caused some uproar because of his task description “to defend the European way of life” and because this task was linked to the management of the migration flows, suggesting that migrants were a threat to the so-called “European […]
19. True Religion
19 september 2019 In religious debates, there always exist people on the one hand who want to stay close to the source texts, be it the Quran, the Thora or the Bible, and others, who believe these sacred texts require a “smart” reading. According to these people the sacred texts were written in a very […]
18. The Headscarf
17 september 2019 In English the word “respect” can be used in two different meanings. It can be used to refer to “accept/tolerate” ( as in “I respect their choice” ) but it can also be used to refer to a more positive feeling of admiration (as in “I have a great respect for their […]
17. Book Review ; Francis Fukuyama – “On Identity”
17 september 2019 Francis Fukuyama, well known as the author of “The End of History and the Last Man”, devotes his attention to “Identity” because he notes that identity, as a consequence of the ongoing globalisation, becomes more and more confused while a clear identity is needed to underpin a nation, which is itself required […]
16. Food For Thought – Quote; Orhan Pamuk in “The Red-haired Woman”
17 september 2019 In “The Red-haired Woman” (p.219) it comes to a confrontation between a father and his son with the following dialogue as a result. I dare to assume that for Pamuk this dialogue does not only reflect on father-son relations but also, if not mostly, on the relation between the believer and his […]
15. Atheism
17 september 2019 Here some clarifications why I am an atheist. These clarifications may be useful in further discussions on religion. I was raised in the Catholic culture and initially the Catholic belief had even an important emotional value for me. However, over time, I could not make it connect with my strong rational mindset. […]
14. A European Islam ?
17 september 2019 Sometimes the question is raised whether there exists a need for a European Islam. Hereafter I defend that at its core there is no need for such a thing and that it certainly is not up to atheists like myself to create something like a European Islam. I do believe that in […]
13. Food For Thought – Quote ; Thant Myint-U in “The River of Lost Footsteps”
17 september 2019 Page 41 : “The most striking aspect of the Burma debate today is its absence of nuance and its singularly ahistorical nature. Dictatorship and the prospects for democracy are seen within the prism of the past ten or twenty years, as if three Anglo-Burmese wars, a century of colonial rule, an immensely […]
12. The status of national self-determination
17 september 2019 In the history of Europe as I described it in my book LIBERAL QUICKSAND I assign an important place to the principle of National Self Determination (PNSD). It was invoked throughout recent history to justify the creation of new nations/states. To a certain degree the principle is used ( but only sparsely) […]
11. Book Review ; Philippe Van Parijs ; “Linguistic Justice” – discussion
17 september 2019 A first impression after reading this book was one of confusion and disbelief. The approach seemed so very distant from reality by focusing on the concept of Global Egalitarian Justice based on a global English speaking Demos that I was afraid that philosophy, by definition, was and had to be irrelevant for […]
10. Food for Thought – quote ; F. Fukuyama in : “On Identity”
17 september 2019 On the pages 136-137 of his book F. Fukuyama describes an essential weakness of political liberalism as a philosophy : “The political theorist Pierre Manent notes that most democracies were built on top of preexisting nations, societies that already had a well-developed sense of national identity that defined the sovereign people. But […]
9. Book Review ; Philippe Van Parijs ; Linguistic Justice – Summary
17 september 2019 In Chaper 1 PvP takes note in a factual way that English has become the lingua franca of Europe and probably of the whole world. From a normative perspective he wellcomes the existence of a universal lingua franca and this especially because of his interest to achieve Egalitarian Global Justice. PvP is very outspoken […]
8. Book Review ; Jaan Kross – The Ropewalker
17 september 2019 Part 1 of a Trilogy. Although I’m in principle not a fan of fiction, I gladly make an exception for this book. (until now I’ve only read part 1 of the three volumes – I’m sure the other two will follow quickly.) Here, I will not dive into the overall rich content […]
7. Dutch – Stof Tot Nadenken : Bart Peeters over “inhoud”
Quote uit : Middagjournaal – Bart Peeters – Radio 1 – 13/09/2019 … Maar die mannen bedienen zich van een totaal achterhaald wapen, “inhoud”, de laatste strohalm voor lelijke losers…
6. Nationalism is a progressive force
13 september 2019 Nationalism is an emotionally loaded term. It should not be like that. Nationalism refers in the first place to the process which started with the French Revolution whereby a nation creates a state or a state a nation with a linguistically homogeneous territory. An ideology that drives the process can an be […]
5. Dutch – Confederalisme
9 september – update 7 oktober 2019 Centraal in het NVA-discours staat het vaste voornemen om de Belgische staatsstructuur om te vormen in confederale zin. De enen lachen “confederalisme” weg als een onduidelijk begrip. Anderen zien dit als een ietwat moeilijker term voor wat in realiteit onversneden separatisme is. Nog anderen stellen dat de huidige […]