From: eero@sofi.su.se
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 1996 18:30:15 EST
To: revs@csf.colorado.edu
Subject: collective guilt?
To Rodney et al,
	I understand why you reacted the way you did to the Sudan
posting, but I actually think that the examples you took up confirm
that there's a core of truth to Stephan's argument.  Irish-American
leadership should indeed in my opinion be playing a stronger role
than they have until now in getting the Northern Ireland peace talks
back on track.  The fact that the IRA derives a considerable portion
of its funding from American sources would seem to indicate that
there's need for such leadership and that the Irish-American commu-
nity indeed bears part of the responsibility for the current situ-
ation.  In the same way, leadership elites in the countries which
supported minority dictatorships have a special responsibility to
take distance from this policy legacy--as indeed, I believe,
African and African-American oppositional forces have a special
responsibility to take a stand on long-standing civil conflicts,
and violations of basic human rights in African countries.  This
for a simple political reason--I think that policy criticism from
"within" the responsible leaders' own communities either in country
or in diaspora is more difficult for either them or an interested
public to dismiss.  What do you all think?
Eero C.
P.S. Note that no notion of COLLECTIVE RACIAL guilt is being advo-
cated here, just a notion of community responsibility which is
in the last analysis binding on everybody who wants to advance
the cause of justice.