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Retreating to the Private
by Ken Kalfus
November 2004
Personal history always informs your appreciation of current events. For me, this moment in American history recalls 1991 in Belgrade, where I was living at the time, at the start of the Balkan wars. I'm not thinking as much of the former Yugoslavia's terrible ethnic conflicts as I am of the more profound, murderous division in Yugoslav society between the liberal humanists and the nationalists of all stripes. The parties of the right appropriated the symbols of patriotism and religious faith, dominated the broadcast media and launched a series of ruinous wars that cemented their hold on political power. Intellectuals were derided as effete fools and liberals who preached tolerance were derided as traitors. With the collapse of the peacetime economy, the nationalists' criminal sponsors lined their pockets. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to compare the aims and methods of George W. Bush to those of Slobodan Milosevic.
What do liberals do when they live in illiberal regimes? Whether they're in Belgrade, Teheran, Brezhnev's Russia or Pinochet's Chile, they may continue to pursue whatever politics are permitted, but I think the preservation and growth of humanistic values depend more on the tasks we perform in our private lives and in local civil society. That means taking care of our families, teaching our kids well, serving our communities, taking personal measures to preserve the environment, practicing honesty, reading good books and engaging in intelligent, earnest conversation. These sound like small consolations, but they change the world every day.
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