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News that the fast-dwindling Channel stocks of fish are being fought over again by British Jerseymen and French fishers shows the limits of ethno nationalism as a philosophy. Why? Let’s go back to basics.
The ethnonationalist view means that one’s own group must always come first, and therefore must win. It compels its adherents to believe that any gain for the other party to a negotiation is a loss to its own. So, front line players and negotiators first job is to make the folks back home feel strong and dominant, not necessarily to obtain the best outcome. Nowhere is this mindset more destructive, and long term self-defeating than in disputes over resources such as fish.
As we write, the world’s oceans are becoming ever more depleted, polluted and degraded.* As a glance at the map will show, British and French fishermen are a tiny part of this. Huge fleets from bigger, better armed nations are currently sweeping the seas of every living thing, and every maritime nation jealously squabbles over stocks of things like tuna and cod. And who can blame them? Better to take up every last haddock and kill the stock rather than let the hated enemy take them!
We at LSS genuflect to ethnonationalism as a driving and inescapable force in the the human psyche. But there are more powerful forces, such as nature, facts, and reasons. The problems of the world , such as pandemics, climate change, sexual and economic inequality are now so great they they will destroy us quite soon. The only hope lies in solutions agreed by all.
Take fisheries as one example. A world fishing authority, comprising scientists, oceanographers, economists and fisherpersons’ representatives could manage stocks so that they could last forever. And maybe even lobby to clean up the seas a bit, who knows? It’s the sort of thing we in the Rational Community have been advocating for years. And our time must surely come.
Our links today are from two of the very finest Enlightenment, Rationalist and Educated websites you will find WWF and Wikipedia. Apart from the fact that both begin with W, both could do with a little cash. Could you find it in your heart to help them? We at LSS have done. John Locke would have been proud of you.
What is Overfishing? Facts, Effects and Overfishing Solutions (worldwildlife.org)
#uk #france #overfishing #marinedepletion #ethnonationalism #enlightenment #rationality #jersey #normandie
Learning, Science and Society 