CULTURAL TERRORISM Público Deposited
The E-Sylum: Volume 5, Number 42, October 20, 2002, Article 15
CULTURAL TERRORISM
The Star of Toronto, Ontaria, Canada published an article
by Philip Marchand on October 12, 2002, titled "Cultural
Terrorism Destroys Morale." As bibliophiles, we all realize
at some level that while we individual humans come and go,
printed works and the knowledge they contain usually live
on, sometimes in perpetuity. The article's discussion of the
destruction of literature and art is haunting. In one terrible
moment, the loss of an important library or museum could
be a catastrophic blow to mankind's collective culture.
In the grand scheme of things, numismatics is just a footnote,
yet the loss of a major numismatic library is unthinkable.Luckily books are usually not unique, and even the largest
library could largely be reassembled one day. Private
collectors are guardians of the knowledge contained in their
books. So take good care of your libraries. Those scarce
or rare volumes on the shelf may, in a twist of fate, one day
become the only remaining copies on the planet. Here
are some excerpts from the article. The full article may
be seen on their web site: http://www.thestar.com/"A DOZEN OR SO poets and writers were at the downstairs
bar and art gallery of the Gypsy X restaurant on Carlton St.
the other night, including the owner, Goran Simic. I first met
him six years ago when he had just arrived in Toronto as a
refugee from Sarejevo. Not only was he a noted poet in his
homeland, but he had also been the head of an association of
Bosnian writers and proprietor of a now-vanished bookstore
in Sarajevo.At one point in the evening Simic showed a video of a
documentary by Norwegian filmmaker Knut Gorfald, titled
Burned Books, a deeply disturbing account of the shelling of
the Bosnian National Library in Sarejevo in August 1992, by
Serbian nationalists dug in the hills surrounding the city. The
shelling, and the fire it caused, destroyed thousands of priceless
manuscripts and books, as well as gutting a historic and
beautiful building.It was an act of cultural terrorism, which New York City was
at least spared. As bad as Sept. 11 was, it left New Yorkers
with their morale intact. They mourned the 3,000 dead - but
no one mourned the World Trade Center. It was missed, of
course. People who had gotten used to seeing those
monumental buildings in the city skyline took a long time before
they adjusted to the shock of their absence. But this was
nothing compared to the emotional and spiritual loss the people
of Sarajevo felt for the assault on their National Library, which
was a cultural symbol as well as an important landmark and
institution.New Yorkers only began to fear a similar loss when rumours
circulated about a possible terrorist attack on the Statue of
Liberty. Such an attack would result in minimal loss of life
compared to the assault on the Trade Center, but the emotional
blow would be as heavy, or perhaps even heavier. A society
can absorb severe loss of life and economic destruction, but it
can hardly tolerate the loss of its sacred symbols.Great art on a monumental scale has this kind of symbolic
value to a society, quite apart from its excellence as art or
architecture. To the Allies in World War I, nothing symbolized
the barbarism of the Germans more than their deliberate
shelling and destruction of the great Cathedral of Notre Dame
in Reims, France. Nothing frightened Italy more than the Mafia
car bomb that went off near the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in
1993 - putting notice that a huge legacy of Western civilization,
the best of Renaissance painting, was under threat. Nothing
served notice more starkly that the Taliban were beyond the
pale than their blowing to bits those 1,500-year-old statues
of the Buddha in Afghanistan two years ago."[Here are a few links to more information on the library's
destruction, and efforts to reconstruct it. "Scholars who are
now working to replenish the collection say the attack was
the worst single book burning in history, comparable to the
burning of the great classical library at Alexandria and the
Chinese communist Cultural Revolution of the 1960s."
-Editorhttp://www.washington-report.org/backissues/1298/9812064.html
http://www.theconnection.org/shows/2002/08/20020826_b_main.asp
http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/arr/1996/bosnia.htm
]- 2002-10-20
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