Tanto per lanciare sassi provocatori nei nostri stagni di monadi virtuali, e per continuare a pensare al vocabolario mediterraneo, ecco qui qualche riga presa dall’editoriale del primo numero di Cultures of Resistance, la rivista semestrale del ConflictsForum diretto da Alastair Crooke e Mark Perry.
“In partnership with a wide range of organisations and individuals from the Middle East, South Africa, Europe, the USA and Canada, Conflicts Forum has initiated a project focused on media stereotyping. The aim of this partnership initiative is to explore the possibilities for addressing the Western hostile use of language intended to close down any debate extending beyond the standard focus on ‘Islamist violence’. We aim to find the visual imagery, and the metaphors appropriate in a secular society to generate the ‘oh, I get it now!’ moment for Western viewers in terms of the Islamist critique of Western modernity, and their alternative vision. This will require investing Islamist concepts with a new significance and meaning that provokes recognition and a positive response from Western audiences.
Essentially, we aim to critique Western language that is usually used to close down critical debate, and the associated Western ‘narrative’ that suggests a linear progress from historical ‘backwardness’ to Western ‘modernity’, accomplished via the achievement of the secular liberal nation-state—a narrative that implies that the West is advanced and that others are backward along this continuum of history. We also seek to resist, and to expose, the use of language associated with imposing Western identity hegemony on others. By formulating assertive counter-responses, the aim is to disarticulate language intended to, and used to, erode, belittle and ridicule Muslim identities”.
Se si sfoglia la rivista online, si intuisce che ci sono diverse concezioni del termine “resistenza”. Si può trovare un terreno, nel Mediterraneo, perché si possa dare a “resistenza” un significato multiplo, ma comunque comune?