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--></style><title>Re: Asking question about the word
"separatism"</title></head><body>
<div>In Québec there is the mouvement indépendantiste or
souverainiste. For the most part, it is referred to as an independence
or sovereign-association movement by the francophone population and as
a separatist movement by the anglophone population. These terms are
strongly ideological especially in their juxtapositioning, i.e., they
reflect social positioning and subsequent [potential] degrees of
success; much in the way polarisation may be seen in parallel terms
such as 'rebel' and 'revolutionary'.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I suspect one might be more hard-pressed to find neutral
instances where populations and territorial controls are
concerned.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I hope this helps.</div>
<div>Marsha Chuk</div>
<div>---</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Dear friends,<br>
I want to ask you about the words 'separatist' or 'separatism'
or 'separation movement'. What do you think about those words? Is
there any 'ideological meaning' in those words?<br>
</div>
<div>Seeing from the 'formal defintion' in some encyclopedia (i.e.
'separatist': 'an advocate of separation, esp. ecclesiastical or
political separation' (Encyclopedic World Dictionary) or 'a person who
advocates the secession of a province, esp. Quebec from Canada'
(Wordreference.com)) on in a scientific writing (like Daniel Tan Kuan
Wei's "Investigating the Dynamics of Separatism", in
which he said 'separatism can be broadly defined as a "process
whereby territorial units consisting of a minority or subordinate
ethnic group, or a coalition of ethnic groups assert themselves
politically, challenging the scope of a particular authority and seeks
to secede or gain autonomy from the control, de facto and de jure, of
a central government predominantly administered by a different
ethno-linguistic and/or religious group'),<br>
it seems that the words 'separatism', 'separatis' do not have any
'ideological meaning'. But reading the following documents of the
ASNLF, (Acheh Sumatra National Liberation Front, the organization in
Acheh, Indonesia, wich demands self-determination for the Achehneese
people), in which they denied the word "separatism", it
seems that the word 'separatist', 'separatism', 'separation movement',
has an 'ideological meaning':<br>
</div>
<blockquote>'Secondly, to call the world's attention to the fact that
the question of Acheh Sumatra is not a question of "separatism"
as alleged by the Javanese/Indonesian colonialist regime and the
Western press, but a question of self-determination of the people of
Acheh Sumatra, and a question of decolonization of the Dutch East
Indies alias "Indonesia" which has not been decolonized
legally and properly in accordance with the purpose and meaning of the
Charter of the United Nations, with the principles and procedures of
International Law, and with the UN Resolution on the Granting of
Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.'<br>
</blockquote>
<div>Also, the above statement by the ANSLF is similar to the refusal
of the Tamil guerilla movement to be called "separatism",
like in the following news from Asia Times, November 29, 2001:<br>
</div>
<blockquote>"Sri Lanka's Tamil guerrilla movement "is
neither separatism nor terrorism", the head of the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has declared. It is the closest a Tamil
guerrilla leader has come to suggesting that a homeland separate from
the Sinhalese majority on the island may not be essential to ending
the bloody, decades-long conflict."<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote> "The Tamil people want to maintain their
national identity and to live in their own lands, in their
historically given homeland with peace and dignity. They want to
determine their own political and economic life; they want to be on
their own. These are the basic political aspirations of the Tamil
people," Pirabhakaran said in his annual Heroes Day speech on
Tuesday. "It is neither separatism nor terrorism."<br>
</blockquote>
<div>>From what the ASNLF and the Tamil Eelam said, it seems that
'separatism' has a negative connotation, and so that's why they don't
want to be called 'separatist'.<br>
</div>
<div>So what do you think, do the words "separatist",
"separatism", or "separation movement" have an
'ideological meaning"?</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I think that's all for now. Thank you very much.<br>
</div>
<div>Best Regards,</div>
<div>Zaki</div>
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