Irredentism: it's a thing.

A brief note: the purpose of this post isn't to be political. It's just to point out that irredentism is a thing, it's long been a thing, and it's going to continue to be a thing. So media reports that compare Putin to Hitler on the basis of irredentism alone are just trying to go for shock value instead of actually informing you about what irredentism in Europe has looked like over the past 100 years.

Before we begin, here's a quick and dirty definition of irredentism: a belief that advocates for the annexation of neighboring territories based on the same ethnicity, language, and/or culture, actual or alleged.

Irredentist claims to territory existed before Hitler. It's what helped WWI get started. The Serbian nationalist group, the Black Hand, wanted (mostly, vaguely) the part of "Serbia" that was in the Austro-Hungarian empire to join the Kingdom of Serbia (led by a reluctant, somewhat terrified, and resentful Peter the 1st).

After WWI, Italian fascists, feeling robbed by the Treaty of Versailles, made irredentist claims on a part of the Croatian coast (look up the brief history of the Italian fascist Free State of Fiume).

Irredentism is currently a thing for ethnic Hungarians living in Romania, Slovakia, parts of the Ukraine, the Burgenland area of Austria, Croatia, and Serbia. In 1920, after the signing of the Trianon Treaty, Hungarians lost roughly 70% of their empire. 1/3 of all Hungarians after 1920 lived outside of Hungary's borders (Slovakia, Romania, etc.)

Around 1989, talking about the Trianon Treaty became a way to unify Hungarians against the crumbling USSR. Unfortunately, the Trianon Treaty also became part of Hungarians' efforts to reclaim Hungarian culture, and distinguish between the "real Hungarians" and the "cosmopolitans." Guess who the "cosmopolitans" were?

The people today advocating for Hungarian irredentism and bemoaning/bewailing the Treaty of Trianon are part of Hungary's successful far-right parties. In fact, a quick googling of Hungary and anti-Semitism led me to this NPR post from AN HOUR AGO. The headline reads "Increased Hostility Against Jews and Roma in Hungary" and points out that Hungary is more anti-immigrant and hostile to minorities than anywhere else in (western, central) Europe right now:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/03/09/287342069/increased-hostility-against-jews-and-roma-in-hungary

So when you perhaps stumble across a news item about another small town in Hungary erecting a Trianon Treaty statue to memorialize their victimization and celebrate the unity of Hungarian culture, think about what that statue might mean:

As you can probably tell by now, my natural inclination is to be suspicious of irredentist claims to territory because they reinforce the notion of an organic, natural, pure community (thanks, Gottfried Herder!). If everyone were to just come together, goes the line of thinking, our national community would just fall neatly and naturally into place.

As someone who has always, *always* been the outsider to these "natural communities" I especially distrust and dislike this idea. Yes, people are being "included" into a greater body but you sure as hell had better believe that some people are being excluded, too. I felt excluded as a black girl growing up in Vienna, Austria. And then I came to the States, thinking it would be better (and it is, to a certain extent) only to discover that Langston Hughes had a to write a poem called, "I, Too, Sing America." Only to hear people talk about the "real America" that existed in farmlands in Kansas or the mountains of Montana - places that were majority white.

So forgive me for not applauding irredentists for their particular brand of nationalism. It's not my "thing."

Have any other examples of irredentism you'd like to share with us? Leave it in the comments.

Mel Brooks Mocking Hitler (Part 1)

I can think of few movie directors who consistently manage to poke fun at Hitler and Nazis in a way that never gets old like Mel Brooks.  Indeed, I believe that he is the grand champion.  Here is one of his best moments:

 

Evidently, a dubbed version that sounds Danish or something?

This is the end of Brooks' History of the World, Part I, where there are trailers for History of the World, Part II (which did not happen).  What makes this so funny is, naturally, seeing Hitler figure skate, but I particularly like the choice of Johann Strauss Jr.'s Blue Danube Waltz.  First, it is ideal figure skating music, of course.  But the music of Strauss Jr. was also favored by the Nazis and programmed frequently for concerts.  I have no idea if Brooks knew this or if he simply wanted to feature a graceful waltz.  Either way, the scene is sixteen seconds of perfection.

Serving Political Realness

Confession: I'm not one to cry over a celebrity's passing, but I figured out recently in a conversation with my husband who exactly I'll cry over when she leaves this earth: the drag queen superstar RuPaul.

I've watched RuPaul's Drag Race (RPDR), the American reality television program, since its premiere in February 2009. And I've watched RuPaul educate viewers on drag culture and celebrate and normalize varying expressions of gender identities since then, too. She's classy, beautiful, strong, smart, confident, and, best of all, subversive.

Drag culture celebrates confidence, applauds overacting, and champions the proud queen. It also makes a mockery out of the patriarchal rules and political structures that we follow.

Zoe's post on Hitler being the 5th searched term on Yahoo reminded me of a pop artist I came across recently via jezebel, HuffPo, and all the other usual places one goes to find these kinds of things. Saint Hoax, who fashions himself a "POPlitical artist" (do with that what you will), found an intriguing intersection between drag culture and politics. His digitized gifs and images suggest that international politics and political history are a drag, its participants mere performers staging theatrics.

And what I like about it is the subversive act of feminizing through makeup and costumes the men to whom we have given power. I'm not suggesting here that women are weak; rather, these images to me are an equalizer. Finally, in slapping makeup on them, Saint Hoax is allowing us to see these men without their masks of power.

Check out some of his images:

The last image is, of course, Barack Obama. And I have to say: Tina is serving it! She is serving me Gladys Knight, chicken-n-waffles, I-used-to-be-Detroit-Motown-but-now-I'm-Atlanta-bougie realness.

So here's the website to check out for yourselves if you'd like more info on the artist and on this project:
http://www.sainthoax.com/wdyo.html

That's all I'm going to say for now. Oh, and also that I have the most amazing and perfect drag name ever, which I'll share if you promise not to steal it. My drag queen name is Rococo Baroque. And she is confident, supportive, glamorous, a bit prone to snatching ornamental gold objects, witty, and charming. She has, in the drag sense of the term, read Voltaire to filth twice (he needed it, honey) and told Rousseau that he can get it. I'm a fan.

And then this happened

Um, you guys?  Who is using Yahoo these days?