266
PARTISAN REVIEW
European--cultural hegemony will continue on into the next century. That
is by no means certain. I think that English most likely will remain the
lingua
franca
around the world, whatever the influence of the Chinese will be. But
to come back to the Jews: I think that one of the reasons why they have sur–
vived longer than any other people is precisely their cliasporic civilization.
That's why I'm concerned about the fact that it may be in the process of ero–
sion, perhaps irredeemable decline. I think Israel has good prospects for
maintaining itself, at least for the next fifty years. But, historically, it is really
the clisapora that has preserved the Jews. This is especially ironic, because
twentieth century nationalism and the ideology of Zionism was based on
opposite premises-as the Zionist leader, Vladimir Jabotinsky put it-if the
Jews do not liquidate the cliaspora (he preferred the term
Calut,
meaning
exile) then the diaspora will liquidate them. Hence the Zionists rooted them–
selves in the land of Israel and a terri torial nationali ty. I think that the Jewish
Diaspora still has a message for other peoples. The contemporary world is in
a process of diasporization-migrating peoples, exiles
wi
thin exiles-and the
lengthy Jewish experience of cliaspora is highly relevant to many other peo–
ples and cultures. I know this is not an answer to your question, but it's a
thought-provoking aspect which may grow in importance.
Walter Laqueur:
I happened recently to reread Bellamy and I was
impressed because he not only envisaged the existence of credit cards,
which put him a few decades ahead, but he also envisioned a kind of wel–
fare state, a vaguely socialist society, which again considering the time, and
America, was a remarkable feat. But on the whole, [ think it is most diffi–
cult to predict values, creeds, and beliefs. It is relatively easy to project
technological development. For instance: I was reacling the
Washington Post
of January 1, 1901. A man, not a famous scientist, noted that in the 1800s
the highest speed on the road was about six miles, that in the year 1900 it
was sixty miles per hour, so he thought it stood to reason that by the year
2000 we would move at six hundred miles per hour. Since this is impossi–
ble under water, and unlikely on land, it most likely would be in the air.
This was a few years after the Wright brothers, so this kind of projection
is possible and frequently correct. But new messages, new creeds, and new
values, cannot be quantified.
Gunther Stent:
Bellan1Y preclicted a couple other things. One was the end
of home-cooking and in that sense he anticipated McDonald's. But he also
predicted the end of public symphony concerts since music would be piped
into everybody's home via the recently invented telephone. So there he
was
wrong. As for the future of Zionism, suppose that the Arabs decide that they
have suffered enough, that it is against their economic interest to keep on
fighting the Jews, and that there will be peace and a Middle-Eastern
