360
PARTISAN REVIEW
with the help of values ingested in their cOnUlmnities, would have learned
to judge the larger concerns as well. (Volunteering for service in the Civil
War or in World War II comes to mind.)
By amalgamating these terms, we deprive both of their meanings and
thus arrive at impersonal
GemeinschaJt,
and at a
Gesellschcift
based on legalities
rather than on the interests that link its various communities. Moreover,
since these communities increasingly are being encouraged to form with–
in ethnic enclaves, which are, in turn, based more and more on laws
encouraging separatism, the possibilities for creating a cohesive
GesellschaJt
become hopelessly diminished. Is it not time to go back to clear defini–
tions of these words, and thereby to focus on what we really are talking
about? Clearly, semantic manipulations won't change our culture. And
they certainly won't "save children's lives."
.
The View from
Italy
The war in the Balkans looked different from Italy
than it did from New York or Washington, closer and more ominous.
Although the situation has begun to resolve itself, the conflict is bound to
have major effects on our relations with the countries of Europe. Yes,
President Clinton managed to hold the NATO alliance together, but on
the streets of Italian cities (and in Paris) one could, once again, see posters
saying "American forces of occupation, get out." Every time a NATO
plane roared overhead, people began to talk about their experiences in
World War
II,
recounting their parents' tales or remembering their own
reactions when, as small children, they had been herded into bomb shel–
ters. Just like Americans, Italians have been upset at the fate of the
Kosovars, but at the same time felt threatened by the repercussions of
being overrun with refugees for whom they might have to find work and
shelter. (Canceled and delayed flights were not on their minds, but on
those of the tourists.) Still, however much my Italian friends and acquain–
tances tried to hide their disenchantment with America from me, there is
no doubt that they blamed us (and even more Tony Blair) rather than
NATO-to which they proudly belong-for taking on Milosevic. Most
of all, they put the onus on President Clinton for having plunged them
into a situation they feel he (and his advisors) barely understood in all its
complexities. (For the most part, those on the right insisted we should
have acted much sooner, while those on the left were against "American
imperialism.")
"It
is his war, not ours," stated one Bolognese during a lively dinner
discussion on May 22 about the advisability of a ground war. The others
chimed in, praising and maligning their own politicians according to how
they were handling this impossible situation, and worrying about the
