[R-G] First World - Fourth World

[Nick Morcinek]

Macdonald wrote:

>> I don't think your post petty, but I do indeed quibble. First Nations
here 
>> have begun referring to themselves as fourth world.

Of course, tragi-comedy as a part and consequence of repression..

>> It is a term that is useful to me simply (both third and fourth) because
they are so clear in 
>> how denigrated the situation they describe is. But I don't like terms
that 
>> obfuscate the torture that the 'global south' or the 'overexploited'
world, 
>> or the 'imperialised', etc etc... I hate under-developed, and even more
so 
>> I dislike "developing", who Michael Parenti pointed out is to sound like 
>> 'underdeveloped, but we are trying to do something about it'. Even worse.

I agree that we are limited in using western terminology - what else is to
be expected from the dominant racist culture.
And please do not lump in my concern for the term "third world" as a
patronizing form of liberal denial. The derogatory nature of the phrase was
pointed out to me in the early seventies by the victims of its use.
I do not hear my friends from so called "third world" countries refer to
their cultures as poor, underdeveloped or impoverished either. I DO hear the
terms exploited, robbed, assaulted, brutalized, etc. 

>> I often put 3rd world in quotes, and I might start again. (or so-called, 
>> for example) nonetheless I will retain it in my vocabulary.

That's what I missed in your post - the quotation marks!  

Take care

Nicholas

BTW How about "The Non-Aligned World"