平等的肤色线——20世纪帝国主义的种族主义基础

Drawing the Colour Line of Equality: The Racist Foundation of Imperialism in the 20^(th) Century

今天西方学界对“帝国主义”的讨论,绝大多数将其视为一种源自政府的政治与军事政策。同时,通过斩断帝国主义与资本主义、种族主义之间的内在联系,试图将“帝国主义”概念去政治化。本文的核心任务是要强调,帝国主义时代以来的种族主义思想是维持霸权秩序——特别是垄断经济全球霸权的结构性力量。这种结构性力量对欧洲内部的社会民主主义运动也造成了不可消磨的负面影响。本文认为,在欧洲社会政治语境下的社会民主主义运动很早便面临着民族团结与国际团结的矛盾。这个矛盾在今天的欧洲,体现为国家主权与欧洲一体化诉求之间的矛盾。这一难于调和的矛盾,恰恰是西方中心世界观对“民族主义”认识的基础与历史记忆。

In contemporary Western scholarship, imperialism has been ’sanitised’and depoliticised by severing its inherited connections with capitalism and racism. Consequently, it is mainly treated as a policy advocating military or economic expansionism. This paper aims to reinstate the connections among imperialism, capitalism,and racism. We argue that racism is a structural power to maintain the hegemonic order, particularly the global monopolistic power of modern capitalist empires since the era of imperialism. This structural power also wore down the social democratic movement in Europe. The social democratic movement in Europe was torn between the pull of ethno-centric nationalism and the moral call for an international solidarity. Such a Euro-centric historical memory shapes the epistemological understanding of’nationalism’in today’s western world.