As a perfect complement to its glamorizing of neoliberal entrepreneurialism, the art world today relentlessly promotes the figure of the "nomad," which is nothing but an exoticized globalist version of the 19th-century Old West pioneer, and of the missionary and explorer before that, all of whom were thought to transform the landscape in worthwhile ways, unlike the natives who supposedly produce nothing of value.
from Seth Mydans, "Stateless, With Borders All Around," New York Times (8 April 2007): "Hidden in the back corners of Southeast Asia is a scattered population of millions of nobodies, citizens of nowhere, forgotten or neglected by governments. Many of these stateless people are among the world’s poorest; all are the most disenfranchised. Without citizenship, they often have no right to schooling, health care or property ownership. Nor may they vote or travel outside their countries — even, in some cases, outside the towns where they live. They are stateless for many reasons — migration, refugee flight, racial or ethnic exclusion, the quirks of history — but taken together, these noncitizens, according to one report, 'are among the most vulnerable segments of humanity.' They have few avenues for redressing abuses, and little access to resources that could help them build better lives. They have few advocates, because human rights groups tend to focus on the types of abuses they suffer — trafficking, exploitation, discrimination — rather than the root of those conditions, their statelessness."
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A poorly edited summary of some organized responses to the C6 conference can be seen here.
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