ネーションを想像するひとつの仕方

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william/why-i-recorded-yes-w_b_84655.html?view=print

The Black Eyed PeasのWill.i.amが提唱したバラク・オバマのプロモーション・ソング”Yes We Can”。歌詞は、

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --

Yes. We. Can.

コミュニティの記憶（想い出）をひとつひとつ手繰りながら、コミュニティのコミュニティとしてのネーションを想像していくという仕方は、今やコミュニタリアニズムの典型的な著作ともなっているであろうベラーたちの『心の習慣』を想起させる*1。ナショナリズムの言説には勿論排外的な側面があるが、他方ネーションの外部にいる人々をネーションに招き入れるという包括的な側面がある。ここで表面化しているのは、ナショナリズムの後者の側面であろう。無論、ナショナリズムが自然化されえない米国の国柄の特殊性*2も考慮されなければいけない。

心の習慣―アメリカ個人主義のゆくえ

ところで、”Yes We Can”に参加しているハービー・ハンコックは熱心な創価学会の信者として知られるが、だからといって日本の公明党がオバマ支持になるということはないよな。

*1:See also 『破られた契約』

破られた契約―アメリカ宗教思想の伝統と試練

*2:Cf. eg. http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20080125/1201204697