Ethnic slaughter is always committed under the most beautiful excuses: justice, equality, independence, rights of the people, democracy, a fight against privile

Amin Maalouf

The writer born in Lebanon and living in Paris answers "both" when asked if he is French or Lebanese. "I" is at the intersection of belonging to multiple groups such as occupation, ethnicity, and cultural tradition. The concept that is originally universal can become "a tool for exclusion" when combined with a thought of limiting identity to a single group. From "Identity Kills People" (translated by Masatsugu Ono).

"June 19  2019

from “Oriori no Kotoba” by Kiyokazu Washida, The Asahi Shimbun"