[Buddha-l] One Buddhist's perspective on Zionism

[Stephen Hodge]

Michel Clasquin wrote:

> Interesting, that is a perspective I have not come across. I would like to 
> hear more before I make up my mind, but moving from a mixed Latin/Celtic 
> linguistic setup to a Germanic one? Why would they do that unless there 
> were native Germanic-speakers around whose high social status made it 
> worthwhile to emulate them?
It seems that they changed because the politico-cultural centre of gravity 
for the people living here shifted from Rome to Northern Europe after the 
withdrawal of the last legion.   I shall not go into this in detail since it 
is far off topic for the list but let me direct you to Francis Pryor's 
"Britain AD" (HarperCollins 2004) -- this is good introduction to the 
evidential reasons why the hitherto conventional notion of an "Anglo-Saxon" 
invasion is quite mistaken.

I would not say that there are no unresolved issues that need to be 
clarified, but I should stress that this new evaluation of the Dark Ages is 
not solely a product of Francis Pryor's research but is backed by a 
considerable number of British archeologists, linguists (eg so-called Old 
English was a creole) etc.  You can then follow up the references he gives. 
Also, the evidence from DNA and stable isotope analysis is not yet 
conclusive but very suggestive in support of this contention.

Also, I should mention in passing, many archeologists now reject the idea 
that there were any "Celts" apart from the small tribe who lived near 
Marseilles.  The preferred term, outside of modern policized contexts, is 
just "European Iron Age people".  All this is of interest as a model for 
what might have happened in India after the collapse of the Indus Valley 
civilization.

Best wishes,
Stephen Hodge