There is a great void in Connecticut, an emptiness, a lack of connectedness and a sense of isolation. We have become an island unto ourselves, relying only on Cohen the Columnist to provide us a sense of direction and purpose, as we fearfully stare out at a world that we do not understand.
How can a state that harbors Lebanon, Bethlehem and Berlin within its borders be so lacking in foreign policy direction and understanding?
The evidence is everywhere. As human and financial capital flies around the world looking for love, Connecticut huddles within itself, afraid to join the party.
At a time when you can have a do-it-yourself appendectomy assisted by a robotic internet doctor in India, Connecticut is planning a major overhaul of the University of Connecticut medical school and hospital, so that it will throw a wide enough marketing net to keep every living, breathing Connectuckian within our borders, at the slightest sign of a sniffle. No contact with the outside world. It’s scary out there.
It all began when former Gov. M. Jodi Rell bludgeoned the legislature into doing away with the Advisory Commission on American and Francophone Cultural Affairs. It was the first step in our closing the gates to the outside world. What was she thinking? French is a national language in 28 countries, including Chad, Burundi and Togo. With one swipe of the legislative machete, Connecticut cut itself off from the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie — a slap in the face to the likes of Romania, Bulgaria and Mauritania. Even Slovakia is an “Observer’ state. No one knows why. Now, Connecticut will never find out.
Credit is due to state Sen. John Fonfara, who attempted to restore Connecticut’s international reputation this year with the establishment of a Bosnian Affairs Commission — a symbol that Connecticut’s interests stretch far beyond Voluntown, wherever that is.
The commission would have had no staff, no budget, no office (unless it promised to locate at the Front Street Undevelopment project in downtown Hartford). It certainly didn’t hurt that Fonfara’s Hartford-Wetherfield district has more Bosnians than it has Republicans, but the real purpose of the commission would have been to restore Connecticut’s credibility as an international player.
But no, the isolationists in the Government Administration and Elections Committee let the Bosnian bill die a quiet death, amid all the tumult of budget trimming and tax raising.
In truth, the Bosnians would have made a complex addition to the state’s existing ethnic/racial/gender bureaucratic colossus, with commissions on women, African-Americans, Latinos, the elderly, children, and columnists abused by miserly publishers.
In addition to providing a comfortable sinecure for a handful of well-connected staff and commissioners, the commissions reinforce a Victimization Seal of Approval on various groups, helping them gain access to various pieces of the social service network.
How would the Bosnians fit in? Well, certainly on the international level, the Bosnians suffered virulent violence in the long-standing Serbian ‘ethnic cleansing’ campaign in Yugoslavia. As refugees escaping from harm, the Bosnian refugees deserve admiration and a bit of help. But in discussing the local Bosnians with folks in the Hartford area, they are described as hard-working, entrepreneurial, well-equipped with strong, ‘handy guy’ work ethos — much like the French Canadians of a previous generation in Hartford were often described.
The question that arises is what would our Bosnian friends and neighbors ask of their very own commission that couldn’t be provided through church, charity and volunteer efforts? Do they suffer from particular injustice in Connecticut?
They should consider themselves lucky. They don’t speak French.
Â
Laurence D. Cohen is a freelance writer.
