Old South, New South

It is the final minutes of this film that justify the words 'New South' in its title. It celebrates the rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, blacks and whites collaborating on a massive programme of works in a harmonious spirit, no doubt helped along by a little background-jazz in Bourbon Street. Actually I think the producers missed their chance to show scenes from the hurricane itself, which made the Bush administration look as though it was deliberately leaving the poorer black enclaves to (literally) sink or swim. A revolutionary might have used this to spark Armageddon. But the longsuffering public realized there was no lynch-mob spirit here, just politicians even lazier than usual.

A distinctly non-revolutionary black lady-professor from Atlanta is proud to call herself a southerner, and claims that the 'family' is getting on much better these days. ("If my ancestors could see me now...") She certainly reflects the claim that the south has the better manners, and this, of course, is what keeps Gone with the Wind close to the hearts of America, north and south. But as always, any mention of GWTW raises the spectre of racial servitude, and the Civil War being blamed on slavery.

In the run-up to the war, most northerners were not especially interested in the slavery debate. But they were very interested in the cotton debate. Bigger and bigger cotton revenues were pouring into Washington every year. And every year, the North was winning more debates in Congress, free to spend this new wealth on projects that would benefit them at the expense of the south who had generated it (with a little help from unpaid labour, that is.) To the north, therefore, the Union was distinctly worth fighting for, as the south felt it was equally worth fighting against.

So the actual trigger was the economy, not slavery, which was somewhat on the back-burner anyway, as Lincoln had given the nod to slavery in its traditional heartlands. (Not till almost half-way through did he turn it into an abolitionist war) This is why phrases like 'caused by slavery' or 'profiting from slavery' are too simplistic to convince the sceptical.

Like many good soldiers, the Confederates were bad losers, and felt it necessary to invent the Lost Cause out of a sulky feeling that they had deserved to win, beaten only by a bigger population and better technology - and then to dress this up in the romantic imagery of the old south, as reflected in the most successful movie of all time.