(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
"From war between armies, we have moved on to war between civilians. The war is a contagious disease that is spreading ", said the French philosopher Andrè Glucksman recently in a conversation with El Pais. With the terrorist attack on September 11, the war has, in his view, entered its nihilistic phase. Glucksman believes that democracy must at all times defend itself against evil and all forms of totalism. In 1968, he wrote a book on the discourse of war, since supporting Allied interventions in Kuwait and Kosovo, and condemning Russian aggression against Chechens.
"The state is losing control because the violence is expanding. Its logic can not be reduced to the economic, the technological or the cultural. That is the nihilistic logic of war. No atomic bombs were needed to destroy the Twin Towers. That is what the Western governments have not understood. It was believed that bin Laden had biological or chemical weapons. The CIA tried to protect itself from violence from above – which is typical of modern states' monopoly – while one should defend itself against violence from below.
The power of the partisans, theorized by Carl Schmitt and Mao, is the story of violence from below, and it has been the great renewal of the war in the 20th century, "says Glucksman.
Like a Big Bang
The French architect and philosopher Paul Virilio is not at all surprised by what happened. As early as 1993, after the first assassination attempt on the Wold Trade Center, he wrote that it was "the real Big Bang for the new era". And the other day he said that it is a "scandal" that the newspapers in recent weeks have written, "that what happened on September 11 was unthinkable." He believes that we are not facing a war that lives up to Clausewitz's dictum that the war is a continuation of politics, but by other means.
"After many years of living with a terrorist balance, we are now entering a period of unbalanced terror. And this difference in weight is not a continuation of the war by any other means. Today it is urgent to find a political leader who is able to repoliticize the world, give it meaning. Bush is not up to the task. It is not enough to be a reactionary, "says Virilio, who calls for politicians of Churchill and De Gaulle's format.
The Spanish philosopher Fernado Savater writes in a column in the daily newspaper El Pais that “those who have sown terror in the United States do not represent a positive alternative to the chaotic system in which we live, because they only express the diseases that the system favors. NGOs are in vogue, and therefore we should resign and acknowledge that alongside the humane, the inhumane will also flourish: Terrorism, funded by a fanatical millionaire, is also an unfortunate triumph for private initiative, as long as no one dares to propose a credible alternative to something that can be defended together, ”says Savater.
Bake the mask
"It is important not to blindly trust the big words, which at times are just masks for the worst interests, but to make sure that so many centuries of humane reflections have not been completely in vain." Savater recalls what the philosopher Isaah Berlin once said: "The difference between a civilized person and a barbarian is that the civilized is able to fight for things that not everyone believes in".
Mexican author Carlos Fuentes is also concerned with the dark aspects of globalization, which have surfaced.
"As globalization shows its shortcomings, the locality has not been late in showing its own: setbacks to dark truths, widespread fatalisms, hidden phobias, aggressive nationalism, religious fundamentalisms, ethnic cleansing. It is these worlds that tragically hit the North American cities on September 11th. In New York and Washington it happened that the greatest power showed its powerlessness, and the greatest powerlessness showed its power. "
Fuentes warns that the United States and the West are falling into the "Babylonian night of revenge" because it is the easy but unreflective solution that can evoke new vendettas and a mysterious crusade against what is different.
"The North American retaliation against an enemy without a voice will justify Russian retaliation against Chechnya and Chinese retaliation against the northern peoples. The retaliatory action will, like Macbeth's hatred, expand until it suffocates everything, even sleep, "says Fuentes, who hopes that the tragic moments pave the way for an international legal order with strong institutions, where war crimes and human rights violations are punished in international courts.
Toys and cafe strategists
The American Nobel laureate, Saul Bellow, doubts that the United States is mature enough for such challenges. To the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, he says: “The United States is a huge toy country, populated by uneducated children who believe they can continue to play all their lives. More than terrorism, apathy and general superficiality are the real threat to our society and democracy.
Bellow adds that only a small minority of Americans are "interested in the real problems."
Meanwhile, the French philosopher Bernhard-Henri Lèvy in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo urges us to be vigilant against anti-Americanization: “It is true that solidarity with the victims of the World Trade Center seems unshakable. But at the same time… these little phrases, here and there, about the American arrogance, this arrogant distancing. These spasmodic faces among the commercial café strategists, which Bush (sic!) Does not "manage to calm down". All these souls with good will who mix it all up and confuse two battles, which have nothing to do with each other. … And the worst thing is that these deceptive and therefore degrading analyzes, which we are beginning to hear, are about how American politics in recent years has created frustrations, rage and even the revolt that the deaths of kamikaze pilots express. Is it necessary to remind those who are tempted by this game that the only thing they are doing is legitimizing and justifying? ”
