Friday, July 22, 2005
hannah arendt and regime change in irak
after reading some excerpts from hannah arendt's On violence i started to question my poor brain about the logic of the iraqui war.
arendt states that there is a difference between violence and power.
1. violence is a mean by which a person forces others to obey.
2. power should be referred to a group of person, not just to one. it is the ability of a group to impose its will. the bigger the group the bigger the power.
power is sometimes violent, sometimes not. violence is not the essence of power, but there is an inverse relationship between the amount of power and the violence needed to rule. small groups need to use big amounts of violence. on the contrary widely supported governments don't need any violence. finally: it is not easy to rule for long time using much violence: soon or late the violence will be reversed against the ruler like a boomerang.
and here is my point: let's suppose that saddam had no popular support, henceforth his power should have been quiet limited. in addiction his ability to use violence should have been restricted by the international embargo. in other words his regime was wonky.
was there any need to use the huge amount of violence fired by the u.s. army to push such a wonky regime down?
Power and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent. Violence appears where power is in jeopardy, but left to its own course it ends in power's disappearance. Hannah Arendt
// posted by luca @ 6:42 PM 
Comments:
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As an American, I have to say that "yes" there is a reason for the war in Iraq. We did not go out looking for the fight - we were attacked...let me amend that statement, our civilians were attacked...our men, our women, our children were murdered...by the hundreds and thousands. Yes, there is a reason for war.
I do not like violence...I hate war. But I know that it is inevitable. There will always be war in the world as long as there are humans. I hate that I know that my country will forever be at war. I pray for peace as I hope the whole world does.
I do not like violence...I hate war. But I know that it is inevitable. There will always be war in the world as long as there are humans. I hate that I know that my country will forever be at war. I pray for peace as I hope the whole world does.
i'm also not an hippie pacifist. what i think is that we should make war the less necessary as possible and wage war only when there is really no other way.
honestly i believe in this case war was not necessary and other means like strenghtened interantional police cooperation were avaible and best suited.
and you'll never know who's right.
;)
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honestly i believe in this case war was not necessary and other means like strenghtened interantional police cooperation were avaible and best suited.
and you'll never know who's right.
;)
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