Theorist Judith Butler Warns That France Is on Way to Becoming an
Extreme-Right Militarized State
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/judith_butler_warns_france_becom
ing_extreme-right_militarized_20151119/
Posted on Nov 19, 2015
Shutterstock
Writing from Paris in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks, theorist and
professor Judith Butler laments some French citizens' willingness to give up
civil liberties in return for a veneer of safety that masks the development
of a stronger "security state and the narrowing versions of democracy before
us."
From Verso Books:
I am in Paris and passed near the scene of killing on Boulevard Beaumarchais
on Friday evening. I had dinner ten minutes from another target. Everyone I
know is safe, but many people I do not know are dead or traumatized or in
mourning. It is shocking and terrible. Today the streets were populated in
the afternoon, but empty in the evening. The morning was completely still.
It seems clear from the immediate discussions after the events on public
television that the "state of emergency", however temporary, does set a tone
for an enhanced security state. The questions debated on television include
the militarization of the police (how to "complete" the process), the space
of liberty, and how to fight "Islam" - an amorphous entity. Hollande tried
to look manly when he declared this a war, but one was drawn to the
imitative aspect of the performance so could not take the discourse
seriously.
And yet, buffoon that he is, he is acting as the head of the army now. The
state/army distinction dissolves in the light of the state of emergency.
People want to see the police, and want a militarized police to protect
them. A dangerous, if understandable, desire. The beneficient aspects of the
special powers accorded the sovereign under the state of emergency included
giving everyone free taxi rides home last night, and opening the hospitals
to everyone affected, also draws them in. There is no curfew, but public
services are curtailed, and no demonstrations are allowed. Even the
"rassemblements" (gatherings) to grieve the dead were technically illegal. I
went to one at the Place de la Republique and the police would announce that
everyone must disperse, and few people obeyed. That was for me a brief
moment of hopefulness. ... My wager is that the discourse on liberty will be
important to track in the coming days and weeks, and that it will have
implications for the security state and the narrowing versions of democracy
before us. One version of liberty is attacked by the enemy, another version
is restricted by the state. The state defends the version of liberty
attacked as the very heart of France, and yet suspends freedom of assembly
("the right to demonstrate") in the midst of its mourning and prepares for
an even more thorough militarization of the police. The political question
seems to be, what version of the right-wing will prevail in the coming
elections? And what now becomes a permissable right-wing once le Pen
becomes the "center". Horrific, sad, and foreboding times, but hopefully we
can still think and speak and act in the midst of it.
Read more.
-Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata
http://www.truthdig.com/ http://www.truthdig.com/
Theorist Judith Butler Warns That France Is on Way to Becoming an
Extreme-Right Militarized State
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/judith_butler_warns_france_becom
ing_extreme-right_militarized_20151119/
Posted on Nov 19, 2015
Shutterstock
Writing from Paris in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks, theorist and
professor Judith Butler laments some French citizens' willingness to give up
civil liberties in return for a veneer of safety that masks the development
of a stronger "security state and the narrowing versions of democracy before
us."
From Verso Books:
I am in Paris and passed near the scene of killing on Boulevard Beaumarchais
on Friday evening. I had dinner ten minutes from another target. Everyone I
know is safe, but many people I do not know are dead or traumatized or in
mourning. It is shocking and terrible. Today the streets were populated in
the afternoon, but empty in the evening. The morning was completely still.
It seems clear from the immediate discussions after the events on public
television that the "state of emergency", however temporary, does set a tone
for an enhanced security state. The questions debated on television include
the militarization of the police (how to "complete" the process), the space
of liberty, and how to fight "Islam" - an amorphous entity. Hollande tried
to look manly when he declared this a war, but one was drawn to the
imitative aspect of the performance so could not take the discourse
seriously.
And yet, buffoon that he is, he is acting as the head of the army now. The
state/army distinction dissolves in the light of the state of emergency.
People want to see the police, and want a militarized police to protect
them. A dangerous, if understandable, desire. The beneficient aspects of the
special powers accorded the sovereign under the state of emergency included
giving everyone free taxi rides home last night, and opening the hospitals
to everyone affected, also draws them in. There is no curfew, but public
services are curtailed, and no demonstrations are allowed. Even the
"rassemblements" (gatherings) to grieve the dead were technically illegal. I
went to one at the Place de la Republique and the police would announce that
everyone must disperse, and few people obeyed. That was for me a brief
moment of hopefulness. ... My wager is that the discourse on liberty will be
important to track in the coming days and weeks, and that it will have
implications for the security state and the narrowing versions of democracy
before us. One version of liberty is attacked by the enemy, another version
is restricted by the state. The state defends the version of liberty
attacked as the very heart of France, and yet suspends freedom of assembly
("the right to demonstrate") in the midst of its mourning and prepares for
an even more thorough militarization of the police. The political question
seems to be, what version of the right-wing will prevail in the coming
elections? And what now becomes a permissable right-wing once le Pen becomes
the "center". Horrific, sad, and foreboding times, but hopefully we can
still think and speak and act in the midst of it.
Read more.
-Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata
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