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The State of Emergency - A Reader
June 1, 2004 - 2:48pm -- hydrarchist
hydrarchist writes ... this is just the introduction from a reader produced for a conference of the same title by some friends in Australia. The link to the rest of the texts can be found at the end.
The State of Emergency - A Reader
She is married to a man she loathes but who has her almost completely in his power
In 1940, Walter Benjamin - a Marxist Jew in exile in France - wrote that “[t]he tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the ‘state of emergency’ in which we live is not the exception, but the rule.” Just as crisis is the normal state for a soap opera about oil fortunes (i.e., Dallas), crisis is the normal state for the soap opera about oil fortunes in which we live (i.e., the world).
The state of emergency Benjamin wrote from was the second world war, but more recent events only confirm his analysis. Surely the best example is Paraguay under Alfredo Stroesser in the 1960s and 70s: although Paraguay was, in theory, a “normal” constitutional democracy, Stroesser explained that the global struggle between Freedom and Communism meant we all lived in a constant “state of emergency” - and so the constitution was suspended indefinitely. It came into effect only once every four years, for one day - election day - when Stroesser’s regime was returned to power with a good 90% of the vote, and the state of emergency began again.
Don’t be distracted by the absurd excess of this example. If you follow Benjamin’s argument, Stroesser’s Paraguay is the model of all modern societies, including - of course - our own. This is no reason for pessimism, because when we understand it we may, as Benjamin says, “attain a conception of history that is in keeping with this insight. Then we shall clearly realize that it is our task to bring about a real state of emergency, and this will improve our position in the struggle against Fascism.”
hydrarchist writes ... this is just the introduction from a reader produced for a conference of the same title by some friends in Australia. The link to the rest of the texts can be found at the end.
The State of Emergency - A Reader
She is married to a man she loathes but who has her almost completely in his power
In 1940, Walter Benjamin - a Marxist Jew in exile in France - wrote that “[t]he tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the ‘state of emergency’ in which we live is not the exception, but the rule.” Just as crisis is the normal state for a soap opera about oil fortunes (i.e., Dallas), crisis is the normal state for the soap opera about oil fortunes in which we live (i.e., the world).
The state of emergency Benjamin wrote from was the second world war, but more recent events only confirm his analysis. Surely the best example is Paraguay under Alfredo Stroesser in the 1960s and 70s: although Paraguay was, in theory, a “normal” constitutional democracy, Stroesser explained that the global struggle between Freedom and Communism meant we all lived in a constant “state of emergency” - and so the constitution was suspended indefinitely. It came into effect only once every four years, for one day - election day - when Stroesser’s regime was returned to power with a good 90% of the vote, and the state of emergency began again.
Don’t be distracted by the absurd excess of this example. If you follow Benjamin’s argument, Stroesser’s Paraguay is the model of all modern societies, including - of course - our own. This is no reason for pessimism, because when we understand it we may, as Benjamin says, “attain a conception of history that is in keeping with this insight. Then we shall clearly realize that it is our task to bring about a real state of emergency, and this will improve our position in the struggle against Fascism.”