Pasif Direniş: Mitin Ötesinde Bir Tarih

by Domenico Losurdo, Emrullah Ataseven (Translator)

Şiddet, savaşlar ve terör dolu bir yüzyıldan sonra pasif direniş ideali insanların bilinçlerinde ve vicdanlarında güçlü bir merak uyandırmıştır. Peki, bu ideali harekete geçiren ilk akımlar ve hareketler nelerdi? Bu akımlar uzunca süren bir savaş, devrim ve şiddet sarmalında ne gibi güçlüklerle karşı karşıya kaldılar? Bu kitapta köleliğe karşı 19. yüzyılın ilk yıllarında, özellikle ABD'de gelişen pasif direniş yöntemleri mercek altına alınıyor. Bir tür başlangıç noktası olarak bu tarihsel evreden hareketle Hıristiyan ve demokratik seküler örgütlenmelere geçiliyor; bu esnada direnişin Thoreau, Tolstoy, Gandi, Capitini, Dolci, M.L. King, Dalai Lama ve Renkli Devrim örgütçüleri gibi ana aktörlerine kadar uzanan geniş bir yelpazede pasif direniş akımları ve figürleri ele alınıyor...

Sosyalist hareketler, sömürge karşıtı ve militarizm karşıtı hareketler de kitabın başlıca meseleleri arasında. Simone Weil ile Hannah Arendt gibi filozofların şiddet problemine dair görüşleri de pasif direniş tarihi kapsamında tartışmaya açılıyor...

Genres: History, Politics, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Theory, 21st Century, Political Science

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Domenico Losurdo (14 November 1941 – 28 June 2018) was an Italian Marxist philosopher and historian better known for his critique of anti-communism, colonialism, imperialism, the European tradition of liberalism and the concept of totalitarianism.

He was director of the Institute of Philosophical and Pedagogical Sciences at the University of Urbino, where he taught history of philosophy as Dean at the Faculty of Educational Sciences. Since 1988, Losurdo was president of the Hegelian International Association Hegel-Marx for Dialectical Thought. He was also a member of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin (an association in the tradition of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's Prussian Academy of Sciences) as well as director of the Marx XXI political-cultural association.

From communist militancy to the condemnation of American imperialism and the study of the African-American and Native American question, Losurdo was also a participant in national and international politics.

Reviews

[Zach Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Losurdo masterpiece. Everything you need to know about the history of non-violence and how it's been weaponized. He meticulously dismantles the myth of "non-violence" in both Gandhi and the Dalai Lama (f*ck them fr). I also loved the breakdown of Fanonian violence and the efforts at balkanizing China, in light of the Western lies about Xinjiang, and the other color revolutions of the past few decades. It's a complete overhaul of the accepted discourse on colonial/revolutionary violence and, in my opinion, a guide to navigating movements that doesn't rely on the false binary of violence/non-violence.

From the last chapter: "To be credible, condemnations of violence must in the first instance target the arms race and policy of war and preparations for war that is also expressed in the installation of military bases abroad, where nuclear weapons are often held as well."

[Faaiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and masterful historical look into the concept and application of non-violence as promulgated by some of its key proponents - Gandhi, King, Dalai Lama - as well as some of the other main interlocutors such as Fanon, Arendt, among others. Losurdo takes us through key historical moments - such as the Antebellum US, First and Second World Wars, Indian Independence, Civil Rights era, Lama's struggle for ascension in Tibet - to examine how the discourse of non-violence was shaped in the course of those events and over time. The most salient thing that jumps up from the start is how the unconditional condemnation of violence is an untenable position and this tension and contradiction is manifest in nearly every such major event where we see how leaders versed in non-violence principles waver and falter from these principles. Losurdo shows that once a war or conflict was imminent, "a choice had to be made; and it was not a question of choosing between violence and non-violence, but between the violence of war and revolutionary violence." Gandhi, a key figure in this book in which Losurdo provides an appraisal of him and his methods, wavered and faltered many times, in his material support for the British in South Africa and then during the First World War while still propagating the principles of non-violence. Even in his non-cooperation movement, he incited violent actions such as his call for: "Sisters should picket liquor shops . . . and foreign cloth dealers’ shops . . . Foreign cloth should be burnt." We see a lot of similar examples where the line between violence is treaded and blurred through coercion and intimidation.

Also, enjoyable to read was Losurdo putting down the self-righteous and hawkish Arendt with her callous and duplicitous attitude towards the colonized.

In her essay On Violence, Arendt was categorical: very little was to be expected of the victory of the “national liberation movements.” It sufficed to take a glance at history: “The rarity of slave rebellions and uprisings among the disinherited and downtrodden is notorious; on the few occasions when they occurred it was precisely ‘mad fury’ that turned dreams into nightmares for everybody." Completely repressed here was the epic revolution of the black slaves led by Toussaint L’Ouverture, which gave birth to the first country on the American continent (Santo Domingo-Haiti) to be free of slavery, and which made a crucial contribution to the abolition of that institution in Latin America as a whole. Likewise repressed is the great revolutionary wave in the twentieth century that saw the “disinherited and downtrodden” of the colonies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America deliver decisive blows to colonial domination and the planetary regime of white supremacy, causing that regime to appear obsolete and intolerable within the United States as well.

Losurdo also offers an appraisal of the Dalai Lama as well as the Lamahist Tibet and its conditions of abject poverty, exploitation, and misery perpetrated in the name of caste and hierarchy. This serves as the backdrop for Losurdo's examination of the contemporary co-option and weaponization of the concept of non-violence by the US and the West to conduct color revolutions around the globe.

Now, by contrast, proclamation of the ideal of non-violence goes hand in hand with celebration of the West, which has erected itself into custodian of the moral conscience of humanity and, as a result, considers itself authorized to practice destabilization and coups d’état, as well as embargoes and “humanitarian” wars, in every part of the world. In the manual of “realistic nonviolent struggle,” the watchword dear to Gandhi is transformed into a tool of the imperial policy of a country that has a gigantic military budget, a nuclear arsenal capable of annihilating humanity several times over, and military bases in every corner of the planet, which enable it to intervene militarily anywhere.

Overall, this is an extremely important book which as its subtitle proclaims is an examination of the history of use and abuse of the concept of non-violence beyond the myth with which it is consecrated in contemporary memory.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant as usual. Losurdo examines the history of movements proclaiming their dedication to nonviolence, personified in figures such as William Lloyd Garrison, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, and the Dalai Lama. With his usual incredible breadth of sources, Losurdo shows how a dogmatic declaration of commitment to non-violence often results in support, either direct or indirect, for policies of extreme violence. In contrast, he points to the revolutionary tradition which opposed the violence of imperialist and colonialist war with revolutionary violence. As ever, Losurdo shows how dogmatism leads one down a distorted path that only a sober, materialist assessment of the concrete historical reality can correct.

[John Davie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complete masterpiece. The cult of non-violence privileges state (and particularly imperial) violence over non-state revolutionary violence.

If, instead, we confine ourselves to addressing appeals for non-violence to non-state movements and organizations, we risk condemning only the violence of the weakest while legitimizing that of the strongest. One thinks for example of the situation in the Palestinian Occupied Territories. Are the Palestinian peasants who have their land expropriated, and who seek to foil this oppression and violence by any means, meeting their death in the process, really more violent that the Israeli colonists and soldiers, who, protected by a massive military apparatus, carry out the operation in tranquillity and utter impunity? As has been observed by an academic at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Israeli government includes "throwing stones" in the official tally of "hostile terrorist attacks." But is the kid who carries out this act really more violent that [sic] the solider who mows him down?

[Gabriel Avocado · Rating 5 out of 5]

an excellent and essential history of the nonviolence movement. losurdo once again does an amazing job noting the inconsistencies of many nonviolent figures in history, such as gandhi and the dalai lama.

[Jorge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Losurdo conta a história da "não-violência" enquanto instrumento mítico de mobilização e engajamento para fins políticos.
O livro remonta às discussões dos puritanos norte-americanos quando das revoltas de escravos e da guerra de secessão; revela com bastante propriedade as contradições da "ahimsa" e "satyagraha" de Gandhi, princípios muitas vezes relativizados em prol do império britânico; coloca em perspectiva e debate aspectos éticos da desobediência civil e dos enfrentamentos passivos pelos direitos civis, de Martin Luther King; disseca a utilização manifestamente instrumental pelo imperialismo de falácias pacifistas tanto em Dalai Lama, pela secessão do Tibete, quanto nas "revoluções coloridas" iniciadas após a dissolução da URSS. Por fim, alerta de como esse mito pode, em vez de libertar nações oprimidas, fortalecer geopoliticamente os poderosos senhores da guerra.
"A 'não-violência', de arma nas mãos dos fracos, transformou-se em mais uma arma dos poderosos e prepotentes que, também fora da ONU, estão determinados a impor a lei do mais forte". (p. 273).
Escrito em 2010, infelizmente não pôde considerar todas as "primaveras", "revoluções" de veludo/seda/pelica, e "despertares" de gigantes que ocorreram nesses últimos 15 anos.

[Tadici · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent examination by Losurdo.

This time he constructs the history of the philosophy of Non-Violence, its roots in the aspirations of its proponents in the 19th century, its purposeful and political usage especially in Gandhi, and its eventual co-option into the global US hegemonic system as a tool of subversion and the justification of repression with the help of the Dalai Lama among others.

The contrast between Gandhi's party and what he calls Lenin's parties is particularly enlightening if just to point out how much the early Gandhi supported the British empire in its colonial endeavors.

Honestly I would probably call every single chapter particularly enlightening if I could. This book is great and essential reading in my humble opinion.

[Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Now… proclamation of the ideal of non-violence goes hand in hand with celebration of the West, which has erected itself into the moral custodian of humanity and, as a result, considers itself authorized to practice destabilization and coups d’état, as well as embargoes and ‘humanitarian wars,’ in every part of the world… the watchword dear to Gandhi is transformed into the imperial policy of a country that has… military bases in every corner of the planet.”

[Comrade Zupa Ogórkowa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another classic from Losurdo. I disagree with other reviewers that this traces a history of the non-violence movement- I do not think it is as broad as that. Though it touches a bit on the abolitionist movement in pre-civil war America he mainly focuses on three influential figures to the non-violent movement/non-violence as a politic: ghandi, mlk, and the Dalai Lama. His main thesis is that these influential leaders of non-violence tactics often hold contradictions and can espouse hypocritical beliefs supporting violence, or may be put into a box of dogmatic non-violence as a virtue rather than a pragmatic concession. Further, sometimes non-violence can in fact lead to more violence. However in the case of the Dalai Lama, which is part 3 of his book, Losurdo points out the weaponization of non violence as a counter insurgent tactic against communist China and the hypocrisy of espousing non violence when Tibet has historically been a deeply exploitative feudalist society. This chapter bridges how non violence has flipped from being used historically as a tactic for colonial resistance to a counter insurgency tool by cia-backed colour revolutions. Of course it wouldn’t be a Losurdo book if he didn’t take up some real estate dunking on Hanna Arendt (no objections from myself).

[Xle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Losurdo digs deep into the life, activism and statements of key figures of the non-violent pantheon in order to demystify a narrative that is used today to promote the very opposite of what these people were in fact fighting for. It’s a revealing and concise research that merits our time and consideration!

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Losurdo's quirks, or defects I suppose you could say, is that he doesn't always have a readily apparent thesis statement at hand. For a historian I suppose that position is defensible -- you can sincerely be more interested in relating a history of a concept (in this case "non-violence") -- but it also seems a little disingenuous coming from Losurdo because I know he has an ideological bias, and he knows he has one, and he knows his readers know he has one too. So why dance around what you're really trying to say? I sometimes wonder how much of this issue is a problem of the translation.

If I had to describe Losurdo's thesis for him (which again, I do, because he doesn't come out and just say it clearly at any point in the introduction or conclusion), it would be that the ideology of non-violence inevitably runs up against limits, and while those limits used to be colonial oppression and/or slavery, in the modern era the concept has been co-opted by western hegemony to buttress its imperialism. I find this discussion valuable and convincing, it was just sometimes hard to understand how Losurdo's various tangents and digressions relate back to the main point.

The most interesting points for me were about how Gandhi and King were not as opposed to violence as our dominant media culture habitually portrays, with an extensive discussion on Gandhi specifically in which he is shown to actually support violence at times (e.g. when it was Britain fighting against not-India), along with the efficacy of his non-violent acts in India being called seriously into question.

The other very valuable discussion is on the Dalai Lama and the history of Tibet: a brutal feudal society which China modernized starting in the 1960s, and which the U.S. then used as a pawn in an attempt to weaken China in what would become effectively the first attempt at a CIA-backed "color revolution."

This takes some patience and attention but it is an important book that dismantles a lot of what western audiences typically think about the value of non-violent protests. I recommend it to any leftist.

Not Bad Reviews

[Panda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alla fine l'idea di Losurdo è quella di porre un fenomeno sociale (che sia Nietzsche, che sia la non-violenza) nel proprio contesto culturale. Peccato che il fenomeno da lui analizzato vada, sostanzialmente, da Gandhi agli anni '60, con un piccolo preludio americano. Ci sono diversi buchi narrativi (l'Europa sette-ottocentesca, ad es.), per non parlare della mancanza di un'analisi della contemporaneità (per quanto la sostanza sarebbe stata la stessa, dal momento che la "grande narrazione" è ancora pienamente in salute). Losurdo ha sempre indugiato su un tema rimescolando, rimucinando, rimestando e ridigerendolo, ma in questo caso è stato troppo statico. Interessanti le prese di posizione della Weil, la storia del Tibet lamaista e dell'India gandhiana, ma il rimestare è stato eccessivo e la massa si è sostanzialmente attaccata e bruciata sul fondo della pentola.

[Marcos Faria · Rating 4 out of 5]

O ponto de partida é a constatação de que todas as grandes iniciativas anunciadas como caminhos para um mundo de paz, especialmente no século XX, só conseguiram trazer mais derramamento de sangue. Losurdo vai buscar a origem dos movimentos antiviolência nos quakers e outras associações de fundo religioso, e traça a sua evolução passando por Gandhi e MLK até as revoluções coloridas do século XXI. Um caminho que é pavimentado por retrocessos e contradições, e em que frequentemente o pacifismo se vê obrigado a escolher entre duas violências — porque não escolher já é uma escolha. A conclusão é de que a não-violência é uma utopia, na melhor das hipóteses, quando não uma bandeira mitificadora adotada para encobrir outras formas de agressão.

[Ziikii · Rating 4 out of 5]

ultimo libro di losurdo prima di prendermi una piccola pausa. forse non il più brillante tra tutti quelli che ho letto ma utilissimo per poter, alla prossima conversazione con un* attivist* di xr, come la storia della non-violenza sia molto diversa dal racconto mitizzato che ne fanno.

[Jayden gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

gave me a greater appreciate for gandhi. had to doublecheck google to make sure i put the "h" in the right spot there.