Re: [casi] A word from Camus...

["Bert Gedin" <gedinbert@DELETETHIShotmail.com>]

Dear Elga & List,

Thanx for the Camus piece. Alright, it may not, directly, relate to Iraq.
Still, in a broader, philosophical sense, it very much does. In fact, the
warmongering godfathers, & their supporters, might just learn something in
studying Algerian/French writer Albert Camus.

Some years ago, I read several of his books, plus some articles. In a quick
net search, today, I looked up
'Combat' etc. Seems Camus, had been editor, and had worked together with
Sartre & others on this
clandestine papr, an organ of the French Resistance. What had puzzled me was
that the essay, 'Neither Victim nor Executioner' was published in 'Combat'
in 1946. Why, I wondered, did 'Combat' exist in 1946, if WWII finished in
1945, & France had been (a loaded word!) liberated? Be that as it may, the
paper had begun in December 1941. Camus resigned it in 1947, commercalism
had taken over, it's idealism had been eclipsed by other values. Camus, as
we know, became a strong proponent of existentialism.

Greetings,   Bert G.


>From: H Sutter <citext@chebucto.ns.ca>
>To: casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk
>Subject: [casi] A word from Camus...
>Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2003 22:13:01 -0300 (ADT)
>
>
>Dear List,
>
>Camus wrote an essay "Neither Victim nor Executioner".
>It was published in Combat, the newspaper of the
>French Resistance, in 1946.
>
>The essay opens with "Yes, we must raise our voices."
>But Camus did more than raise his voice. He fought
>in the Resistance during WWII and yet he was averse
>to killing. He believed that it is "fear and silence"
>that must be fought.
>
>Camus' words are as valid today as they were then -
>perhaps more so.
>
>The complacent - and hypocritical reaction - of the
>so-called international community to the 'lifting
>of the sanctions' has reminded me of Camus' call
>for courage. And I believe too that "Yes, we must
>raise our voices."
>
>Here is an example:
>
>"Fischer and Powell welcome the UN Resolution",
>proclaimed a news item in the German press on
>May 22. This was the one that legitimized USUK
>as the occupying powers in Iraq. And to open the
>doors for USUK's looting of Iraq, this resolution
>also got rid of the sanctions. Well, there will
>be some nice crumbs for the coalition of the
>unwilling too.
>
>So here's to selling the people of Iraq down
>the Western exploitation river! And sweeping
>under the carpet the fact that the sanctions
>that devastated Iraqis had not even the
>benefit of the pretext belaboured for
>13 years - those WMDs. For 13 years Iraqis
>have been collectively punished for a pretext.
>
>Mr. Fischer avoided the phrase "lifting the
>sanctions", he spoke instead of the "decision
>by the UN Security Council". This "decision", he
>said, was a good basis for improving the living
>conditions of the Iraqi people and to stabilize
>the political situation.
>
>Mr. Powell was euphoric: This was a wonderful
>day for the Iraqi people, he quipped. Differences
>of opinion have now to be put aside. This was a
>hint for France - Germany has already eaten crow.
>
>Now Iraqi exports are free again, continued the
>news item. ("Oil wells have been liberated for
>democracy", as the Onion satirically put it.)
>
>And the EU, as a whole, also welcomed the "lifting
>of the Iraqi sanctions" by the Security Council.
>They spoke of a "new spirit of cooperation".
>
>Immoral, corrupt, and hypocritical politicians -
>the whole bunch. But the disheartening part is
>that the whole world acquiesces - and pretends
>to see the emperor's fig leaves.
>
>Camus' concluding words:
>
>"But I have always held that, if he who bases his
>hopes on human nature is a fool, he who gives up
>in the face of circumstances is a coward. And
>henceforth, the only honorable course will be to
>stake everything on a formidable gamble: that
>words are more powerful than munitions."
>
>I understand that it is very, very hard for most
>people to 'raise their voices' in the face of
>injustice. In doing so, they set themselves
>apart from the mainstream society - and people
>need to feel accepted. Still, the injustice we
>are facing is horrendous and will eventually
>catch up with us all.
>
>So let's not be cowards,
>
>--Elga
>
><Fwd>
>NEITHER VICTIMS NOR EXECUTIONERS
>
>by Albert Camus
>
>Yes, we must raise our voices. Up to this point, I have
>refrained from appealing to emotion. We are being torn
>apart by a logic of history which we have elaborated in
>every detail--a net which threatens to strangle us. It
>is not emotion which can cut through the web of a logic
>which has gone to irrational lengths, but only reason
>which can meet logic on its own ground. But I should not
>want to leave the impression... that any program for the
>future can get along without our powers of love and
>indignation. I am well aware that it takes a powerful
>prime mover to get men into motion and that it is hard
>to throw one's self into a struggle whose objectives are
>so modest and where hope has only a rational basis--and
>hardly even that. But the problem is not how to carry
>men away; it is essential, on the contrary, that they
>not be carried away but rather that they be made to
>understand clearly what they are doing.
>
>To save what can be saved so as to open up some kind of
>future--that is the prime mover, the passion and the
>sacrifice that is required. It demands only that we
>reflect and then decide, clearly, whether humanity's lot
>must be made still more miserable in order to achieve
>far-off and shadowy ends, whether we should accept a
>world bristling with arms where brother kills brother;
>or whether, on the contrary, we should avoid bloodshed
>and misery as much as possible so that we give a chance
>for survival to later generations better equipped than
>we are.
>
>For my part, I am fairly sure that I have made the
>choice. And, having chosen, I think that I must speak
>out, that I must state that I will never again be one of
>those, whoever they be, who compromise with murder, and
>that I must take the consequences of such a decision.
>The thing is done, and that is as far as I can go at
>present.... However, I want to make clear the spirit in
>which this article is written.
>
>We are asked to love or to hate such and such a country
>and such and such a people. But some of us feel too
>strongly our common humanity to make such a choice.
>Those who really love the Russian people, in gratitude
>for what they have never ceased to be--that world leaven
>which Tolstoy and Gorky speak of--do not wish for them
>success in power politics, but rather want to spare
>them, after the ordeals of the past, a new and even more
>terrible bloodletting. So, too, with the American
>people, and with the peoples of unhappy Europe. This is
>the kind of elementary truth we are likely to forget
>amidst the furious passions of our time.
>
>Yes, it is fear and silence and the spiritual isolation
>they cause that must be fought today. And it is
>sociability and the universal intercommunication of men
>that must be defended. Slavery, injustice, and lies
>destroy this intercourse and forbid this sociability;
>and so we must reject them. But these evils are today
>the very stuff of history, so that many consider them
>necessary evils. It is true that we cannot "escape
>history," since we are in it up to our necks. But one
>may propose to fight within history to preserve from
>history that part of man which is not its proper
>province. That is all I have to say here. The "point" of
>this article may be summed up as follows:
>
>Modern nations are driven by powerful forces along the
>roads of power and domination. I will not say that these
>forces should be furthered or that they should be
>obstructed. They hardly need our help and, for the
>moment, they laugh at attempts to hinder them. They
>will, then, continue. But I will ask only this simple
>question: What if these forces wind up in a dead end,
>what if that logic of history on which so many now rely
>turns out to be a will o' the wisp? What if, despite two
>or three world wars, despite the sacrifice of several
>generations and a whole system of values, our
>grandchildren--supposing they survive-- find themselves
>no closer to a world society? It may well be that the
>survivors of such an experience will be too weak to
>understand their own sufferings. Since these forces are
>working themselves out and since it is inevitable that
>they continue to do so,there is no reason why some of us
>should not take on the job of keeping alive, through the
>apocalyptic historical vista that stretches before us, a
>modest thoughtfulness which, without pretending to solve
>everything, will constantly be prepared to give some
>human meaning to everyday life. The essential thing is
>that people should carefully weight the price they must
>pay....
>
>All I ask is that, in the midst of a murderous world, we
>agree to reflect on murder and to make a choice. After
>that, we can distinguish those who accept the
>consequences of being murderers themselves or the
>accomplices of murderers, and those who refuse to do so
>with all their force and being. Since this terrible
>dividing line does actually exist, it will be a gain if
>it be clearly marked. Over the expanse of five
>continents throughout the coming years an endless
>struggle is going to be pursued between violence and
>friendly persuasion, a struggle in which, granted, the
>former has a thousand times the chances of success than
>that of the latter. But I have always held that, if he
>who bases his hopes on human nature is a fool, he who
>gives up in the face of circumstances is a coward. And
>henceforth, the only honorable course will be to stake
>everything on a formidable gamble: that words are more
>powerful than munitions.
><End>
>
>
>
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