sol72us@...
09-01-2001, 10:38 PM
--we must examine unity, and that's where the question
of god reappears. what exists in the tension...is the
desire for unity, for the world to be one. of course
it's not said; it's not explicit or expressible. but
i think it's the realization of an absolute state, of a
single earth. the tension began with alexander the
great and continues...now it's no longer in the realm of
invasion, but in the realm of conformity...absolute unity
is what deterrence aims toward. deterrence has begun to
realize this pure state.
--but it's a unity which works by division. if there
weren't two blocks, there would be no conflict...there
would be nothing left to control. wouldn't this be the
very limit of all present conflict: that we must now
maintain political motivations, preserve ideological
pertinence and a certain amount of national independance
at all costs, more and more artificially-or else the
conflict will disappear?
--that's a large question. the only answer we can
still give is that there is a tendency toward unity
- but an exterminating unity, one which is accomplished
precisely in non-development. the abandonment of
ideological war came out of technical development.
technology offers destructive capabilities too great for
war to still be limited to the acquisition of territory,
influence, wealth or subjects. ideological war has
become holy war. the technical surprise destroys the
aims of war-and eventually war itself, the motivation
for war-in favor of its infinite preparation. the
necessity of war is no longer in its execution, but in
its preparation. its preparation is economic war.
given that the war-machine is being developed more and
more without ever being used, without anyone even
thinking of using it..it's obvious that the destructive
effect has passed into the economy, into the
non-development of civilian society.
--the notion of "civilian" becomes perverted. it loses
its meaning...i mean in fact that the situation is no
longer very clear between the civil and the military
because of the total involvement of the economy in war,
already beginning in peacetime...there's a statement
from the pentagon from around 1945-50 which is
extraordinary: "logistics is the procedure following
which a nation's potential is transfered to its armed
forces, in times of peace as in times of war."
...we have passed into a dimension other than that of
real war, a dimension comparable to what i've called a
great delinquency. states act like individual terrorists
...this is an important dimension-not of war, but of the
decline of war into the art of deterrence. the art of
deterrence, prohibiting political war, favors the upsurge,
not of conflicts, but of acts of war without war.
it's the endemism of these acts which is now corrupting
the entire world.
--we are facing a cult...if technological progress has
brought ideologies in place of the aims of war, the
scientific progress..is bringing idolatry in place of
ideologies...pure war is a situation which is entirely
comparable to that of the idol in ancient societies.
we've come back to the supreme idol. the beleif in
salvation-in time of peace-by means of the ultimate
weapon is an idolatry: it's obscurantism, there's no
doubt about it. it works like a military-scientific
cult, which no one dreams of challenging. this has
brought the holy war back into light. in the face of
the "pure war" of weapons, of this ideal of an ultimate
weapon able to ensure the survival of the species,
etc., a forgotten debate has been revived: that of
the holy war, which is the counterpart of pure war.
...personally, i'm totally against holy wars...they
can accept complete release because they are religious.
they're religious in a triumphalist way: they use the
fact that they don't beleive in death, the fact of their
awareness of the non-ending of life, to go beyond
politics...on the contrary, we have to turn back...we
must not only forbid holy wars,...we must also refute
the justness, the justice of war...one cannot use
violence against what is already violence, one can only
reinforce it, take it to extremes...
...today, the only recourse is non-violence.
from
pure war
paul virilio / sylvere lotringer
semiotext, 1983
of god reappears. what exists in the tension...is the
desire for unity, for the world to be one. of course
it's not said; it's not explicit or expressible. but
i think it's the realization of an absolute state, of a
single earth. the tension began with alexander the
great and continues...now it's no longer in the realm of
invasion, but in the realm of conformity...absolute unity
is what deterrence aims toward. deterrence has begun to
realize this pure state.
--but it's a unity which works by division. if there
weren't two blocks, there would be no conflict...there
would be nothing left to control. wouldn't this be the
very limit of all present conflict: that we must now
maintain political motivations, preserve ideological
pertinence and a certain amount of national independance
at all costs, more and more artificially-or else the
conflict will disappear?
--that's a large question. the only answer we can
still give is that there is a tendency toward unity
- but an exterminating unity, one which is accomplished
precisely in non-development. the abandonment of
ideological war came out of technical development.
technology offers destructive capabilities too great for
war to still be limited to the acquisition of territory,
influence, wealth or subjects. ideological war has
become holy war. the technical surprise destroys the
aims of war-and eventually war itself, the motivation
for war-in favor of its infinite preparation. the
necessity of war is no longer in its execution, but in
its preparation. its preparation is economic war.
given that the war-machine is being developed more and
more without ever being used, without anyone even
thinking of using it..it's obvious that the destructive
effect has passed into the economy, into the
non-development of civilian society.
--the notion of "civilian" becomes perverted. it loses
its meaning...i mean in fact that the situation is no
longer very clear between the civil and the military
because of the total involvement of the economy in war,
already beginning in peacetime...there's a statement
from the pentagon from around 1945-50 which is
extraordinary: "logistics is the procedure following
which a nation's potential is transfered to its armed
forces, in times of peace as in times of war."
...we have passed into a dimension other than that of
real war, a dimension comparable to what i've called a
great delinquency. states act like individual terrorists
...this is an important dimension-not of war, but of the
decline of war into the art of deterrence. the art of
deterrence, prohibiting political war, favors the upsurge,
not of conflicts, but of acts of war without war.
it's the endemism of these acts which is now corrupting
the entire world.
--we are facing a cult...if technological progress has
brought ideologies in place of the aims of war, the
scientific progress..is bringing idolatry in place of
ideologies...pure war is a situation which is entirely
comparable to that of the idol in ancient societies.
we've come back to the supreme idol. the beleif in
salvation-in time of peace-by means of the ultimate
weapon is an idolatry: it's obscurantism, there's no
doubt about it. it works like a military-scientific
cult, which no one dreams of challenging. this has
brought the holy war back into light. in the face of
the "pure war" of weapons, of this ideal of an ultimate
weapon able to ensure the survival of the species,
etc., a forgotten debate has been revived: that of
the holy war, which is the counterpart of pure war.
...personally, i'm totally against holy wars...they
can accept complete release because they are religious.
they're religious in a triumphalist way: they use the
fact that they don't beleive in death, the fact of their
awareness of the non-ending of life, to go beyond
politics...on the contrary, we have to turn back...we
must not only forbid holy wars,...we must also refute
the justness, the justice of war...one cannot use
violence against what is already violence, one can only
reinforce it, take it to extremes...
...today, the only recourse is non-violence.
from
pure war
paul virilio / sylvere lotringer
semiotext, 1983