Taide, totuus ja politiikka

Vaikka P. Lipponen ei ehkä myynytkään Suomea Bushille taannoisella kauppamatkallaan Yhdysvaltoihin, Suomessa ollaan kuin varkain luisumassa muun Euroopan mukana terrorismin vastaisen sodan aloittamaan hätätilahallintoon, jota poliisi toimittaa - ilmeisesti poliitikkojen tietämättä.

Philip S. Golub esittelee Le Monde diplomatique lehden artikkelissaan The Will to Undemocratic Power, Yhdyvaltain ja Iso-Britannian tilannetta, jossa ulkoisella uhalla pelottelu on johtanut klassiselle liberalismille perustetun demokratian alasajoon ja omien kansalaisten repressioon. Mutta juttunsa lopuksi Golub muistuttaa oman maansa ja Euroopan tilanteesta, joka ei ole paljon Yhdysvaltoja ja Iso-Britanniaa kummempi:

"THE ideological landscape is no healthier in Europe, where racism translates into generalised suspicion against immigrant communities. In France, urban riots, rooted in longstanding social neglect and institutionalised exclusion, were hastily dismissed and denounced by many as ethno-religious assaults on national identity (15). The executive responded by unearthing colonial emergency law and declaring a state of siege. These measures are a sorry comment on the state of the culture and the culture of the state.

In the history of the liberal state, emergency rule was most often used in colonial contexts. During its centuries-long apprenticeship in colonial despotism, to use Hannah Arendt’s words (16), the West created concentration camps and reintroduced torture (abandoned under the influence of the Enlightenment). Slavery differentiates the US and European experiences: Europe exported its violence abroad, US despotism was applied within.

As recent apologists for colonialism and imperialism remind us, this past has never really disappeared. Anti-colonialist memories are still fresh in France: Article 4 of the law of 23 February 2005 adopted by the French parliament, recognising “France’s work” in its colonies, led to such protest that it had to be repealed by decree a year later.

In France and elsewhere, authoritarianism and the colonial spirit are once again closely united in those who advocate and practise emergency rule. The subtext of official discourse is that to protect ourselves from the barbarians we need an authoritarian state; to preserve our lives we need to give up our freedoms."