20
"extermination suppresses power when it suppresses the object. Therefore
there is, in the essence itself of power, a fundamental contradiction that, properly
speaking, prevents its existence; those who are called lords, always obliged to
reinforce their power, (…) are not but the persecution of a domain impossible to
possess, persecution with infernal torments, of which the Greek mythology offers
beautiful images.
(...) This is how Agamenon, who sacrificed his daughter, relives in the
capitalists who, in order to maintain their privileges, quickly accept wars that can take
away their own children. (...)
(...) The true subject of The Iliad is the influence of war on the warriors and,
through them, on all humans: nobody knows why he sacrifices himself and he
sacrifices his own in a mortal war without a purpose (...). In this old and wonderful
poem we can already see the essential evil of humanity: the substitution of the
purposes for the means." 64
76.
that
In the same brilliant essay, Simone Weil insisted on her warning in the sense
"Nothing easier that diffusing any myth through a population. Thus, there is
no need to be surprised of the appearance without precedents in history of ‘totalitarian’
regimens. (...) There where the irrational opinions substitute ideas, strength can do
anything. (...) As long as the oppressed have wanted to create groups capable of
exercising a real influence, these groups (…) have reproduced in their bosom the tasks
of the regimen they sought to reform or fight, that is, the bureaucratic organization,
the inversion of the relationship between the means and the purposes, the disregard
for individuals, the separation between thought and action, the mechanical nature of
thought itself, the use of the brutishness and lies as means of propaganda, (...) a
civilization that rests on rivalry, on fights, on war." 65
77.
The reflections of 1934 of this admirably lucid woman, Simone Weil, are
relevant in relation to successive examples of oppression throughout the following
decades. 66 The truth is that brutality has always been present in human
relationships, as can be concluded from the Genesis (IV.4). It has been present
before and after the creation of the State, and, with the latter, it has been
magnified with its recourses and its monopoly over the use of force (as some
shortsighted publicists are proud to state). As stated correctly by the Preacher, in
the briefest and most enigmatic of the writings of the Old Testament (the beautiful
Ecclesiastes),
"Is there anything of which one can say,
"Look! This is something new"?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
There is no remembrance of men of old,
and even those who are yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow." 67
78.
And the Preacher continues, in an implacable manner: “If you see the poor
oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such
things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others
higher still. The increase from the land is taken by all!" 68 These words, which have
survived for centuries, are invested of great current importance in our days! We
.
S. Weil, Reflexiones sobre las Causas de la Libertad y de la Opresión Social, Barcelona, Ed.
Paidós/Ed. Universidad de Barcelona, 1995 [reed.], pp. 79-81.
64
.
65
Ibid., pp. 143 and 145.
.
Incuding the brutalities perpetrated in pavilion 1A of the Peruvian Prison of Castro Castro (which
held around 131 female prisoners), during the so-called “Operative Transfer 1”, of May 06 to 09, 1992.
67
.
Chapter 1, verses 10-11.
66
.
68
Chapter 5, verses 8-9.