The last few weeks / months / years / of headlines leading up to today's holiday celebration must surely by now speak for themselves. If not, there is a host of good commentary collected on news sites like commondreams.org, papers and magazines like the NYRB, the Nation, etc., and especially across the blog world. I offer in addition to all of this a thought - a reflection, really - by the essayist, translator, and critic, Walter Benjamin. The reflection comes from Benjamin's "Theses on the Philosophy of History," in which he critiques the liberal-progressive view of history (under which banner he includes a dominant strand of Marxism) that has proven impotent in the face of fascism. The "Theses" were completed in the spring of 1940, just before Benjamin took his own life rather than risk falling into the hands of fascists.
They have much to say to us still.
# VIII: The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the ‘state of emergency’ in which we live is not the exception but the rule. We must attain to a conception of history that is in keeping with this insight. Then we shall clearly realize that it is our task to bring about a real state of emergency, and this will improve our position in the struggle against Fascism. One reason why Fascism has a chance is that in the name of progress its opponents treat it as a historical norm. The current amazement that the things we are experiencing are ‘still’ possible in the twentieth century is not philosophical. This amazement is not the beginning of knowledge—unless it is the knowledge that the view of history which gives rise to it is untenable.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment