By Mathias Delori
It’s a well-known fact that the “global war on terror” is far more deadly than the evil it seeks to combat. What’s more, it has now been established that the means it employs – notably aerial bombardments and torture, the practice of which is officially denounced by the very states that use them – contribute to fuelling “terrorist” violence. How, then, are we to understand the apathy that undermines Western societies on this subject?
To answer this question, we need to understand how the violence committed by professional warriors in the Euro-Atlantic area is naturalized, in other words, how the opposition between legitimate and illegitimate violence is constructed. This opposition is based on the constitution of entire populations as pure objects of discourse: the “collateral damage” has no right to speak. Mathias Delori’s masterly investigation of the discourses and practices of the war on terror reveals how liberal societies, without totally dehumanizing the victims of the wars they wage, incessantly rank the value of human lives.
Published:
Paris : Éditions Amsterdam, 2021
Online available:
www.editionsamsterdam.fr
PDF:
Ce que vaut une vie – introduction and table of content
(330.67 KB)