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Democracy, violence and emancipatory movements
Apter, David E.
Apter, David E.
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dp44.pdf
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Abstract
"Our aim in the following paper is to formulate some observations about political violence and democracy in terms of discourse theory. Such theory is preferred to more conventional modes of analysis such as rational choice or group interest politics, relevant though they might be, in order to "read" violence through events in a fashion relevant to an understanding of how democracy evolves. Perhaps the clearest illustration of the theory itself is in relation to the Sendero Luminoso in Peru.1 In his essay, Degregori shows how a Maoist mytho-logics uses sacral texts to define a logic of revolutionary praxis. By means of exegetical bonding, violent events are retrieved, interpreted, and projected in the form of millennial solutions. Put together by the ideologues of the movement, violence is endowed with special symbolic referents, and a local pedigree enlarged to include a putative Marxism, Leninism, and Mao Zedong Thought. As Degregori suggests, the Sendero Luminoso portrays itself as the last and most pure radical redeeming movement. All others have failed or betrayed the cause. Emphasized are themes such as violation and betrayal which not only define inequities but establish an agenda of violence in the form of a projective or "overcoming project"."(pg 5)
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1993-05
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With permission of the license/copyright holder