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 Edited By Israel W. Charny
Toward the Understanding and Prevention of Genocide
Toward the Understanding and
Prevention of Genocide

Proceedings of the International Conference on the

Holocaust and Genocide

Edited By
Israel W. Charny

ISBN 978-0-367-21417-3

www.routledge.com  an informa business

9780367214173.indd 1 12/24/2018 9:27:17 PM

 Toward the Understanding
and Prevention of Genocide
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 About the Book and Editor
Toward the Understanding and Prevention of Genocide:
Proceedings of the International Conference
on the Holocaust and Genocide
edited by Israel W. Chamy

The historic International Conference on the Holocaust and

Genocide took place in 1982 in the face of opposition from the
government of Israel, following threats from the Turkish govern-
ment over Armenian participation. This book brings together tran-
scripts of the round table discussions from the conference and
emphasizes proposals for the prevention of future acts of geno-
cide. The contributors provide case studies, look at the emer-
gence of nuclear and other threats to the survival of the human
race, and consider the role of the arts, religion, and education
in understanding and preventing genocide.

Israel W. Charny, associate professor of psychology at the

School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University and executive direc-
tor of the Institute of the International Conference on the
Holocaust and Genocide, is the author of How Can We Commit the
Unthinkable? Genocide: The Human Cancer (Westview, 1982).
 A Publication of the Institute
of the International Conference
on the Holocaust and Genocide
 Toward the Understanding
and Prevention of Genocide
Proceedings of the International Conference
on the Holocaust and Genocide

edited by Israel W. Chamy

I~ ~~0~1~;n~~~up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1984 by Westview Press
Published 2018 by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
Copyright © 1984 by Israel W. Charny

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or

reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide
(1st: 1982: Tel Aviv, Israel)
Toward the understanding and prevention of genocide.
(Westview replica edition)
1. Genocide--Congresses . 2. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Congress es.
I. Charny, Israel W. II. Title
JX5418.I57 1982 341.7'7 84-15241
ISBN 13: 978-0-367-21417-3(hbk)
Contents

EDITOR'S PREFACE xvii

PART I
SCENARIOS OF GENOCIDE PAST AND FUTURE

1 Scenarios of Genocide: Models of Genocide

and Critical Responses 3
Helen Fein, Ph.D., Center for Poliay Researah,
New York
The author of "Accounting for Genocide" develops a
remarkable series of fictional scenarios or scripts
depicting both familiat and potential new patterns
of genocide under diff~rent conditions of historical,
political and social o~ganization. These "templates"
of future events of ma s murder are gripping reading
for both scholars and orld leaders, and an exceptional
teaching tool. In a c ncluding section on "critical
responses to genocide,i' Fein also discusses strategies
for aborting or reversi g "deadly endings."

2 Types of Genocide and ss Murder

Leo Kuper, Ph.D., Dept. of Soaiology, University
of California, Los A eles
32
A typology of genocide: against indigenous peoples;
following decolonization of a two-tier structure of
domination; in the process of struggle for power by
ethnic, racial or religious groups, or struggles for
autonomy or secession; against hostage or scapegoat
groups; and mass murder of political groups.

vii
 PART II
CASE STUDIES

3 Pol Pot's Cambodia: Was It Genocide?

David Ha:b)k, Fol'!l1er Exeautive Direator,
Amnesty International, (U.S.A.)
51
Even under a restricted definition of genocide the
mass murders in Cambodia were genocide, since there
were target groups such as the Chams - an Islamic
minority - and the Buddhist monks. Were it not for
political cynicism and indifference, Cambodia, which
is a signator to the Genocide Convention, could be
an instructive instance of enforcement of the
Convention.

4 The Soviet Gulag: Is It Genocidal?

Lyman H. Legters, Ph.D., University of Washington
60
Genocide is a specific type of crime and does not
embrace all forms of mass murder. Nonetheless, if
the Sovi~slaughter of fifteen million peasants is
omitted, it will "weaken and even trivialize the
judicial concept of genocide."

5 The Man-Made Famine of 1933 in the Soviet Ukraine:

What Happened and Why?
James E. Maae, Ph.D., Harvard University
67
Five to seven million Ukrainians died in a man-made
famine whose purpose was "to destroy the Ukrainian
nation as a political factor and social organism."
Churchill reported that Stalin, who otherwise dis-
claimed reports of starving dead as fairy tales,
admitted in a conversation with him to ten million
dead.

6 Genocide and Denial: The Armenian Case

Riahard G. Hovannisian, Ph.D., University of
California, Los Angeles
84
The denial of the Armenian genocide by Turkey is an
effort to avoid responsibility and the moral, material,
and political consequences of admission. Turkish
writers and scholars are unable to deal with their
national past honestly and are drawn into wheels of
falsification and rationalization.

7 What Genocide? What Holocaust? News From Turkey,

1915-23: A Case Study
Marjorie Housepian-Dobkin, M.A., Litt. D., Offiae
of the Dean of Studies, Barnard College,
Columbia University
100
The evidence of the Turkish extermination of the
Armenians "alas, is irrefutable," said Alan Dulles,

viii
 then Chief of Staff to the American High Commissioner
in Constantinople. Yet before too many years passed,
the American press was often treating the "two sides"
of the story evenhandedly. "Denying the crime of
genocide can only encourage and indeed ensure the
repetition of genocide."

8 Gypsies and Jews: Chosen People

Leita Kaldi, Romania of Massachusetts
113
Like the Jews, the Gypsies were the objects of
genocide by the Nazis. A touching description of
the Gypsy people - at once a lusty "outdoor people ..•
who resist temptations of power," and a people who
"live in the shadows of our societies, shrouded in
fear, suspicion and secrecy."

9 Tibet: A Case of Eradication of Religion Leading

to Genocide
Phuntsog Wangyal, M.A., M. Phil., Office of the
Dalai Lama, London
119
The genocidal killings of the Tibetans are on a
scale that may match those of Pol Pot. It is likely
that Tibetans "will finally vanish as an ethnic
group ••. The Tibetan people now undergoing genocide
would like to hope that their suffering could
contribute to the prevention of similar human
suffering."

PART III
DYNAMICS OF GENOCIDE

10 From Holocaust to Genocides

Monty N. Penkower, Ph.D., Touro College, New York
129
The West could have checked the tempo of the Final
Solution. "An obtuse world persists in dis-
regarding the warning signals that came from the
smokestacks of the crematoria; power-politics-as-
usual tolerates genocides and mass murders."

11 Societal Madness: Impotence, Power and Genocide

Ronald Aronson, Ph.D., Division of Humanities,
Wayne State University
137
An integrated analysis of three genocides - the
Holocaust, the liquidation of twenty million Soviets
by Stalin, and the American war campaign in Vietnam.
"Each instance comes from the depths of a society,"
and is an irrational or "mad" effort to rid the society
of its impotence through a deranged sense of omnipotence.

ix
12 Nuclear Insanity and Multiple Genocide
Ronald E. Santoni, Ph.D., Dept. of Philosophy,
Denison University
147
According to ordinary usage and dictionary meanings,
the nuclear arms race is indeed "insane" and "mad."
"Preoccupation with nuclear war, with utter
destruction, is an illness, a form of extreme
irrationality ... it will eventually lead to multiple
genocide or - its logical extension - ornnicide."

13 Genocide and Mass Destruction: A Missing

Dimension in Psychopathology
Israel W. Charny, Ph.D., Institute of the International
Conferenae on the Holoaaust and Genoaide, and Sahool
of Soaial Work, Tel Aviv University
154
A proposed revision of the standard classification of
psychopathology to redefine the leaders and followers
who execute genocide as abnormal. "For humankind's sake,
and in itself to remain credible, our science of human
behavior has to state, unambiguously, that destroying
other people is mad."

14 Genocidal Mentality: Nuclear Weapons on Civilian

Populations
Gerard A. Vanderhaar, Ph.D., Christian Brothers
College, Memphis, Tennessee
175
There are striking similarities between the mentality
of those who executed the Holocaust - "the single
greatest evil in the history of the human race" -
and those who will be ready to execute a nuclear
holocaust. Two key elements are dehumanization of
the victims and desensitization of self. Organized
public opposition may forestall nuclear disaster:
even the Nazis were responsive to public protests.

15 Power and Powerlessness: The Jewish Experience

Aliae L. Eakardt, Ph.D., Dept. of Religion Studies,
Lehigh University
183
The purpose of power is to influence behavior. The
opposite of power is impotence. "It is time for the
Jewish 'return into history' with all the respon-
sibilities and ambiguities - and mistakes - of power
and decision making which that entails."

16 Compliance and Oblivion: Impaired Compassion in

Germany for the Victims of the Holocaust
Dieter D. Hartman, Dr. iur, Dr. res. soa.,
Tubingen, West Germany
197
"I do not know how to prove this. It sounds ill-
suited for a scholarly paper. But this is what I

x
 have experienced in my country all my lifetime.
Seldom have I heard a word of sympathy for the Jews."

17 A Psychological Study of Gentiles Who Saved the

Lives of Jews During the Holocaust
Frances G. Grossman, Ph.D., Postgraduate Center
for MentaZ HeaZth, Scarsdale, New York
202
A rare psychological atudy of some Gentiles who
saved the Jews during the Holocaust which concludes
that they had a more humanistic upbringing than the
average German. "What is required for human
survival is change in education and child-rearing
methods."

18 Linguicide: Concept and Definition

J. B. Rudnyckyj, Ph.D., University of Manitoba
217
Any acts connnited with an intent to destroy, in whole
or in part, or to prevent the natural development of
a language or dialect should be considered a
linguicidal act.

PART IV
ARTS, RELIGION AND EDUCATION

19 German Expressionism Heralding Genocide and the

Holocaust
Luba K. Gurdus, Ph.D., Form. Frick Art Reference
Library, New York
223
Expressionist artists in Germany gave "warning
signals, heralding the·outbreak of major violence,
channeled into genocide and the resulting Holocaust
which were ignored, overlooked and suppressed."

20 The Search for a Language: Translating Paul Celan

John FeZstiner, Ph.D., Dept. of English, Stanford
University
232
An analysis of a poem written by Paul Celan, a
European Jewish survivor, a few months before he
was to drown himself in the Seine. The poem,
written in German for a postwar German audience,
concludes with the Hebrew words: ~, ori
(rise, shine).

21 A Critical Evaluation of the Resistance of German

Protestantism to the Holocaust
Chester L. Hunt, Ph.D., Dept. of Sociology,
Western Michigan University
241
The majority of the Protestant church were undisturbed
by Nazi antisemitism. Even men like Barth and

xi
 Niemoller minimized its extent. When the
Protestant churches were directly affected, some
churchmen responded in a heroic fashion. "An
earlier recognition that Jews and Gentiles were
integral parts of the same body might have avoided
the occasion for largely ineffective heroism."

22 The Holocaust and (Kiveyachol) the Liberation of

the Divine Righteousness
A. Roy Eckardt, Ph.D., Dept. of Religion Studies,
Lehigh University
255
It is not an accident that the "death of God"
thinking should have historically succeeded the
Holocaust. This is a Midrash on kivyuchol (as it
were) divine sin. "The penultimate height of
faith is to find oneself genuinely sorry for God."

23 Holocaust: The Pedagogy of Paradox

Alan L. Berger, Ph.D., Chairman, Jewish Studies,
Dept. of Religion, Syracuse University
265
The minimum task of the Holocaust pedagogy is to
rediscover the sanctity of life. "Death camps
and crematoria bear horrendous witness to the truth
that imaginative capacity which is not grounded in
a firm sense of human obligation imperils life
itself." A pedagogy of paradox demonstrates a
willingness to accept the limitations of human
existence.

PART V
TOWARD INTERVENTION AND PREVENTION

24 Extrajudicial Executions, International Alerts and

Campaigning
Daan Bronkhorst, Amnesty International, The
Netherlands
281
The organizer of Amnesty International's Conference
on Extrajudicial Executions in 1982 in Amsterdam
calls for a worldwide information campaign to
increase the "willingness of individuals and
institutions to act when confronted with murders
by governments."

25 The Bottom Line in Preventing Future Holocausts

Julius Lieblein, Ph.D., Washington Academy of Sciences,
Rockville, Maryland
288
The bottom line in preventing future holocausts "is
how do we appeal to the minds and hearts of the bulk

xii
 of people not to yield to their baser impulses and
follow leaders on the road to mass murder?"

26 The United Nations and Genocide: A Program

of Action
Leo Kuper, Ph.D., Dept. of Sociology, University
of California, Los Angeles
296
There are possibilities for more meaningful inter-
national action against genocide within the frame-
work of the U~N., e.g., the appointment of a U.N.
High Commissioner, and the establishment of an
International Court to enforce the Genocide
Convention. Outside the U.N., there are possible
strategies through nongovernmental organizations,
an early warning system, the media, religious
leaders, and public campaigns. A movement is under-
way to establish an organization under the name
INTERNATIONAL ALERT.

27 Reason and Realpolitik: International Law and the

Prevention of Genocide
Louis Rene Beres, Ph.D., Dept. of Political Science,
Purdue University
306
There are now explicit and codified rules of inter-
national law against genocide. Prosecution of
genocide in domestic courts is justified, and inter-
vention in genocidal situations by outside countries
also is permissible under law. Ultimately a
centralized system of world law will be needed.

28 From Theory to Application: Proposal for an Applied

Science Approach to a Genocide Early Warning System
Ephraim M. Howard, Ph.D., and Yocheved Howard, M.S.,
Kibbutz Hazorea, Israel; Co-Directors, First
International Conference on the Holocaust and
Genocide
324
The proposal of a Genocide Early Warning System is
feasible, and relatively inexpensive in terms of both
cost and time using an applied science or systems
approach. "The saving of ANY lives would amply repay
any expense involved."

xiii
29 World Genocide Tribunal: A Proposal for Planetary
Preventive Measures Supplementing a Genocide Early
Warning System
Luis Kutner, J. D., Founder and Chairman, Worid
Habeas Corpus Commission for International, Due
Proeess of Law, Chieago; with the eol,7,aboration of
Ernest Katin, Ph.D., Tel, Aviv
330
A hopeful proposal for the establishment of a World
Genocide Tribunal to directly try perpetrators of
genocide, also with authority to conduct investigative
functions, assess responsibility, and to take pre-
ventative measures in conjunction with a proposed
Genocide Early Warning System. The Tribunal would
focus public attention on possible acts of genocide
and would be authorized to issue Writs of Prohibition
to order that actions conducive to genocide be
stopped.

PART VI
EPILOGUE: THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE HOLOCAUST
AND GENOCIDE, JUNE 1982

30 The Holocaust and I.ts Lessons: Excerpts From the

Keynote Address to the International Conference on
the Holocaust and Genocide
Frankl,in H. Litteii, Ph.D., Dept. of Rel,igion, Tempie
University; Founder, National, Institute on the
HoLoaaust
349
The Holocaust is a credibility crisis for Christianity,
for the modern university, and a personal crisis for
everyone of us. "If you do confront the Holocaust and
allow it to confront you, nothing is ever the same
again."

31 Why Remember? Suffering as a Link Between Peoples

Arehbishop Shahe Ajamian, Armenian Patriarahate,
Jerusaiem, Israel,
358
A moving statement of the pain of the Armenian people
and of all the peoples who suffer genocide. "If we,
the 'remnants' do forget, then their deaths will be
mortality for us. But if we perceive the meaning of
their deaths, we can aspire to immortality."

xiv
32 Round Table Discussion Following Briefing on the
Conference Crisis
364
Following the formal opening addresses, participants
were invited to reassemble in the round in the Hilton
ballroom to hear Executive Director Israel Charny's
briefing on the crisis that had threatened the convening
of the Conference. These are excerpts from the dramatic
opening discussion that followed including remarks by
some participants who asked to explain why they could
not participate.

33 Conference Summation Panel and Round Table

373
Summaries of the Conference proceedings by the major
Track Leaders - JOHN FELSTINER (Co-Chairman with
SIDRA EZRACHI), FRANKLIN LITTELL, JOHN SOMMERVILLE,
LEO KUPER, and SHAMAI DAVIDSON - followed by a moving
round table discussion from the floor of the meanings,
impacts and shortcomings of the Conference process.

INDEX 389

xv
Editor's Preface

The papers asserribled in this volume were selected fran the rich
gathering of 1NOrk accepted for the historic International Conference
on the Eblocaust and Genocide in 1982 on the basis of two rm.in
criteria.

The first criterion was that we want to present WOiks that de-
velop :i;:ossibilities of reduction and prevention of genocide in the
future.

We are prood to present papers cy such rutstanding scholars

of genocide as Helen Fein, author of Accamting for Genocide, and
Leo Kuper, author of Genocide, both of Whan develop guides to the
varieties of ways in which genocides historically have unfolded and
are likely to develop in the future. The featured d1apter cy Helen
Fein presents an unusual series of tenplates or scenarios of future
genocides cy using a device of retranslating past historical events
into fictionalized versions. Rern:>ved fran their old too-familiar
factual contexts, these scenarios bring lune to us the truth of 1'0N
a genocidal :i;:otential lurks in so rrany societies, nearly everyWhere
on rur planet.

Leo Kuper 's INO~appears in two separate d1apters (which the

reader rray wish to read sequentially): the first presents a acnpre-
hensive conceptual classification of different types of genocide:
and the second - in a later section of the boc:K which is specifi-
cally devoted to proposals of new :i;:olitical legal, social science,
and camunication projects for reducing and preventing genocide -
discusses existing and :i;:ossible new international initiatives, in-
cluding a new proposal for IN'l'ER'IATICNAL ALER!'.

The reader will also find throoghoot the boc:K that nany of the
papers that are oot directly concerned with proposals for prevention
nonetheless are relevant to this central issue.

The second criterion was to provide a representative selection

of the di verse fields that participated in the rel!Brkable interdis-
ciplinary gathering of the conference.

Clearly, there is rot nuch inmediate or tangible relevance of

the :i;:oetry of a survivor of the Eblocaust to arr long-range cnncern
with prevention. Similarly, even essays en secular and religious
education of people rot to acquiesce to be destroyers are also, to a
large extent, intellectual exercises cy decent-minded people ...me, in
truth, have little influence en the real parrer :i;:olitics and deci-
sions of state, or the foreboding dynamics of historical inevita-
bility in a world that is arrred to its teeth with a :i;:ossible capa-
city to destroy all life. It also has to be clear to all of us cy
no..r that, notwithstanding the ropes of rrany earlier Jii.ilosophers,
sinply kno..ring the historical facts of the past does rot in itself
free humankind to dlange the future.

xvii
 Nonetleless, every level of tle tapestry that is "civilization"
rrust be involved in any serious efforts to explore tle p:>ssibilities
of developing a 'CSll consensus to reduce na.ss extennination, and
tlere is also ro question that fuller knowledge of tle historical
process is a very necessary, even if insufficient step, in confront-
ing gerocide. (It is rardly coincidental that tle reader will enjoy
in inre of tlese sch::>larly chapters philoscphical or literary expe-
rierres that are in tle best intellec'b.lal tradition of tle very
civilization we are S) reluctant to see destroyed.)

Tre section of tle bock "case Studies" includes studies of

gerocide in Canb:rlia, Tibet, tle Soviet Union, tle Anrenian gerocide
at tle rams of tle Turks, and tle gerocide of tle Gypsies cy tle
Nazis. Many of tle auth:>rs also rote tle incredible resourcefulness
and dedication of tle rrurderers to correal tleir actions, and in tle
case of tle Anrenians - which becane tle cause celebre of tle First
International Confereoce on tle fblocaust and Gerocide - we learn of
incredible efforts to dell¥ and ac'b.lally rewrite history even nRll¥
years after tle events.

Following tlese case histories, \'\1e nove to a series of studies

of inre of tle dynamics. of gerocide cy an :i.npressive variecy of
sch::>lars fran tle fields of history, psych::>logy, philoscphy, tleo-
logy, and linguistics. One of tle problems that is tackled with re-
markable consensus cy several auth:>rs is whetler people and S)Cie- ·
ties wln camri. t gerocide really cught rot be considered "insane, "
and just what tle nature of such madness is. Tre intellec'b.lal pro-
duct of tlese analyses too nay rot really save lives in any imre-
diate way, but tlere is at least inre satisfaction in ccmnitting
our learned professions (reretofore often strangely "inpartial" in
tle face of evils that invariably destroy all learned professions as
well) to a value p:>sition that, unambigucusly, opp:>ses gerocide.
(Mass rrurder and death, after all, are inmrently rot gocrl for liv-
ing people, tle :i.nproverrent of wlnse lives is tle raison-d'etre of
tle professions to begin with) ..

Regretfully, a gocrl deal of tle fine \llOik presented at tle con-

fererre cculd rot be accepted for p.lblication. Sare of tle papers
that cculd rot be included are truly cutstanding sch::>larship on one
or anotler aspect of tle fblocaust or otler events of gerocide, but
tleir focus was on specific subjects that are better placed in otler
academic p.lblications. Trere were also several instarres where ex-
cellent naterial was rot accepted because tle sarre subject was al-
ready dealt with cy otler auth:>rs. Tre otler side of tle coin that
also sh::>uld be acknowledged is that in a few instarres papers that
are relatively weak in sch::>larship ronetleless are included in tle
bock because tley were judged to be efforts to deal with an :i.nport-
ant tlerre that otlerwise has rot been sufficiently developed in tle
literature and research of tle Iblocaust and genocide.

One najor area of study at tle confererre that regrettably is

not represented in this volurre - otler than in inre of tle fascinat-
ing renarks of confererre leaders and participants in ra.md tables
in tle Opening and St.mna.ry Sessions - is tle subject of tle dynamics
xviii
and treatrrent of survivors of genocide, their families, and their
children. This very significant subject played a rroving :i;:art in the
experience of the conference for all of us. The reason for its
omission :Eran this l:xxk is oor lope that a separate volurre devoted
to this topic, tmder the editorship of Professor Shana.i Iavidson,
may be forthcani.ng.

It rermins for ne rDN to express appreciation to a nunber of

people for their b:llpfulness in creating this volurre. My experi-
ences, working with oolleagues to create the International Confer-
ence en the Holocaust and Genocide, and inaugurating the oon- profit
Institute of the International Conference en the Holocaust and Gener
cide, Which is the sponsoring body for this volurre (like its prede-
cessor, Bode I: The Conference Program and Crisis), have been re-
markably wann and enriching. The same unusually good spirit has ac-
carpmied the detailed, tiire-denanding oollaboration r~uired for
the preparation of this l:xxk.

Lynne Rienner, F.ditor-in Chief and Associate Publisher at West-

view Press Which published ny recent rrajor l:xxk en genocide, How Can
We Ccmnit The Unthinkable?: Genocide, The Hµman Cancer, and ny
earlier edited l:xxk, Strategies Against Violence, tmderst.oOO the im-
peratives of this project and gave b:lr support :Eran the ootset. As
in the past, I appreciate the first-rate professionalism at Westview
and the unfailing gratj.Otisness and wannth of the Westview staff.

Elchanan PDsenheirn, Who reads the Tel Aviv firm of Banberger-

Rosenheirn Which represents the Lanier Business Equipnent Conpany in
Israel, deserves a special thank you, not sinply for the excellent
word-processing ~uipnent, but for his thoughtfulness and, in
effect, contribution to the work of oor Institute and the creation
of this l:xxk at times When the rudget we were \'IOI"king :Eran was badly
strained.

I also want to acknaNledge cnce again the helpfulness of the

firm Kenes, Congress Organizers, tmder the direction of a.mer Gideon
Rivlin Who played such a rrajor role in rraking possible the continua-
tion of the International Conference in 1982 when we were being
pressured cy the Israeli government to cancel the proceedings be-
cause of threats cy the government of Turkey if Arrrenians were al-
lowed to speak of their genocide at the conference.

Preparation of the rranuscript has been the tireless province of

my friend and secretary Sonia Neu of Herzliya Pituach, Israel to
whan I am grateful, as in rrany years past, for encairagenent as well
as skillful and hard work.

Finally, I note with oolleagueal appreciation the rrany contri-

butions of my wife Judy Katz-charny to the preparation of the nanu-
script, and nost of all, on an entirely personal level, I dedicate
this l:xxk to b:lr with deep love.
Israel W. Cha.Pny
Jel'Usalem
Maroh 1984

xix
Part I
Scenarios of Genocide
Past and Future
1. Scenarios of Genocide: Models of Genocide and
Critical Responses
Helen Fein

Helen Fein is an historical sociologist concerned with collective

violence for over a decade who i.as puzzled bj the unasked (thus un-
aswered) questions about the Holocaust. She is the author of
IMPERIAL CRIME AND PCJNISHMEN!': THE JALLIANWALIA BAGH MASSACRE AND
BRITISH JUDGMEN!', 1919-1920 (1977), and ACCOUNTING FOR GENOCIDE:
NATIONAL RESPONSES AND JEWISH VICTIMIZATION WRING THE HOLOCAUST
(1979), winner of the 1979 Sorokin Award of the American Sociolo-
gist Association, and which will be reprinted in i;aperback bj the
University of Chicago Press in 1984. She views the sociological
imagination as a lens to understand mw gocxi and evil emerge from
social action. She lives in New Paltz, New York.

H°'1 is one to l:::>e:Jin to think about futures in genocide? One

way to use the sociological inagination is to oonstruct scenarios
based on ideal-types am typical processes abstracted fran the past,
assuming rot that the ·.~future repeats the past nechanically rut that
social facts, structures, systems of belief am oonflicts Which have
led to deadly errlings before still have the p:>tential of doing a::>
again if neither reversed ror deterred. To foe.us upon typological
patterns rather than particular events in the past, scenarios will
be dram as scripts to be enacted by fictive states.

It nust be urrlerstocx.'l. there is ro assunption that the future

can be apprehemed as a sinple extrapolation or projection of inages
of events frcrn the .rast, for foinB nay vary, be recreated, or be
transposed to fulfill similar flmctions. Since past am future are
co~eived of as continuc:us, no distinction is nade between scenar-
ios based on rrcdel.s that have ocrurred cn:e or repeatedly am th:>se
that have rot am are latent. New variables integrated in the sce-
narios include the possibility of supe~er oonfrontation Which
is related to r£¥ assunption that all states are part of a 'A'Orld sy-
stem.

To appreberd deadly errlings am oonsider Whether they can be

prevented, aborted, alleviated, or aamteracted, we need first to be
aware of the precomitions am processes that lead tcMard genocide.
For clarity, I am restricting the tenn to its definition urrler the
United Nations Genocide Convention altln.tgh this differs fran the
original definition of the auth::>r of the concept, Ra}:ilael.
Lertkin. 1

The nost serious problem in restricting oneself to the usage of

the Convention is the Convention's exclusion of rrass nurder When the
victllr6 are annihilated a::ilel.y on political grc:urrls - xrercbership in

3
4

a suspect p:i.rty or class - rather than ill a "national, ethical, rac-

ial or religious group. " 'l'hus, using the lN definition, the rrass-
acres cy Indonesia of victims labeled as ccnl!UUilists ill 1965 - 1966
when collective death was dispensed to an estirrated 200,00 - 500,000
"carmmists" cy the Indonesian Anrrf aided cy local religious author-
ities (Crouch, 1978, pp. 151-157) could not be called genocide and
i t is questionable i f the rrass deaths rreted oot directly and ill-
directly in Kanpuchea fran 1975 to 1978 cy the Khmer Rouge woold be
called genocide, although rrany label this a case of "autogenocide."
While anticcmm.mist states label the victims they slaughter as can-
munists, cai:munist states call them enemies of the people or
counter-revolution aries, assuming the states represents "the
people." A Soviet concentration carrp official is recalled to have
replied to a geologist protestillg the treatrrent of prisoners ill
Siberia, a treatrrent calculated to kill them, by denying the victims
were people: "'These are the enemies of the people'" \Corquest,
1978, p. 78). I will call these ideological slaughters b.lt do
include them ill the discussion as the processes and causes are so
similar to those of genocide. Kuper calls them genocidal rrassacres
(1981, p. 10) and Horcwitz (1976) illcludes them anong genocides.
The theory to be presented can explaill these also with slight
amendation.

Genocides rray be conceptually related to other fonns of collec-

tive or intergroup violence such as pograTJS, lynchillg, collective
punishrrents and rrassacre ill Which the victims are selected as rrem-
bers of a social collectivity or category. These forms are rrore apt
than genocide to be illstances of collective behavior rather than or-
ganized state actions. 'IWentieth century genocide is predaninately
an act of state. Horcwitz (1976, p. 42) sees it as the ultirrate
means of state control over deviant or dissident behavior.

Although genocides differ ill function (Which will be dis-

cussed), I believe one underlying explanation can encarpass all
types. Genocide is the calculated rrurder of a segment or all of a
group defined ootside of the universe of obligation of the perpe-
trator cy a gJvernrrent, elite, staff or cre>Nd representing the per-
petrator ill response to a crisis or cpportunity perceived to be
caused cy or irrpeded cy the victim. The universe of obligation is
the range of people to Whan b'le camon conscience extends: the
people toNard Whan rules and obligations are binding, Who rrust be
taken into account, and cy Whan we can be held responsible for oor
actions. The range of the camon conscience is defined cy the class
and collectivities to Which one belongs (or to which one rray aspire)
through primary and secondary socialization. While social structure
is often the basis of ideologies justifying exclusion of the other
fran the universe of obligation (such as racism), ideology may pre-
ceed and justify the establishrrent of social structures based on ex-
clusion as in Nazi Gerrrany in Which Jer1s were first decreed non-
ci tizens to be regulated and segrated cy the state before any plans
for their annihilation were advanced.
 5

Refornulating Durkheim 's theory of the functions of crine and

punishrrent, it was shewn that offenses against pecple within rur
universe of d:>ligation in an exclusionary social order will generate
a need for oollective punisbnent of the other (revenge, vengeance,
reprisal) : hcwever, offenses against the other will not be socially
recognized, labeled, and sanctioned as crine. Collective violence
is an offense against a class Whose irenbers are rutside the universe
of d:>ligation. Genocide is the apotheosis of oollective violence,
the annihilation of the other (Fein, 1977, Ch. 1) •

Genocides vary in notives, justifications, structural relation-

ships between victims and perpetrators, precipitants or triggers,
facilitating conditions, accrunting strategies used cy the perpetra-
tor, strategies or processes or annihilation, social organization of
the perpetrators, and the responses of the victims and of the
"bystanders." Crises and cpportunities rray be a result of war,
challenges to the structure of daninantion, the tllreat of internal
breakdcwn or social revolution and econani.c d.evelcpnent. M:>tives
may be ideological - to eliminate a grrup Which is defined as the
Net1 Order, econanic - to eliminate a grrup carpeting for space or
reSOJ.rces - and/or political - to eliminate a tllreat to the present
governing class fran a grrup perceived as loyal to another state,
and to reinforce cohesion by restructuring the pc:pulation. GeJJO-
cide, as rur other .,.nurders, nay be preneditated or an ad hJc
response to a problem or cpportunity. ·

Ideational justifications excluding the other fran the universe

of cbligation include religious doctrines defining the mnbeliever
outside the sanctified circle of belief or an adversary (rejecting
the rressage or rressenger), folk beliefs ascribing different origins
to different peq>les, ideologies based en racism or ethnocentrism,
or political missions that assign exclusive rights to cne grrup or
class. The other need not be vi.Stied as inferior l:ut llllSt be seen as
alien. Kuper notes that the need for ideological legitirration
itself depends en rur "assunption that rrassive slaughter of irenbers
of cne 's a.m species is repugnant to rran" l:ut this rray not be a
trans- historical ccnstant:

One llUSt allOI.' for the possibility that there are histori-
cal situations or periods in Which genocide is taken for
granted. Either it was custara.ry under certain condi-
tions, in Which case tradition wruld be the legitirration,
or it raised no ethical problem Which might evcke an ideo-
logy of legiti.rration (Kuper 1981, R?• 84-85).

Psychological justification of genocide includes production of

images of the other Which justify their victimization. Maey have
labeled this process dehumanization (Kelman, 1973: Charey, 1982;
Kuper, 1981) While Erikson, (1964) called it ''pseudo-speciation."
The labeling is itself a product of the noral universe of the
labelers Which is resed on the assunption cne l!llst justify behavior
ward all peq>le cy a categorical ethic: thus, to kill the other they
rust be seen as oonhunan or of another species. But the perpetrator
of genocide rray incorporate different assunptions, excluding the
6

other :Eran the tmiverse of ooligation without any presurrption the

other is mnhurnan. This nay accamt for the superficially anara.luts
rapidity with ..mich people who have lived as neighbors side cy side
for years nay murder each other one year and be tmited against the
violence cy a dlarisrratic leader the next as the people of Calcutta
- Muslims and Hindus - were tmited cy Garrlhi a year a~er the great
"Calcutta killings" of 1946 (Collins and LaPierre 1975, i;:p. 41-42,
96, 310-311, 362-367).

Inages of the other which justify their victimization include

their depiction as adversaries, violators, criminals, and enemies.
These evoke the conventional paradigms of punishnent - and alla;.r the
perpetrators to project their aggression onto the victim so they nay
kill without guilt.

These processes draw upon and reinforce the preexistant defini-

tion of the other as cutside the tmiverse of obligation in nost
cases. HCMever, there are instances where people of the sane ''kind"
becorre polarized on the basis of political differences alone and re-
spond to their suspected ideological cpponents as enemies belonging
to another tribe as in Columbia during ''La Violenza" (Weinert, 1966)
and in civil wars. Prior dehurnanization does not always lead to
genocide rut nay be used cy authorities to incite or justify
"guilt-free nassacres" (Duster, 1971).

Dehumanization ia often exhibited as degradation of the other,

imputing their inferiority or 'WOrthlessness. The other rray also be
dehurnanized or oojectified cy canparing or equating them to anirrals
- rats, dogs, pigs - and nonhuman forms of life: lice, bacteria,
cancer. But at the sane time the irrage of the other is degraded, it
may also be nagnified to appear as a threat in order to justify
their victimization. Dehumanization, so often roted in pre-Holo-
caust Nazi irragery of the JeN, both dehurnanizes and rragnifies the
other at the saire time, thus justifying the necessity for violence
against them.

Structural relationships nost conducive to genocide are orders

based on ethnic stratification in which state p:Mer is mt effect-
ively constrained cy internal or external checks. The other or vic-
tim nay be the natives forrrally incorporated into the arpire of the
colonizer rut withcut p:Mer or effective participation; a tribal or
ethnic minority incorporated rut not integrated in a rrultiethnic
state a~er decolonization; the indigencus people of the hinterlands
who have never been part of state or society; or a middleman-
minority devoid of political rights, because they are mt citizens
which is dependent on the tolerance of the ruling elite. Most vic-
tims of genocide in the b.ventieth century surveyed cy Kuper (1981)
are part of plural societies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America
(though, clearly, the Holocaust proves Eurcpean - "enlightened"
societies are very much in the picture). Sare plural societies that
have integrated different grcups into a derrocratic state such as
Canada and Belgium have not been narked cy intergrcup violence des-
pite longstanding intergrutp oonflicts. Thus, the charter and
structure of the state itself nay warrant or negate genocide.
 7

Structures of totalitarian rule rerrler all citizens equally pc:wer-

less am. thus potential victims of genocide nay be snatched fran
~ am. camunity am. "disappear" into concentration canps. The
potentials for genocide nay also be related to the notives of the
perpetrator, strains within the state, am. deterrents (if rot within
then 01tside the state) •

Precipitants triggering genocidal responses include dlallerges

to the structure of danination cy the victim, q;>portunities for in-
ternal develcpnent i.rrpeded cy the presence or habitual node of life
of the victim, am. ideolcgical strains within the worldview or uto-
pia of tlie victim Which dertarxi social lnrogeneity am. sacrifice of
gr01ps Which do rot fit the idealized irca.ge of the peq:>le.

Facilitating con:Utions favoring genocide include wars Which

both diminish the visibility of the killing am. the will or ability
of other states to protest am. :i.npose sanctions, thus altering the
calrulus of genocide Which precedes the act, assuming that it is
state-organized. The invisibility of the victims nay also be a
function of their distance fran the oore of the state am./or the
lack of camunications am. absence of disinterested or syIJpathetic
witnesses in their region. Invisibility nay be created cy rem:>Ving
the victims to special canps in rem:>te areas before their nurder.
But visibility can never be reduce3 to zero as long as there are
m:my personnel involved am. evaders Who becane refugees flee orer
borders. Another significant variable related to visibility is the
lergth of tine before the genocide is revealed to significant
others. The continued invisibility or lack of reccgnition of geno-
cide depen:is both en the lack of cbservability of the crine am. the
inability or unwillingness of significant others to credit reports
an:i inputations of a J;Bttern of genocide rather than individual
"excesses" or another interpretation or label for such events.

The nost ccmoon way for the ~ator to account for genocide
is to deny it. Diminishing the visibility Of the vict:i.rrs cy first
incarcerating t:hem after ?'lasing their disappearance in stages
all<llls both the authorities am. the neighbors of the victims to deny
it longer. Scanetines there are fell pretenses: indeed, catplete in-
visibility is rot functional for the perpetrators if their intent is
to terrorize other citizens. Another way to account for genocide is
to declare state actions as defensive respon;;es to attacks by the
vict:i.rrs. The state 1s right to self-defense is the ItOSt reccgnized
hunan right in practice. One nay also explain to ooe 's om consti-
tuency that it was a prophylactic act of self-defense: we did it to
t:hem before tliey C01ld do it to us.

Genocides nay be executed cy a special operational force am. an

ad h:x: tureaucracy or nay depen:i en the local militia am. general
state tureaucracy. The daninant party nay have its om para-
military, party cadres, or youth organization to do the dirty WOJ:k.
A high-particiJ;Btion genocide, such as the Turkish annihilation of
the Arnenians in 1915, depen:is on am. evc:Xes nass cnrplicity, in-
citing to nurder cy sanctioning the looting of the victims' prop-
erty.
 8

The responses of the victims deperxl upon their perception of

the nature of threat Which in turn is related to their acculturation
arxl context, the c:penness of escape rootes, the likelihoOO of their
neighbors helping them and the viability of resistance or other al-
ternatives to flight. Flight is the nost ac:mrron (arxl nost effec-
tive) response When escape routes are c:pen and the victirrs appreherxl
a threat. Trapped victims and victims oot understanding they are
threatened have often been described as appearing numbed and frozen,
confonning rrechanically to orders.

SCENARIOS OR M:>IELS OF GENOCIIE

A. IEVEI.DI?MENI'AL GENOCIIES: CLFARING THE W\Y

Scena.rio 1. The Agapd - A Hunting Tribe in Amerinda

The prototype for developrcental genocides rray have ocairred in

the interaction between European settlers and the natives of the
Anericas, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Settlers at
t.i.rres negotiated with the natives, at t.i.rres fought them, and at
t.i.rres attenpted to annihilate them. Sane historians and anthrcpolo-
gists oarparing systems of slavery stress b::1N the colonizers were
checked fran total cppression or annihilation of the natives and .im-
. ported slaves cy their am religious doctrines and cy the interven-
tion of state and church of their lorelarxl, supervisory organiza-
tions that cama with the colonists often.2

Another effective check on their violence was the r:hysical

limi. ts of the colonizers ' weaponry arxl rranpcwer arxl the extent of
space into Which the indigena.is people cx:uld retreat Which airtailed
the ability of the colonizers to eliminate them. Such "utilitarian"
geoocides as ocairred rray be seen as instrurrental acts to get rid of
peoples wtside their universe of obilgations Who stocxl in the way
of econanic exploitation. "Latent genocide," deaths not interxled cy
the settlers, occurred without planning as the settlers :Urported
diseases to Which the natives had oo resistance. (This typol03Y is
taken fran Dadrian (1975)). Insofar as these were oot interxled,
they \'t'Wld oot today be construed as geoocide under the U .N. Con-
vention wt they deci.itated the indigenous pcpulation.

Such geoocides still occur today in the sequestered jungles and

rain-forests Where so-called "Fourth W::>rld" peoples, unintegrated in
any nation-state, live. We will trace this process throogh a tribe
I shall call the Agape Who are located in the State of Amerind.a.
Pennission to exploit minerals in the interior - bauxite and alumi-
nium are suspected - has been leased to a nultinational corporation
by the goverrment of Amerind.a, intent oo extracting saleable carodi-
ties on the world rrarket in order to offset the gro.Ting national .im-
balance of payment and enrich the ruling class. Pennission, in
turn, is contracted to local carpanies Who are joined in the eicodus
to the neN settlements cy srrall shareh::>lders, granted 1arxl cy the
goverrment to raise cattle and sufficient crcps to feed themselves
arrl the mining and road workers.
 9

The Jliga~, a hunting tribe living as they did in the i:aleoli-

thic age in a world without borders or prcperty, are acrused of
stealing several ccws that have disappeared. In cne incident, two
shareholders shot at an aborigine fleeing in the jungle and their
prey returned their fire with an arrOll Which pierced the thigh of
the shareholder and caused his death, apparently cy poison. This
triggers cpen season en the JligapJ Who are called cy the narre of a
local rcrlent in tha Amerind.an tongue. A local army acmra.rrler
arrogates to hirrself the responsibility of taking care of the
"Indian problem: " the frequency of shooting arrong shareholders at
any sign of intrusion has caused casualties arrong laborers and sol-
diers. Shooting i:arties are a welcane diversion for the army fran
the boredan of frontier life aNa.y fran the anusemmts of the netro-
polis. The possibility of Ollning a class of fenale slaves suggests
to them other anuserrents. The Agape waren and drildren are kept
alive and the wanen induced to serve in the arll¥ brothel. Non-
cocperative and excess 1Ntrren (and their children) are sold as slaves
in the netrcpolis, thus supplenenting the neager .EBY of the army and
all011ing them to have a bar in the brothel stodked with internation-
al narrebrands rather than b::mmre,.,red liquor.

Stories filter back to the netrcpolis: visiting anthrcpologists

arrl engineers as well,"'95 priests are a s:urce of nEWs. One :inpedi-
ment in this scenario is protest cy the daninant national church or
synpathetic citizens of Amerirrla and intervention cy the Amerindian
authorities. If the camarrler authorizing the genocide is an inte-
gral nember of the elite supporting the ruler, intervention does oot
have to be feared. The national dJ.urch, concerned with integrating
the indigenoos people in its midst, may oorrlenn the genocide hlt its
preachings can be ignored.

The response of the JligapJ, unrrediated cy language or any

previous carmmication with their attackers, is to flee. But as the
zones of drilling surra:tnd them and their attackers roam the forest
by road and survey it cy air, they nust survive cy stealth in
smaller grrups. They becane victims of traurra and social
disorganization as their society has been displaced and arbitrarily
divided, yoingsters isolated fran their age mates Whan they kne.r as
brothers and sisters, as well as i:arents. These grrups in hiding
becane denoralized and are likely to die soon despite their kncw-
ledge of the forest as they can neither loc:K back or loc:K fo:cward.

The disappearance of the Jliga~ fran the world is of interest to

fe.r people in their 1arrl or abroad: there are oo ]!,gape a'.mrunities
or foreign students to plead their case. Hcwever, the governmant
responsible for their genocide is prdbably a recipient of foreign
aid fran a JYBjor :pc:wer and international loans. Insofar as human
rights sanctions attached to such aid are oot enforced, these
govermrents and transnational organizations are in caiplicity with
the govermrent of Amerirrla, sanctioning the nurder of the ]!,gape.
10

B. IESPOrIC GE:NOCIIE: a..EARING THE OPPJSITICN

Scenario 2, The Bullwinders And Axehandler Tribes In Nutopia

Despotic genocides reappear in very disparate eras of histori-

cal develcprrent, in rronolithic and predaninantly ronogena.is soci-
eties and in plural societies. In the tJNentieth century, despotic
genocide is rrore likely to be the innovation of a leader of a n6'7
state - we will call it ''Nutopia" - carposed of a rrosaic of tribes
and ethnic grcups without cx:tm0n Illftlls or traditional political in-
stitutions Which ccmrrand lcyalty. The state is vie'led cy its citi-
zens as the creation of the Vanguard Party. The program of the
Vanguard rray be resed both on an idealization of a historic era in
the nation's past and/or a ieyth of a ne'l revolutionary rran for Whom
the state exists. (Ne'/ revolutionary wanen only exist to serve ne.Y
revolutionary rran. ) As is a:mron in the ne'ler states, this is a
one-party state. The leader's atm cadres, his special security
squad and the raramilitary will be dra.m from his ONn tribe (the
Bullwinders) so he can be assured of their lcyalty. As rartisan
conflict and grcup lines are apt to coincide in these states, the
opposition to the Vanguard will be disprq:iortionately drcwn fran
another rrajor tribe, the Axehandlers.

Members of Vanguard cadres vie for the leader's favor with

tales of =nspiracy to prove their lcyalty. Rurrours are rragnified so
that any unexpected event rray be seen as a sign of a plot. Axe-
handler plots are plausible for the Axehandlers have proved to be
fierce fighters in the rast; rroreover, Why should they tolerate a
leader of the Bullwinders Whan they knew the Bullwinders therrselves
do rot trust? The leader authorizes What he calls a ''pre-errptive
attack" (or perhaps his foreign military advisors have suggested
that label) or a "token lesson" - the killing cy his cadres of the
sixteen year-old Axehandler rrales gathered at a puberty initiation
rite or a religious study group or peasant cocperative in a ren:ote
Axehandler village. The discovery of a cache of weapons and/or an
attack upon the military will be alleged i f questions are raised cy
other states or transnational organizations rronitoring hurran rights
violations, but few questions are apt to be raised at hare.

As runuurs spread and rrore people have groonds for opposition,

these attacks will be rene'led and the targets of rrassacre will be
broadened, for everyone is a potential eneiey" of the despot. Organi-
zations of foreign students abroad, srrall groops of opponents in
exile, guerrillas in a neighborL'lg state, and defecting diplarats
reinforce the insecurity of the despot. His insecurity (tending to
paranoia) triggers rrore rrassacres Which lead ti::JNard self-fulfilling
prophecies; since all Axehandlers have been vie'led as enemies to be
nurderoo, they view retaliation and vengeance as their best defense.
Potential victirrs flee fran the ca.mtry or to the countryside, rara-
alyzing trade and negating the possibility of internal organization
against the despotism. But organization has been already negated cy
the reign of terror Which is internalizoo: each fears his neighbor
 11

am organization rreans the possibility of infiltration cy goverrmmt

spies.

Like all client states, Nutopia has f0.trons am:mg the great
pa.rers Which usually try to overlock these crines as long as pos-
sible. Saretines the f0.trons carpeting for favor nay subsidize the
crines, anning the governrrent and enabling them to kill nore cy
supplying them with nore sophisticated a:iuiprent: helicq>ters, anti-
insurgency weapons and detection devices. Justification for ''non-
interference" include a theory of develcprrent Which presllm!s lesser
responsibility arrong sare pecple than others, respect for absolute
sovereignty in regard to internal affairs, the absence of other
choices and the interest of other great pc:wer .r::atrons in destabiliz-
ing the governrrent. Trade p:i.tterns and occasional luxurious personal
gifts to foreign ministers reinforce their aversion t:o.<iard sanc-
tions. Genocide and ideological nassacres in Nutopia will go un-
checked until a acup or invasion of a neighboring atate O\TerthrONs
the despot.

C. Rm'RIBUI'IVE GENOCIIE

Retributive genocide is a response to dl.allenges to the struc-

ture of danination When two pecples (or nore) - two nations, races,
ethnic grcups, tribes, religious collectives - are locked into an
ethnically stratified order in a plural society. Their status nay
be foinBlly denaninated cy law as una:iual - colonial official and
native subject - or danination nay be de facto cy effective exclu-
sion of the other frcm denocratic particif0.tion in the policy. Such
orders arise frcm arpire-l:::uilding and colonization, war and con-
quest, slavery and decoloniZation: the latter case in Which bro
nations are assimilated into cne state and cne nation/tribe/grcup
becanes the governing class is the nost ccmron today. The ethni-
cally dcminant grcup is referred to herein as the governing class.
The governing class does rule rut I refrain frcm calling it a ruling
class because of the Marxian cormotation that its status arises fran
the econanic order: the status of the governing class arises frcm
its role in a political order.

Genocide is cne alternative for a governing class Which con-

ceives itself to be threatened cy a subject class. The latter nay
be eliminated cy either expulsion or annihilation. Massacres or
genocide nay rot be an alternative to expulsion rut a trigger to ~
pel flight.

There is always a latent threat of rebellion in polities based

on grcup danination When the subject class is excluded frcm citizen-
ship and p:i.rticip:i.tion in yielding pc:wer. ·Conflict is OOth a the-
oretical consequence and a practical problem. Both Parsons and
conflict theorists have recognized that legiti:rracy is a function of
solidarity: witlDut solidarity between governing and subject
classes, there can be ro legit:i.na.cy (Parsons, 1967, p. 327;
Allardt, 1964, p. 82). The threat is increased in the contenporary
era When the universal ideology legit:i.na.ting the state is national
12

self-detenni.nation, a crErlo celebratErl in international organiza-

tions and hurran rights covenants. What gro.mds, then, can one
nation have to justify rule CNer arx>ther Which can be "sold" to the
other and to third-parties?

The dynamic of class p:>larization and oollective violence un-

folds repetitively in such situations. Where there is no solidarity
between the governing class and the governed, their coexistence is
likely to lead to greter enmity between them arrl increased "cons-
ciousness of kind" (Giddings, 1922) within each class, especially
exascerbatErl if/when the subject class rejects its place. "The con-
men oonscience is limitErl to one's c:wn kind, members of one's class,
excluding the other fran the universe of obligation - the people Who
nust be taken into acco.mt, to Whan obligations are dle, by Whan we
can be held resp:>nsible for arr action" (Fein 1977, p. 7). Cha.1-
len;Jes to the suprerracy of the governing class, Whether violent or
nonviolent, are likely to be seen as threats to all nerrbers of the
governing class arrl increase their class-oonsciousness evcked cy
their perception of threat. Wlile the governing class arrl the sub-
ject class nay be vi011ed cutside the system as topdogs arrl under-
dogs, this neErl not oorresp:>nd to each class' self-perception. For
the governing class nay vi011 themselves as p:>tential underdogs When
and if the presentday underdogs triunph, especially if they are a
nur:erical minority. For in a p:>litical order based on grcup dani-
nation, a zero-sum pcwer garre in Which one's gain is the other's
loss, the governing class has everything to loose cy the subject
class's enpar1ernent. Thus both classes, dcminant and subordinate,
aggressor and victim, nay vi011 arrl depict themselves as victirrs.
Further, there are ideological and tactical p::>litical reasons for
both to stress their pcwerlessness arrl vie to play the role of the
injurErl victim: playing the underdog enables the representatives of
each to appeal to cystarrlers arrl third parties in teil!B of universal
rights and noil!B. Also, the gCNerning class nay appeal to its om
constituency to unite as a beleaguerErl minority and underdog, en-
abling them to reinforce groop solidarity on the basis of the neErl
for cdlesion against enemies threatening their existence. HoN oorr-
flict increases grcup cohesion anong µrrties Who vi.011 themselves
surrcundErl cy enemies (assuming there is an initial consensus that
the groop "is a 'going ooncern "') has been renarked upon cy Sirmel,
Williarrs arrl other students of grcup process (Coser, 1956, pp.
87-93).

It is the threat fran the subject class Which is definErl as

crirre by the governing class (often regardless of Whether the threat
is violent or nonviolent) which provckes their reprisal arrl the sub-
ject class ccunterreprisal: this is the basis of the social psycho-
logy of the crirre-punishnent-crirre cycle often seen in oolonial
situations and other plural societies. "In the eyes of the victimiz-
ed class, each punishnent (received) is a crirre arrl each of their
crirres (camnittErl) is a punishnent (Fein 1977, pp. 12-13). Pun-
ishnents are generalizErl fri:quently to all rrernbers or randan rrernbers
of the subject class as they are held g..iilty collectively: "collec-
tive punishnent assmres oollective attribution of resp::>nsibility for
violations" Fein, 1979, p. 12). Pograas, nassacres arrl lynchings
 13

are exanples of such generalized or collective punishrrents Which are

ordinarily preceded cy an accusation of a crirre cx:mnitted cy the
vict:i.n:s. Collective violerx:e is rot recognized as a crirre cy the
class perpetrating it because it is viar.red as punishnent of an of-
fense cy a class 0.1tside the 1.llliverse of d:>ligation (Fein, 1979, pp.
12-14)· Retriootive genocide is both continuCA.Is with and discrimi-
nated :Eran l!Ost collective violence cy its conscious intent, sccpe
am state organization: the state has taken CNer as the executive
organ of the daninant class the function of collective punishment,
the right to decide Who shall live and Who shall die. lkM' the threat
fran the subject class is related to retriootive genocide in plural
societies is illustrated in the follcwing scenarios.

Scena.rio 3. Ethnic Conflict, Separation, and Genocide in

Amerindustan

Two ethnic grCA.Ips separated cy their location at the core and

periifi.ery coexist within "merindustan, the daninant class d.<ielling
in the rich highlands and the subject class at the periiiJ.ery of the
lcwlands. A novenent for local autorx:my arises anong the peq>le of
the lcwlands and wins a local election. Their success provckes the
state 's military leaders to invade and take CNer the lcwlarrls gov-
errimant. Attenpt.ing to incite solidarity, they first ne.ssacre the
people of a religious minority anong the ladanders, trying to in-
duce the others to joln the attack. Although there is a lcnJ his-
tory of ccrmunal ne.ssacres and accusations of ritual prCNocations in
the lcwlands, this tirre the lcwlanders do rot join in the ne.ssacres.
The highland trcx:ps begin to ne.ssacre entire villages, having al-
ready eliminated the educated class of both the ne.jority and mino-
rity anong the lcwlanders.

The victims and potenticil vict.im3 flee in droves to the neigh-

boring ca.mtry Which is oatpOSed of related ethnic gr0.1ps. An .in-
ternational 0.1tcry for rrediation and a ceasefire and/or the inter-
vention of a peacekeeping force arises in response to the praipt
broadcast of I16'1S cy the neighboring state. The great pcwers repeat
injunctions to that state to abstain :Eran attacking its genocidal
neighbor and kick in l!Ore or less generoo.s contributions to the in-
ternational refugee fund.

The refugees themselves have becare a causus belli, a grot1ing

problem as htllldreds of th:>usands continue to stream into the nation
of asylum. They make clear that they will never return While the
army rules. The welcaning nation of asylum sees prCNincial tension
rise as the rurnber of refugees increase (errlangering public health)
am canoot forsee any tenporary or penranent solution such as re-
settlement. The great pcwers and other cystarrler-states continue to
coo.nsel patience. These pressures lead the nation of asylum to sup-
port an invasion cy a guerrilla force recruited :Eran the refugees,
generoo.sly supported cy its am military equiprent and airforce.
The invaders are victorious, the defending arn\Y flees and the re-
fugees return, citizens of a nar.r state.
 14

Scenario 4. Dominant Minority Rule Leads to Terrorism and

Genocidal War in Traverstia

Two rrajor grwps coexist within Traverstia, a state create:l qy

colonial settlerrent. The daninant grwp, a minority, has exclusive
control CNer the state rrachine of the core of the territory which
enccrrpasses the industrialized area arrl extractive industries \lhich
are the source of wealth in Traverstia. The rrajority grwp are leg-
ally defined as aliens as they are citizens of hinterlarrl ministates
create:l 1:¥ the core state arrl regulate:l qy p:i.ssport and working
papers as are foreign INOrkers. A widespread novenent for l'Dnviolent
change derranding equal rights for all inhabitants grClA's anDn:.:J the
majority grwp. This is legally repressed qy the gCNerrment of the
core of Traverstia which decrees the novenent "a threat to order"
and representative of foreign ideologies, arrl incarcerates or exiles
the leadership. Belief in l'Dnviolence wanes anDn:.:J the next genera-
tion of political activists anDn:.:J the rrajority. Their tmdergrwnd
organization which espaises selective terrorism to CNerthrClA' the
goverrurent is systerratically infiltrated arrl brcken.

The ruling minority; more than ever unite:l qy fear, begin to

train therrselves for a confrontation. Universal military service be-
canes carpulsory anDn:.:J their ywth. Tactical alliances with neigh-
boring states (in which grwps relate:l to the rrajority grwp in
Traverstia rule) ensures them effective control of the borders. Mass
action cy the najority becanes less of a threat after a preerrptory
and unplanned police shooting into an :inpatient crcwd in front of a
police station becares camem::>rate:l as the Crcwville rrassacre.

Nonetheless, the minority's control CNer the rra.jority is limit-

ed both qy la.o.r and numbers. Opposition anon:.:J the rra.jority reerrerges
in the next generation after the Crcwville nassacre as the ecornnic
status of the tmderdogs inproves because of the shortage of labor.
The sense of relative deprivation anon:.:J rra.jority 1NOrkers h:>lding
skilled jobs, still p:i.id less than their minority peers in carpa-
rable jobs, increases even th:lugh their incane grClA's. Mass rrovenents
arron:.:J the najority stress their unity and reject dependency upon the
minority or an appeal to them.

This is the backgrwnd for the increasing use of urban terror-

ism qy cadres of a self-rule noverrent anon:.:J the tmderdog rra.jority
which seeks a;i:ual rights in Traverstia. No one is sure loN the
llDl.'enent is organized as all knClA'n leaders have been incarcerate:l,
interned or fled, but the incidents increase: bank h:>ldups increase
their financial base and departrrent-store bc:mbings deter minority
custarers causing the financial elite to crlvocate sane accarodation
to the novenent. After militant n&1sp:i.per editors anDn:.:J the gCN-
erning class who defend the hard line taken qy the regirce are taken
hostage for ranscm, critics within the go11erning class who crlvocate
concessions are stigmatizai as dislC¥fil. Security is reinforced, the
gCNernrrent position hardens, and anigration am:>n:.:J the minority in-
creases. Everyday-life still goes on nuch as usual am the workers
of the tmderdog najority continue their daily 1NOrk 0
 15

It is the banbing of a b.lsload of minority schoolchildren

(later crlm:itted qy the undergroond J'!O\Tercent to be a mi.stake) Which
provckes callective reprisals fran the go17erment. Alleging that
they are reacting to tips as to the hideout of the terrorists '
leadership, the gCNernnent bc:mbs a densely populated township of the
majority repeatedly, causing tens of thousands of deaths am casual-
ties. The najority begins to flee to the coontryside Where their
theoretical h::melams are located. Both representatives of the najo-
rity am the minority allege genocide •

.But nany members of the najority still reside in the cities of

the care, especially darestic 'NOJ:kers Who often are al.lcwe:i to sleep
in their errplqrers ' h:mes because cxmruting to their townships is
unsafe. Yet they are rot safe in the care either, for i f they go
sropping they are in danJer of being stabbed qy minority teenage
gangs. Rl.lrro.lrs circulate that such victllce am najority gra.ip
children Who have been \olO.Ulde:i are being denie:i bloa:i systenatical.ly
because of the Minister of Heal th 's decision to distrililte bloa:i
(new in srort supply) on a priority schedule taking into acca.int
gra.ip nee:iS am the 11Catpatibility Of bloa:i II This leads to all in-
ternational. a.itcry, including derarrls qy transnational. 01ganizations
of :Ehysicians am heal th personnel am hmran rights 01ganizations
for an investigation. A United Nations debate leads to the censure
of 'l'raverstia. ~.

The increasing insecurity of life leads the renainder anon] the

majority to flee their tarmships for their ''haival.ards. 11 Yet orx:e
they are ccn::entrated in these arid am I'DI overcrcwde:i areas, they
have neither errployrrent ror :fbai am they lack Eqlliptent am ferti-
lizer for nore intensive fanning. Appeals to the gClll'errment of
Traverstia qy relief 01ganizations are rejected qy that gCNernnent
Which dercends that the guerrilla furces bonlering the h:melams sur-
ren3.er am allcw the army of Traverstia to Check for hidden ams am
distribute the :fbai. The najority is slcwly rut steadily re:iuce:i qy
famine am nalrrutrition.

Scenarios 5. The Deltas and Gammas - Neighboring Amazia and

Zenomia

Two tribes in a caste-like relationship traditionally, the

Deltas - kncwn as warriors - arrl the Gamras - kncwn as sc:Mers am
sheptierds - coexist within bio states created qy decolonization with
reverse orders of dani.nation. The Deltas have a rrvth that God
created them first rut of narble am gold am nade the Gamra a.it of
clay in order to serve them; :i.ndee:i, the Gamras have traditionally
serve:i am been protected qy them in the piSt. But I'DI there is for-
mal equality am both go to school together am live in the same
villages. In Amazia, the Uhuru Party based en the Deltas (a mino-
rity in both states) is daninant CNer the kawaki Party (based on
the Gamra. najority) am there is ronina1 integration of the Gamra.
In Zenani.a, the Arawaki Party is daninant am rrany anon] the Del ta
minority have fle:i or been driven rut of Zenania (to Amazia) follcw-
inJ nassacres during their civil war which are describe:i qy sane as
gerocidal am qy others as local pograns.
16

There is a shift in pcwer within the Uhuru Party in Amazia with

a nore radical faction energing triunphant. Soon thereafter, a srrall
cult-like guerrilla rroverrent am:>n:J the Garme. with soma assistance
fran Zenania attacks the borders of Amazia. Detennine:I to put an
end to the "Garnra problem, " the ruling generals of the Uhuru Party
expel the Garme. ministers :Eran the go17ernrrent of Amazia, charging
them with treason, and kill them alon;} with all the Garnra civil ser-
vants, students and priests that they can find. The ycuth p:tramili-
tary organization of the Uhuru (alonJ with the Ancy') rcunds up the
Garme. victi.m; in trucks, drives them to the e:Ige of the city, and
then shoots the victi.m; or bludgeons them to death in a nore tradi-
tional fashion. The victi.m; are shocked and bewildere:I. They have
no ties with the Garma guerrilla forces and have mt heard of them,
so they forsee m reason to flee. They have always been lcyal to
Anazia and expect that the state will be lcyal to them. So they
readily go alon;} When they are rcunded up cy their executioners.
Ha..rever, many illiterate Garrrra (Who are mt sought) do flee to the
ccuntryside.

Refugees and missionaries in Zenania oorwey ne.rs of the selec-

tive gemcide in Amazia to the press Which broadcasts it arcund the
world. The g011ernrrent of Amazia first denies that any massacres have
ocCllrred and then declares that they were acting in self-defense
to tlwart a conspiracy based in Zenania. The foreign enbassies with
the greatest influence in Amazia (an uncamti.tted state) carpete with
each other in aid to help Amazia restore mrmalcy in the nam:i of
"state-wilding." International organizations send in assistance
for refugee relief and for rehabilitation in Zenania (often diverted
by that g011ernrrent). To m one's great surprise, the nassacres are
resumed the next year.

Scenario 6. Altenuland Occupation and Rule Over the Bianu Leads

to Rebellion, Massacre in Reprisal, and Resettlement

Altenuland is o::nposed pre:Ianinantly of the Alterru tribe and

is their lnreland. A.rrorg its citizens there are a minority of the
Biarru tribe Who are also indigemus to the land. Altenuland also
rules 01er an adjacent territory alrrost Wholly p::.pulated cy the
Biarrus as a result of a war with Amit-£iarruran, a neighboring state
carposed predaninantly of Bianus. The Bianus residing in the ocCllp-
ied territory are mt citizens of Altenuland wt ll'B.Y work there.

A political rrovercent demm:iing independence of the territory

grONs anon:; the Bianus there Who fear annexation cy Al terruland and
incorporation. Both tribes - Altenus and Bianus - bave nvths justi-
fying their sovereignty Oller the land and depicting the other tribe
as rrore distant dlildren of God: each clai.m; it is their divine mis-
sion to colonize this land and/or keep the sacred fire lit there.
Other reasons - economic expansion, national security - are alleged
to be notives or justification for Alterru rule. The territory in
dispute is progressively settled cy the Alterrus, reinforcing their
claims.
 17

To n03ate the threat of sepa.ratist noven~nts in a plural evc-

iety, the group defecting might either be assimilated, expelled, or
destroyed, assuming the daninant groop will not coexist with them
on an equal basis. Both the reyt.hs of the Alterrus arrl Biarrus pros-
cribe assimilation cy the other or of the other, narrcwing their al-
ternatives. If Altenularrl were a military dictatorship or authori-
tarian state, the solution of the so-called ''Bianu" problem wculd be
sinpler. Scm:! have prcposed driving the Bianus rut 1¥ reducing
their ability or desire to stay through exprcpriating their l::usi-
nesses arrl larrl, discrimination in enployment, reducing services to
their t.CMnships, encooraging their students to leave arrl miking it
JIDre difficult for them to return, arrl cy direct violence, all caus-
il'X.3 the Bianu to flee. This \\Oll.d allcw nore Alterru settlers to
take root, reducing the basis of claims of the Bianu for self-rule.
But Al terrularrl is a denocracy in which free expression of public
opinion arrofX3 the Alterru is virtually uninhibited arrl there is a
division of cpinion arrofX3 them aboot the ''Biarru problem." Scm:!
Alterrus argue that chances for peace, the oontirrued internal secu-
rity of Altenularrl, arrl denocracy \\Oll.d be enhanced cy excising the
coniuered territory fran Al terru rule arrl allcwing the Bianus there
to determine their cwn fonn of goverrment. others of the dcrninant
pa.rty arrofX3 the Alterrus cordenn these critics as being evft on the
Bianu question.

While there have been cycles of protest arrl na.ss disorder in

the .terrority before, a spontaneoos rebellion erupts arrofX3 the Biarru
cities after a spell of successful ''pacification" in response to a
rurrour of rape arrl torture of .YWI¥J Bianu 1'Clleil arrl the death of cne
wo:ran - in an Alterru prison. The Alterru authorities (thenEelves not
wholly certain What happened) issue a statem:mt declaring that the
ya.mg -wanen were agents of ·the Bianu Liberation organization W1o
were sruggling explosives into the area on their bcxiies, arrl they
were rot raped tut sul:mi.tted to a starrlard rectal search. The wanan
who died was a victim of peritonitis, rot police brutality~ an
investigation is pranised as to why she did not get nedical aid
earlier.

The Bianu rioters, armed only with bricks arrl stones, drive rut
the Alterru Arny fran the cities of the territory briefly. Hc:Mever,
there is ro indication that the Bianus have any substantial arroonts
of armunition arrl they have ro projectiles, tanks, or other veh-
icles. The Alterru authorities pranise that all neans necessary will
be taken to restore order with minim.nn force. But the interpreta-
tion of What is minim.un force is left to the Al terru r03ional cxm-
man:lers. One, fearing that his trcx:ps will provcke further denon-
strations that he canoot control, withdraws to the perineter of a
Bianu city. Another, known as an advocate of a radical evlution of
the ''Bianu problem," orders carpet-banbing within the heavily popu-
lated area of another city, killing tens of thousards arrl destroying
the university which is the spearhead of Biarru q>position. Scm:!
Bianu be;Jin to flee tcward the border with Arnit-Biarruran. BanbifX3s
are repeated in other cities under this r03ional ccmrander 's auth::>-
rity.
18

International. protest leads the authorities of Al tenularrl to

intervene arrl offer the Bianus a truce: there will be a cease-fire
during Which all Who wish to leave will be guaranteed safe pissage
to the border Where they will be required to sign docurrents volun-
tarily renamcing their claims to their prcperty or to repatriation.
Bianus Who wish to reimin will be resettled in g01Ternrrent rousing in
rrodel villages encircled cy- Altenu army canps arrl settlerrents; deeds
of exchange of prcprrty in return for n&1 rousing will be required
for their transfer. Both the ruling Al tenus arrl the fleeing Bianus
will explain that they have ro choice, for were they to restore the
status quo ante, the other tribe wo.ild have camrl.tted genocide
against them.

Scenario 7. Retributive Genocide of Altenus in Abru-Bianu

Abru-Bianu is a state Whose people are closely related ethni-

cally to the Bianus of Amit-Bianuran. A section of these Bianus
live in Abru-Bianu Which supports a training canp of the Bianu Libe-
ration Organization. After the preceding events, a hostage minority
of Altenus in Abru-Bianu, 413 nosily elderly people living in a se-
questered ghetto protected cy- the B.L.O., are roonded up one night
am nurdered cy- the security squad of the g01Ternrrent.

D. IIEOI.DGICAL GENOCIIES
The first cause of ideologica1 genocides and slaughters are the
hegerronic ll!{ths identifying the victims as ootside the sanctioned
universe of d:>ligation; myths based on religion exclude the victim
frcm the sanctified universe of salvation arrl obligation. Murder is
always a latent irrplication of totalitarian idoologies Which elevate
the concept of the people or class(es) of the people ("workers arrl
peasants") arrl denigrate the ideal of the individual as anti-revolu-
tionary, a cyprcrluct of the old decadent regirre. Furthernore,
crises are eOO.emic to revolutions: they may precede them arrl often
follON the totalitarian accession to J;XMer. Sare see the sacrifice
of victims as inherent in the nature of such regirres:

The step fran totalism to victimization is easy; in fact,

totalism requires victimization. The claim to ultimate
virtue requires a contrasting image - and all too often
an enil:x:rlirrent of absolute evil ..• Victimizers actually
experience a threat to the life of their ONn groop,
aroorrl Which they justify their actions •••That sense of
threat can be displaced onto those selected as victims
(Lifton 1979, p. 302).

Scenario 8. The Utopia of Blood in Frankenriven and Sacrifice of

the Ebrinu

Once upon a tine there cane to J;XMer in a defeated nation split

by religious, cultural arrl class differences, Frankenriven, a n&1
 19

leader, AUan, Who held before them a dream of creating a nEW

people, erasing social differences, guaranteeing security fran wt:mb
to torrib, restoring the recently lost national territory an:i "re-
claiming" lards Which their ancestors had not ruled for generations,
am slooghing off the cbligations other states had inposed upon them
as the price of peace. There was a relatively srrall price to pay
for this; the Ebrinu, a srra.11 groop in their midst 'NW.ld have to be
excluded fran the premise an:i participation in the future. They
were aliens. later they \tv'Ollld be decried as oon-people an:i anti-
people. They had caoo to Frankenriven centuries ago as aliens, an:i
had always been oonceived of as aliens cy the old religions an:i
ideologies. It was said that the Ebrinu were so ingenious that if
they were thrust rut of wor~ an:i hungry, they aoold rrultiply loaves
am fishes. They always lamed en their feet.

There were also other victine at first. The organized ~ponents

of the Il0o\1 regine (am rrany inoocent suspects) were seized an:i put
into aoncentration canps if they did oot flee. In the beginning,
sare of the Ebrinu trought they might ooexist with Ailan after the
revolutionary stage was CNer. Ailan 's elite cemented its rule While
tutoring the pecple in the ideal race they were going to create "of
pure blood Which had to be distinguished fran the blood they were
11

wasting ocw. No ene had tmught too rruch abwt blood before (except
of coorse When they .nefrled a transfusion), but, the people said, it
proved that science also was en their side. Ailan 's teachers ex-
plained b:M the Ebrinu had polluted ·their blood, b:M blood aooldn 't
mix, am that sane hard choices had to be na.de.

Externally, the leaders of Frankenriven provc:Ked cilal.len:;es an:i

crises throoghoo.t the continent an:i -woIJ. nost of them, expan:ling
their reign. The other states were anxious to avoid a nEW war and a
bcdy of public ~inion abroad recognized the Frankish gramds for
opposition to the old peace treaty an:i believed that sane accaixr
dations -waild prevent Frankish aggression. As each accarodation
evcked aoother ~ daring ltDVe fran Frankenriven, leaders of other
states becane apprehensive an:i started talking aboot self-defense.
Ailan then threatened the Ebrinu that i f they started a war on the
continent, they \tv'Ollld perish. Far fran oonspiring to threaten
Frankenriven, the Ebrinu of that nation were trying to get as far
away as they coold fran it. Many of the Ebrinu in other states were
busy aboot their Ollil rosiness, h:pir¥J their states 'NO..tldn 't get in-
volved an:i few' conceived of cilal.ler¥Jing Frankenriven. Many blamed
the Ebrinu fleeing frcrn Frankenriven for starting all this troo.ble.
''There rrust be something wror¥J with them, 11
they said, "or they
woo.ldn 't have got into all this trouble. 11

The war caxm precipitated cy Frankenriven 's invasion of a

neighboring state. When the decision was nade to destroy the Ebrinu
is a natter of controversy, but the social organization of the ItBch-
inery of destruction is not. The Ebrinus had already been defined,
registered, separated fran the oon-Ebrinu, stripped of pr~rty,
status an:i rights an:i segregated an:i labeled. Using the sane tech-
nology and social organization of the canps first used to get rid of
internal ~ponents and the gas d1ambers used to purify the race cy
20

killing defective am sick children am adults, the cx:Alriers of

Allan destrcy-ed the Ebrinu.

For their part, the executioners did not publicly crlmit What
was going on rut did rot hesitate in praising it in closed C01ncils
as a glorious deed. The response of the cystarrlers varied greatly.
The rcost paNerful ano03 them limited t:hercselves to rhetorical de-
nunciation. t'mere the cystarrlers aided the Ebrinu, nost of them
evaded capture.

The Utopia of Bloai was ultina.tely defeated, but not before tlY'o
out of every three Ebrinu on the continent had been killed am other
peoples decina.ted cy nore selective genocide. Allan had alrcost suc-
ceeded. The states Which defeated Frankenriven tried am found
guilty sare of the better knam organizers of the destruction of the
Ebrinu: others found etployment am sanctuary ano03 the victors Who
were r011 preoccupied with a ner.r threat.

Scenario 9. Upheaval in the Iron Empire and Disappea.rance of the

Ebrinu

The Iron Errpire was· established cy a revolutionary va03Uard in

the nane of the people after a period of unremitting am unsuccess-
ful war, strikes am famine Which follCMed the erosion of the ruling
authority's legitina.cy arco03 the intelligentsia am aamon pecple
over several decades. The Errpire spread after another war, exterding
its reign through concordat with its fonrer eileI1¥ arrl the 9'.'eep of
its arr!¥ in self-defense crver the territory its eneIL¥ CNerran When
it turned against the alliance. The Iron Errpire was constituted of
a heterogeneous array of rani.nally indeperdent states, federated
states am oorquered provinces in Chronic rebellion.

The Iron Errpire was knCMn in its early decades for its wide-
spread use of terror, including o::incentration am slave labor canps,
ard its secret police Which have been Em.J.lated throughout the world.
In recent decades it has diminished its reliance on violence al-
though the basic totalitarian structure of the state has rot chang-
ed am expressions of dissenting cpinion nay be severely repressed.
Control of its client states is exercised cy the local revolutionary
party Which rcodeled its control apparatus after that of the o::ire
state of the Errpire: hcwever, a ru.uiDer of states have plural centers
of paNer or a:untervailing institutions (churches am unions) which
have develcped in them to everyone's surprise.

The Ebrinu are one of the nany etlmic groups throughout the Em-
pire. Most of them are located arourd the oore alth:lugh at one tirre
they were spread throoghout rcost of the Flllpire. The Ebrinu are
not only relDl/Ila:i in the history of the Enpire as the target of tra-
ditional hatreds during the pre-Ironist Iflase of the Flllpire, rut
they are rrerrbers of an international collectivity found in nany
nations surroonding the Errpire. Their lurelard, Ebrianinu, has been
labeled an ener!¥ of the Iron Flllpire cy its leaders Who are rOll
alignOO. with the enemies of Ebrianinu.
 21

Prani.nent nerribers of the Ebrinu used to be leaders of the Iron

Enpire in its revolutionary days and others were early supporters of
the expansion of the Enpire in its client states. So visible were
they that it was easy for q:>ponents of the Ebrinus to equate them
with the ,EBrty of the Errpire; they charged that Ebrinus were really
Ironists and vice versa. In times of crisis the real Ironists have
projected blarre and displaced accusations of q:>posi tion on to the
Ebrinu, charging them with being enemies of the peq:>le and (rcore
recently) agents of Ebrianinu. Faced with these charges and bars to
their internal. nobility within the Iron Enpire, many of the Ebrinus
have acted in a na.nner used to fulfill the latter charge, asking to
be repatriated to their h:melam, Ebrianinu. Because the Ebrinu are
a highly visible people because of their location at the core of the
Enpire, their ties with other Ebrianinus, their literacy and ease of
camunication and their distribution abroad, their cause has
attracted nuch syrrpathy in other poN"ers with Whan the Iron Enpire is
con::erned with na.intaining ties.

The crisis of the Iron Enpire involved a dlain of unforseen

events 1'hich leaders of all sides 'NOO!d tell historians were just
mishandled. It be:Jan rot with a political I!Oll'ement rut with a -worker
am consl.ll1l& protest CNer potato shortages in a client state that
was repressed by a standing force of Iron Enpire soldiers and tlvse
of other client states. Several lynchings of soldiers :Eran
neighboring states and defections of a greater l1llil1ber thre,,r the Iron
Enpire 's alliance (as well as its forces) in disarray. Ne..rs of the
tenporary defeat of the Ironist alliance precipitated widespread
spontaneous (but unorganized) rebellions throoghout the client
states and a syrrpathy march of a fe..r dissidents in the core of the
Enpire. Officials of the Enpire ordere:i bans on civilian I!O\l'ements
am camunications, confiscation of radios and arrested leaders in
the city (Polonis) fran which the first wave of c.pposition sterm'ed.

The blue Alliance (a force nade up of states cpposed to the Em-

pire) was cy coinciderx::e then engaged in war garres in the state ad-
jacent to Polonis and cy miscalmlation sent a reconnaissance plane
over Polonis. Acting on standing orders, the Enpire 's banbers shot
it dam, leading to a war nobilization of both alliances. The
rulers of the Iron Errpire ordered all correspoments :Eran the states
of the Blue Alliance rut, charging them with spreading rostile pro-
pagarrla leading to war. They h:>ped that suspension of news broad-
casts aboot the rebellion WOJld lead toward their spontaneous
demise, but general strikes had spread and p:>ekets of urban guerril-
la warfare l'Dll confronted them. The econ::mies of several rrerri:ler
states on which the Enpire relied for focrl prcrluction were in dis-
array and the neager supplies had to go to the rebellious client
states, further draining the Errpire. A radical solution was clearly
needed to p:tcify the rooellious states.

The anna.mced diSCCNery of a treasoID.ls plot by the Blue

Alliance to disrnmtle the Iron Elrpire fran within by using the
Ebrinu as agents is the signal for the secret police of the Dtpire
to deport prani.nent nembers of the Ebrinu arrl cpposition leaders
throoghout the client states to the arctic borders of the Errpire,
22

Here trey can construct slave labor canps and die slcwly or be
killed cutright, depending on treir usefulness as h:>stages. It is
explained that tre Ebrinus' diversion of food and exploitation of
treir positions acccunts for tre sh:>rtages. one cannot be one of
tre pecple - tre Iron Pecple - and an enetl"!Y of tre people at tre
sarre t:Ure: fre Ebrinus have always been enemies of tre people.
Whan tre unrest continues, middle-ranking officers of tre secret
police enlarge tre s:ope of tre action, picking up nore Ebrinus. As
trey have been all registered and enurrerated previously, frere is no
problem locating tram. N::>t by coinciderce, tre terror is es:alated
in tre client states and nore food is flcwn in, "proving" that as
tre Ebrinus' disappeararce ilmediately inproves provisions, trey
nust have been responsible for h:>arding tiem.

Mearwhile, leaders of tie Blue Alliarce are involved in intense

negotiations to prevent a nuclear war fran breaking oot between tre
1::lNo alliarces. '!'re Blue negotiators fear that too persistent ques-
tions about tre Ebrinu will fortify tre fears of tie Ironist leaders
and be used to break off talks oo tiey do not press inquiries. Trey
are not at all clear as to what is happening within tre Empire. Is
this a standard crackdcwn on dissidents? Could all tre rretoric not
be a cloak for a top-level ccup? Clues and information are arribi-
gucus and contradictory as usual. Within tre Empire, confusion pre-
vails and cpposition becanes atani.zed as each person is unsure what
treir neighbor will do. Thus, law and order is restored by tre
usual rretluds.

CRITICAL RESPONSES 'ID GENOCIIE

The ...eary reader nay respond with sore irritation: lnw can ...e
we be sure this or that s:enario is a case of genocide? Trere are
ambiguities about intent and central organization in tie case of
Traverstia and Al teIUiland especially. Trese are included to
indicate tie actual arribigui ty of eviderce and con texts in which
genocide energes and tre range of prirre facie eviderce that nay be
presented. Furtrer, tre threat of genocide is confounded with tie
results of internal war in several instarces and nasked by tre
threat of global war in otrers. Tre question of priorities of goals
of nations nay ...ell reoccur wren trey are confronted by a threat of
war which will be borne by treir civilian _EX)pulation and of geno-
cide of distant victims to wb:m trey ONe ro ooligations of law or
custom.

Tl"ere are two principal strategies to aborting or reversing

such deadly endings. one approach to genocide seldan considered is
preventive or deterrent. Callee tive violerce might be deterred by
eliminating tre structures which prarote it: tle danination of one
grcup over arotler witlnut participation or consent by tle dani-
nated. This pertains especially to preventing retributive genocides
which are triggered by tle threat fran tre daninated class which
challe~s its status. Eliminating structures of danination is not
equivalent to eliminating all oocial inequality for sore degree of
inequality of rewards is related to dif:fererce in origins and ~-
 23

ti.ens m all class system:;, but it does dera.m restructuring s:x:ial

system; based on exclusion fran citizenship, or de facto disen-
franchisenent, or collective denial of rights because of race, eth-
nicity, religion or another ascriptive barrier. Since violent Chal-
len;:Jes to the structure of danination regularly provcke retaliatory
collective violence, nonviolent strategies have a better Chance of
achieving s:x:ial char¥Je and minimizing the risk of gerx:x::ide and
slaughter. While mnviolent dlal.len;:Jes to the structure of ethnic
stratification m India, South Africa, the United States, and
Northern Irelam have rot always led to success, major gains with
minirral blocrlshed have been OOtained m sooe canpaigns Which deserve
(as do the failures) further analysis. My cwn hypotheses is that
success deperds rot only on the solidarity of the class/groop using
nonviolence, freedcm of oc:mrunications, rut on the presence of a
third party or superordinate pc:wer on Whan both classes m conflict
depend and to Whan they can appeal.

Dismmtlmg the totalitarian states and military dictatorships

that prevail throoghoot the \'l'OI"ld wculd also limit the ability of
such states to execute gerx:x::ide. Thus, art;t strategy to defem ht.man
rights Which atpa.\'ers individuals and associations and restricts the
state frcm exploiting its mropoly of force withoo.t internal checks
or external sanctions is a stxategy to prevent genocide.

Another approach to deterrence focuses m strategic conditions

rather than radical restructuring of umerlying causes. To deter is
to reverse the conditions Which facilitate gerx:x::ide. Facilitating
comitions mclude:

1) the lack of visibility of genocidal actions:

2) the .lliability l:?f l:?fstarrlers and third p;i.rties to apprehem
the pattern of the crime;
3) the d::>jective pc:werlessness of the victira3 and/or their
stigmatization as mt-so-innocent victims:
4) the .lliability of the victins to prosecute perpetrators under
the Geneva Convention and the consensus within the U.N. on
protecting the perpetrators rather than the victins of geri.cr
cide (Fein, 1980, p. 255; Kuper 1981, p. 161);
5) the lack of sanctions l:?f third p;i.rties and/or the lack of
will of other states to use their sanctions against client
states (Fein, 1-980, p. 254) Which rrakes gerx:x::ide a lcw-cost
option for the perpetrator; am finally,
6) there is the inability of the ht.man rights rrovenent to foru.s
on victins of gerx:x::ide and nassacre as a priority and the
rrovenent 's lack of a coherent analysis and strategy Which
would pennit it to act effectively against hunan rights
violators.

Hew coold we h:!ighten the visibility of the victim hypotheti-

cally, assuming a ''we" with the will and p'.)lri'er? Invisibility is re-
lated to 1) the isolation of the state in Which the crirre ocrurs; 2)
th:! elimination of cbservers fran other states that is the mrm in
tines of war; 3) the distance the victins are fran the core of the
state Where there are mre likely to be 00servers: 4) the timi.n;J and
24

strategy of eliminating the victim: 5) the absoluteness of state

control over the nedia of aamunication. Avoiding war sh:Juld be the
first priority to th>se seeking to prevent genocide, for war both
increases the rrotives and q>portunities for genocide.

Another preventative approach is to nake the prospective vic-

tim; audible. The rights of minorities in peacetirre and their abi-
lity to deferrl their lives in tines of crisis cculd be enhanced by
enabling minorities and especially isolaterl, tribal and indigeoous
peoples to cx:mrunicate witln.it deperrlence on their governnent, thus
irrplernenting the nSN infomation era in a novel way. International
networks of sister camunities oorresporrling across nations via
srortwave radio might serve as an early warning system of famine,
war, and genocide. By necessity, corresporrling camunities wo.ild
have to be selecterl within the 11'B.jor global linguistic camunities.
This VJOUld inply linkage between the citizens of fomer colonies and
of the colonizers and wwld probably be viewed by despotic, autrori-
tarian and totalitarian regirres of the left and right as sublrersive
of their aontrol, undermining the state's absolute reign.

Past experience indicates that isolation is never perfect even

in closed societies. Regardless of all atterrpts to conceal the de-
sign of the nurderers, the rat1 first-hand reports of the victim; of
genocide are usually conveyed to others in a period of a fetl days to
a ft:M nonths. But the greater problem is to oonvince influential
others of a ,EE.ttern behind their personal experiences: the victim;
themselves usually do mt have the infomation to indict a govern-
ment of planning their destruction. It is mt the inadequacy of
the nedia as often as it is the inability of influential inteme-
diaries and other governnents to credit the inputation of a ,EE.ttern.
Let us focus on two twentieth century exanples.

The 11'B.ssacre of the Arrrenians was anna.mced in The New York

Tines as Turkish policy two weeks after it began and certified as
such by lord Bryce (naninal author of the British Foreign Office
White Paper (1916) documenting their annihilation) only five nonths
after its ClCITllencem:mt.

The ''Final Solution" was first reported to the west as official

policy by a reliable German insider Who aontacted the W:>rld Jt:Mish
Coll3ress in Geneva six nonths after the "Wannsee conference of Jan.
20, 1942 (when it was a::mrunicated to the German hlreaucracy), and
thirteen nonths after it had begun with the Einsatzgruppen - nobile
killing squads - follOtling the invasion of the Soviet Union in June
1941. Reports aba.tt the 11'B.SS rrurder of the Ja.rs were broadcast by
the BBC in July (largely due to the Polish-Government-in-Exile in
coq;>eration with the Jewish \'Orkers Bund in Poland) I wt the Allies
did oot publicly ackno.vledge and denoonce the extermination of the
Ja.rs of Eur~ until December 17, 1942.

Difficulties inhere in the reluctance of governments to credit

reports of genocide. Officials' reluctance can be attributed to the
unwillingness of states (especially evidenced during the Holocaust)
to incur any costs to save the victim; and their oonsequent fear
 25

that ackna.vlerlgnent that they are victims wwld instigate public de-
man1s for a response. There is always the evidential pt"oblem When
confronted with reports o£ particular actions of explaining them as
discrete atrocities, or labeling them "excesses" (as the British put
it) rather than inferring a pattern and intent of genocide. Refugee
reports, often the JIOst frequent S)UI"Ce o£ infonration, can be read-
ily discrerlited as functions of the political aninus causing the re-
fugees to flee, disregarding h::w many refugees only becane enemies
of the regine because they were definerl as such. labeling a series
of events is both an evidential and a political pt"oblem. Reports of
nultiple cbservers often contain discrepant elements, misperceptions
am exaggerations.

The sane pt"oblem confronts the hullan rights I!Dl7ement and intel -
la:::tuals Who are often the vanguard of the concernerl ?Jblic. Gerx>-
cide labeling is, in effect, accusing a particular regine o£ a
crine. Hunan rights organizations Who ne.intain a "legitimist" ap-
proach to goverrments (Forsyth, 1978) are reluctant to label g011ern-
ments pt"erraturely as this nay annul their ability to get into the
camtry for investigation, imdennine their influence and cause ~
harassment if they have errerl, threatening their reputation. Be-
sides these fears o£ I!Dl7etrent spc:Kespeople, there is the reluctance
of ideologues o£ the left and right to acktXMlerlge reports of nass
slaughter When this 1:11t"eatens their worldviEW.

The resistance to genocide labeling in the event of actual

genocide and the inflated rhetoric aba.tt ronex:istent gen:>cides Which
are a pt"OOUct o£ ideolo;ical carpetition has deflated the worth o£
any charge of geoocide rot nade with authority, seriousness, and
responsibility. For all these reasons, an indepement hultan rights
data bank head.Erl ty scholars, ja.irnalists, lawyers and others Who
are used to weighing evidence and ocmrd.tted to naking judgments
abCllt the risk, pt"evalence, and rreaning o£ cnJOing slaughters and
camrl.tted rot to a governnent or organization rut to a single stan-
dard of judgment might be a valuable contrib.ltion. Their usefulness
depends on their ability to take risks, balancing the risk o£ pt"e-
mature judgment against that o£ ignoring nounting deaths, and to
generate publicity While crlhering scrupulrusly to a ronpartisan
role.

The objective patierlessness o£ the victim nay be 00.dressed

in several ways. cne might stop genocide ty renuving the victim
(evacuation), by assisting the victim to resist (serxiing them arms
am resoorces with Which to defem thenselves)·, or 1::y bloc:king or
raroving the perpetrator. There is still debate Whether the nine-
teenth century doctrine of hUl!B.Ilitarian intervention aruld and
sh:x.lld be used to rarove or defend the victims of geoocidal assault
or Whether it has been negated 1::y the interdiction against aggres-
sion in the U.N. Charter (Lillich, 1973). In pt"actice, both ideo-
lo;ies and justification seem derivations fran the cperational rule
never stated in the charter Which Leo Kuper (1981, p. 161) tells us,
is that:
26

the sovereign territorial state cla:i.ns, as an integral part of

its sovereignty, the right to camrl.t genocide, or enJage in
genocidal nassacres against people under its rule, and that the
United Nations, for all practical purposes, deferrls this
right.

Genocides have rot only been tolerated hlt assisted cy great

p<:Mers in their role as patrons since W'.lrld war II (Fein, 1978) •
China was directly indicted in Tibet cy the International Conmission
of Jurists (1960) and was directly involved with the Pol Pot regine
in Kanpuchea as a nod.el and a patron. The United States a:>ntinued
giving aid to Paraguay and Irrlonesia despite substantive evidence of
003oing uassacres in Paraguay in the '70's (Arens, 1976) and genoci-
dal nassacres in Indonesia during 1965-1967 (Crooch, 1978), and
continued arming Pakistan Which erplcy-ed genocidal nassacres in its
war with Fast Pakistan in 1971 (ICJ, 1972) until the uproar fran
Co03ress caused the .Administration to stop. France gave direct
military assistance to the genocidal governr.ent of Bururrli in 1972
arrl offerai to replace art:! aid withdra.vn cy Belgium "thus raroving
all craiibility fran the threats of econanic sanctions raised in
Brussels," Lena.rcharrl rotes (1975, pp. 58-59).

For a state to take another policy t.oNards genocide requires a

change of basic assurrptions, integrating hunan rights priorities as
a basic elenent of foreign policy. The US carrnitrrent to hunan rights
(began with ConJress in 1975 attaching restrictions to foreign mili-
tary aid) was elaborated 1::¥ Pres. Carter and was then reversed cy
Pres. Reagan. Insofar as genocide and ideolOJical slaughters are
conceived of as self-defense 1::¥ certain governnents and th:>se gov-
errrnents are a:>nceived of as allies, genocide and slaughter are pol-
itical questions to the officials and ideolo:JUes justifying ''real-
politik" in foreign policy. Genocide and a:>llective terror are also
considerai a political question cy deferrlers of revolutionary . ideo-
lOJies and organizations. Double starrlards are held in a::mron (or
rather reversed) cy the proponents and cpponents of the status
quo.
The lack of interest of nost states to incur art:! obligation or
costs on behalf of refugees of genocide (and other refugees) can be
related to the a:>sts they forsee, specific borrls (or negative repul-
sion) t.c:Mard the vict:i.ns, and borrls to the perpetrator of genocide
who nay be an ally, client, custaner or supplier of theirs. Costs
coold be internationalized as they were during the Indochina crisis
of 1979 throogh the office of the U.N. High Conmissioner for Re-
fugees. Joint international action cy the oorth Atlantic states,
Australia and Israel at Geneva in July 1979 and camrl.trrent to take
in refugees fran nations of first asylum caused the latter to halt
threats of closing oorders and serrling mats back to sea. Infonned
public cpinion in these states Which increased their camd.trrent
seemed to play an influential role in pressing their governments to
take in rrore Indochinese refugees.

The "conscience a:>nstituency" Which is the forum to Which the

hunan rights novement speaks is a resource in the west. The orga-
 27

nized sector of the rrovement is cx:nposed of hurra.n rights n:>n;JOVern-

mental organizations (NOO 's) boards and staff, which :in turn nay
call on networks of camunity leaders, :intellectuals, and politi-
cians, and other voluntary organization networks. They effectively
define the range of Choices that enable us while "sorting throo.gh
the day's nail (to) ••• decide whether or oot to express rroral oo.trage
aboo.t political prisoners :in Chile or :in the Soviet Union, black or
Spanish-speaking victim; of racial :injustice :in American cities, the
plight of farm laborers :in California or that of whales :in the Paci-
fic Ocean" (Moore, 1978, p. 35).

It is ironic that the organized defenders of an:i.nBl.s subjected

to nass slaughter are so nuch rrore daring, aggressive and inventive
than are the NOO 's protecting people. Can we ine.gine ronviolent in-
terven:>rs using the sarre techniques arplcy-ed to protect endanJered
species protecting peoples: shaming, confronting the killers, noving
into the region where the kill takes place, and :interposition.
There are several explanations of this, both structural and ideolo-
gical.

Structurally, the NOO's are oot a single novement rut an array

of organizations and oonstituencies Whose intereSt. is pu-ticular-
istic, ccn:erned with the continued protection or advanc:enent of
their om people.. Ela.4 N<D 's forus on all minorities or ''Fourth
World" victim; as do the Minority Rights Grrup and Survival Inter-
national. Aimesty International, the nost universalistic NOO, does
not discriminate aIIDn;J violators, seldan judges the nagnitude, pre-
valence, or direction of violations or discriminates between a cri-
sis, a chronic, an emerging, and a deteriorating situation. The
slaughter of nasses nay receive the sane attention as the arbitrary
irrprisonment of individual dissenters.
An exhaustive study of HOO recognition of the autogerocide in
Kanpuchea wi:uld be :instructive. Kuper notes that Amnesty and the
International Conmission of Jurists sul::mi.tted statements presented
by the Sub-Carmi.ssion on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection
of Minorities en 30 January 1979 (Kuper, 1981,p. 155). The AI re-
port sul::mi.tted :in July 1978 stated "that fundanental hlman rights
had been violated" and observed there were grave allegations of
"sunnary execution of nany people because of positions they held :in
the funner administration" (Aimesty International, 1979, p. 95).

Had the hU!l0.Il rights IIDVement the will and ability to unite to
deter gerocide, they <NWld be disabled :in assessing the evidence (as
was AI in the case of Karrpuchea) because of their assurrpt.ions and
methods. They usually assume the legitine.cy of goverrments whose
policies are the d:>ject of examination and require their cx:q:ieration
to investigate. I.egitimist organizations rely on or turn first to-
ward the govermnent for evidence and responses to allegation. But
cocperation by gerocidal govertlm:!nts is unlikely and the pretenses
of coqieration nay be a misleading blind: governments nay establish
tenporary "Poterrkin villages" for :international investigators, such
as the Gennan disguise of Theresienstadt :in 1944 for the benefit of
the Danish Red Cross, leaving their visitors with the unfortunate
28

inpression that this was a stable residential camunity of senior

citizens instead of a waystation to an extermination canp (Yahil,
1969, pp. 302-313). Relying on "legitirrate" rreans of kna.ving a."rl
refusing to nake inferences on the basis of first and secorrl-harrl
sources Who rray be biased - refugees and families of vict:ilrs - risks
consigning the victims to death.

Dependence on a rrodel of appeal to the violator arrl to the U .N.

may restrict NOO 's ooserving genocide to rely on ineffectual rreans
as a principle. Adherents of the consensual approach assurre a vis-
ion of world ccmrunity based on ccrnrron values Which deny coercion
arrl thus refuse to consider coercive rreans to achieve their errls.
Yet genocidal governrrents do not base their rule on consensus rut
terror, for genocide pren.ises a self-fulfilling prophecy: if their
victLrns do not die today, they will be enen.ies torrorrO//.

Were a hunan rights rroverrent to errerge with changed assurrptions

arrl priorities, it W01ld have to anticip:tte three stages in response
tONard putative genocides in order to nake a difference:

1) Ackna.vledgment of genocide deperrls on evaluation, classifi-

cation and liibeling. Both tirre arrl reliability of assessrrent are
inportant. The le03th of ti.Ire people can errlure p:trtly deperrls on
its rurnbers, dispersion, and the force and rrethods of the execution-
er. A genocide such as the Holocaust in Which a potential target of
nine million people were annihilated in four years is the exception,
not the rule. Unobtrusive rrethods of gathering intelligence (Which
violate legitimist assurrptions) need to be considerErl.

2) Pronpt qJening of borders and doors to refugees is irrpera-

tive to save all people Who can get rut and to gather intelligence.
Yet refugee relief nust be seen in the context of the cause of the
exodus and should not becaie a substitute for redressing the cause.

3) The noverrent needs a strategy, Whether based on appeal, eco-

nanic pressure, sanctions, or intervention, and a target. The
latter rray be the governrrents of the protestor, the governrrent per-
petrating genocide, adjacent states to the perpetrator, transnation-
al organization and the victims themselves. A Whole rao;Je of tac-
tics have yet to be considered, including aggressive nonviolence
(against the perpetrator cy third p:trties). This is not to suggest
that victims of genocide can extricate themselves with:>ut assist-
ance: victims of the state need intervention fran outside that
state in the saire way vict:ilns of the family - abused children, bat-
tered wives - need help fran other organizations and influential
others to protect or liberate them.

Despite the inherent problems in appreherrling and labeling

genocide, I believe the reasons Why we have failed to deter or check
it in the p:tst is not the lack of warning or verifiability prirrar-
ily, but firstly that there is no we - neither an organization,
state(s), constituency, or ccmmunity-: with a ccmnitrrent to do so.
There is no we ready to rank carmi trrent to life - regardless of
nationality, race, religion, ethnicity, or politics - ahead of poli-
 29

tical, national or ideol03ical interests. (Perhaps there is a ''we"

emerging to oonfront the threat of amicide which is a universal,
transcultural, pervasive, arrl devastating threat to all. Unlike the
threat of ruclear incineration which is expected to ocwr orce arrl
envelop all, genocides arrl ideol03ical slaughters ocrur irr63\]larly
in specific and often isolated places arrl do not threaten wtsiders
directly.) Such a ccmnitment wuild require reexamination arrl per-
haps radical alteration of a.tr assurrptions, strategy arrl tactics arrl
might rave inplications for wr other goals. Until the point such a
~ ererges, we here arrl rD!V are p:i.rt of the problem.

NOI'ES

1. I.errkin oon:::eived genocide to include the destruction of national,

racial arrl religious groups cy fhysical, biol03ical, arrl rultural
decirre.tion in his analysis, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe (washing-
ton, D.C. : Carnegie Endai.ment for International Peace, 1944, W•
82-89.) Prior to that, he had oonceived the same acts as a crine,
for he sul::mitted a prcposal to "declare the destruction of racial,
religious, or social collectivities" to oonstitute the "crine of
barbarity" to the International Confererx:e on the Unification of
Criminal Law in Madrid in 1933.

The General Asse.'tlbly of the United Nations corrlenned genocide in

1946 arrl cy inplication included political groops as Objects of
genocide. fbwever, the final version of the Convention p:i.ssed in
1948 excludes political groops arrl what sorre rave construed as "cul-
tural genocide."

In the present Convention, geoocide rreans any of the fol-

la.ring acts carmi.ted with intent to destr~, in whole or
in p:i.rt, a national, ethnical, racial or religious grwp
as such:

(a) Killing nembers of the grrup;

(b) Causing serious lxxlily or rrental harm to nembers of
the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the groop corrlitions of
life calrulated to bring about its .{ilysical destruc-
tion in whole or in p:i.rt;
(d) Irrposing rreasures interrled to prevent births within
the groop;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the grrup to another
groop.

Fran Human Rights: A Carpilation of International Instn.unents

of the United Nations. New York: United Nations, 1973, p. 41.
2. This is related to the contr011ersy Oller explanation of the pur-
portedly greater interracial integration arrl different effects re-
sulting fran slavery in Latin arrl North America. See Frank
Tannerbaum, Slave arrl Citizen: The Negro in the Americas (NEW YoJ:X:
Knopf, 1946), the earliest statemant of this thesis; Marvin Harris,
Patterns of Race in the Americas (New York: Walker, 1964, pp. 16-17)
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Ce que tu as fait un jour,
Tu le fais tous les jours.
Comme tu es tombée un soir,
Ainsi tu tombes tous les soirs.
Ce que tu as fait pour mon fils fait homme,
O grande Charitable tu le fais pour tous les hommes ses frères
Tu les ensevelis dans le silence et l'ombre
Et dans le salutaire oubli
De la mortelle inquiétude
Du jour.
Ce que tu as fait une fois pour mon fils fait homme,
Ce que tu as fait un soir entre les soirs.
O nuit tu le refais tous les soirs pour le dernier des hommes
(C'est alors, ô nuit, que tu viens)
Tant il est vrai, tant il est réel qu'il était devenu l'un d'eux
Et qu'il s'était lié à leur sort mortel
Et qu'il était devenu l'un d'eux, pour ainsi dire au hasard,
Et qu'il s'était fait l'un d'eux
Sans aucune limitation ni mesure.
Car avant cette perpétuelle, cette imparfaite,
Cette perpétuellement imparfaite imitation de Jésus-Christ,
Dont ils parlent toujours,
Il y a eu cette très parfaite imitation de l'homme par Jésus-Christ,
Cette inexorable imitation, par Jésus-Christ,
De la misère mortelle et de la condition de l'homme.

Je comprends très bien, dit Dieu, qu'on fasse son examen de

conscience.
C'est un excellent exercice. Il ne faut pas en abuser.
C'est même recommandé. C'est très bien.
Tout ce qui est recommandé est très bien.
Et même ce n'est pas seulement recommandé. C'est prescrit.
Par conséquent c'est très bien.
Mais enfin vous êtes dans votre lit. Qu'est-ce que vous nommez
votre examen de conscience, faire votre examen de conscience.
Si c'est penser à toutes les bêtises que vous avez faites dans la
journée, si c'est vous rappeler toutes les bêtises que vous avez
faites dans la journée
Avec un sentiment de repentance et je ne dirai peut-être pas de
contrition,
Mais enfin avec un sentiment de pénitence que vous m'offrez, eh
bien, c'est bien.
Votre pénitence je l'accepte. Vous êtes des braves gens, des bons
garçons.
Mais si c'est que vous voulez ressasser et ruminer la nuit toutes les
ingratitudes du jour,
Toutes les fièvres et toutes les amertumes du jour,
Et si c'est que vous voulez remâcher la nuit tous vos aigres péchés
du jour,
Vos fièvres aigres et vos regrets et vos repentirs et vos remords plus
aigres encore,
Et si c'est que vous voulez tenir un registre parfait de vos péchés,
De toutes ces bêtises et de toutes ces sottises,
Non, laissez-moi tenir moi-même le Livre du Jugement.
Vous y gagnerez peut-être encore.
Et si c'est que vous voulez compter, calculer, supputer comme un
notaire et comme un usurier et comme un publicain,
C'est-à-dire comme un collecteur d'impôts,
C'est-à-dire comme celui qui ramasse les impôts,
Laissez-moi donc faire mon métier et ne faites pas
Des métiers qui n'ont pas à être faits.
Vos péchés sont-ils si précieux qu'il faille les cataloguer et les classer
Et les enregistrer et les aligner sur des tables de pierre
Et les graver et les compter et les calculer et les compulser
Et les compiler et les revoir et les repasser
Et les supputer et vous les imputer éternellement
Et les commémorer avec on ne sait quelle sorte de piété.
Comme nous dans le ciel nous lions les gerbes éternelles,
Et les sacs de prière et les sacs de mérite
Et les sacs de vertus et les sacs de grâce dans nos impérissables
greniers
Pauvres imitateurs, allez-vous à présent vous mêler,—
Et imitateurs contraires, imitateurs à l'envers,—
Allez-vous vous mettre à lier tous les soirs
Les misérables gerbes de vos affreux péchés de chaque jour.
Quand ce ne serait que pour les brûler, c'est encore trop. Ils n'en
valent même pas la peine.
Pas même de cela même.
Vous n'y pensez que trop, à vos péchés.
Vous feriez mieux d'y penser pour ne point les commettre.
Pendant qu'il en est encore temps, mon garçon, pendant qu'ils ne
sont point encore commis. Vous feriez mieux d'y penser un peu
plus alors.
Mais le soir ne liez point ces gerbes vaines. Depuis quand le
laboureur
Fait-il des gerbes d'ivraie et de chiendent. On fait des gerbes de blé,
mon ami.
Ne dressez point ces comptes et ces nomenclatures. C'est beaucoup
d'orgueil.
C'est aussi beaucoup de traînasserie. Et de paperasserie. Quand le
pèlerin, quand l'hôte, quand le voyageur
A longtemps traîné dans la boue des chemins,
Avant de passer le seuil de l'église il s'essuie soigneusement les
pieds,
Avant d'entrer,
Parce qu'il est très propre.
Et il ne faut pas que la boue des chemins souille les dalles de
l'église.
Mais une fois que c'est fait, une fois qu'il s'est essuyé les pieds avant
d'entrer,
Une fois qu'il est entré il ne pense plus toujours à ses pieds,
Il ne regarde plus toujours si ses pieds sont bien essuyés.
Il n'a plus de cœur, il n'a plus de regard, il n'a plus de voix
Que pour cet autel où le corps de Jésus
Et le souvenir et l'attente du corps de Jésus
Brille éternellement.
Il suffit que la boue des chemins n'ait point passé le seuil du temple.
Il suffit qu'ils se soient bien essuyé les pieds une fois avant de
passer le seuil du temple.
Bien soigneusement, bien proprement et n'en parlons plus.
On ne parle pas toujours de la boue. Ce n'est pas propre.
Transporter dans le temple la mémoire même et le souci de la boue
Et la préoccupation et la pensée de la boue
C'est encore transporter de la boue dans le temple.
Or il ne faut point que la boue passe le seuil de la porte.
Quand l'hôte arrive chez l'hôte qu'il s'essuie simplement les pieds
avant d'entrer
Qu'il entre propre et les pieds propres et qu'ensuite
Il ne pense pas toujours à ses pieds et à la boue de ses pieds.
Or vous êtes mes hôtes, dit Dieu, et je vaux bien ce Dieu qui était le
Dieu des hôtes.
Vous êtes mes hôtes et mes enfants qui venez dans mon temple.
Vous êtes mes hôtes et mes enfants qui venez dans ma nuit.
Au seuil de mon temple, au seuil de ma nuit, essuyez-vous les pieds
et qu'on n'en parle plus.
Faites votre examen de conscience, mais que ce soit de vous essuyer
les pieds.
Et nullement au contraire que ce ne soit pas
De transporter dans le temple les boues et le souvenir des boues du
chemin
Et que ce ne soit pas de faire traîner sur le seuil auguste de ma nuit
Les traces, les marques des boues
De vos sales chemins de la journée.
Débarbouillez-vous le soir. C'est ça, faire votre examen de
conscience. On ne se débarbouille pas tout le temps.
Soyez comme ce pèlerin qui prend de l'eau bénite en entrant dans
l'église
Et qui fait le signe de la croix. Ensuite il entre dans l'église.
Et il ne prend pas tout le temps de l'eau bénite.
Et l'église n'est pas composée uniquement de bénitiers.
Il y a ce qui est avant le seuil. Il y a ce qui est au seuil. Et il y a ce
qui est dans la maison.
Il faut entrer une fois, et ne pas sortir et entrer tout le temps.
Soyez comme ce pèlerin qui ne regarde plus que le sanctuaire.
Et qui n'entend plus.
Et qui ne voit plus que cet autel où mon fils a été sacrifié tant de
fois.
Imitez ce pèlerin qui ne voit plus que l'éclat
Du resplendissement de mon fils
Entrez dans ma nuit comme chez moi. Car c'est là que je me suis
réservé
D'être le maître.
Et si vous tenez absolument à m'offrir quelque chose
Le soir en vous couchant
Que ce soit d'abord une action de grâces
Pour tous les services que je vous rends
Pour les innombrables bienfaits dont je vous comble chaque jour
Dont je vous ai comblés ce jour-là même.
Remerciez-moi d'abord, c'est le plus pressé
Et c'est aussi le plus juste.
Ensuite que votre examen de conscience
Soit un débarbouillement une fois fait
Et non point au contraire un traînassement de marques et de
souillures.
La journée d'hier est faite, mon garçon, pense à celle de demain.
Et à ton salut qui est au bout de la journée de demain.
Pour hier il est trop tard. Mais pour demain il n'est pas trop tard
Et pour ton salut qui est au bout de la journée de demain.
Ton salut n'est plus hier. Mais il peut être demain.
Hier est fait. Mais demain n'est pas fait, demain est à faire
Et ton salut qui est au bout de la journée de demain.
Ton salut n'est pas dans le sens d'hier, il est dans le sens de demain.
Porte-toi sur demain, ne te reporte pas sur hier.
Pensez donc un peu moins à vos péchés quand vous les avez
commis
Et pensez-y un peu plus au moment de les commettre.
Avant de les commettre.
Ce sera plus utile, dit Dieu.
Quand ils sont commis, quand ils sont faits il est trop tard.
Il n'est pas trop tard pour la pénitence.
Mais il est trop tard pour ne pas les commettre
Et ne pas les avoir commis.
Quand vous avez passé par dessus vos péchés, vous les faites gros
comme des montagnes, dit Dieu.
C'est au moment de les passer qu'il faut voir que ce sont en effet
des montagnes et qu'elles sont affreuses.
Vous êtes vertueux après. Soyez donc vertueux avant
Et pendant.
L'heure qui sonne est sonnée. Le jour qui passe est passé. Demain
seul reste, et les après demains
Et ils ne resteront pas longtemps.
Que vos examens de conscience et que vos pénitences
Ne soient donc point des raidissements et des cabrements en
arrière,
Peuple à la nuque dure,
Mais qu'ils soient des assouplissements et que vos examens de
conscience et que vos pénitences et que vos contritions même
les plus amères
Soient des pénitences de détente, malheureux enfants, et des
contritions de rémission
Et de remise en mes mains et de démission.
(De démission de vous).
Mais je vous connais, vous êtes toujours les mêmes.
Vous voulez bien me faire de grands sacrifices, pourvu que vous les
choisissiez.
Vous aimez mieux me faire de grands sacrifices, pourvu que ce ne
soit pas ceux que je vous demande
Que de m'en faire de petits que je vous demanderais.
Vous êtes ainsi, je vous connais.
Vous ferez tout pour moi, excepté ce peu d'abandonnement
Qui est tout pour moi.
Soyez donc enfin, soyez comme un homme
Qui est dans un bateau sur la rivière
Et qui ne rame pas tout le temps
Et qui quelquefois se laisse aller au fil de l'eau.

Ainsi vous et votre canot

Laissez-vous aller quelquefois au fil du temps
Et laissez-vous entrer bravement
Sous l'arche du pont de la nuit.

On parle toujours, dit Dieu, de l'imitation de Jésus-Christ

Qui est l'imitation,
La fidèle imitation de mon fils par les hommes.
Et j'en ai connu et j'en connaîtrai des imitations si fidèles, dit Dieu,
Et si approchées,
Que moi-même j'en demeure saisi d'admiration et de respect.
Mais enfin il ne faut pas oublier
Que mon fils avait commencé par cette singulière imitation de
l'homme.
Singulièrement fidèle.
Qui elle fut poussée jusqu'à l'identité parfaite.
Quand si fidèlement si parfaitement il revêtit le sort mortel.
Quand si fidèlement si parfaitement il imita de naître.
Et de souffrir.
Et de vivre.
Et de mourir.

Mais quand je vous dis: Pensez plutôt à demain je ne vous dis pas:
Calculez ce demain.
Pensez-y comme à un jour qui viendra; et que c'est tout ce que vous
en savez.
Ne soyez point ce malheureux qui se retourne et se consume dans
son lit
Pour saisir la journée de demain.
Ne portez point votre main
Sur le fruit qui n'est pas mûr.
Sachez seulement que ce demain
Dont on parle toujours
Est le jour qui va venir,
Et qu'il sera de mon gouvernement
Comme les autres.
Et qu'il sera sous mon commandement
Comme les autres.
C'est tout ce qu'il vous faut. Pour le reste, attendez.
J'attends bien, moi, Dieu. Vous me faites assez attendre.
Vous me faites assez attendre la pénitence après la faute.
Et la contrition après le péché.
Et depuis le commencement des temps j'attends
Le jugement jusqu'au jour du jugement.
Je n'aime pas, dit Dieu, l'homme qui spécule sur demain.
Je n'aime pas celui qui sait mieux que moi ce que je vais faire.
Je n'aime pas celui qui sait ce que je ferai demain.
Je n'aime pas celui qui fait le malin. L'homme fort ce n'est pas mon
fort.
Penser au lendemain, quelle vanité. Gardez pour demain les larmes
de demain.
Il y en aura toujours assez.
Et ces sanglots qui vous remontent et qui vous étranglent.
Penser à demain, savez-vous seulement comment je ferai demain.
Quel demain je vous ferai.
Savez-vous si moi-même je l'ai arrêté encore.
Je n'aime pas, dit Dieu, celui qui se méfie de moi.
Croyez-vous que je vais m'amuser à vous faire des attrapes, comme
un roi barbare.
Croyez-vous que je passe ma vie à vous tendre des pièges et à
prendre plaisir à vous voir tomber dedans.
Je suis honnête homme, dit Dieu, et j'agis toujours droitement.
Je suis l'honneur même, et la droiture, et l'honnêteté.
Je suis bon Français, dit Dieu, droit comme un Français.
Loyal comme un Français.
Je suis le roi de France, droit comme le roi de France.
Ce que le dernier des pauvres n'eût pas craint de saint Louis, allez-
vous le craindre de moi?
Enfin je vaux peut-être saint Louis.
Croyez-vous que je vais m'amuser à vous faire des feintes comme un
bretteur.
Toute la malice que j'ai, c'est la malice de ma grâce, et la feinte et la
ruse de ma grâce, qui si souvent joue avec le pécheur pour son
salut, pour l'empêcher de pécher.
Qui séduit le pécheur; pour le sauver. Mais croyez-vous. Croyez-vous
que moi Dieu que je vais m'amuser à leur faire des misères et
ce que ne ferait pas un honnête homme. Je suis bon chrétien,
dit Dieu. Croyez-vous que je vais m'amuser à les surprendre
comme un assassin de nuit.

Jeannette

Il viendra comme un larron et comme un voleur de nuit.

Madame Gervaise

Et il prendra comme au filet. Le royaume des cieux est encore

semblable à une senne jetée dans la mer, et rassemblant de
tout genre de poissons.

Jeannette

Laquelle, quand elle fut emplie, tirant de l'eau, et assis sur le bord
du rivage, ils choisirent les bons pour leurs vaisseaux, mais
jetèrent les mauvais dehors.

Madame Gervaise
Il en sera ainsi dans la consommation du siècle: les anges sortiront
et sépareront les mauvais du milieu des justes.

Jeannette

Et répondant Jésus leur dit: Voyez que personne ne vous séduise.

Madame Gervaise

Mais de ce jour-là et de l'heure personne ne le sait, ni les anges des

cieux, sinon le père seul.

Mais comme dans les jours de Noé, ainsi sera aussi l'avènement du
Fils de l'homme.
(Le ciel et la terre passeront; mais mes paroles ne passeront pas).

Ainsi en effet qu'il y avait dans les jours avant le déluge des gens qui
mangeaient et buvaient, se mariaient et donnaient en mariage,
jusqu'à ce jour où Noé entra dans l'arche.

Et ils ne connurent pas jusqu'à ce que vint le déluge, et les emporta

tous:

Jeannette

Ainsi sera aussi l'avènement du Fils de l'homme.

Madame Gervaise

Je suis leur père, dit Dieu. Notre Père, qui êtes aux Cieux. Mon fils le
leur a assez dit, que je suis leur père.
Je suis leur juge. Mon fils le leur a dit. Je suis aussi leur père.
Je suis surtout leur père.
Enfin je suis leur père. Celui qui est père est surtout père. Notre
Père qui êtes aux Cieux. Celui qui a été une fois père ne peut
 plus être que père.
Ils sont les frères de mon fils; ils sont mes enfants; je suis leur père.
Notre Père qui êtes aux cieux, mon fils leur a enseigné cette prière.
Sic ergo vos orabitis. Vous prierez donc ainsi.
Notre Père qui êtes aux cieux, il a bien su ce qu'il faisait ce jour-là,
mon fils qui les aimait tant.
Qui a vécu parmi eux, qui était un comme eux.
Qui allait comme eux, qui parlait comme eux, qui vivait comme eux.
Qui souffrait.
Qui souffrit comme eux, qui mourut comme eux.
Et qui les aime tant les ayant connus.
Qui a rapporté dans le ciel un certain goût de l'homme, un certain
goût de la terre.
Mon fils qui les a tant aimés, qui les aime éternellement dans le ciel.
Il a bien su ce qu'il faisait ce jour-là, mon fils qui les aime tant.
Quand il a mis cette barrière entre eux et moi, Notre Père qui êtes
aux cieux, ces trois ou quatre mots.
Cette barrière que ma colère et peut-être ma justice ne franchira
jamais.
Heureux celui qui s'endort sous la protection de l'avancée de ces
trois ou quatre mots.
Ces mots qui marchent devant toute prière comme les mains du
suppliant marchent devant sa face.
Comme les deux mains jointes du suppliant s'avancent devant sa
face et les larmes de sa face.
Ces trois ou quatre mots qui me vainquent, moi l'invincible.
Et qu'ils font marcher devant leur détresse comme deux mains
jointes invincibles.
Ces trois ou quatre mots qui s'avancent comme un bel éperon
devant un pauvre navire.
Et qui fendent le flot de ma colère.
Et quand l'éperon est passé, le navire passe, et toute la flotte
derrière.
Actuellement, dit Dieu, c'est ainsi que je les vois;
Et pour mon éternité, éternellement, dit Dieu,
Par cette invention de mon Fils éternellement c'est ainsi qu'il faut
que je les voie.
(Et qu'il faut que je les juge. Comment voulez-vous, à présent, que
je les juge.
Après cela).
Notre Père qui êtes aux cieux, mon fils a très bien su s'y prendre.
Pour lier les bras de ma justice et pour délier les bras de ma
miséricorde.
(Je ne parle pas de ma colère, qui n'a jamais été que ma justice.
Et quelquefois ma charité).
Et à présent il faut que je les juge comme un père. Pour ce que ça
peut juger, un père. Un homme avait deux fils.
Pour ce que c'est capable de juger. Un homme avait deux fils. On
sait assez comment un père juge. Il y en a un exemple connu.
On sait assez comment le père a jugé le fils qui était parti et qui est
revenu.
C'est encore le père qui pleurait le plus.
Voilà ce que mon fils leur a conté. Mon fils leur a livré
le secret du jugement même.
Et à présent voici comme ils me paraissent; voici comme je les vois;
Voici comme je suis forcé de les voir.
De même que le sillage d'un beau vaisseau va en s'élargissant
jusqu'à disparaître et se perdre,
Mais commence par une pointe, qui est la pointe même du vaisseau.
Ainsi le sillage immense des pécheurs s'élargit jusqu'à disparaître et
se perdre
Mais il commence par une pointe, et c'est cette pointe qui vient vers
moi,
Qui est tournée vers moi.
Il commence par une pointe, qui est la pointe même du vaisseau.
Et le vaisseau est mon propre fils, chargé de tous les péchés du
monde.
Et la pointe du vaisseau ce sont les deux mains jointes de mon fils.
Et devant le regard de ma colère et devant le regard de ma justice
Ils se sont tous dérobés derrière lui.
Et tout cet immense cortège des prières, tout ce sillage immense
s'élargit jusqu'à disparaître et se perdre.
Mais il commence par une pointe et c'est cette pointe qui est
tournée vers moi.
Qui s'avance vers moi.
Et cette pointe ce sont ces trois ou quatre mots: Notre Père qui êtes
aux cieux; mon fils en vérité savait ce qu'il faisait.
Et toute prière monte vers moi dérobée derrière ces trois ou quatre
mots.
Et il y a une pointe de la pointe. C'est cette prière même non plus
seulement dans son texte.
Mais dans son invention même. Cette première fois que réellement
dans le temps elle fut prononcée.
Cette première fois que mon fils la prononça.
Non plus seulement dans son texte comme elle est devenue un
texte.
Mais dans son invention même et dans son sourcement et dans son
forcement.
Quand elle-même fut une naissance de prière, une incarnation et
une naissance de prière. Une espérance.
Une naissance d'espérance.
Une parole naissante.
Un rameau et un germe et un bourgeon et une feuille et une fleur et
un fruit de parole.
Une semence, un naissement de prière.
Un verbe entre les verbes.
Cette première fois qu'elle sortit charnellement, temporellement des
lèvres d'homme de mon fils.
Et dans la pointe de la pointe, dans cette pointe même il y avait une
pointe.
Et c'étaient ces trois ou quatre mots, Notre Père qui êtes aux cieux,
non plus seulement comme un texte, non plus seulement dans
leur texte.
Mais dans leur source même.
Dans leur invention et dans leur bourgeonnement.
La première fois que mon fils les prononça sur cette montagne.
Les prononça, les fit sortir de ses lèvres d'homme.
La première fois qu'elles sortirent réellement, temporellement,
charnellement,
De ces lèvres de tendresse.
Et il était debout sur cette montagne qui sera célèbre dans les
siècles des siècles.
Sur cette montagne de la terre des hommes au-dessus de cette
vallée qui allait en descendant.
Notre Père qui êtes aux cieux, il inventa cela.
Il était avec eux, il était comme eux, il était un d'eux.
Notre Père. Comme un homme qui jette un grand manteau sur ses
épaules,
Tourné vers moi il s'était revêtu,
Il avait jeté sur ses épaules
Le manteau des péchés du monde.
Notre Père qui êtes aux Cieux. Et à présent derrière lui le pécheur se
dérobe à ma face. Et voici comme je vois, voici comme je suis
forcé de les voir. Voici comment je me représente ce cortège.
Tout part d'un point, qui est tourné vers moi, de l'extrême pointe
d'une pointe.
Et ce point de pointe ce sont ces trois ou quatre mots comme ils
furent inventés, comme ils furent introduits dans la création du
monde.
Comme ils furent prononcés pour la première fois par mon propre
fils. Notre Père qui êtes aux cieux.
Et derrière ce point s'avance la pointe elle-même, c'est-à-dire la
prière tout entière.
Comme elle fut prononcée cette première fois-là.
Et derrière s'élargit jusqu'à disparaître et se perdre
Le sillage des prières innombrables
Comme elles sont prononcées dans leur texte dans les jours
innombrables
Par les hommes innombrables,
(Par les simples hommes, ses frères).
Prières du matin, prières du soir;
(Prières prononcées toutes les autres fois);
Tant d'autres fois dans les innombrables jours;
Prières du midi et de toute la journée;
Prières des moines pour toutes les heures du jour,
Et pour les heures de la nuit;
Prières des laïcs et prières des clercs
Comme elles furent prononcées d'innombrables fois
Dans les innombrables jours.
(Il parlait comme eux, il parlait avec eux, il parlait l'un d'eux).
Toute cette immense flotte de prières chargée des péchés du
monde.
Toute cette immense flotte de prières et de pénitences m'attaque
Ayant l'éperon que vous savez,
S'avance vers moi ayant l'éperon que vous savez.
C'est une flotte de charge, classis oneraria.
Et c'est une flotte de ligne,
Une flotte de combat.
Comme une belle flotte antique, comme une flotte de trirèmes
Qui s'avancerait à l'attaque du roi.
Et moi que voulez-vous que je fasse: je suis attaqué.
Et dans cette flotte, dans cette innombrable flotte
Chaque Pater est comme un vaisseau de haut bord
Qui a lui-même son propre éperon, Notre Père qui êtes aux cieux
Tourné vers moi, et qui s'avance derrière ce propre éperon.
Notre Père qui êtes aux cieux, ce n'est pas malin. Évidemment
quand un homme a dit ça, il peut se cacher derrière.
Quand il a prononcé ces trois ou quatre mots.
Et derrière ces beaux vaisseaux de haut bord les Ave Maria
S'avancent comme des galères innocentes, comme de virginales
birèmes.
Comme des vaisseaux plats, qui ne blessent point l'humilité de la
mer.
Qui ne blessent point la règle, qui suivent, humbles et fidèles et
soumis au ras de l'eau.
Notre Père qui êtes aux cieux. Évidemment quand un homme a
commencé comme ça.
Quand il m'a dit ces trois ou quatre mots.
Quand il a commencé par faire marcher devant lui ces trois ou
quatre mots.
Après il peut continuer, il peut me dire ce qu'il voudra.
Vous comprenez, moi, je suis désarmé.
Et mon fils le savait bien.
Qui a tant aimé ces hommes.
Qui avait pris goût à eux, et à la terre, et à tout ce qui s'ensuit.
Et dans cette flotte innombrable je distingue nettement trois grandes
flottes innombrables.
(Je suis Dieu, je vois clair).
Et voici ce que je vois dans cet immense sillage qui commence par
cette pointe et qui de proche en proche peu à peu se perd à
l'horizon de mon regard.
Ils sont tous l'un derrière l'autre, même ceux qui débordent le sillage
Vers ma main gauche et vers ma main droite.
En tête marche la flotte innombrable des Pater
Fendant et bravant le flot de ma colère.
Puissamment assis sur leurs trois rangs de rames.
(Voilà comme je suis attaqué. Je vous le demande. Est-ce juste?)
(Non, ce n'est point juste, car tout ceci est du règne de ma
Miséricorde)
Et tous ces pécheurs et tous ces saints ensemble marchent derrière
mon fils
Et derrière les mains jointes de mon fils.
Et eux-mêmes ont les mains jointes comme s'ils fussent mon fils.
Enfin mes fils. Enfin chacun un fils comme mon fils.
En tête marche la lourde flotte des Pater et c'est une flotte
innombrable.
C'est dans cette formation qu'ils m'attaquent. Je pense que vous
m'avez compris.
Le royaume du ciel souffre la force, et les hommes de force le
prendront de force. Ils le savent bien. Mon fils leur a tout dit.
Regnum cœli, le royaume du ciel. Ou regnum cœlorum, le
royaume des cieux.
Regnum cœli vim patitur. Et violenti rapient illud. Ou rapiunt. Le
royaume du ciel souffre la violence. Et les violents le violent. Ou
 le violeront.
Comment voulez-vous que je me défende. Mon fils leur a tout dit. Et
non seulement cela. Mais dans le temps il s'est mis à leur tête.
Et ils sont comme une grande flotte antique, comme une flotte
innombrable qui s'attaquerait au grand roi. Derrière le point,
derrière l'extrême point de cette extrême pointe cette extrême
pointe s'avance et derrière et se tenant serrée comme un
faisceau que je ne puis rompre cette pointe elle-même et
aussitôt derrière s'avancent effrontément ces lourdes trirèmes
antiques et elles fendent, plus serrées que la phalange
macédonienne, impudemment elles fendent le flot de ma colère,
et de la colère de ma justice.
(Et de la justice de ma colère).
Liées comme un faisceau d'hommes à la guerre elles s'avancent
lourdement portées sur leurs trois rangs de rames.
Et cette flotte est plus innombrable que la flotte des Achéens.
Et reculant je reconnais les trois ponts superposés, les trois
invincibles, les trois insubmersibles ponts.
Plus forts que l'océan de ma colère.
Et je reconnais les trois rangs de rames.
Et ce sont des rames juives et ce sont des rames grecques.
Et ce sont des rames latines et ce sont des rames françaises.
Et le premier rang de rames est:

(S'il n'y a que la justice, qui sera sauvé.

Mais s'il y a la miséricorde, qui sera perdu.
S'il y a la miséricorde, qui peut se vanter de se perdre.

Se sauver est impossible à l'homme; mais rien n'est impossible à

Dieu.

Du haut de mon promontoire,

Du promontoire de ma justice,
Et du siège de ma colère,
Et de la chaire de ma jurisprudence,
In cathedra jurisprudentiae,
Du trône de mon éternelle grandeur
Je vois monter vers moi, du fond de l'horizon je vois venir
Cette flotte qui m'assaille,
La triangulaire flotte,
Me présentant cette pointe que vous savez.

Comme les grues volent en triangle dans le ciel,

Et ainsi vont où elles veulent,
Fendant l'air et refoulant la force du vent même,
Et la plus forte est devant faisant la pointe du triangle,
Ainsi cette grande flotte triangulaire
Vole et navigue et vogue
Et pour ainsi dire vole
Pour traverser l'océan de ma colère.
Et le plus fort est devant faisant la pointe du triangle.
Et ils se sont mis derrière lui de proche en proche
Et de proche en proche ils disparaissent tous au regard de ma
colère.
Ils sont massés comme des peureux; et qui leur en ferait un
reproche.
Comme des passereaux timides ils sont massés derrière celui qui est
fort.
Et ils me présentent cette pointe.
Et ils fendent ainsi le vent de ma colère et ils refoulent la force
même des tempêtes de ma justice.
Et le souffle de ma colère n'a plus aucune prise sur cette masse
angulaire,
Aux fuyantes ailes.
Car ils me présentent cet angle et je ne puis les prendre que sous
cet angle.
Que sont ici les flottes grecques et les flottes persiques;
Et les flottes puniques et les flottes romaines;
Et les flottes anglaises et les flottes françaises
Qu'une lame de fond roule éternellement.
Ici s'avance une flotte que nulle lame de fond de ma colère ne
roulera jamais.
Et dérobés les uns derrière les autres je découvre une flotte
innombrable.
Et les derniers se perdent comme dans une brume à l'horizon de
mon regard.
Et dans cette flotte innombrable je découvre trois flottes également
innombrables.
Et la première est devant, pour m'attaquer plus durement. C'est la
flotte de haut bord,
Les navires à la puissante carène,
Cuirassés comme des hoplites,
C'est-à-dire comme des soldats pesamment armés.
Et ils se meuvent invinciblement portés sur leurs trois rangs de
rames.

Et le premier rang de rames est:

Que votre nom soit sanctifié,
Le vôtre;

Et le deuxième rang de rames est:

Que votre règne arrive,
Le vôtre;

Et le troisième rang de rames est la parole entre toutes

insurmontable:
Que votre volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel,
La vôtre.

Sanctificetur nomen
Tuum.

Adveniat regnum
Tuum.
Fiat voluntas
Tua
Sicut in cœlo et in terra.

Et telle est la flotte des Pater, solide et plus innombrable que les
étoiles du ciel. Et derrière je vois la deuxième flotte, et c'est une
flotte innombrable, car c'est la flotte aux blanches voiles,
l'innombrable flotte des Ave Maria.
Et c'est une flotte de birèmes. Et le premier rang de rames est:
Ave Maria, gratia plena;

Et le deuxième rang de rames est:

Sancta Maria, mater Dei.

Et tous ces Ave Maria, et toutes ces prières de la Vierge et le noble

Salve Regina sont de blanches caravelles, humblement couchées
sous leurs voiles au ras de l'eau; comme de blanches colombes
que l'on prendrait dans la main.
Or ces douces colombes sous leurs ailes,
Ces blanches colombes familières, ces colombes dans la main,
Ces humbles colombes couchées au ras de la main,
Ces colombes accoutumées à la main,
Ces caravelles vêtues de voilures
De tous les vaisseaux ce sont les plus opportunes,
C'est-à-dire celles qui se présentent le plus directement devant le
port.

Telle est la deuxième flotte, ce sont les prières de la Vierge. Et la

troisième flotte ce sont les autres innombrables prières.
Toutes. Celles qui se disent à la messe et aux vêpres. Et au salut.
Et les prières des moines qui marquent toutes les heures du jour. Et
les heures de la nuit.
Et le Benedicite qui se dit pour se mettre à table.
Devant une bonne soupière fumante.
Toutes, enfin toutes. Et il n'en reste plus.

Or je vois la quatrième flotte. Je vois la flotte invisible. Et ce sont

toutes les prières qui ne sont pas même dites, les paroles qui ne
sont pas prononcées.
Mais moi je les entends. Ces obscurs mouvements du cœur, les
obscurs bons mouvements, les secrets bons mouvements.
Qui jaillissent inconsciemment et qui naissent et inconsciemment
montent vers moi.
Celui qui en est le siège ne les aperçoit même pas. Il n'en sait rien,
et il n'en est vraiment que le siège.
Mais moi je les recueille, dit Dieu, et je les compte et je les pèse.
Parce que je suis le juge secret.

Telles sont, dit Dieu, ces trois flottes innombrables. Et la quatrième.

Ces trois flottes visibles et cette quatrième invisible.
Ces prières secrètes dont un cœur est le siège, ces prières secrètes
du cœur. Ces mouvements secrets.
Et assailli aussi effrontément, assailli de prières et de larmes,
Directement assailli, assailli en pleine face
Après cela on veut que je les condamne. Comme c'est commode.
On veut que je les juge. On sait assez comment finissent tous ces
jugements-là et toutes ces condamnations.
Un homme avait deux fils. Ça finit toujours par des embrassements.
(Et c'est encore le père qui pleure le plus).
Et par cette tendresse qui est, que je mettrais au-dessus des Vertus
même.
Parce qu'avec sa sœur la Pureté elle procède directement de la
Vierge.

D'autres galères, dit Dieu, en d'autres temps

D'autres galères ont vogué vers les sanctuaires des îles
Et vers les temples qui étaient sur les promontoires.
Mais cette fois-ci voici la flotte
Qui assaille le saint des saints.

Le royaume des cieux souffre la violence. Et les violents le ravissent.

Et voici l'ordre de ce rapt et de ce ravissement.
En tête c'est comme un coin ces trois ou quatre paroles, Notre Père
qui êtes aux cieux, celles qui furent prononcées réellement pour
la première fois par mon fils.
Derrière c'est toute la prière, celle qui fut prononcée réellement pour
la première fois par mon fils.
Derrière, achevant, constituant la première flotte ce sont tous les
autres Notre Père
Mais chacun précédé de sa propre pointe
Qui est ces trois ou quatre mots.
Et derrière seulement viennent les trois autres flottes.
Et toutes ces quatre flottes sont sur voiles.
Et ces Pater, qui sont des hommes, ont de fortes voiles brunes
Pleines et rugueuses, au tissu serré.
En toile bise, en toile écrue. Mais les Ave Maria
Courent sous de souples et courbes voiles blanches. Et toutes ces
quatre flottes
S'avancent incurvées.
Ainsi le coin fend le bois par la pointe.
Ainsi quand des soldats veulent monter à l'assaut,
Quand ils vont monter au moment même ils font une pointe, un
avancement
Un toit de leurs boucliers et quelquefois de leurs corps.
Ainsi le front du bélier enfonce la plus lourde porte.
Et ces caravelles de la deuxième flotte
Sont comme des colombes blotties dans la main.

Ce Notre Père, dit Dieu est le père des prières. C'est comme celui qui
marche en tête.
C'est un homme robuste, et la prière du Je vous salue Marie est
comme une humble femme.
Et les autres prières sont derrière eux comme des enfants.
Et le Notre Père et le Je vous salue Marie sont comme l'homme et la
femme.
Qui vont l'un derrière l'autre et qui fendent la foule qui est venue
pour la procession.
L'homme va devant et fend le flot de la foule,
La foule de ma colère,
Et la femme suit derrière dans le sillage.
Et l'homme a pris sur ses épaules à califourchon
Cette curieuse enfant Espérance.
Et le Notre Père est le roi et le Je vous salue Marie est la reine et
l'espérance est la dauphine.
Et c'est un jeu de cartes et le Notre Père est le roi et le Je vous salue
Marie est la reine et tous les autres sont
les fidèles valets.

J'ai souvent joué avec l'homme, dit Dieu. Mais quel jeu, c'est un jeu
dont je tremble encore.
J'ai souvent joué avec l'homme, mais Dieu c'était pour le sauver et
j'ai assez tremblé de ne pas pouvoir le sauver,
De ne pas réussir à le sauver. Je veux dire j'ai assez tremblé
redoutant de ne pouvoir le sauver,
Me demandant si je réussirais à le sauver.
J'ai souvent joué avec l'homme, et je sais que ma grâce est
insidieuse, et combien et comment elle se tourne et elle joue.
Elle est plus rusée qu'une femme.
Mais elle joue avec l'homme et le tourne et tourne l'événement et
c'est pour sauver l'homme et l'empêcher de pécher.

Je joue souvent contre l'homme, dit Dieu, mais c'est lui qui veut
perdre, l'imbécile, et c'est moi qui veux qu'il gagne.
Et je réussis quelquefois
A ce qu'il gagne.

C'est le cas de le dire, nous jouons à qui perd gagne.

Du moins lui, car moi si je perdais, je perds.
Mais lui quand il perd, alors seulement il gagne.
Singulier jeu, je suis son partenaire et son adversaire
Et il veut gagner, contre moi, c'est-à-dire perdre.
Et moi son adversaire je veux le faire gagner.

Et le royaume du Notre Père est le royaume même de l'espérance:

Donnez-nous aujourd'hui notre pain de chaque jour.
(Et le royaume du Je vous salue Marie est un royaume plus secret).

Celui qui a dit le soir son Notre Père peut dormir tranquille.
Croyez-vous que je vais m'amuser à faire des misères à ces pauvres
enfants.
Suis-je pas leur père.
Et que je vais m'amuser à leur faire des surprises comme on en fait
à la guerre.
Est-ce que je leur fais la guerre?
Oui je leur fais la guerre, mais sait bien pourquoi.
C'est pour les empêcher de perdre la bataille.
Je suis un honnête homme, dit Dieu.
Croyez-vous que je vais m'amuser à les prendre dans leur sommeil
Comme un homme de guerre qui prend son ennemi.
Croyez-vous que j'aie quelque goût à les prendre en défaut.
Et que ça m'amuse, de condamner.
Pauvres gens. Je vous le demande.
Suis-je donc un bourreau d'Orient?
Sans doute il est arrivé quelquefois,—
Rarement,—
Que j'ai saisi un criminel tout endormi
Dans la nuit qui précédait l'accomplissement,
La perpétration de son crime,
Et que je l'ai pris par la peau du cou.
Et que je l'ai traîné tout pantelant devant mon Tribunal.
Comme un chien crevé.
Mais cela même je l'ai fait pour bien peu. Pour trop peu.
Je ne l'ai pas fait assez souvent. J'aurais dû le faire plus souvent.
J'ai laissé Caïphe, et Pilate, et Judas
Dormir tout le sommeil jusqu'au matin
De la nuit qui précédait l'accomplissement,
La perpétration de leur forfait.
Et ce que je n'ai pas fait pour ces trois là, et pour tant d'autres.
Ce que j'ai fait à peine pour les rois d'Orient.
Mane, Thecel, Pharès vous voudriez que je le fasse.
Pour un bon chrétien, pour un bon paysan de mes paroisses
françaises.
Qui a labouré tout le jour, qui a travaillé, comme c'est la loi, pour
nourrir sa femme et ses trois enfants.
Qui le soir a mangé une bonne assiettée de soupe et bu un
malheureux verre de vin.
Et qui s'est couché dans son lit recru de fatigue,
Rompu.
Ce que je n'ai pas fait pour les rois d'Égypte et pour les rois de
Babylonie.
Vous voudriez que je le fasse pour ce malheureux.
Qui a femme et enfants.
Croyez-vous que je vais le prendre en traître?
Et qui serais-je, moi leur père. Non, non, rassurez-vous.
Suis-je donc un mercenaire qui ramasserait
Et qui volerait du bois pour son feu.
Quand un de ces malheureux meurt dans son sommeil,
Ayant fait sa prière du soir,
Son Notre Père et son Je vous salue Marie,
C'est bon signe; son affaire est bonne.
C'est signe qu'il était mûr pour paraître devant mon tribunal.
Mûr dans le bon sens.
Voilà les surprises que je fais. Je le jugerai comme un père.
Un homme avait deux fils. Et l'on sait comment les pères jugent.
Celui qui a fait sa prière peut lever l'ancre
Pour la traversée de la nuit.
O nuit, dit Dieu, ma fille au grand manteau, ma fille au manteau
d'argent.
Par toi j'obtiens quelquefois le désistement de l'homme.
Et le renoncement de l'homme.
Et le déraidissement de l'homme.
Et qu'il se taise, surtout, qu'il se taise, il n'en finit pas de parler.
Pour ce qu'il dit. Pour ce que ça vaut ce qu'il dit.
Et qu'il cesse de penser. Pour ce que ça vaut.
Créature à la nuque raide. Créature aux tempes barrées. Je n'aime
pas, dit Dieu,
Celui qui a la tête comme un morceau de bois. Les idoles aussi
étaient en bois.
Celui qui dans un perpétuel raidissement roule une perpétuelle
migraine.
Je n'aime pas, dit Dieu, celui qui pense
Et qui se tourmente et qui se soucie
Et qui roule une migraine perpétuelle
Dans la barre du front et un mal de tête
Dans le creux de la nuque dans le derrière de la tête.
Au point d'inquiétude.
Et qui a les sourcils froncés perpétuellement
Comme un secrètement malheureux.
Et les tempes battantes et qui est brûlé de fièvre.
Et aussi qui a les bords des paupières fripés
A force de regarder le jour du lendemain.
Ne suffit-il pas que moi je le regarde, le jour du lendemain.
O nuit tu obtiens quelquefois le désistement de ce malheureux.
Et qu'il se détende. C'est tout ce que je leur demande.
Qu'il ne roule point un flot perpétuel dans sa tête,
Un océan d'inquiétude.
Qu'est-ce que je leur demande. Qu'ils ferment un peu les yeux.
Qu'ayant fait leur prière ils se couchent dans leur lit en long.
Les jambes au bout des pieds et le corps au bout des jambes et la
tête au bout du corps.
Qu'ils désarment enfin, ces pauvres enfants, qu'ils ne prennent plus
des gardes contre moi.
Qu'ils dorment comme des bêtes, comme un bon cheval de labour
sur de la bonne paille, sans penser,
Sans prévoir, sans calculer,
Voilà ce que je demande, ce n'est pourtant pas difficile.
Voilà ce que je ne peux pas obtenir.
Ils veulent toujours faire mon métier, qui est de peser le lendemain.
Ils ne veulent jamais faire le leur, qui est de le subir.
Voilà ce que je ne peux jamais obtenir.
Ils se tourmentent, ils se tendent, ils se travaillent.
Et toi seule ô nuit quelquefois tu l'obtiens,
Qu'ils tombent dans un lit perdus de lassitude.
O nuit sera-t-il dit que tout ce que je pourrai leur offrir et tout ce que
je pourrai inventer.
Et que mon Paradis sera cela.
Et que tout ce qu'ils voudront ce sera cela.
Et qu'ils seront si fatigués de la vie, et qu'ils seront si ridés,
Et qu'ils auront été si fripés par une telle existence,
Par la vie de cette terre
Qu'ils ne voudront entendre que cela.
Sera-t-il dit qu'il y aura des fronts si courbés qu'ils ne se relèveront
jamais.
Et des reins si rompus qu'ils ne se redresseront jamais.
Et des épaules si voûtées que jamais elles ne se redresseront.
Et des fronts si ridés que jamais ils ne se dérideront.
Et des yeux si voilés qu'ils ne se dévoileront jamais.
Et des peaux si flétries que jamais elles ne redeviendront fraîches.
Et des peaux si fanées que jamais elles ne redeviendront jeunes.
Et des peaux si tannées que jamais elles ne redeviendront neuves.
Et des peaux si meurtries que jamais elles ne redeviendront saines.
Et des âmes si flétries que jamais elles ne redeviendront pures.
Et des mémoires si pleines que jamais elles ne redeviendront vides.
Et des bords de paupière si ourlés que jamais ils ne redeviendront
purs.
Et des paupières si usées de travail que jamais elles ne
redeviendront lisses.
Et des voix si voilées que jamais elles ne redeviendront pures. Que
jamais elles ne redeviendront jeunes.
Et des regards si voilés que jamais ils ne redeviendront profonds.
Et des voix si noyées de sanglots.
Et des yeux si noyés de travail, et des yeux si noyés de larmes.
Des yeux perdus, des voix perdues.
Et des mémoires si perdues de peines que jamais elles ne
redeviendront neuves.
Et des âmes si perdues de détresse que jamais elles ne
redeviendront jeunes.
Que jamais elles ne redeviendront enfants.
Et que les cheveux blancs jamais ne redeviendront
Des cheveux bouclés de jeunesse.
Et que ces pauvres créatures auront passé par de telles détresses.
Par de telles épreuves.
Et qu'elles auront dans leurs mémoires des histoires telles.
Qu'elles ne pourront les oublier jamais.
Sera-t-il dit qu'il y a des plis qu'on ne pourra pas défaire.
Avec un fer à repasser.
Des traces que l'on ne pourra pas effacer.
Laver au battoir à la rivière. Laver au lavoir.
Et que les épreuves uniques et que les uniques détresses de cette
terre
Les auront marqués pour éternellement.
Et qu'ils ne voudront rien savoir
Et qu'ils ne voudront entendre à rien
(Je joue toujours contre moi, dit Dieu.
Sans doute il est arrivé quelquefois,
Trop rarement,
(Et je regrette bien de ne pas l'avoir fait plus souvent,
Au moins quelquefois plus souvent)
Que j'ai saisi un criminel tout chaud dans la nuit de son crime.
Et que je l'ai pris par la peau du cou.
Et que je l'ai traîné tout pantelant devant mon Tribunal.
Comme un chien crevé.
Mais c'est qu'ils préparaient de telles horreurs et de telles
monstruosités.
Que moi Dieu j'en ai été épouvanté.
Et que dans ma propre nuit j'en ai été saisi d'horreur.
Et que je n'ai pas pu attendre au soir du jour qu'ils préparaient.
Et que je n'ai pas même pu supporter l'idée.
Que cela se ferait, que cela se passerait, que cela aurait lieu,
Qu'ils préparaient.
Et que j'ai perdu patience. Et pourtant je suis patient.
Parce que je suis éternel.
Et je les ai saisis dans la préparation de l'accomplissement.
Mais je n'ai pas pu me retenir. C'était plus fort que moi. J'ai aussi ma
face de colère.
Mais ces bourreaux et ces criminels.
Que j'ai pris par la peau de l'échine et que j'ai traînés tout vivants.
Combien étaient-ils et combien de fois cela est-il arrivé.
Or ce que je n'ai pas fait pour Cyrus et pour Cambyse.
Et pour les festins de Sardanapale.
Et pour les rois de Ninive et de Babylone.
Et pour les peuples de Babel.
Et pour Nabuchodonosor et pour Téglath-Phalazar.
Croyez-vous que je vais le faire à présent contre un pauvre
laboureur.
Pour qui me prenez-vous. Qui me faites-vous.
Croyez-vous que je vais mobiliser la foudre et les éclairs.
Et déranger le tonnerre de Dieu.
Et tout le tremblement contre mes vieilles paroisses françaises.
Non, non, bonnes gens, mangez votre soupe et dormez.
Faites une bonne journée, (si vous pouvez), mangez votre soupe,
une bonne platée de soupe, une pleine soupière si vous pouvez,
s'il y en a, une bonne soupière bien fumante pleine de pommes
de terre; faites votre prière; et dormez.
Celui qui fait sa prière, Notre Père qui êtes aux cieux, pose entre lui
et moi
Une barrière infranchissable à ma colère.
Et peut s'abandonner au sommeil de la nuit.
(O nuit, je t'ai créée la première). Que votre volonté soit faite.
Or ce que je n'ai pas fait contre les races perdues.
Vous voudriez que je le fasse contre mes paroisses françaises.
Un événement s'est passé dans l'intervalle, un événement est
intervenu, un événement a fait barrière.
C'est que mon fils est venu.
Et moi qu'est-ce que je serais sans mes vieilles paroisses françaises.
Qu'est-ce que je deviendrais. C'est là que mon nom monte
éternellement.
Depuis quand le général décime-t-il ses meilleurs soldats. Ce sont
mes meilleures troupes.
Croyez-vous que je vais aller surprendre dans son sommeil mon
propre camp.
Ils sont mes propres hommes. Vais-je me mettre
A décimer mes propres hommes.
Je ferais une belle bataille, après.
Oh je sais bien qu'ils ne sont pas parfaits.
Ils sont comme ils sont. Ce sont mes meilleures troupes.
Il faut aimer ces créatures comme elles sont.
Quand on aime un être, on l'aime comme il est.
Il n'y a que moi qui est parfait.
C'est même pour cela peut-être
Que je sais ce que c'est que la perfection
Et que je demande moins de perfection à ces pauvres gens.
Je sais, moi, combien c'est difficile.
Et combien de fois quand ils peinent tant dans leurs épreuves
J'ai envie, je suis tenté de leur mettre la main sous le ventre
Pour les soutenir dans ma large main
Comme un père qui apprend à nager à son fils
Dans le courant de la rivière
Et qui est partagé entre deux sentiments.
Car d'une part s'il le soutient toujours et s'il le soutient trop
L'enfant s'y fiera et il n'apprendra jamais à nager.
Mais aussi s'il ne le soutient pas juste au bon moment
Cet enfant boira un mauvais coup.
Ainsi moi quand je leur apprends à nager dans leurs épreuves
Moi aussi je suis partagé entre ces deux sentiments.
Car si je les soutiens toujours et je les soutiens trop
Ils ne sauront jamais nager eux-mêmes.
Mais si je ne les soutiens pas juste au bon moment
Ces pauvres enfants boiraient peut-être un mauvais coup.
Telle est la difficulté, elle est grande.
Et telle la duplicité même, la double face du problème.
D'une part il faut qu'ils fassent leur salut eux-mêmes. C'est la règle.
Et elle est formelle. Autrement ce ne serait pas intéressant. Ils ne
seraient pas des hommes.
Or je veux qu'ils soient virils, qu'ils soient des hommes et qu'ils
gagnent eux-mêmes
Leurs éperons de chevaliers.
D'autre part il ne faut pas qu'ils boivent un mauvais coup
Ayant fait un plongeon dans l'ingratitude du péché.
Tel est le mystère de la liberté de l'homme, dit Dieu,
Et de mon gouvernement envers lui et envers sa liberté.
Si je le soutiens trop, il n'est plus libre
Et si je ne le soutiens pas assez, il tombe.
Si je le soutiens trop, j'expose sa liberté
Si je ne le soutiens pas assez, j'expose son salut:
Deux biens en un sens presque également précieux.
Car ce salut a un prix infini.
Mais qu'est-ce qu'un salut qui ne serait pas libre.
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