January 12, 2006: In Defense of SE: A Right to One's Own Joy
I thought I'd relocate, update, and reiterate an earlier blog from 2003:
Consider the likely consequences of an oppressed group's self-emancipation "from below" as opposed to elitist emancipation "from above" by a third party. If history is any guide in these matters, the transition from an unjust to a just social order will tend to be less chaotic precisely to the extent that it is under the control of the oppressed themselves. For example, although the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq indeed toppled Saddam Hussein's regime, it hardly did so in an orderly manner that indicated much genuine concern for the long-term welfare of the Iraqi people.
The vandalism, looting, and arson that occurred throughout Iraq immediately after the fall of the regime (as reported by Robert Fisk and reprinted in his magnificent book The Great War for Civilization, pp. 977-80 ) were not evidence of a revolutionary festival of the oppressed, as the Bush administration--and especially Donald "freedom is untidy" Rumsfeld--cynically proposed. They were a symptom of widespread despair and confusion after three weeks of unprecedented U.S. bombing, desperate efforts by many people to obtain saleable goods in the wake of economic breakdown, and above all the opportunistic reemergence of criminal elements in Iraqi society (quite possibly aided and abetted by the so-called "Free Iraqi Forces" trained by the U.S. military). This was the antithesis of liberation from tyranny.
By contrast, if one examines those insurrectionary moments in human history which have embodied authentic self-emancipation (e.g., the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the South African Revolution), it is striking just how orderly were the mass demonstrations, direct actions, strikes, and factory occupations involved in the process of social transformation. The joyful celebration to which successful self-emancipation earns the right has nothing in common with the fearsome social breakdown that might otherwise be wrought from outside by paternalistic liberators.
