For Reasons of State
by Michael Bakunin
"The State is the organized authority, domination, and power of the possessing classes over the masses the most flagrant, the most cynical, and the most complete negation of humanity. It shatters the universal solidarity of all men on the earth, and brings some of them into association only for the purpose of destroying, conquering, and enslaving all the rest….
This flagrant negation of humanity which constitutes the very essence of the State is, from the standpoint of the State, its supreme duty and its greatest virtue….
Thus, to offend, to oppress, to despoil, to plunder, to assassinate or enslave one's fellow man is ordinarily regarded as a crime. In public life, on the other hand, from the standpoint of patriotism, when these things are done for the greater glory of the State, for the preservation or the extension of its power, it is all transformed into duty and virtue…..
This explains why the entire history of ancient and modern states is merely a series of revolting crimes; why kings and ministers, past and present, of all times and all countries---statesmen, diplomats, bureaucrats, and warriors---if judged from the standpoint of simply morality and human justice, have a hundred, a thousand times over earned their sentence to hard labor or to the gallows.
There is no horror, no cruelty, sacrilege, or perjury, no imposture, no infamous transaction, no cynical robbery, no bold plunder or shabby betrayal that has not been or is not daily being perpetrated by the representatives of the states, under no other pretext than those elastic words, so convenient and yet so terrible: "for reasons of state."
MICHAEL BAKUNIN. 19th century Russian thinker.
Introduction.
"
The lessons of history are rarely clear and permit few conclusions of any generality, but among those few Bakunin’s judgments, just cited, must surely rank among the most firm. If they are open to criticism at all, it is that the century that followed has proven them to be banal.
There is a traditional form of sentimentality in the English-speaking world that regards the United States as uniquely immune to such judgements. It is easily documented that such illusions persist. No doubt a Flat Earth society also holds regular meetings somewhere...
"
NOAM CHOMSKY
In the Introduction to “For Reasons of State”, 1970.
The Flat Earth society alluded to above still has very well-attended meetings.
-----
Support for the USA and its actions in the English-speaking world and across the globe continues, because of sentimentality and ignorance. Also because of racism.
by Michael Bakunin
"The State is the organized authority, domination, and power of the possessing classes over the masses the most flagrant, the most cynical, and the most complete negation of humanity. It shatters the universal solidarity of all men on the earth, and brings some of them into association only for the purpose of destroying, conquering, and enslaving all the rest….
This flagrant negation of humanity which constitutes the very essence of the State is, from the standpoint of the State, its supreme duty and its greatest virtue….
Thus, to offend, to oppress, to despoil, to plunder, to assassinate or enslave one's fellow man is ordinarily regarded as a crime. In public life, on the other hand, from the standpoint of patriotism, when these things are done for the greater glory of the State, for the preservation or the extension of its power, it is all transformed into duty and virtue…..
This explains why the entire history of ancient and modern states is merely a series of revolting crimes; why kings and ministers, past and present, of all times and all countries---statesmen, diplomats, bureaucrats, and warriors---if judged from the standpoint of simply morality and human justice, have a hundred, a thousand times over earned their sentence to hard labor or to the gallows.
There is no horror, no cruelty, sacrilege, or perjury, no imposture, no infamous transaction, no cynical robbery, no bold plunder or shabby betrayal that has not been or is not daily being perpetrated by the representatives of the states, under no other pretext than those elastic words, so convenient and yet so terrible: "for reasons of state."
MICHAEL BAKUNIN. 19th century Russian thinker.
Introduction.
"
The lessons of history are rarely clear and permit few conclusions of any generality, but among those few Bakunin’s judgments, just cited, must surely rank among the most firm. If they are open to criticism at all, it is that the century that followed has proven them to be banal.
There is a traditional form of sentimentality in the English-speaking world that regards the United States as uniquely immune to such judgements. It is easily documented that such illusions persist. No doubt a Flat Earth society also holds regular meetings somewhere...
"
NOAM CHOMSKY
In the Introduction to “For Reasons of State”, 1970.
The Flat Earth society alluded to above still has very well-attended meetings.
-----
Support for the USA and its actions in the English-speaking world and across the globe continues, because of sentimentality and ignorance. Also because of racism.