What the Arab peoples signify to us

31 March 2011
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The Arab peoples are sig­ni­fy­ing to us that res­ist­ance and revolt are with us once again, and that his­tory is mov­ing bey­ond His­tory. They are doing it, as is appro­pri­ate, with all the for­tune and mis­for­tune that it involves. At the very least they have sent an irre­vers­ible sig­nal whose effects we can expect to see across Africa and in the odi­ous per­petu­ation of the drama on Canaan’s ancient land. In one of the places where we least expec­ted this revolt to occur, a leader of the gang (offi­cially, of the State) crushes it, ready to liquid­ate who­ever neces­sary of his sup­posed people.

Mean­while, other States strike at their own rebels quite force­fully, some­times with the help of a power­ful Arab neigh­bour. Benghazi insur­gents are ask­ing for help: this is not simple, entail­ing clear risks, both prac­tical and polit­ical. Polit­ical respons­ib­il­ity means weigh­ing up and deal­ing with such cir­cum­stances. Is this the time to invoke in pell-​mell fash­ion the col­lat­eral risks and sus­pi­cion of (more or less) hid­den interests, the prin­ciples of non-​interference and the heavy guilt of a “West” that may, one won­ders, include Libya itself, or Saudi Ara­bia or Syria, not to men­tion China and Russia.

It is fine for the beau­ti­ful souls of the left and the soph­ist­ic­ated oper­at­ors on the right to sigh or protest; whether in European or in Arab coun­tries: one must know which world we are in. We are no longer just simply in the world of West­ern arrog­ance, self-​confidence and imper­i­al­ism. Oh! It is not that the poor old “West” has cleaned up its act: it is simply in the pro­cess of melt­ing in the fusion that begets another world, without sun­rise or sun­set, a world where it is day and night every­where at the same time and where it is neces­sary to rein­vent the act of liv­ing together and, before all else, the act of liv­ing itself.

So, yes, it is neces­sary to keep a close eye on the strikes that are aimed at under­min­ing the vile assas­sin of the people; sure, it is neces­sary to strike – him, of course, not the people. We can no longer, with one hand, invoke the sov­er­eignty that, with the other hand, we empty of sub­stance and legit­im­acy through all the inter­con­nec­tions – the best and worst – of the glob­al­ised world [monde mon­di­al­isé]. It is up to the people in ques­tion and to all oth­ers, includ­ing us, to ensure then that the oil, fin­an­cial, and arms deal­ing game that installed and main­tained this pup­pet (among many oth­ers) in power does not start over. It is the respons­ib­il­ity of the peoples, yes: and it is also of course to us, the peoples of Europe or Amer­ica, that this is addressed.

It is a del­ic­ate task. But at stake is what we want to live and how we want to live it, with an acute­ness that we are not accus­tomed to. That is what the Arab peoples are also sig­ni­fy­ing to us.

Art­icle first appeared in French in Libéra­tion 28 March 2011. This trans­la­tion by Gil­bert Leung. Usual caveats apply.

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15 Responses

  1. An Infinite Reversibility: The Rights to the City, of Skin and of Truth - Human Rights in Ireland on 31 March 2011 at 11:44 am

    […] to pres­ence, to be in the world is pre­cisely to always cre­ate anew (see Nancy,most recently ‘What the Arab Peoples Sig­nify to Us‘ or more extens­ively The Cre­ation of the World). ShareRelated Post­sAugust 27, 2010 — […]

  2. Irish Left Review · What the Arab peoples signify to us | Jean-Luc Nancy on 31 March 2011 at 11:25 pm

    […] What the Arab peoples sig­nify to us | Jean-​Luc Nancy […]

  3. Jean-Luc Nancy on “Ce que les peuples arabes nous signifient” « PHILOSOPHY IN A TIME OF ERROR on 3 April 2011 at 4:16 am

    […] Libéra­tion: [ADDENDUM: I found an Eng­lish trans­la­tion here.] Les peuples arabes sont en train de nous sig­ni­fier que la résist­ance et la révolte sont à […]

  4. Quick Follow-up on that last Nancy post « PHILOSOPHY IN A TIME OF ERROR on 3 April 2011 at 4:33 am

    […] just linked to Nancy’s 3/​28 art­icle on the Arab upris­ings. Let me quote from the Eng­lish trans­la­tion: So, yes, it is neces­sary to keep a close eye on the strikes that are aimed at under­min­ing the vile […]

  5. Irish Left Review · What the Arab peoples signify to us on 3 April 2011 at 10:51 pm

    […] Nancy first appeared in French in Libéra­tion 28 March 2011. This trans­la­tion by Gil­bert Leung of Crit­ical Legal Think­ing. Many thanks to Gil­bert for allow­ing us to repub­lish it […]

  6. Gilbert Leung on 4 April 2011 at 10:31 am

    For Alain Badiou’s response: http://​www​.crit​ic​al​leg​al​think​ing​.com/​?​p​=​2​899

    Reply
  7. Critical Legal Thinking › Alain Badiou’s reply to Jean-Luc Nancy on 4 April 2011 at 12:55 pm

    […] fol­low­ing is Alain Badiou’s full reply Jean-​Luc Nancy’s “What the Arab peoples sig­nify to us“. With many thanks to Verso Books […]

  8. Debating the responsibility of the peoples in Libya « occasional links & commentary on 12 April 2011 at 6:21 pm

    […] Jean-​Luc Nancy’s view [ht: ke] is that the peoples of the West ahve the respons­ib­il­ity both of sup­port­ing mil­it­ary inter­ven­tion in Libya and of mak­ing sure the rules of the old game are not reim­posed. It is fine for the beau­ti­ful souls of the left and the soph­ist­ic­ated oper­at­ors on the right to sigh or protest; whether in European or in Arab coun­tries: one must know which world we are in. We are no longer just simply in the world of West­ern arrog­ance, self-​confidence and imper­i­al­ism. Oh! It is not that the poor old “West” has cleaned up its act: it is simply in the pro­cess of melt­ing in the fusion that begets another world, without sun­rise or sun­set, a world where it is day and night every­where at the same time and where it is neces­sary to rein­vent the act of liv­ing together and, before all else, the act of liv­ing itself. […]

  10. Critical Legal Thinking › The End of Sovereignty, in North Africa, in the World on 19 April 2011 at 9:45 am

    […] – a with­er­ing sov­er­eignty amidst a glob­al­ised eco­nomic, tech­no­lo­gical, and cap­it­al­ist empire (as Jean-​Luc Nancy and Jacques Der­rida taught many times […]

  11. Critical Legal Thinking › Alain Badiou, Jean-Luc Nancy, France, Libya and Me on 22 June 2011 at 10:21 am

    […] Alain Badiou’s open reply to Jean-​Luc Nancy, he chides Nancy for fall­ing into the trap that the NATO attacks on Libya were in any way designed […]

  12. Critical Legal Thinking › The Derridian Performative & the Foundation of the Interim Transitional National Committee for Libya on 10 October 2011 at 7:23 am

    […] March of this year Jean-​Luc Nancy pub­lished an art­icle entitled “What the Arab Peoples Sig­nify to Us” in the Libéra­tion news­pa­per. The art­icle sup­por­ted the NATO lead mil­it­ary inter­ven­tion in […]

  13. Alain Badiou’s reply to Jean-Luc Nancy | Critical Legal Thinking on 13 October 2012 at 9:40 pm

    […] 2011By Alain Badi­ouThe fol­low­ing is Alain Badiou’s full reply to Jean-​Luc Nancy’s “What the Arab peoples sig­nify to us”. With many thanks to Verso Books […]

  14. The Derridian Performative & the Foundation of the Interim Transitional National Committee for Libya | Critical Legal Thinking on 19 October 2012 at 9:29 am

    […] 2011By Daniel Mat­thewsIn March of this year Jean-​Luc Nancy pub­lished an art­icle entitled “What the Arab Peoples Sig­nify to Us” in the Libéra­tion news­pa­per. The art­icle sup­por­ted the NATO lead military […]

  15. Alain Badiou, Jean-Luc Nancy, France, Libya and Me | Critical Legal Thinking on 7 November 2012 at 5:48 pm

    […] Nancy, France, Libya and Me 5 April 2011By Don­agh Bren­nanIn Alain Badiou’s open reply to Jean-​Luc Nancy, he chides Nancy for fall­ing into the trap that the NATO attacks on Libya were in any way […]

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