NM's blog

The global value chains and 'the hidden abode of production'

“Peterson situates the  Algerian War  not as a tragic aberration or a final spasm of colonial violence, but as a formative moment in global military thinking . “The doctrines that emerged from Algeria did not end with the  French defeat  in 1962.  They travelled outward, shaping how western militaries understood insurgency, stability, and governance across the Cold War world and beyond.”

Those who participate in this spectacle seek mass violence “to supply the artistic gratification of a sense perception that has been changed by technology .” Distracted and desensitized, they seek, that is, to compensate for profound disembodiment and the loss of meaningful, authentic experience.

“Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it has a mission to enlighten, civilize, bring order and democracy, and that it uses force only as a last resort. And, sadder still, there always is a chorus of willing intellectuals to say calming words about benign or altruistic empires, as if one shouldn't trust the evidence of one's eyes watching the destruction and the misery and death brought by the latest mission civilisatrice.”