Philosophy of Violence

Author's name: Elsa Dorlin

There is a historical dividing line between bodies "worthy of protection" and those stripped of weapons, their right to protection, and left defenseless. This systematic disarmament raises the question of resorting to violence in self-defense in every liberation movement.

In 1685, the Black Code prohibited slaves from carrying any offensive weapon or heavy stick. In the nineteenth century, the colonial state prohibited local people in Algeria from carrying
Weapons, while legalizing them for settlers. Today, the lives of some have become so insignificant that a teenager can be killed on the pretext that he poses a threat.

Elsa Dorlin recalls the emergence of political self-defense as a vital necessity, a political process, and a practice of resistance. She concludes that it is a matter of producing beings whose greater capacity to defend themselves, the more they hasten their demise.