Date: Fri, 2 Apr 1999 21:21:36 +0200
From: Erik <erikb-AT-agoranet.be>
Subject: Re: The Anarchist Attitude To War


At 17:19 +0000 02-04-1999, Dave Coull wrote:
...>
>Anarchist theory is not just something thought up
>by some philosopher in an ivory tower. It arises
>out of our individual and collective experience,
>and, ever since anarchism first appeared, theory
>has been subject to continual revision and modification
>according to experience. I say putting anarchist
>theory into practice  _was_  the best way of stopping
>the Holocaust.
>
>If thousands of Jews and other concentration camp
>victims had fought back, the Holocaust would have been
>impossible. The problem was that most concentration
>camp victims were "law-abiding" even when the law
>had quite patently gone mad. If they had fought back,
>there were enough of them that they could have torn
>the camp guards apart. Okay, some prisoners would
>have died, but they were going to die anyway, and by
>fighting back more of them would have survived. At
>the very least they would have drawn attention to their
>plight. I say the Nazis would have caved in   -   they
>_did_ cave in where they were vigorously opposed,
>even non-violently. In 1939 there were successfull
>demonstrations in Berlin against the deportation
>of Jews to concentration camps. The people who
>took part in these demonstrations were mostly German
>women with Jewish husbands, demanding the return
>of their menfolk from the prison camps. After persistent
>and vigorous demonstrations, their men were indeed
>returned, in some cases from Auschwitz itself, and some
>of them outlived Hitler. Okay, so that was just a small victory,
>involving just a few hundred Jews, but it shows that even
>in 1939 the Nazi government felt so unsure of its grip
>on power it had to take account of public opinion.

I'm afraid you miss some important things here. First of all there was
jewish resistance as well in the camps as out. I'm afraid the phrase <The
problem was that most concentration camp victims were "law-abiding" even
when the law had quite patently gone mad> could out of context lead to the
wrong conclusions. Most people are law abiding. Why did so many germans see
no harm in sustaining this regime that apparantly has gone mad.

And for the jews : where would they find help. There was (is?) a general
dislike for jews all around te world. During german occupation he french
f.i. were so eager in lining up jews to send to the camps the the germans
had to ask them to slow down a bit.

And another important factor is the dictatorial system of fear : your
neighbour could be the enemy. Could you trust your own friends ? (cfr.
Stalin regime, or Romania under Ceaucescu, etc...)

I think it's too easy for us to say afterwards what should and could be
done then. Point is concentration camps were build during the bosnian war
in our time, we saw it on tv and still we didn't really act.

We didn't know ?

The signs were there from the beginning, governments didn't care, most
people didn't care and then woops : violence seems the only answer. It's
sad.

Erik