on 1/5/01 10:46 AM, Lind, Joshua H. at jhlind@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Huseyin Diri said his brother, imprisoned near the northwestern Turkish city
> of Izmit, told of being beaten every morning for refusing to sing the
> national anthem.
>
> ``When he refused, or if he didn't stand up when the guard walked in, they
> started beating him,'' Diri said. He said his brother's face was covered
> with bruises and that he had to be carried into a visiting room.
Someone requested an explanation of how such performative resistance can
explain what is occuring in the Turkish prisons. While I am not particularly
familiar with the situation I can point out a few things from my perspective
that can only be seen through a performative lens.
Namely, the two examples given here can be read as acts of resistance only
in such performative terms. The refusal to stand up or sing the national
anthem, when put in this context, becomes a political act. It is a refusal
to be part of a system that mistreats prisoners, that beats prisoners, that
denies any other possibility for resistance within the prison. Revolution,
per se, might be impossible, but the prisoners are not without their own
agency. These forms of resistance become the only possible resistance and
are traditionally interpreted as being a-political acts.
---
Asher Haig ahaig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dartmouth 2004
> Huseyin Diri said his brother, imprisoned near the northwestern Turkish city
> of Izmit, told of being beaten every morning for refusing to sing the
> national anthem.
>
> ``When he refused, or if he didn't stand up when the guard walked in, they
> started beating him,'' Diri said. He said his brother's face was covered
> with bruises and that he had to be carried into a visiting room.
Someone requested an explanation of how such performative resistance can
explain what is occuring in the Turkish prisons. While I am not particularly
familiar with the situation I can point out a few things from my perspective
that can only be seen through a performative lens.
Namely, the two examples given here can be read as acts of resistance only
in such performative terms. The refusal to stand up or sing the national
anthem, when put in this context, becomes a political act. It is a refusal
to be part of a system that mistreats prisoners, that beats prisoners, that
denies any other possibility for resistance within the prison. Revolution,
per se, might be impossible, but the prisoners are not without their own
agency. These forms of resistance become the only possible resistance and
are traditionally interpreted as being a-political acts.
---
Asher Haig ahaig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dartmouth 2004