The Last Word
Illich, Ivan
THE LAST WORD Ivan Illich The Silent People Last winter,Visitors to a certain city in Germany witnessed an unusual scene. At selected times, people gathered at busy intersections and remained...
...There is nothing wrong with acting from a prudent heart rather than from a clear mind...
...Some, honorable and religious, have reconciled themselves to the risks...
...They wore ordinary dress...
...These objects had peaceful as well as lethal purposes...
...Therefore, the right to silent retreat from argumentation, the right to end argumentation if the participants' dignity is jeopardized, must be claimed and defended...
...I can offer American readers four reasons for my conviction that some of us must exercise nonviolent, defensive silence, even if that means disturbing or hurting our friends...
...Such genocidal instruments, inventions designed to destroy peoples, were first conceived in the early 1940s, at about the time President Roosevelt ordered production of the atomic bomb...
...If I assert that atomic bombs are not weapons but genocidal machines, and further argue as a scientist that nuclear energy will unavoidably endanger future generations, the weight of my arguments depends on my competence in a complex field, and my credibility depends on my social standing...
...However, as soon as this is proven, I can no longer use the concept in a sentence without dehumanizing my status as a speaker...
...A witchhunt against the silent people is even possible...
...In Nazi Germany, the only ones who argued against the construction and operation of concentration camps were some high-ranking Nazi functionaries who either believed that genocide should be postponed or that it could be carried out more effectively or more economically by other means...
...Modern philosophers have discovered concepts which render the statements in which those concepts occur nonsensical...
...At selected times, people gathered at busy intersections and remained silent...
...I joined some of these silent groups, and I soon noticed that such quiet people can be a provocative presence: Their silence speaks with irrepressible loudness...
...Third, I can only scream when I encounter people who deal with this matter by argument—and, paradoxically, screaming is closer to silence than to speech...
...Fourth, in speaking out for silence, I do not intend to discourage sensible argument about the reasons for remaining silent...
...Today, many young Europeans refuse to behave the way these Nazi functionaries did...
...The most intelligent and most experienced expert can use silence as his last word...
...Genocidal machine is one of those concepts to which logicians attribute "extraordinary epistemological status...
...Our participation in "peace discussions" will be demanded...
...Further, silence, framed by the scream of horror, transcends language...
...First, I believe young Germans have a special relationship to genocidal machines...
...These young people, haunted by the images of the camps, experience unspeakable horror...
...Hence, there will be attempts to break our silence...
...People who may not have a common tongue can speak with one voice in their silent scream...
...Simultaneously, Hitler began research on such a bomb in Germany, which also built extermination camps for the mass murder of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and other groups considered unworthy of life...
...M Ivan Mich's latest book is "Gender/' published by Pantheon...
...But as a philosopher, I also know there are compelling reasons for refusing to be drawn into direct argument on certain topics...
...Once an irritated man kept at me for half an hour...
...Not even for the sake of discussion can I join in an argument in which the threat of genocide is considered, however cautiously...
...Genocide, however, is nothing new: Throughout history, conquerors have eradicated cities or whole populations, but they committed genocide with means that also had normal uses—clubs, knives, fire...
...And anyone in the world can choose silent protest and the demonstration of unspeakable horror as an expression of direct faith in life and hope for his children...
...They recognize that atomic bombs are not weapons but genocidal machines, that their existence—and especially their emplacement on German soil—must be resisted, but without wasting a single word on the subject...
...I could not respond then and there...
...I am sure he supported unilateral disarmament as vigorously as I do, but in his view silence was not the proper way to stand up for my convictions...
...Genocidal machines are nor weapons...
...Most of the Germans who operated the camps are now dead or quite old...
...Those who choose to participate in the streetcorner ritual commit themselves to saying nothing and answering no questions...
...But this is not true for eloquent and rationally chosen silence...
...However, many young Germans who were born after the last concentration camps, the last gas chambers, the last mass crematoria were shut down or torn down nevertheless feel a personal association with those genocidal machines...
...Nuclear devices have no similarity to anything built in the past...
...They consider it unnecessary and impossible to state any logical reason why they would resist reconstruction of such camps...
...Second, I know some people scream out in horror when they can no longer control their emotions...
...These quiet people were careful neither to disturb traffic nor to hinder pedestrians...
...Public argument, especially in today's media-dominated society, cannot help but be hierarchical...
...There is also a right to propagate horrified silence...
...Germans are well informed about the effects of nuclear machines, but most brush aside scientific evidence of the consequences sure to follow the deployment of nuclear devices...
...Others—a sizeable and growing minority—oppose further nuclear armament, and more than a few are committed to unconditional nuclear disarmament...
...This is not true for atomic bombs, whose exclusive purpose is genocide...
...I can speak about the atomic bomb (and in my opinion, equally about nuclear power plants) only with arguments that prove it is a genocidal machine...
...When the hour ended, they drifted away, still silent...
...One or two usually carried a sign giving the reason for their stance: I am silent because I have nothing to say about nuclear destruction...
...They stood mute in the cold, shifting their feet now and then, saying not a word, making no response to pass-ersby...
...Screaming as well as silence lies outside the realm of language, yet these forms of expression can speak louder and more accurately than words...
...The stillness thunders, conveying inexpressible horror...
...Furthermore, unconditional opposition to the existence of genocidal machines as expressed in a commitment to silence is radically democratic...
...I am aware that silence threatens to introduce anarchy, and that those who remain silent are ungovernable...
...The silent people present a challenge to both hawks and doves...
...Jews and some Christians believe they should not pronounce the name of God...
Vol. 47 • May 1983 • No. 6
