Terror as Usual: Walter Benjamin's Theory of History as a State of Siege Author(s): Mick Taussig Source: Social Text, No.

23 (Autumn - Winter, 1989), pp. 3-20 Published by: Duke University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/466418 . Accessed: 22/02/2014 07:15
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As Usual: Terror Walter ofHistory Benjamin's Theory As A StateOfSiege

MICKTAUSSIG

Terror as TheOther - that's A question ofdistance what I'd liketosayabout a matter terror, talking it at arm's it onyou offinding the so doesn't turn distance, holding length right in and not a all it's of it so a matter far words), (after yet putting away clinijust oneform ofterror for cal reality weenduphaving substituted another. But that saidthis I cansee myself lostouttoterror lost, already having youmight say, inLiberal toestablish futile exercise Aesthetics a embarked onsome struggling toabsorb fact talk talks mean andutterly the that unable terror's always golden - super-octaned inradical ifnot itstalk back overdrive, dialogism presupposing while on my meaning dependent it,stringing anticipating response, undermining other nervous the outthe onewaytoward waytoward hysteria, numbing system andapparent of the Art ofthe both acceptance, ways flip-sides terror, political as usual. Arbitrary, tosay, not the Ofcourse that's want rule elsewhere, elsewhere, always you'll in like but the An-Other Place Northern EthiBeirut, Ireland, exception, existing Port the au Prince, Peru, Santiago, Mozambique, Afghanistan, opia,Kingston, toname some West SanSalvador, but the South Africa, Colombia, Bronx, Bank, ofspots number the ofthe more from the course troubling publicized staggering anelsewhere make us suspicious ofthe world's order. Butperhaps such should oforder as iftheir dark wildness exists rooted sense so as about the here, deeply line fit ofcourse, the andnecessary tosilhouette the bottom our being, tight light, - all of which andhistory them between sense, order, law,justice, economy, I amfirst ain'tgotmuch of.Pushed reelsewhere bythis suspicion manifestly sort a ofanother ofHistory ofanother ofOther of minded sort Within,history in in of for than of as a letter rather the Wealth the Nations, example small-fry in 1984from inthe in the ofColorado, an ex-social worker state Voice Village who killed her own onanarticle onJeanne Anne chilUSA,commenting Wright that dren. Thesocial worker notes itwasaxiomatic that the the "deeper youdig, of failure, dirtier thetangled histories it gets;thewebof connections, family andneglect When outinawesomely abuse, unmanageable proportions." spread mother about the on her thesocialworker asked a young bummarks nine-year
old daughter, in a passivefutile used a cattle she replied voice that herhusband 3

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Terror as Usual

"as ifitwastheoddest on thegirl when shewas bad.Thenshesmiled, prod 'cos heusesitonmesometimes." "ithurts too.I know lived thing," saying They ina refurbished andtransitory" chicken road. coopona canal-lined "anonymous this was taking thelastofanother woman's One afternoon socialworker four the woman and her when down her to children from home up pulled pants leapt in the him her hadstabbed buttocks. show where herex-husband "Just as sudshehaddone andbegan woman "realized what tocry and hewrites, the denly," tomean andsomehow Andheconsomehow atthe sametime, both." tolaugh, "I amleft with oflivesas massive, and cludes theimpression dense, bysaying ofcollapsed matter outofwhich as those nodes escapes impenetrable nothing andconceal." andwhose is what absorb measure only they ofSuccess? ofthe the Are the histories Histories Butwhat about BigFry, they is violent world whose measure what it and so removed from this absorbs only not areweourselves to and Intalking talk conconceals? absorb terror's tempted inouruniversities, inour ownimmediate cealthe violence life-worlds, workplalike it'sterror as andeven families, business, where, ces,streets, malls, shopping between toconceal andwanting In particular, as we zig-zag to usual? wanting ofour ownconventions ofcoconscious become wenot reveal, suddenly might itinhis andrealize, as Walter andsense-making Benjamin put ordinating power War written onthe eveofWorld last II,that: writings
the"stateof emergency" teachesus that of theoppressed The tradition in to a concepbuttherule.We must attain whichwe live is nottheexception with Thenwe shallclearly that is inkeeping this tionof history recinsight. andthis abouta real stateof emergency, it is our taskto bring ognizethat in thestruggle Fascism.One reasonwhy will improve ourposition against itsopponents treat it as in thenameofprogress Fascismhas a chanceis that we areexperiencamazement that thethings a historical norm. The current is notphilosophical. This century ing are "still"possiblein thetwentieth - unlessitis theknowledge of knowledge is notthebeginning amazement whichgivesrise to it is untenable thattheviewof history ("Theseson the ofHistory"). Philosophy

as a chronic state of In other ourreality tounderstand what doesittake words take caretonote the Note the as a Nervous concept; please System? emergency, ofpostmodern anti-totalitarianism us. Nota knee-jerk issuebefore application andnarrative but between terror ondisrupting bent anassumed order, complicity in such theterror which that an opportunistic recognizes position positionless oneliminating. is nolessthan ofthe order itis bent that disruption in is what these extremes Terror apposition, apposition keeps justas that constitutes the of shock that and maintains the apparirregular rhythmnumbing of Between the the state oftheabnormal created entnormality by emergency. ofthe ofitsemergency, then center what arbitrariness order ofthat state andthe
-

ofitstalk? andwhat

1 Terror Talking ofthe to institutions I hadbeen invited learning higher august byoneofourmore in theearly Amazon with thePeruvian on theterror associated talk Company Before the areaofColombia. boomin thePutumayo rubber twentieth century

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MickTaussig

for older than verve andflair detail With remarkable he comscholar, myself. different for ofterror, their amount over deshistorical concluding, pared epochs that ourcentury wasthe worst. There wassomething even sert, sinister, weighty, not onhistory onitsharvest about Wewere a balance sheet but this. just drawing ofterror, ourintellect offearful under the andourepoch facts, weight bending inso far hadcomeinfirst. We felt as we could our strangely privileged, equate with historical which what turns ourselves, is,I suppose, epoch judgement upon. Andindrawing wenot ourgrim were ourselves conclusion, deliberately making I amnow in ever so ButI myself find a little a our fear? afraid, sly way enjoying It seems even this yet over-sophistifrightened suggesting possibility. plausible, both fear andintelligence. cated, mocking Gothic Tennis ballsthwacked. Theshadows thrown lengthened bythe spires a little about the confias the not but feel afternoon drew on.Onecould uneasy mastered overlinen a confidence dence with which terror was being napkins, it had theuniversity hadoftheghetto theunspoken fear community shielding in new several a back strange word-usage years disappeared "disappeared," in in El or when someone Colombia as well as Salvador as just Spanish, English death Theunivervanishes off the faceofthe squads. mapduetopara-military I mean. inthe ofthing. Death from sort USA is ofcourse remote that squads, sity back this Butitis wellknown some that years particular university, twenty-five for onthe hadapplied financial relentless instance, surrounding ghettopressure fires buildandthat time there were dwellers that burning many strange during was violence. There down and out. There was hate. black Nobody people ings school Theuniverfound fence. the deadwhite professor strung uponthe forgot inthe with the toownthe force state. came third Together city sity largest police to the area means itchanged administration the traffic by entry impeding pattern, Aninvisible what itcould of ofa labyrinth hand ofone-way streets. manipulated offlyers topost certain sorts unlawful culture andpublic Itbecame public space. ofpeople from onuniversity thus certain sorts notice boards, having preventing in thevicinity. in time, while the for Thus, preserving anygoodreason being toreconstruct the the came semblance ofdemocratic ghetto university openness, cordon within an invisible sanitaire. into a middle fortress class,largely white, tothe educathe middle classway, Terror as usual, higher appeal bythe justified inthe there fearoutright tothe ofCivilization itself, tion, played preservation andthe ofthe oflofty thefiery ridden blocks buildings, burning figures spires, Walter with their watchful calmspotlights ofpolicemen dogs.We remember a docuis notat thesametime which "nodocument ofcivilization Benjamin: ment ofbarbarism." written drifted to a latenineteenth-century story by Joseph My thoughts RobertBontine Conrad's close friend, the largerthan life eccentric "A Hegira," Graham relates In this Graham. Cunninghame Cunninghame story, how in1880 Indians ona trip hevisited toMexico eight imprisoned Apache City ina cageandonpublic As heleft the to castle ofChapultepec. viewinthe city in Texas, andall thelongway return hadescaped, to hisranch he heard they town drunken men hewitnessed as intown after north elation andpandemonium down onebyone,these andkill, totrack off, foot-weary galloped guninhand,

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Terror as Usual

- half-human, - slowly andmysteriously Other Indians half beast, decidedly andas a ofMexico, itas a nation north terrain the constituting moving through inthe tothe Yetwhen I'd finished terror ofthe savagery imputed Apache. people at me."Do youknow howmany thetalemyhostlooked telling peoplethe between and how head of cattle stole 1855 and killed 1885?" they many Apaches thesort It wasas much a challenge as a question, of question he asked. you a target. Theimplidown the ofa gunwhere asked equals reality sights looking tofear andkillthose wasclear; "But cation there was"goodreason" Apaches. I reinthe ofMexico, alone andonfoot," ofthem, whole there were only eight "And a dogthey'd up." plied. picked when the Butlater seminar once on,tomy gotunder way, myhost surprise, ofhisvast so fiery ofterror, so incommand andeloquent onthe topic historyfell into thefurthest recess ofhispadded silent as the machine, slumped grave, in A young don't tenured chaired the occasion a mess with me chair. professor with I'd to me to the "That allow manner, refusing begin summary prepared. won't be necessary!" herepeated all the which, archly, asking questions nearly were not likethe host's reaction aimed at sense tothe story, only making Apache in ofterror so furthered the terror he as somebody's but doing purported profit, tobeexplaining. ofthe lateafternoon Thesadgreyness the room. spread through Paleandforbiddingly the students satas sentinels oftruth for onsilent, graduate didthey were so frightened? What feel? generations. coming they Maybe Why felt they nothing? I met for twodays later atthe host a cupofcoffee Reluctantly my university. He wasinsistent ofnostalgia andinvoked all sorts over tosmooth unstated tensions. Butwhat a climax! Where wasthe comfort ofhisimagined of genteel past inthe heroic ofwhat wassaidtobe a perfect of intellectuals sub-basement copy anOxford wenowsatholding from where undrinkable coffee a slot macollege chine while four orfive men from the horsed menaround gangling young ghetto ofcourse, oneanother, andthe as they clientele, acing teasing unbearably played from The loudmusic the host forward the noise. Thearleaned against jukebox? inhisstout onthe teries "HaveyoureadBordovitch's work neck. Stalin pulsed inParis inthe fifties?" heshouted. trials, published "No,"I hadtoconfess. He leaned know forward "Do you admitted tocrimes the why prisoners again. hadn't hedemanded with a sharp committed?" "Because edgetohisvoice. they - forweeks "In white of sleep at a time," he thundered. weredeprived they the onallthe cellswith time!" light He satback, likea white even a little himself, satisfied, light glowing grimly nowthat wellawayfrom exultant andhappy hehadpushed dark murk terror's those to where confusion andconfession worked politically staged performances eachother's I was benefit. He insisted on driving methefive blocks towhere hesaid. "Here caris your tank," your staying.
TalkingTerror2

In theRepublic in South ofColombia America an official ofEmergency State hasbeen inforce, now as most now onagain, for as long can off, on,now people remember. Thetiming of theapplication andenforcement of this andrhythm

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Mick Taussig

us some ofstates ofwhat Bertolt Brecht measure ideaofthe surgives operation inthe "ordered andsince decades Cocalled thirties disorder," Germany veying in a state ofchaossuchthat of lombia hasbeendefined as being predictions have made on imminent a blood been ora military revolution, bath, dictatorship ina total ofsome the 27 million, analmost basis. being daily Today, population in so it assassinations third with America, striking, is largest Latin widespread members of viable some with 500 the a day, said, only opposition thirty people inthe down over the streets the Unibn Patribtica, pasttwoyears, party, gunned 149death outbythe more with carried than an estimated assassinations 11,000 in over the same national time named the pesquads recently Congress roughly small but a fraction named and with over riod, 1,000 (surely disappeared people - there exists which is no ofthe canbe nodoubt that a situation actual number) on the lessviolent than andthat itssinister itis sinister, strategic quality depends it around which stalks talk andtowhich andmystery useofuncertainty terror's returns. always within as a or outside thecountry, Butis this situation understood, widely inother inBenjamin's seen as the Is it, State ofEmergency sense? words, excepthere tion orthe andindeed andwhat rule, consequences might bodily political in as the discourse of be inconstantly of Order the ideal on prominent harping andalmost incessant ritualthe Armed media with their the andthe Forces State, when itseems obistic ofpublic reference tothe "state order," pretty particularly inanageas defined the Armed Forces vious that these forces, by very especially haveas much from togain as oneof"lowintensity theorists warfare," Pentagon - andprobably inthe caseof a gooddealmore? disorder as from order Indeed, wherein the is surely intrinsic toitsmodus the Armed disorder Forces, operandi fine artof socialcontrol. ofpower as an exquisitely is practiced arbitrariness inColombia as exists todefine such a situation what doesitmean Furthermore, not from and is everyday, a deviation the as chaotic, that the chaos norm, given ina strategically itis is a disordered order nolessthan sense important political doesittake toenvisage anordered andwhat a socidisorder? What doesitmean, - as the inthe headlines ofdying as breaking down tothe 24, January point ety - when itfor there is Colombia ofEl DiarioofNewYorkputs edition 1988, is most not the exthis state ofemergency reason tosuggest that decidedly every others as nation-state buttherulefor this (if notfor many particular ception themarket, andthetransnational as thestate, world, well)?In the postmodern ofarbitrariness andplanning, enter a newconfiguration into might corporations in be outdated modem itself a not of the the idea, social, relatively concept very In which casewhat is andstructure? so far ofstability as itrests onassumptions all the talk about order about? eninthe tensed mobile atthe world social way Benjamin highly yet Looking the with ofemergency, state ofthe about constancy ustodo hisdictum couraged I think talk with flow ofpower the wecanstart tounderstand connecting terror's Thisundertheuseofdisorder anddisappearing assassination people. through in an atmosphere backand howto stand whipping standing knowing requires I call This is once. what both at forth between and ways clarity opacity, seeing ina typiis conveyed, the much ofthis ofTheNervous andwhile System, optics

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Terror as Usual

inthe ofthe notion ofthe andparticumanner, abnormal, cally oblique normality - and in thenormality ofemergency, of thestate what needs larly pondering in with this our which this is ouradvantage, automatiterror-talk venue, today, - is the a framing violent andunexpected anda distancing-effect cally imposes inconsciousness This is not such a situation carries. so much a psythat ruptures heart ofwhat as a social andcultural anditgoestothe configuration chological inthe notion is politically crucial ofterror as usual. I amreferring inwhich in toa state ofsocial onemoves ofdoubleness being thesituation to be thrown bursts between as normal, somehow accepting only into a panic orshocked disorientation a rumor, someinto a sight, byan event, in evenwhile it requires that thenormal said,or notsaid- something thing ina order tomake itsimpact, this with the terrible it.You find destroys poverty inthe Third centers World andnow ofU.S.cities such as Manhattan; too, society in like me their a manner of butsudand close to it, eyes people you speaking, an a dramatic or event or occurs, one, denly unanticipated perhaps poignant ugly of is shown for it Then andthe the what is. it abnormal normality passesaway, ina staggering ofposition as wellas terror as usual, that lends itself tosurvival macabre It is this doubleness of and humor. social and despair being itsshockinreverse, the Bertolt Brecht but so as to that Marxist used, changing playwright the the cast of the of sustaining problematize normalcy reality-effect public a superior form of semiology, is what thecritic Roland sphere. Seismology, this of Brecht's. Barthes called technique insuch the sensed Terror's talk fluctuates between and circumstances firmly indeed a there exists a reason and certainties that center, usually dogmatic quite ofa diffuse, randomness onthe onthe andthe decentered onehand, uncertainties main other. ofoneofthe Takefor instance the editorial country's daily newspaFirst El Espectador, ofFebruary, entitled El Desorden Publico. 26th 1986, pers, of terror" that have "shaken there is a breathless the "successive acts of listing in thepastweek...the onjournalists, onebeing thecountry" attacks mounting in inFlorencia, inCali,the ofpolice Indians killed with another confrontation the of were asthe desert the where remote killed, peninsula Guajira eight people inthe the blowsassination often ofLa Paz inSantander, peasants municipality oil assassination ofa of lines to million the now 65 ingup amounting pipe pesos, in between of a Uni6n activist the Cauca, attacking police post young Patribtica EPL which killed unit ofthe onepoliceman Pereira andArmenia bya guerrilla inthe four andwounded massive demonstrations frontier others, Departpeasant accordofArauca, the ofdrug on of ment escalation and, top all this, trafficking but to the of the the editorial, double-game guerrilla, ing peace making talking war. inbroad of "is theinternal situation continues theeditorial, "This, strokes," such that itseems as if the convulsed andexplosive" country,
that betweenthe diversefactors theremightbe an intimate connection ofpeace andpublicsecurity. Butalthough themaintenance conspire against from different outbursts thatmay not exist,thereare so manyrepeated to or not,theforcesthatoperateagainst battlefields that, public wanting

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MickTaussig

and tothe common with destructive task of peace converge impetus equal destruction inwhich find themselves engaged. they Terrible indeed. talk, from a world inwhich Forces social context as weenter become disembodied theimpossibly needto both become animated, things contradictory paralleling a motive ora reason establish anddisestablish a center, force, explaining everyan evenanthropomorthis Nervous animistic, thing. Strangely System acquires - factors forces forces themselves converging, finding phic, conspiring, quality - andjustas strangely, in theentire incommon of destruction litany engaged ofany intheeditorial, there is this absence recorded terrifying terrifying forces bethe inofthe ofthe State itself. Could latter mention Armed Forces these truly ofthe Nervous whose semiovisible that Nervousness dread centers the System sis involves butwhat Roland Barthes called notso much theobvious meaning ofsigns? the obtuse meaning ofthe Inthe written works foremost andguru Armed many bythe spokesman the talk assumes situation General Fernando Landazabal terror's Forces, Reyes, order ofcosmic inColombia ofan order, a global is decidedly part prevailing communism in which Third and World between confrontation poor democracy front line ofcombat isdrawn. andwhere countries first tobefractured the arethe inbooks In hisrendering such as ThePriceofPeaceandSocialConofreality, between the Posithe andfluctuation one senses acutely comingling flict, quite would of Sartre hard the Abstract tivist the (as fact, putit)of Empiricism Style the of circular between causation morality, diagrams depicting patterns poverty, of the with thespellbinding wonder andso forth, violence, together injustice, ofpatriotism, AsI seeitthese andhierarchy. latter are death, order, metaphysics a sense offixing a sense with of the that create andcontrol together very things inthe obvious andimportant caseofdeath, so finite a conslippage, especially inthe obvious the andeven more caseofthe newtactic of nection with infinite, outin the as Julio Cortzar which, eighties, pointed early thinking disappearing inArgentina, a newcircle creates toDante's ofthe not 30,000 only disappeared oflosswith the that terrible fact the hellinthat the itcombines ever-present hope will Hence mothers are the next reday...re-emerge. disappeared tomorrow, of of to find the dead their tears as that body daughwept joy ported saying they is theexception. For at leastthen were sure. Butthat ter or son,because they in realism" a new which most it'sa dream world, "magical light, decidedly puts ina dream, toa site a friend as when rush hasseenthe where, disappeared. they As FabiolaLalinde, wholastsaw herson,a member of theMarxist-Leninist onthe onto a truck Colombian 3rd of Communist Party, being put bythe Army, it:"Ifthe aredifficult, the aretorture, 1984, October, puts days nights especially I dream is con,thus LuisFerwhen of [the with] meaning dreaming Spanish nando."
homewith I see himreturn arereal in that Because morethan dreamsthey with andease,andwhen thesmilethat he always his tranquility has,together that'swhenI always I ask himwhere he's been and he's aboutto answer, at theverymoment of It's so real that wake up, in that partof thedream. or where I am,and to return I haveno idea what'shappening to awakening

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10

Terror as Usual
is sad andcruelafter had himin front ofme.Atother times I reality having bushandravines, spendthenight running through searching amongst piles of cadavers, battles and Dantesquescenes.It makesyou crazy. witnessing And thishappensto thewholefamily, as well as to his friends. Even the havetoldme many times that dream ofhim. neighbors they

And our too? Forarewenot dreaming? neighbors As for hard General Landazabal is adamant, atleast until of facts, September ifnot that evidence that the Armed Forces is behind most 1986, indicating many ofthe inLa inColombia is false. assassinations anddisappearances Questioned Semana Caballero name nowappears onthe Medellin Death (whose byAntonio in thecountry hisstatement that theonly List)regarding groups paramilitary were the while it was toappear the that to replied guerrillas, general beginning him be of that there some sort even a ormight perhaps organization, nationally whose function wastoassassinate members ofthe Uni6n one, ganized Patribtica in the most he hadno idea far popular left-wing party Colombia), really (by toconnect hewent the Armed about Forces this. Moreover, on,itwasinfamous inColombia inthe nowsupposedly so abundant with wake ofthe the assassins cocaine trade.
contradiction withthe That would be to enterintothemosttremendous andhonor oftheArmed Forces. It is said that there is a professional morality

donot the Armed Forces inthat. war" on,but participate They "dirty going andthe means ofthe Constitution subversion with all the combat Law,but orplacing bombs. Thatwould be on motorbikes notbypaying assassins
tobe mouthed. andwe cannot tolerate suchinfamy infamous,

In Gabriel Chronicle Garcia novel, ofa DeathForetold, Santiago Marquez' unaware Nassar the town the that he walks hot Colombian night's revelry during knives committed tokillis being armed with passionately pursued bytwomen A question for to ofhonor. town itsinhabitants It's a small enough inghim. from to the armed men sense see searching place place, They something strange. - orrather kill willreally believe anddisthat can'tbelieve they yet they they with sure believe butproof comes at oneandthesametime, enough Santaigo - all of which I taketo be paradigmatic of disembowelment Nasar'sbloody refers toas the war" he "is which said to Landazabal be what General "dirty says of sucha war, ofsucha war, thepoint of thephrasing on."Of course going national commentators ofsilencing, is that a war as is alsocalled which bysome inpolitical onwhich andoperathe General means, saysitis "saidtobe"going - injustthe same abnormal is nortional that itis anditisn't terms, wayas the whole ofthe andthe modern term malanddisorder is orderly meaning relatively of the social the becomes let alone bond, meaning suddenly deeply "society," tohavea society doesitmean at (undeclared) war all what problematic. After "InColombia," friend from oneofthe with itself? my twenty-year-old poor sugofthe mewith towns CaucaValley, assured finalarcane Edgar, constantly smug "Youcan't trust ity, anyone." ina busin 1981heading into We were the frontier ofthe Putumayo, province how a Chronicle andI commented anairof Foretold, ofa Death strange reading

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Mick Taussig

11

what wasabout to taleconveyed, not the believing sensing yet everybody reality "Ah there's onewho knows." hereplied, "but always happen. profesor," In the an eyewatching, an eyeknowing. Hereyoucan'ttrust murk, anyone. as social Paranoia as socialtheory. Paranoia one whoknows. There's always is itsgeoofthe feature warofsilencing Notethecritically important practice. we canand decenteredness yet graphical, epistemological, military-strategic howmuch the somecenter notbutfeelthat it is organized from no matter this The of the Uni6n Patribtica denies his leaders (undesay knowing. general ofthe is saidtobe going outcome war on)is the (which Pentagon's clared) plan which we can "doctrine ofnational theinfamous for Latin America, security" ina favorable, inthegeneral's books where itis presented evenrereadabout light. demptive, ofconandthesymmetrical circles Sidebysidewith this doctrine, paranoid is this ofwarfare newtype that hascometobe traced around it,there spiracy whose is toblur "lowintensity characteristic accustomed called conflict" leading is another andboundaries blurred. That realities andkeepthem eyetocontend in its constitutive with, contingency. grotesquely post-modem
TalkingTerror3

inother as well. tofeel this too. And nowwestart eyewatching Hearing, places in inthe called is what the students Thetira it, university meaning BogotA spy, inthe this there classroom. anditwas,they intimated, right particular Curiously
- pulling. - also means throwing, and its opposite word for spy- the tira

isn'tstrange tirais alsousedtomean Andas ifthat All this fucking. enough, ofassociations, us some rare for a curious into makes network insight granting ofthe ofspying ofthe State as well, with not but the erotics terror-machine only ofoppositions, andviolence. itsobscure seduction, medley inwestinthe for informer is the term used towns the frog, sugarcane Sappo, insorcery meofthe role andofitsslimy habitat ern Colombia, frog's reminding where ofloveandwaryet, both andwater, itcroaks between earth, songs sky, When is muted when like the andunlike informer, suddenly passby. you people - as only atnight the and walk the canefields cane-workers, peasants, through ever and theoccasional revolutionary organizer, anthropologist consipirator, - youbecome ofa sensitive the would photographic plate, auditory equivalent of ofthe immense skies the silence under the black deafening registering canopy I guess And the it'sallears sound. too. stilled frog? suddenly knows from come these terms for andwhence whence Butwho they go? spies ofslime a compound andomiTheir constellated awkwardly meanings register andno lesspointed, than theDeath nousquiet, no lessobscure, Squadsthemofpower ofthe Inthese the itself muted fields selves. neatness suddenly symbol the ofNervous andpulling, tothe underbelly, pushing gives way pulsing rapidly
Systematicity. is to say for of menofColombia, which themajority Andforthepooryoung or military of there militar is theeye ofthelibretta men, pass,possession young ortwenty-four months one hasperformed theeighteen which meansthat military If youdon'thaveit,theauthorities can pickyou service demanded by thestate. willrefuse one. At to hirea manwithout up as they please,and mostemployers

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12

as Usual Terror

inBogotA the where the dance-halls andworking classconyoung unemployed in on it was for the not uncommon 1986 todrag gregate Saturday nights, police in the of off those without often them down the the libretta, hosing courtyard pointhe ifthey licestation them there andleaving locked freezing night, especially a busis stopped couldn't bribe. time comeup with a satisfactory Every bythe orthe topresent the men aremade their time a reten army, police papers. Every ofpublic is erected what the order deem orbarrier around forces those disorder, whowish their andtobe without topasshavetopresent them one papers, may men ofthe for the life. Thiseyeis merciless poor daycostyour young Republic who but become not victim terror's victimizer, ensuring thereby only normalcy. in oneofthesugarcane whom I was speaking with Takethecase ofJairo I havebeenreturning towns to which since1969in the year plantation every in months backhe hadfinished CaucaValley Western Several his Colombia. andnowhadhislibretta militar. We started service talking compulsory military in thecordillera him on patrol about andtheguerrillas, about thearmy being with the No! There central. Didheever wasa young a chance totalk get enemy? Andhe waved hishand downthestreet, wholived though. guyhe onceknew for I He asked. words. "It's todo are Why fighting? struggled carelessly. they are the said "The with he government," eventually. guerrilla against unemployment."
" Well. about What that?" " It'sbadbecause arecommunists. They're they against democracy."

He toldme thesamething a fewmonths later searched for when, having seven helanded months a construction dollars job inCali- a job that paidfour took ofthat a dayexcept that andlunch closetohalf andthe job would transport could the socialsecurity lastonly seven weeks so that the avoid costs employer the That's hewasdefendthat after weeks apply eight employment. democracy him that hislibretta months tofind seven militar. ing.Andittook job- with him his mother is an even I'veknown since hewasa tiny and older friend of boy Theother he mine. He's exceptionally sweet andgentle. was day washing my two allgiggles andfroth. andhalf oldboy'shair, year
totalkwith theguerrilla?" I asked. "Do yougeta chance "Whenwe capture them."

"MIost." "Whatabout those whodon't?" "We kill them. orders us to. We tie their handsbehind The comandante their backsand stuff a wettoweloverthemouth so that whenthey breathe feelas if they're Most sing.Or else we putstakesup their they drowning. Those wholie, we kill,likewhen tellus where theenemy is they fingernails. notthere. on thecomandante." butthey're A lotdepends

"Do they talk?" "Wemake them sing." "Do many sing?"

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Mick Taussig

13

"he's cutinto oneofourofficers," he added, "Andwhen catches theguerilla in themost All this matter-of-fact way, pieces." justlikewe'dbeen transpired earlier ofthe hewastransplanting. tomatoes talking or limpieza ofCali,that We gotto talking incredible about the"cleaning" inwhich andallmanner transvestites, homosexuals, process beggars, prostitutes, in crime of street cocaine were involved andpetty dealing peoplesupposedly from andmotorbikes. outbypistol andmachine pick-ups being gunfire wiped ofpeople not Thatis what oneheard sort day.Butobviously justthose every inCali could be a target. Students were affected. wasscared. Anyone Everyone would hidethemselves, told methat ofa motorbike with thesound they merely isreason While todistinguish this andfew went out there "cleanatnight. people is also more there the defined assassinations, ing"from conventionally political in have from the creation of terror uncommon something apart through they - and this has to do with semantic functions of certain violence thehorrific firm murk so that more murk boundaries where exists only cleansing, creating canexist, ofthe which the the dominant sphere powers purifying polluting public voicesof society or underworld whose salient attribute to thehampa political - invisible - but liesinitsbeing borderless feature yet infiltrating strategically Other; homosexuals, communists, left-wing guerrilleros, decidedly prostitutes, I guess callthe dark massofthe andwhat wecould undebeggars, threatening too think about doesn't leave when it, many you people serving poor which, inthe Inthe ofthe "the cleansfearsome unconscious logic political upperworld. shelves of endless cansof soap to mind supermarket ing"or limpieza brings and car wax scrub and this Nowisthat malnourished land. daily polish powders in a stream ofcadavers, forth ritualistic forms deoften suing disfiguredbizarre rived from U.S. television and commodities suchas pesticides like imagery is not this without a certain andconscious fervor Kan-Kill, cleansing genealogy manipulation. Asregards the hearken back tothe ofthe or genealogy, representations hampa criminal underworld of Havanain early twentieth works of thecelecentury inwhich Fernando Ortiz crime is reduced tocrimibrated Cuban anthropologist is seen as thenatural and criminality outcome of beingblackand nality is the Theunderworld Santeria. construction practicing phantasmagoric paranoid ofthe tothe ofthis in andwith fertile class, manipulation ruling regards imagery - hearken Cali- like Havana,capitalof.sugar, slumsof blacks to Chris inthe ofthe ofcrime media andimages there seventies Birkbeck's before study inthe the death hademerged the acsquads mid-eighties. Comparing newspaper counts of crime with what he found outwith and byhanging police prisoners inthe while hewasliving tovalidate the hefound asslums, nothing ubiquitous
an organized that underworld of theimagination existedoutside cresumption atedbythepress(or,I wouldadd,created more the medium of the by important inthenewspapers radio).Notonlyweretheaccounts extraordinarily exaggerated weredesigned it was as if they to create and reprobut,to mywayof thinking, duce a tropical versionof the Hobbesianworld,nasty, in and short, brutish, which remind was to trust can't (as myfriend me) Edgar alwaysready "you any-

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14

as Usual Terror

ina nebulous ofthe ofinseshrouded a city one"- andthus swamp atmosphere ina state ofemergency. curity, truly inwhich with this fear itis precisely Hobbesian theindividualizaTogether of that is strategic, is a no less tion andfreaky violence there unexpectedness to claim an countermove essentialist structured, organized, critically important - as with notion the ofan organized coretothe dread a magically underworld, both a metaphorical andanactual zone raceapart, potent inhabiting geographical is the ultimate within the Thisofcourse elusiveness, postmodern city. claiming in a socialstruggle both anddecenteredness centeredness combining meaning andBirkbeck note inthe anddeath, could with torture as andsenselessness press - harbinger a clean-up, for ofour callfor the as 1977the limpieza early urgent nowwhen became fact. "Thecity time themetaphor needs blasting urgently El desaid the treatment," previous daily echoing aseptic newspaper,Occidente, of of for the environfor criminal mands foci "eradicating activity," "purification is not What andfor thecenter." we havetounderstand, then, ment," "cleaning in from which work out horrific a some and process politiimagery myth merely inwhich situation but cal unconscious tobe actualized, rather a socio-historical for itmagnifies ofcrime, is nolessrealthan the and the instance, reality image, distorts as terror's talk. inthe hishaving toresign, while Andnow wastalking, meabout Jairo telling inPalmira, hebelonged tofor months a special force three the town from army, ofthis Cali.As he putit,themission force wasto the river across Caucafrom - so - powerful intaxis henoted andonmotorbikes around cruise motorbikes, orprofessional killers. and sicarios Thesolas tokillcriminals, addicts, drug ofthe with inhisunit hadtokill, received booklets and diers photos they people at human forms from motorbikes and undertook shooting target practice they andtheir hair was grown never woreuniforms than taxis. They longer phony a kill close as with colt or a 9-mm To would as .45 they possible, get regulation. sub-officials of them, andone captain. There wereeighteen plusfour pistol. the but worked the of at did most their through city killing night during day They on were about that habits. There death to know their victims' fifty people getting list. tothe Andonly three weeks the It wasstraightforward. before, day, general connection whatsoever between wasquoted as vehemently any possible denying anddeath the squads. army
TalkingTerror4

declared war. ofsilencing. There is noofficially Above War allthe is a war Dirty talk No disappearing. Just silence No prisoners. No torture. terror's consuming inpublic that could be coninto for the main nothing scaring saying part, people Thisis more than the ofsioftheArmed Forces. strued as critical production is quitedifferent. Fornowthenotsaidacquires which lence.It is silencing,

confusion and a specific befogsthe spaces of thepublicsphere, significance is where theaction which is. ofpublic-space makesthesimplest talk of theunsaidwhich It is this presence - thenaming in oftheDisappeared inthis bytheMothers age ofterror arresting withtheir together photographs, publicspaces of thenamesof thedisappeared,

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Mick Taussig

15

is important is not inwhich so incollective form ofritual what acts the acquiring in in shift but the social lothe their well much since are known, facts, way they inwhich the voidwith memthose areplaced, cation facts private filling public ory. is not memtoerase Thepoint about andthe fear behind silencing silencing ofthe within the fastness is todrive Farfrom the it.Thepoint memory deep ory. inwhich dream andreality so as tocreate more fear anduncertainty individual ofthe from mothers onehears this the andagain disappeared, Again commingle. taken ona truck her that last seen like Lalinde who Fabiola dreams son, being by toanswer her as he'sabout toher. Just the Colombian hasreturned quesarmy, "It'sso real," shewakes "Where haveyoubeen?," tion, upandhe'snotthere. I have ofawakening noideawhat's atthe moment shesays, "that happenvery him in I am,andtoreturn is sadandcruel after toreality having ingorwhere front ofme." a cardinal as Benjamin "Thetrue flits ofthe prinexpressed past by," picture from not be safe the and"even the deadshall ofhistory, ofhisphilosophy ciple Other be victorious." if wins. has not ceased to he And this nights enemy enemy ofcadavers. her soninpiles for sheraces bush andravines hunting through within thefastas nightmare serves topreserve notonly memory Silencing ofthemagical thecollective nessoftheindividual, buttoprevent harnessing collective on the inhisclassic1907essay of(what Robert Hertz, reprepower - the restless ofthe ofdeath souls" ofdeath) called "the sentation space unquiet ofthose as thesouls theliving, such tohaunt andagain return soulsthat again ofmagical force that a quotient contains whodiedviolent deaths. Thishaunting inthe Central as youcanwitness canbe channeled individual, Cemetery bythe ofpeople, masses when the ofBogotA dnimas, mainly every dayofthe Monday, oringeneral, andby ofpurgatory, lost souls come topray for the specific poor, ofunemployment, from the relief ofthis achieve means povproblems magical toCothis failed love,andsorcery. ubiquitous Summing upis theimage erty, ofthe for Anima the folk lombian instance) cemetery, (onsaleoutside religion tobe hands and about chained a the woman, Soul, young Sola, Lonely uplifted her Behind are massive stone fire. consumed by closed anda barred walls door, apparently ofthe do is to Mothers the What Disappeared of the this harness magical power collectively in relocate and of souls lost memory purgatory "": the fearthe contested sphere, awayfrom public fastness oftheindiandcrazy-making numbing death and mind where vidual paramilitary squads fix ofconcealment would it. the State machinery F In so courageously i; -?? the names andholdnaming ofthe deadanddisimage ingthe photographic the create the mothers specific image appeared, and State to reverse public memory. necessary tolife, birth As women, they collectively giving ?I:

n)' ?:;-i

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16

Terror as Usual

lifeline as well. hold the andritual todeath andmemory political in terror's talkis theplaceoccupied lanTheplaceofthename byliteral ofnames. is also,as world theGod-given Butthename guage, pre-lapsarian, an essential of bureaucratic State-ordained identification, requisite procedure. in no This of God State the less than the and lawsofreciName, strange meeting ofPurgatory is alsoopen doctrine andsin, toa certothe folk pertaining procity of in I to be a male take interaction tain what particularly sphere appropriation I amreferring tothe recounted andpublic between (and history spheres. private inBogotA Colombian toa small Senathus collectivized) gathering bythe public ofthe the Medellin offices tor IvanMarulanda ofhowhehadentered F-2,oneof semi-secret toinquire into andever-changing the Colombian units, many Army's were Ivanwassure man. and ofa disappeared the whereabouts him, they holding Ivanscreamed hiswayinto the out F-2denied it.Forcing the cells, justas surely for be the this would lastpossible man's name andagain, the chance, and, again He was man's voicecould be heard back. likea miracle, the calling disappeared to thepress Meanwhile a notice that theman's thepolicehaddiffused there. inMedellin. found deadona garbage hadbeen heap body in it be pointed outthat with Ivan connection naming should And further with on the Medellin Death the name Marulanda's List, along recently appeared inpublic their talk whohavepitted others names ofthirty-three against spaces with as with the Adamic Theworld not official talk. naming original began only - perversely essentialist lifeand it as well butmaywellendwith language, tothe ofthe ofthe state's arbitrariness the death names arbitrariness sign splicing power. matters? What of likeyourself about Butwhat sort caught upinsuch people for that matter? What about have talk myself, you got? 5 Terror Talking
and alive inthe darkness ofhistory who exist werewolves allthe ...and keep canbenorule. which there fear without that ofthe "TheImportance Dialectic & Adorno, Horkheimer ofEnlightenment, Body."

I first met Roberto. It was at a friend's My placein Bogotiin late1986that about him. Intermeshewasworried andhadtold friend is a journalist Amnesty andit him but hehadnot usedit, outofthe a ticket national hadgotten country, his own as unstable. He shunned he wasbeing wassaidthat political group by inthe whointhe anengineer, wasinhisearly thirties, neighborhoods very poor been a left-wing with ofthe south had, organizing group, meetings political city - on the ofthe with another ofhuman on silencing rights. Together repression atnight, taken the hehadbeen meeting army bythe upfrom picked organizers
- thisin a country whosearmy denies and tortured totally away,disappeared, voicecan so strikingly theofficial in suchactivities. itsinvolvement Thus,where does Magical createfear, and by meansof suchcontradiction contradict reality, he had notbeenkilledwhen form. Realismmoveintoitsmartial By a miracle himfor thehead,andleft dead in a pubthey puthimin a bag,shothimthrough he had comeback,if return alive in dreams, that lic park.Like thedisappeared

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MickTaussig

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inthe then not toa dream, strict sense ofthe toanunreal life-state term, certainly inwhich, wasdoing, hewasinconstant ofwhat the living army testimony being while into mounted a camthe fear ofbeing killed andwasforced hiding army more hadtaken his hewasnothing than a "vulgar kidnapper." paign saying They wasadahe couldn't a passport, andhislawyer which without acquire papers, ifhe went hispapers he mant that to theDAS (theSecurity Police)to renew inthe onebrief alive.After andaccurate notice would never leavetheir offices inthe And while more hadappeared media. he dailies, nothing leading country's in his ofbeing it was the media could wasdesperately afraid found, that, opinion, alive.He hadtokeephisname aliveinthesamepublic that keephim sphere killhim. could in thestreet him A weekor so later I bumped into themorning's carrying in a week. in to live or He told me was going Europe, Canada, newspaper. Thearmy "Don'tyouknow?" heasked. mefor tortured two "I wasdisappeared. the me the of neck." His then shot but back children bullet days passed along my ina placewhere were were their mother there a lotofpeople for with protection. I wasleaving for a week ormore with On hearing a trip west for and mywife ifanything he impressed me:"Always sure that three children make upon hapwillbe publicity. there arejournalists whoknow Makesure pensto youthere with onthe where Don'tassociate Left. Just be a tourist." anyone youaregoing. He hada file headded, "Don'twear onwhat To my confusion clothes." foreign like tohelp. hecalled andI saidI would case," "my he calledwithout hisname. Around five o'clockoneafternoon "Do giving who hewas.He wanted tomeet who ofsaying is talking? washisway youknow themeeting I at a busysupermarket and I went away.Approaching straight for the cars started tofeel nervous andscanned to spies. Everything began police inthesilent ofunknowable orambiguous isolation lookdifferent, wrapped sigto make it lookto anyone nificance. He was pacing thepavement andI tried encounter. He notquiteso andunexpected as if it was a delightful watching I saidI hadtobuy Weentered the with much. bread. supermarket together many ina ragged women oneanother atthe I invited him bread counter. queue pushing in a toour but to his so we walked roundabout he to wanted there, place go way. ifI wanted andheasked There wasa public onthe corner tocallRachel, phone which meas strange struck andI saidI didn't. ina basement He lived togetinto which, youhadtopassthrough apartment ina twodoors, the each with two locks. He wasclean andneat oneafter other, The brown and shirt. corridor to the coat was light sports leading open apartment I struggled dark andhetook toopenthe anddamp a longtime second door. to ofconversation. Weentered find a topic into a vault-like with a thick corspace roof overa tiny had milky-green plastic dining rugated place.Theapartment ofa three-storied beenthecourtyard inside house. Further there was a neatly made dark a white bluecovered double bedwith clothes one cupboard forming wall.There were laidout.Itwasa friend's three ofshoes pairs neatly apartment Moreandmore the andhe saidhehadtoleaveintwodays. placegavemethe with andkept, ofa cageorofa laboratory, usboth keepers experimenters feeling andsubjects ofsomeone's experiment.

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Terror as Usual

ofa cageorofa laboratory, usboth with andkept, feeling experimenters keepers ofsomeone's andsubjects experiment. He satmedown atthe table littered with andmagatiny newspaper cuttings a half-empty bottle ofAguardiente andthe remains ofa giant botzines, Crystal, tleofCoca-Cola. There wasoneupright chair. would heasked. "What like?" you I answered. "Whatever He moved about for got," groping you've awkwardly, I infront ofme.Very and a to bluesomethingdo, suppose, put cutting tidily 12.IV. 86. There were oftwo inked El Espectador onthe itread margin photos The have one on left was said to been killed. The second men. the was young his beard, said to be Roberto, to me without his buthe was unrecognizable him he mouth as walked bashed andtwopolicemen a wide, watching through friend had me him told door. Thearticle what about being repeated my journalist inwonder, andRoberto that the where told the me, park army disappeared, very of himdeadinside thebag was where tenyears ago he hadcrashdisposed him ina plane inwhich died for allthe andoneother. landed except passengers - that I of aware not became anxious As I read, to concentrate, being trying ofwhat ona self-appraisal beentoodirect, toohonest wasgoing would have andthereby, waveoffoaming fear but oftrying waveafter torepress somehow, oftheforce ofthat incontrol theawareness repression, feeling through merely eleven I remembered atthe offearful. howmerely instead before, days arriving wehadbeen from the a year atnight after country, stopped abruptly away airport were went onthe dark andisolated out They they police. bymen saying highway for were them were our looking saying they tearing apart, bagsas ifthey through on making ina carbehind with the arms. there wasa friend it,I lights Luckily us around andwe were for them toscrew harder able,after showing suppose, "There toresume our arestolocaluniversity, the them our from journey. papers toldme,"ofa certain later a friend riesgoing around," general's bodyguard saidit andhitting atnight people people police up."Other dressing upas airport had of theM 19 guerrilla member ofa rumor an important was because that is not inthat could but flown it,ofcourse, inexplicability explain day.Nobody inthese ofterror as usualas onefumsituations toacknowledge the best thing I hadjotted down a In my andrumors. notebook advice bleswith contradictory tomany friends "the about listened short time later, talking having situation"-I'mgetting RoAnd awful. after two usedtoit." "Itall sounds so incredibly days ofaguardiente for some more meandfussed a shot berto fussed around, poured hiskeys, hiscase.He couldn't find andI realofcuttings with concerning copies Thenwe found them. them andhe left izedthat getoutwithout youcouldn't - leaving inthat - all four ofthem mealone locks the a word, without grating wire on reinforced the door inside was white mesh, gauge byheavy cagewhose notion that this I tried dubious toread white. alsopainted on,propelled bysome metodo;towitness and waswhat hedearly that this wanted wasbeing helpful,
and ultimate ofhiscase and inretrospect, thetrajectory to follow, disappearance of thepublicsphere whileall the themediatrails hencehis very beingthrough whichas soon as I was awareof it went sensation was a fluttering whilethere I was beingsetup. I tried butmy I felt toreadmore stronger. away.It recurred, went overthepages.Nota sound.A fewminutes by.I realized eyesonlyflicked

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Mick Taussig

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- esposas,in Spanish, intoyourwrists. also meaning wives- grinding Later,

I was other I calledRachel? I than Roberto. hadn't knew where nobody Why at the roof. was Almost looked It only corrugated plastic. up transparent. Surely tobe burglar-proof, Butthen these were built and through? places easytobreak be more seem that But this was absurd. He'd back it didn't looking closely easy. I wasa miserable I tried ofthe more soon. coward. toread cuttings. Myeyewas if as all horrific random tension that stuff the exacerbating caught by phrases, inthe ofthe feeble filtered scattered across the table gloom light BogotA through tome.I hadpremonitions of theplastic what was about tohappen was about I didn't I would howI would feel andtowhat goifI panicked. desperate lengths feelor allowmyself curious to feelpanicky at that Thatwas themost stage. I saw myself in another not from as it were, world, afar, going crazy, thing. would washappening, what what what wasbeing next, knowing plotted, happen I looked unable tobreathe. atthe door with itstough wire. It Immovable. again wasraining hard. now andthen fell a few onto head and through my Every drops I turned backtothe neck. from the andthe crumpled cuttings cheap newspapers Xerox ofletters andgovernment andthen, between institutions copies agencies meabsolutely ofpanic for waves over unable tomove the flooded waiting truly, Darksuits. tosurge the door. moment. Machine wavthrough guns police Any inthe Machismo ofthe State. Thehandcuffs ing. ejaculating opera underground inBogotA, life I was what hadhappened tofriends wholived all their recounting is be fear was it said to not made torealize that this not without foundation since uncommon victims of to become informers. for orarmy police brutality witha smallbottle of Then the door openedand in came Roberto I down. was rain drummed Even relieved but wanted to leave. The aguardiente. wereagainst theelements me leaving. He pulled up a stoolby mysideand Mi"I'm nota drunk, drink into tumblers. a two olive-green plastic poured tiny how bad was me he was how it he and to tell tortured, guel," said, proceeded for howhe felt likedrowning with when the handcuffs the they changed rope, in itwaslike and shot hismouth, andwhat the stuffed down wet towel bag being finonto He leant hisheadforward almost but not killed. my my lapandguided wounds of flesh. hair soft the to the dimpled irregularly gerthrough bulging later towhom "Likeworshipers with murmured a friend Christ's wounds," days I wastelling this. I asked. "No!"hereplied, "I've learnt the knows army "Surely youarehere?" for a me blue skills urban and the ofthe writing padhetold guerrilla," reaching in and he about his the that was he spent all time that writing apartment nearly hiscase,trying, the over tohissideandnot for towin instance, general attorney inthe Theattorney ofdefamation believe general bythe army. spread campaign inAntioquia hadbeen Roberto as a judgein thesmall town where hadserved

- malnourished in a largepeasantfamily, from and thestart, he noted, raised old after as a teenager, he he was twenty-one months unabletowalkuntil which, All this was in theletter totheattorney hadbecomea famous athlete. general. me morecorrespondence He askedwhatI thought abouthiscase and showed I mumbled aboutpeopleI knewandwaysofgetting International. with Amnesty hisstory Thenhe sprung overwhelmed me. butI felt bythesituation. publicized,

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20

as Usual Terror

in your I so much when "CouldI stay sank. apartment youleave?"Myheart him wanted tohelp but tohave a whole usethe would be toendanger apartment I felt ofother with andthe kids. the bunch Rachel three most people, beginning terrible because took theform of notbeing coward, mycowardice especially I thought him wastoodangerous, for hissituation that would tear abletotell that I in felt we so the facade of that at least needed order to badly normalcy open and and that he to survive. In so needed continue being being together many I toowasanactive inthe war ofsilencing. ways agent I feelterrible I've become of theprocess andlessthan human. which part him I and and a am afraid of the real makes paranoid imagined pariah. powers I'm afraid andalmost killed him. Evenmore andsickened that havetortured by ofhisparanoiac ofhis the marginalization, being inevitability people suspicious itas a sign ofhim miraculous a spy. Andin being escape, possibly interpreting is not the butthe the state ofemergency which rule, exception every possibility doesn't with actual is a fact. victimized Being bytheauthorities stop physical InRoberto's the Ina orthe endtodetention. "case"that's torture only beginning. he and his come to life at all. He's still didn't back case way disappeared, only andterror's exists tohaunt meinthis ofterror's talk endless silence. night Terror 6 Talking Anhour I waswith ina later kids atthe Moscow Circus which wasplaying my of inner one the arena the It was unreal freeways ringing city. sports by enough, on topofthe itwasdevastatingly but atRoberto's so. Therain coming episode in the waspelting down outside onto theheads ofthin-faced pitch-black night intheir attention candies andpeanuts for while, selling people hungry clamoring - perhaps the woolen the onesthat hadparticiuniforms rough-cut police very - maintained inRoberto's order with their sadsullen faces pated disappearance as we moved another world where shone inside into from joy andexpectancy we were imso far from thefears andsuspicions outside. Here faces, people's in quickly scenes ofclowns, mersed artists, balance, shifting trapeze strength, Thepink costumes. mobile as theperformers tension, spunin their glittering in of the their silver firm and acrobats and made me flesh, muscled, gold tights wonder ofmyfinger onRoberto's wounds. and think Laughter through rippled I remember In theshifting most ofall wasthebeginning. the crowd. Butwhat inthe immense ofthe oflight darkness tube formed two arena, spotlight bythe clowns were with oneanother andinthe Colombian arguing process beating up the topieces and female totear a life-sized began mannequin mannequin. They Then the beat itonto the with as the crowd ground laughed. lights fury changed, anda disembodied voice came on: music blared, "In1986, this ofWorld weareproud topresent..." Peace, year
on "Talking Terrorism: and This talkwas giventotheconference Paradigms of the Models in a Postmodern World," organizedby the Institute ofStanford Humanities 1988) February, University,

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