Lecture notes
lecture notes rough politics
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- Goldsmiths, University Of London (GUL)
detailed account of lectures from rough politics, account of terrorism, gangs, mafia, guerrilla warfare and pirates
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Week 1: rough politics: outside(/against) of the purview of the norm
rule of law - transparency, perceivable by the state
o subverting said field of vision - rough politics
o those who exist outside of this field of vision not accounted for (i.e.
Palestinians in Israel)
rooted in ideology… precedes the actions…. rough politics - removes the assumption
of the derivative
threat + offer (protection) = mafia threat + offer = state?
o informal, makeshift politics
Week 2: On Guerilla Warfare
…irregular warfare at the centre, archtype of rough politics
guerilla warfare in global south, outside the purview of modernity [outside the law]
on the relationship between rough politics and violence
o guerilla warfare blurs distinction between combatant, and non-combatant
o guerilla no clear soldiers - civilians - with no proper military training who
learn as they go, no identity of chain of command, despite one evolving in
later stages of guerilla warfare
o become rough political actors once becoming guerilla, claiming place in
history
Nicaragua 80s guerilla movement defeated govt, established new govt 1979 -
Sandinista movement
o fighting a government very close to the USA - were labelled as terrorist
o when fighting against a govt not close to USA - they are called freedom
fighters
THIS DENOTES START OF INTRINSICALLY POLITICAL
NATURE OF REVOLUTION
Post-WWII, confrontation occured between states and guerillas (i.e. movements), this
period not defined by state-state conflict, but many ‘civil’, internal affairs -
CIVILIANS VS. STATE
o i.e. enemies who have no country or label
Ukraine: those who support Ukraine consider Russia as criminals, a criminal invasion
of another country - criminal indictment - political logic of the enemy
o politics is the distinciton between friends and enemies
o the politicization of war - (me against you) - who represents justice, who
violates the law
o whoever defies the political order is declared the enemy, evil.
Are Guerilla’s always partisan (i.e. political)?
o Yes in the 20th, 21st Century
o Can also be considered a mere strategy of war…
combat nature of unusual, unconventional tactics
, Conventional armies can also use guerilla tactics
Units like SAS assume the nature of a guerilla for tactics, but represent
a state, so it can be applied in this context
o War is by definition political - continuation of politics through other means
War as a tool to reach a political goal - Mao: risk of becoming a
criminal organisation - must be strict in following the ‘political line’
“political power grows out of the barrel of a gun” (through violence
construct political power)
colonising territories - responsibility to work with local
population; either by threatening or offering certain things; thus
becoming something akin to a ‘state’ [both militias and
guerillas]
controlling narratives
Guerillas as political entity - origins, actions, goals
o were usually peasants, uneducated
o they hence work as a school, pooling together knowledge and educating fellow
fighters of new ways of fighting, GETTING ACTIVE POLITICALLY, esp
those w/out prior political history
o lack the knowledge for a Marxist type revolution
successful guerilla has intimate knowledge/connection to territory of topography,
weather, surroundings, plants, animals, hiding places, exploite landscape to
advantage etc.
Viet Kong, intimate knowledge of territory was key to success against America
o deep connection to land, home, tradition, music, family, dead ones burried -
you are fighting with something that goes beyond anything the enemy can
wield
o the resolution of people fighting for identity e.g. fighting against colonialism
or oppression
metaphor of mosquitos: mosquito may not kill you when it bites, but is painful trying
to deal with one every night that you eventually give up and leave….
o small, continuous attacks which eventually plague the invader, occupier…
guerillas and army mimmication
o both sides immitate tactics
o guerilla the technology, methods
o army, use of landscape, traps perhaps etc.
popular theatre used as a method for guerillas to recruit - poor person v the land
owner, capitalist
machine of political and social development
guerilla as a part of the community, fabric of the community (MAO), guerilla must
move among the people as a fish swims in the sea (mao)
o esp among places where the state does not reach
o guerilla is the emrbyo as a new type of state
PKK Guerilla movement within communities - schools, local democracies, feminist
Jineology
The Rise of Feminism in the PKK: Ideology or Strategy? on JSTOR
Guerilla’s are to an extent - mass media, expand a certain message, tell the guerilla as
a recruitment community method
o proposing a narrative, and try to control it as much as possible
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