Archive
Volume 15, Issue 1 (2024)
Introduction: On the (il)legitimacy and (in)visibilities of torture
Daniel Bultmann, Katharina Inhetveen
Deciphering and Detoxifying Torturing Societies and
Torturable Populations: Towards an Inhibitive Manifesto
Andrew M. Jefferson
Torture remains a prevalent feature of contemporary societies. This is an
enduring puzzle that demands our attention and calls for a rethink. To effectively
counter torture we need to go back to its conditions of production and examine what
drives and sustains it. In this essay I lay down some markers to reanimate conceptual,
methodological, and political projects against torture. I unpack the notion of tor-
turable populations understood as groups of people rendered torturable by structures
and dynamics rooted in hierarchies of worth; and the notion of torturing societies
understood as societies over-committed to naturalized ideas of punishment, and the
propagation of inequalities through exclusive visions of freedom and negative versions
of justice. I suggest that instead of focusing singularly on torture, anti-torture pro-
fessionals and activists would be well served by looking more closely at punishment
and lived experiences of justice. And I ask whether inhibition might present a more potent entry point for anti-torture work than prohibition and prevention. Inhibitive practices would aim to disable the desire, ability, and perceived necessity to torture and thereby transform its productive and sustaining conditions. Finally, I propose the practices of ‘holding’ and ‘wilding’ as novel ways of giving substance to an inhibitive anti-torture manifesto.
The Politics of Representation:
Authenticity and Emotion in Tuol Sleng Visitor Books
Daniel Bultmann
After the invasion by the Vietnamese military that toppled the Khmer
Rouge regime in early 1979, the newly installed government of the People’s Republic
of Kampuchea decided to turn the central prison, codenamed S-21, into a museum: the
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Archive (TSGM). At a time when the exact nature
of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge was still contested and the Khmer
Rouge was supported as part of an insurgency along the border by the US, Europe,
China, and ASEAN, the new Communist government, backed by a Vietnamese occu-
pation force (in turn backed by the Soviet Union), faced not only economic sanctions
and embargoes, but also a legitimacy crisis. The new regime had to legitimate its
control over the state while many of its members had been Khmer Rouge functionar-
ies and mid-range commanders—and the new government was not only Communist
(again), but also set up by a hated neighbor whom many Cambodians considered to
have colonialist intentions. This article looks at the TSGM visitor book entries from
the first two years of its establishment (1979–1982). It traces how, within the politics
of representation, narratives of authenticity as a vehicle for political legitimacy are
created through the languages of emotion, immediacy, and shock. The article focuses
on variances in representation among entries from groups of visitors in three languages
(Khmer, English, and German) and how these connect to local and Cold War politics
and their respective audiences. Central to the understanding of the narrative of au-
thenticity and the language of emotion, however, is not only what these entries tried
to highlight, but also what was left out: their silence on the complexities of S-21,
the political regimes involved in its history, the compound in which the museum was
established, and the lives of the victims.
Torture and Populist Masculinity:
Political Prospects of Ostentatious Illegitimate Violence
Katharina Inhetveen
The contribution starts from the observation that several male populist
leaders prominently endorse torture as a political means. While political sociology
has mostly, and fruitfully, concentrated on analyzing strategies and mechanisms of
legitimizing violence (and, more generally, domination), and of hiding rather than
showing off illegitimate violence, I will focus on the political benefits of politicians
publicly associating themselves with torture – which is in most contexts an epitome
of illegitimate violence. Drawing from empirical examples, I argue that there can be
a specific payoff for a politician to avow himself to torture precisely because it is a
largely delegitimated as well as illegal form of violence. The readiness to do ‘whatever
it takes’ regardless of the limits of legitimacy pairs up with the capacity of violence
that is commonly associated with masculinity, feeding into a heroized political fighter
figure. At the same time, the open disregard for established rules – framed as being
developed and monitored by mainstream international ‘elites’ – caters for a populist
anti-establishment stance, which can be further supported by the coarse language
these politicians use for endorsing torture. Thus, publicly embracing torture may cater
both for a populist stance and for political masculinity and thus form an ingredient of
‘populist masculinity.'
When Democracies Torture –
The Nexus between Torture and Terror in the Algerian War
Annette Förster
During the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962), torture was sys-
tematically practiced by various parties to the conflict. This paper examines the
dynamics of the widespread use of torture by the French police and military in order
to understand what conditions favor the practice of torture by democratic regimes.
The Algerian case is a valuable example as France’s use of torture in the conflict has
influenced other regimes’ responses to terrorism. Common narratives and arguments
used to justify torture, most notably the ticking bomb scenario, date from this period.
The paper explores the systematic use of torture by the French police and military in
the Algerian War in order to examine the social and political conditions conducive to
the practice of torture by democratic regimes. It focuses on and extends the nexus
between torture and terror that Gershon Shafir (2007) examines in an essay on the
use of torture by Israel. I argue that the relationship and dynamic between the two
works both ways: the use of terror makes torture more likely, but also torture can lead
to terror or intensify the use of terror. Furthermore, torture can be terroristic and
understood as terror. This paper identifies and explores the conditions that favor the
use of torture, terror, or both.
