[...]ctured confrontation or conversation aimed at compromise or reconciliation, the exchange of ="trms">demands and the negotiation of outcomes ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a ="trms">Greek tradition ='lgc'>: to protect politics from irrationality and persuasion, and that State's monopoly of law enforcement is the only legitimate violence ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (as a term) ‘conflict’ carries with itself a telos of con="trms">sensus (etefagh-e ara اتفاق آرا Übereinstimmung), agreement ='lgc'>==> perfect understanding ='lgc'>='lgc'>~='lgc'>~='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (="trms">Greek ='lgc'>='lgc'>-->) democracy's dream of overcoming ="trms">internal opacities of mediation or signification, dream of a final unification, dream of a clear universal ="trms">language

(="ppl">Barthes’ ="trms">fable of) the woodcutter='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>~= an ="trms">agent of change='lgc'>] ='lgc'>==> ="trms">language='lgc'> = act (without mediation or image, operating ='strcls'>*an immediate transformation='strcls'>* ='lgc'>==> politic) ='lgc'>:
If I am a woodcutter and I am led to name the tree which I am cutting down ='lgc'>[j'abats='lgc'>], whatever the form of my sentence, I speak the tree, I do not speak about it. This means that my ="trms">language is operative, linked to its object in a ="trms">transitive way; between the tree and myself, there is nothing but my labor, that is to say, an act. This is a political ="trms">language='lgc'>: it ="trms">presents ="trms">nature to me only to the extent that I am going to transform it, it is a ="trms">language by which I act the object; the tree is not an image for me, it is simply the meaning of my action. But if I am not a woodcutter, I can no longer speak the tree, I can only speak of it, about it.
='at'>@="nms">apass ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Femke

(="ppl">Barthes='lgc'>:) political='lgc'> = operative (='lgc'>~ active, transformative, destructive) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> this is an important ="trms">fable for artists

talking about ‘conflict’ is also like this, is a “political” speech, an “operative” ="trms">language, it “="trms">presents” the object of my action to me, which is democracy, and not Colombia

(some ="trms">figurative ‘violence of ="trms">language’ ='lgc'>=/= ='lgc'>[="ppl">Austin, ="ppl">Derrida, ="ppl">Butler ='lgc'>==>='lgc'>] i am talking about paying attention to) the ="trms">language used in a certain manner by certain ="trms">agents ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> studying in KHM media school teaches me to be careful with the erasure of distance, mediation, reference, re="trms">presentation, to be careful with the collapse of hermeneutic (in any discourse) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the labor of transparency ='lgc'>[='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Mona ='at'>@="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Alice,Shariati">Ali ='lgc'>]


="large lg2" stl="font-size:112%">
(the very strange claim ='lgc'>[made by political leaders='lgc'>] that) force is a kind of ="trms">language, and not just any ="trms">language. It is one which solves the problem that seems endemic to all things ="trms">linguistic, namely='lgc'>: fai="trms"nttrm="failure,blur,plur,lurk,tallur,slur">lure, indirection, misunderstanding, drift. ='lgc'>[...='lgc'>]that the ="trms">language of force actively and successfully delivers its message ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a ="trms">fable='lgc'>: “everybody understands the ="trms">language of force” (unlike ordinary, diplomatic, political ="trms">language) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">readability or ="trms">communicative power of the utterance, violence is seen as continuous with discourse ='lgc'>--='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Mona
='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]violence='lgc'>: “speaking the (only) ="trms">language of the other” ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (very strange ="trms">fable='lgc'>:) that violence is non="trms">interpretive direct(='lgc'>~ umediated) and nonanalytic, that it is unmisunderstandable, that it takes hold and transforms its ="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">listener ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>--> fantasy of ="trms">affective ="trms">communication='lgc'>], hermeneutic and cognitive of the ="trms">language is effaced and what is left is only ='strcls'>*delivery='strcls'>* itself ='lgc'>[='at'>@="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Alice,Shariati">Ali's way of talking has a hint of this (a self-erasing speech,) he “delivers” his (political) message to me ='at'>#tattooing me ='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the silencing/elimination of his ="trms">interlocutor, ='strcls'>**the little annihilatory ="trms">gestures='strcls'>** of my friends='lgc'>], that it ='lgc'>[violence='lgc'>] aspires to a ='strcls'>*pure ="trms">present='strcls'>*

="lsts lst1">•this is a ="trms">translational problem='qstn'>? ="ppl">Keenan
="lsts lst1">•how do we know when things cannot get any worse='qstn'>?
="lsts lst1">•when/where the ="trms">translation should stop='qstn'>? ='at'>@="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Alice,Shariati">Ali ='at'>@="frds">Sina ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> this is about the ethical risks (we are making all the time) in mistaking an annihilatory ="trms">gesture for a discursive or political one

="large lg1" stl="font-size:128%">
there is no ="trms">language which needs no ="trms">translation (not even violence)

='strcls'>*="trms">translation='lgc'>: an active ="trms">relation between and within ="trms">languages ='lgc'>=/= to overcome ="trms">language ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> is exaclty where the name politics ought to be reserve (Ranciere) (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='thdf'>that is why i am doing political work ='lgc'>[='mywrk'>my work on='lgc'>: discordant objects of reference, misunderstanding, active deconstruction, etc. my ‘personal ="trms">responsibility’ to insist on space of difficult ="trms">translation='lgc'>])


unilateralism of an im="trms">position='lgc'>: universality of human ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rights
(="ppl">Keenan='lgc'>:) human ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rights='lgc'> = standardization of the ="trms">rhetorics of claims we make on each other ='lgc'>--therefore='lgc'>='lgc'>--> an open and undefined field of operation (and not some essence about humanity, nor law. ="ppl">Keenan is helping me not to think of human ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rights as an old ="trms">fashioned, transcendental, essentia="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list, ="trms">ontological discourse, grounding de="trms">finitional basis, ="trms">categorically an enemy's discourse)



military ="trms"nttrm="disturban">urban research (employing critical theory) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> use of theory as the ultimate ‘smart weapon’
="prgrph">-="ppl">Deleuzian theory influences military tactics and manoeuvres ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a form of discourse between enemies
contemporary military theorists (in US TV series, re-conceptualizing the ="trms"nttrm="disturban">urban domain)
...military with the spatial and organizational models and modes of operation advanced by Artificial Intelligence, swarm intelligence, ="ppl">Deleuze and ="ppl">Guattari, Gregory ="ppl">="ppl">Bateson, ="ppl">="ppl">Foucault, ="ppl">Guy ="ppl">Debord, ="ppl">Bataille,


conflicted peace and peaceful conflict
competitive military buildup

="display:block;white-space:nowrap;margin-bottom:-1em;overflow:hidden;">...................................

="ppl">Keenan on working with images politically ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*politics of exposure (or revelation ='lgc'>='lgc'>~-> forensic)='strcls'>*
(increasingly important dimension of political) ='strcls'>*image-making='strcls'>*='lgc'>:
='lgc'>--more='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the event takes place in order to be photographed and reproduced and rebroadcast, transmitted and distributed, copied and viewed ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> dissolution of the obvious political spaces ='lgc'>=/=
='lgc'>--less='lgc'>='lgc'>--> making visible something that is otherwise hard to see (='lgc'>='lgc'>~= converting observation or visualization into knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge in hopes that some kind of action will come about, based on the rational, reasonable, deliberate ="trms">interpretation of those images) (='lgc'><='lgc'>-- a lot of ="trms">social justice activists, human ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rights organizations, and civil ="trms">society practitioners are still working within this realm of the traditional image)

a bad (revelatory) theory of the (rational democratic) public sphere ='lgc'>: “visual re="trms">presentation of things ='lgc'>==> known to a wider public ='lgc'>==> knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge properly considered ='lgc'>==> wise decisions ='lgc'>==> actions”
='lgc'>=/= (a more properly) political moment of='lgc'>: inscribe images ='lgc'>--within='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a ="trms">narrative or a persuasive project ='lgc'>--within='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a campaign that actually ="trms">narrates them (captions them, makes them more available for some kind of political action) and doesn't just take for granted that their meaning follows automatically

="large lg3" stl="font-size:112%"> the way performative dimension involves a kind of action that doesn't pass through the same cognitive circuits or the same process of knowing (in images)

="lsts lst1">•living by the image
="lsts lst1">•vulnerable to the exposure of the distortion or falseness of the image

to get a rich sense of the political context in which you operate (knowing about the ="trms">history, knowing what the local forces are, who the actors are, and so on) ='lgc'>=/=  ethically-self-confident political movement reassured by the quality of their own good intentions ='lgc'>==> skip over a lot of local analysis, research, or ="trms">interaction

...is it a humanitarian catastrophe (a crisis of suffering) or genocide (a crisis of an
ideological ="trms">sort)
quasi-raw ="trms">material of images ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> re="trms">coding, contextualization, ="trms">narration,

="large lg4" stl="font-size:111%"> the bad ="trms">stories and fai="trms"nttrm="failure,blur,plur,lurk,tallur,slur">lures (in our lifetime) that do need to be excavated and thought about

="ppl">Keenan ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*the fantasy of being able to move so directly from knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge to action that one almost skips the moment of knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge altogether='strcls'>* ='lgc'>--example='lgc'>='lgc'>-->='lgc'>{ ="ppl">Barthes in his woodcutter='lgc'>: a woodcutter in cutting the tree manages to avoid ="trms">language (something that needs no ="trms">translation, the woodcutter in unilateral ="trms">relation to the tree), in which “="trms">language” is re="trms">presentation, knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge as re="trms">presentation, “act the things” ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="ppl">Barthes skips over all the opacities and paradoxes and difficulties of re="trms">presentation and just goes after the tree directly

='strcls'>*there are ="trms">demands which are placed on you that won't wait for the knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge that is necessary='strcls'>* (or ="trms">situations in which you might feel as though you've been overwhelmed by too much knowledg)

='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]="trms">responsibility='lgc'>: (when) one has to act in a way for which the knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge doesn't provide a full alibi ='lgc'>~ one's action is in some important way disconnected, or not entirely saturated by one's knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge

every event (take September 11) is rich in ="trms">translation, a moment when an enormous number of competing ="trms">narrative frames were al="trms"nttrm="already,spread">ready available for understanding or processing or
="trms"nttrm="already,spread">reading what is at stake ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> there is no unequivocal act

="large lg5" stl="font-size:142%">
='strcls'>*witness='lgc'>: (in the fantasy of the act) the witness for whom no ="trms">translation is ne[...]