Oppressors and the Oppressed

One of the insights picked up by Marx from Hegel's dialectical shift from consciousness to self-consciousness in his Das Phenomenologie des Geistes was that people oppressed by masters may eventually cast off their oppression through the fact that they are gaining in self-conciousness through the dual effects of their work with things (imposed by their masters) and the consciousness of their masters (contemptuous ordinarily) directed at them, whereas their masters are losing self-consciousness both by being cut off from physical labor and through lack of attention to the consciousness of those whom they are oppressing. Hegel connected this turn about to the French Revolution - Marx proposed it as the communist overthrow of the capitalists by the dictatorship of the proletariat to be founded on the backs of oppressed workers.

Those who are oppressing people had best take heed. The Germans and Japanese stimulated the rebellions/resistance that hobbled their war efforts and some of our contemporary occupying powers -- ranging from the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan to the Israelis versus the Palestinians -- not to mention a host of other oppressive regimes around the world -- had best take seriously this insight into what happens to oppressors -- the well intentioned as well as the corrupt.
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"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
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Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
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