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Volume 4 | Issue 2 | Article ID 1995 | Feb 16, 2006 The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus

Algeria, Vietnam, Iraq and the of the Intellectual

Lawrence S. Wittner

Algeria, Vietnam, Iraq and the Conscience ideas in some fashion, often applying ideas in of the Intellectual an ethical way that may question the legitimacy of the established authorities." Thus, "a By Lawrence S. Wittner significant percentage of the professoriate and some journalists" can be classified as intellectuals, as can "a substantial portion of "History," the French Julien Benda the artistic community . . . who theorize in print once remarked, "is made from shreds of about their creativity." In his view, "there was, that the intellectual has torn from theand perhaps remains, a symbiotic relationship politician." This contention may overestimate between the intellectual and engagement," a the power of the former and underestimate the French term "critical dissent." power of the latter. But it does point to a tension between intellectuals and Schalk argues convincingly that there were officials that has existed at crucial historical remarkable similarities between the Algerian junctures--for example, in late nineteenth and Vietnam wars. These include: the use of century (where the term "intellectual torture; the looming precedent of the was first coined in connection with the Dreyfus Nuremberg trials; anti-colonial revolt; the affair) and in the late twentieth century Soviet undermining of ; the murky style of Union (where intellectuals provided the major diplomacy; the racist views of Western troops; source of dissent). the unjustified optimism and arrogance of military and political leaders; the forced This tension is well-illustrated by Davidrelocation of civilian populations; and the Schalk's excellent study, War and the Ivory transformation of the two nations' countrysides Tower, an examination of intellectualinto vast "free fire zones," in which the military engagement during France's war in Algeria sought to destroy everything that moved. (1954 to 1962) and America's war in Vietnam (1964 to 1975). Originally published in 1991 There were also important differences, he and reissued in 2005, this book has new notes, among them the relative absence of prefaces by Benjamin Stora (a French historian, within Algeria's National Liberation born in Algeria) and George Herring (a U.S. Front (FLN); the large French settler diplomatic historian), as well as a newpopulation in Algeria; and the presence in introduction by Schalk (a specialist onFrance of some 300,000 Algerian workers, European intellectual history). whose monthly remittances to the FLN and its government in exile paid a significant portion Schalk defines intellectuals by what he calls of the costs of the Algerian independence "their more abstract and distantiated social struggle. role which sharply contrasts with almost all others in a modern . Their function Albert Camus has often been cited as an involves a certain kind of creativity, usually example of French intellectual resistance to the through the written word and dealing with . But, as Schalk reveals, Camus

1 4 | 2 | 0 APJ | JF was conflicted about the struggle in Algeria, a group of draft resisters, with the mission of and at times fell silent about it. "A far more helping deserters and those who refused relevant model," Schalk notes, is provided by induction to leave France and locate the French Catholic intelligentsia, especially employment elsewhere. the left-leaning intellectuals gathered around the monthly Esprit. From 1954 and 1962, that journal published 211 articles on the Algerian war, 42 of them by its co-director (and later director) Jean-Marie Domenach. The responsibility of intellectuals, argued Domenach, was to show that "between the frivolous word and the recourse to arms there exists a path"--the path, he eventually concluded, of and peaceful protest. The , he believed, had to be awakened from its paralyzing sense of impotence so that it would no longer "cultivate a despair that is the secret weapon of tyranny."

As Schalk notes,Esprit 's prominence in resistance to the war did not mean that the French Catholic intelligentsia solidly opposed French policy. Indeed, some conservative Catholic intellectuals were keen supporters of France's war in Algeria. Denouncing conscientious objectors, Monseigneur Jean Rodhain declared in 1960, contemptuously, that if they would not fight for France, they should "go and live in another country." Jean Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Sartre and connected with his journal, Les Temps modernes, also played key In of 1960, Sartre and others created a roles in the resistance to the Algerian war. sensation by circulating what became known as Once the full significance of that conflict the Manifesto of the 121, the "Declaration on became apparent to Sartre, Simone dethe Right of Insubordination in the Algerian Beauvoir, and their associates, they dealt with War." Banned by the government and it extensively in that journal. Schalk remarks consequently unpublished (e.g. the pages of that, as "the guiding spirit" behind Les Temps Les Temps modernes where it was to appear modernes, "Sartre channeled much of his remained conspicuously blank), it sharply amazing energy and intellectual power into the denounced the Algerian war, noting that struggle to end the war." His articles dealt "French militarism . . . has managed to restore "unsparingly with issues of collective guilt and torture and to make it once again practically an thus the historical parallel with the Nazi years, institution in Europe." The signers declared torture, war crimes, and the danger ofthat they "respect and deem justified the ." He also published a report on the first refusal to take up arms against the Algerian clandestine congress of the Young Resistance, people," as well as the "conduct of Frenchmen

2 4 | 2 | 0 APJ | JF who . . . supply aid and protection to Algerians who are oppressed in the name of the French people." They concluded that "the cause of the Algerian people, who are contributing in a decisive manner to destroying the colonial system, is the cause of all free men."

The most dramatic and controversial act of resistance by French intellectuals was organized by Francis Jeansen, a philosopher and former protégé of Sartre's. In a powerful statement published in Esprit in May 1957, he pointed to French war crimes in Algeria, 1960 demonstration opposing the observing that "this politique is ours, these Algerian War horrors are imputable to us." In Jeansen's view, the terrible responsibility borne by the French As this account suggests, resistance to the war for their disgraceful behavior in Algeriaoccurred against the backdrop of significant necessitated extraordinary action.verbal and physical assault. Addressing French Consequently, he and his students began veterans' groups, Robert LaCoste, France's transporting suitcases filled with money from Resident Minister in Algeria, accused "the Algerian workers in France across the border exhibitionists of the heart and the intellect who to Swiss banks. From there the money was have mounted the campaign against torture" of funneled toward the purchase of weapons for being "responsible for the resurgence of the Algerian independence struggle. Although . . . . I present them to you for your some of Jeansen's associates were arrested and scorn." Esprit's increasingly critical stand led tried, he was never caught by the French secret to arrests, fines, and seizures of issues of the police, despite the fact that he surfaced briefly journal by the government. On two occasions, in Paris for a clandestine press conference. the OAS bombed the headquarters ofEsprit with plastic explosives. Sartre's apartment and These activities, led by prominent French the offices of Les Temps modernes were also intellectuals, fed into accelerating displays of bombed with plastic explosives, and pro-war public resistance. A silent protest against the militants marched through the streets of Paris war took place in Paris in June 1957. Banned by calling for his assassination. the government, it nevertheless drew some 500 to 600 people, including Sartre and Francois Despite the obstacles erected by the Mauriac; 49 of them were arrested for this government and colonialist fanatics, however, "crime." In December 1961, 50,000 people by the end of the war French intellectuals were turned out for a march in Paris to protest in a state of revolt, with the vast majority of terrorism by the OAS, the secret armed them denouncing France's role in Algeria. organization to block Algerian independence. This march also was banned by the government Similarly, notes Schalk, among American and was broken up by police, with more than a intellectuals--and particularly those affiliated hundred participants hospitalized as a result of with elite educational institutions and those police brutality. In February 1962, when the who constituted the country's most famous authorities finally granted legal authorization novelists, essayists, artists, and poets-- for a demonstration, a crowd of half a opposition to the U.S. war effort in Vietnam million surged through Paris. became "overwhelming." In October 1969, for

3 4 | 2 | 0 APJ | JF example, the Harvard faculty voted 255 to 81 the practices of establishment intellectuals, against U.S. military involvement in Vietnam, who lied and dissembled to serve power. The and 391 to 16 in support of the upcoming moral was clear: in the circumstances of the Moratorium Day against the war. An endless , the only appropriate response stream of antiwar petitions appeared in the was resistance. New York Times and elsewhere, signed by faculty at top universities and by otherIn later writings, Chomsky admitted that he felt intellectual luminaries. "uncomfortable about proposing draft refusal publicly, since it is a rather cheap proposal The most influential of these petitions--inspired from someone my age." But he did advocate tax by the Manifesto of the 121--was the "Call to resistance, "both because it symbolizes a Resist Illegitimate Authority," which appeared refusal to make a voluntary contribution to the in the October 12, 1967, issue of the New York war machine and also because it indicates a Review of Books. Signed by , willingness . . . to take illegal measures to , Paul Goodman, Deniseoppose an indecent government." In addition, Levertov, , , Chomsky participated in antiwar , Susan Sontag, and others, the demonstrations and was arrested during the "Call" argued that the kinds of actions taken by October 1967 march on the Pentagon. Like U.S. troops in Vietnam--the destruction of almost all American and French villages, the internment of civilian populations intellectuals, though, Chomsky consistently in concentration camps, and summaryrejected violent protest. He wrote: "Continued executions of civilians--were those that America mass actions, patient explanation, principled and its World War II allies "declared to be resistance can be boring, depressing. But those crimes against humanity . . . and for which who program the B-52 attacks and the Germans were sentenced at Nuremberg." `pacification' exercises are not bored, and as Everyone "must choose the course of resistance long as they continue in their work, so must dictated by his conscience and circumstances," we." they argued, but resistance to military service in Vietnam is "courageous and justified." Other prominent U.S. intellectuals also became Addressing "all men of good will," they asked engagé, including , Robert them to join "in this confrontation with immoral Lowell, Elizabeth Hardwick, Joseph Heller, authority. . . . Now is the time to ." Mary McCarthy, , Muriel Rukeyser, Eric Bentley, Ann Sexton, William The New York Review, the nation's leading Styron, Anais Nin, Henry Steele Commager, intellectual journal, devoted enormousand Robert Penn Warren. Draft counseling, attention to the Vietnam War, publishing 262 teach-ins against the war, and antiwar articles on the subject between 1964 and 1975. commencement ceremonies preoccupied some The most famous of them, Schalk notes, was of America's most illustrious minds. "For many Noam Chomsky's "The Responsibility ofintellectuals," observes Schalk, "the Vietnam Intellectuals," which appeared in February episode lay in a special category. It stood 1967. In numerous ways, it set the tone for the outside the normal realm of debate." As Martin "Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority," and Bernal put it, in another article in the New York represented the shift of American intellectuals Review, the Vietnam War could be categorized from educational efforts to calls for extralegal with "Nazi concentration camps." Reflecting action. "It is the responsibility of intellectuals their bitterness, Susan Sontag wrote in 1967: to speak the truth and to expose lies," Chomsky "America has become a criminal, sinister wrote. But he contrasted this obligation with country--swollen with priggishness, numbed by

4 4 | 2 | 0 APJ | JF affluence, bemused by the monstrous conceit justifications for their country's wars; a moral that she has the mandate to dispose of the stage, in which they challenged the ethical destiny of the world, of life itself, in terms of basis of their country's behavior; and a counter- her own interests and jargon." legal stage, in which they promoted . This model proposed by Schalk The powerful, of course, were enraged by the nicely fits the trend of resistance in both engagement of the intellectuals. Officials in the countries. Johnson and Nixon administrations denounced them, launched investigations of them, placed Schalk has written a masterly work, which has them on "enemies" lists, attempted to disrupt stood up extraordinarily well in the years from their activities, and prosecuted them. In 1968, its initial publication to this new edition. His , Jr., careful style, thorough research, and judicious Mitchell Goodman, , and Michael conclusions make this an excellent study of Ferber were indicted for counseling, aiding, intellectual engagement. Its relevance goes and abetting draft registrants to "fail, refuse, beyond the crises of conscience in France and and evade" service in the U.S. armed forces; the United States over their ' among the "overt acts" cited in the indictment brutal wars in the Third World to the role of was the "Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority." intellectuals in modern society. Father Daniel Berrigan, after indictment for the destruction of draft records, declared himself a In this broader framework, Schalk speculates "fugitive from injustice" and went underground, on whether intellectualengagement is a from which he somehow granted interviews phenomenon solely of the past, and concludes and made public appearances. Other prominent that it probably is not. But "to elicit a profound intellectual critics of the war, such asmoral reaction from its intellectual elites," he Staughton Lynd, had their academicmaintains, "a government in power has to do employment challenged or terminated. something stupid and evil enough." Furthermore, "the external historical situation . . . must not appear totally hopeless and impermeable to change."

George Herring, in his preface to the book, takes up this issue and applies it to American intellectuals and the current U.S. war in Iraq. "The insurgency that began in Iraq after the . . . spring 2003 U.S. invasion bears a marked resemblance to the wars in Algeria and Vietnam," he observes. "The Abu Ghraib scandal calls forth memories of French torture in Algeria and the notorious tiger cages at Con Son in South Vietnam. Indeed, the sometimes- bewildered looks on the faces of American 1969 San Francisco Anti-War Demonstration soldiers in Iraqi cities are reminiscent of the expressions of those who fought earlier wars in Schalk places this chronicle of escalating Algeria and Vietnam." And, yet, he notes, engagement in France and the United States intellectual dissent has been relatively muted. within three stages: a pedagogical stage, in "Where is the outrage against government lies which intellectuals critiqued officialand blundering? Where is the call to resist

5 4 | 2 | 0 APJ | JF illegitimate authority?" on the nation’s college and university campuses have no immediate fear that the Iraq war will Of course, these are rhetorical questions, touch them directly. In these circumstances, it pointing to the limited revolt against the Iraq is relatively easy for them (and for their war within the ranks of American intellectuals. parents) to avoid the issue of the war or to To be sure, Chomsky and once condemn the Bush administration within their again are in the forefront of antiwar dissent, own ranks, rather than to face personal risks and they are joined by other prominent through acts of resistance, including non- intellectuals. And the Iraq war is certainly violent civil disobedience. unpopular among members of the intelligentsia, as it is among large sections of Even so, there are signs of a gathering storm, the general public. But the great wave of opening the possibility that large numbers of protest and, especially, resistance thatintellectuals, now restive, will once again lead characterized U.S. intellectual life in the late the way in fearlessly exposing the lies and 1960s and early 1970s has not been replicated mendacity of the powerful, as they did so in the past few years. Why? effectively during the Algerian and Vietnam wars. And if they do plunge once more into One reason may be a sense of futility. With the public debate and resistance, they will surely administration of George W. Bush in power, build upon the exemplary stance of their there is a widespread assumption that the predecessors, chronicled so brilliantly inWar fanatical ideologues that staff the U.S.and the Ivory Tower. government are impermeable to reason and that only the disastrous consequences of their Years ago, with his characteristic , own folly will lead to a change of policy. Chomsky wondered gloomily what would Another, related reason may be the narrowing happen to historical consciousness of the scope for intellectual dissent in the U.S. mass Vietnam War "as the custodians of history set communications media, which have grown to work." But, as David Schalk shows us, a increasingly brazen in their promotion of sensitive and forthright historian can illuminate rightwing, nationalist, anti-intellectualthe darkened terrain of the past and of the propaganda. While critical thought is alive and present. well outside the mass media, above all in myriad electronic publications as well as in Lawrence S. Wittner is Professor of History at music, art, film and other cultural spheres, it is the State University of New York/Albany. His as if two exclusive realms of communication latest book is Toward Nuclear Abolition: A exist and rarely intersect, with critics excluded History of the World above all from radio and TV as well as Movement, 1971 to the Present (Stanford mainstream print media. University Press).

Yet another reason might lie closer to home: This is an expanded version of a review that Without a draft that will draw young men originally was published by the History News involuntarily into the war, many students, Network. Posted at Japan Focus February 21, young intellectuals and would-be intellectuals 2006.

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