The Spaces of Civil War From a global typology of civil war to a topography of violence in South Africa 1976, 1986, 1996 by Hjalte Tin The Spaces of Civil War, web ed. copyright H. Tin 2005 p.II CONTENT page Acknowledgements VI Introduction VIII PART ONE. TO COUNT CIVIL WAR EVENTS 1 A typology of civil wars 1 1. “A world not fully understood”: the academic ignorance of civil war 1 2. Realist problems: SIPRI counting civil war 7 3. Empirical parameters of civil war: intensity, locality, polarity, weapon 12 4. A typology of civil wars: intifada, guerrilla, frontal, intervention 20 PART TWO. EVENTS: FROM CHINA 1935 TO BOSNIA 1995 2 Household weapons: riot in Los Angeles, 1992; 29 1. Riot in Los Angeles, 1992 30 2. Contested neighborhoods 33 3 Household weapons: intifada in Palestine, 1987 36 1. The beginning of the Intifada 36 2. The ethnic and house fronts of Palestine 39 3. The ethnic and state fronts of Israel 41 4. Intifada and the next level of civil war 43 4 Light weapons: terrorism in Brazil, 1970 45 1. Voluntarism 45 2. What to do next? 48 3. Fear 49 4. A definition of terrorism 52 5 Light weapons: guerrilla war in China, 1934-35 56 1. The Long March 57 2. Can anyone win a guerrilla war? 60 3. The neo-archaic guerrilla 66 6 Heavy weapons: coup in Bolivia, 1971 69 1. Hugo Banzer’s coup, July 21, 1971 69 2. Coups and the strong state 70 The Spaces of Civil War, web ed. copyright H. Tin 2005 p.III 7 Heavy weapons: frontal war in Afghanistan, 1990-1996 73 1. The territoriality of power in Afghanistan 73 2. The coups 75 3. The guerrilla civil war 77 4. The frontal civil war 79 5. A difference from the frontal civil war in Bosnia 81 8 Air- & seaborne weapons: preventive action in Somalia, 1992 85 1. Intervention with air- & seaborne weapons in civil war 86 2. Complex emergencies and preventive action 87 3. “Operation Restore Hope” 90 9 Air & seaborne weapons: intervention civil war in Bosnia, 1995 95 1. The Sarajevo Market I & II 97 2. The asymmetry of intervention civil war weapons 98 3. The attacker in intervention civil war 102 4. The attacked state in intervention civil war 106 - the capital; - the ethnic border; - the statelet - ethnic cleansing and the genocidal state PART THREE. TO INTERPRET CIVIL WAR SPACES 10 Lineages of civil war; stasis, insurgentia, guerre civile 119 1. Stasis 121 2. Insurgentia 123 3. Guerre Civile 124 11 Situating civil war in state-theory: subjectivity, violence, space 127 1. Violence different from power 129 2. Violence as constructive 131 3. Violence creating states 135 4. Violence and interpellation 138 5. Violence and space 141 6. The fatal attraction of civil society 146 7. Civil war defined as citizens attacking the state 152 12 A topographic S.E.T.H. model of the state 156 1. The spaces of state, ethnicity, town and house 156 2. The circular movement: violence-power-violence-power 159 3. Points of enunciation of power 162 13 Why S.E.T.H.? - State space 168 1. State space 168 2. Empire 170 3. Civilisation 175 4. Global capitalism 176 The Spaces of Civil War, web ed. copyright H. Tin 2005 p.IV 14 Why S.E.T.H.? - Ethnic space 179 1. Ethnic space 179 2. Point of enunciation of ethnic space 188 3. The ethnic border 191 15 Why S.E.T.H.? - Town space 194 1. Town space and non-town space 194 - town border; - town space - point of enunciation of town space 2. Town space and state space 200 3. Town space and ethnic space 202 4. Town space and house space 204 16 Why S.E.T.H.? - House space 207 1. House and family 207 2. The house space 208 3. The house border 212 4. House space and town space 215 5. House space and ethnic space 218 6. House space and state space 221 7. A violent space smaller than the house? 224 PART FOUR. VIOLENT SPACES: SOUTH AFRICA 1976, 1986, 1996 17 Counting the violence, 1976 228 1. Intensity 229 2. Locality 231 3. Polarity 232 4. Weapon 232 18 Children in a violent space, interpretation of 1976 234 1. The agency of the children of Soweto 235 2. The township: house space violence 236 3. What happened? 241 - inside the township; - the township border; - stay-aways from the white town; - attacking the white town; - attacking the parents 4. The children 248 - frontline children; - family children; - urban children 5. The children in the rhizome of violence 257 - the children in town space; - the children in ethnic space - the children in house space 6. A topography of violence: South Africa 1976 271 19 Counting the violence, 1986 276 1. Intensity 276 2. Locality 278 The Spaces of Civil War, web ed. copyright H. Tin 2005 p.V 3. Polarity 279 4. Weapon 279 20 War on the border of town space, interpretation of 1986 284 1. Terrorism 287 - what; - where; - who; - why 2. Intifada 299 - first sample of the intifada: violent actions nation-wide 16/6 - 30/6 - what; - where; - who; - why - second sample of the intifada: Crossroads, Cape Town - what; - where; - who; - why 3. The squatter in the rhizome of violence 318 - the squatter in house space; - the squatter in town space - the squatter in ethnic space 4. War and rule capacity 327 - the children: all the war here and now; - ANC, a state-in-waiting; - negotiations 5. The impossible guerrilla war of 1986 340 21 Counting the violence, 1996 343 1. Intensity 344 - murders; - ‘political violence’: battle-related deaths 2. Locality 353 3. Polarity 354 4. Weapons 356 22 Zulus in ethnic space, interpretation of 1996 360 1. What happened? 362 - a sample of political violence in South Africa, Feb. 1 to Dec. 31 - three findings in the 1996 sample 2. Types of violence 370 - riots; - terrorism; - assassinations 3. Zulus in ethnic space 375 - the violent ‘inner’ ethnic front: urban no-go areas - the violent ‘inner’ ethnic front: rural no-go areas - the peaceful ‘outer’ ethnic front; - how did the discourse of Zulu-ness relate to space? - violence at the border of the Zulu nation? - the paradox of ethnic space 4. End of a civil war 393 - displacement of ethnicity; - fragmentation of violence - criminalisation of civil war; - the criminalisation of peace 5. A new beginning at the Cape of Good Hope? 407 Conclusion 411 References for Part One and Two 425 References for Part Three 436 References for Part Four 445 The Spaces of Civil War, web ed. copyright H. Tin 2005 p.VI Acknowledgements First of all I would like to thank Uffe Østergård, Jean Monet professor of history at University of Århus, whom I called on my fortieth birthday, five years ago. I felt the time was ripe for me to re-enter the world of academia after more than a decade of travelling in other worlds. I only then knew of him as a provocative newspaper commentator with a special penchant for debunking nationalist myths, but I soon came to know him as a person of great personal charm and generosity, endowed with a profound curiosity and openness to the world and an encyclopaedic knowledge. He suggested that I applied for a PhD grant at the University of Århus. One year later I began my study of civil war at the Centre for Cultural Research, an interdisciplinary research centre of the humanities at University of Århus. I could have wished for no better re-entry point at a university and I have learned immensely from my new colleges, not least at the seminars held in Hamburg, Barcelona and Budapest, of which I was fortunate to take part in. Jan Ifversen was an invaluable source of constructive, sharp criticism; now he is building up the Center for European Studies at University of Århus. I would like to thank André du Toit, whom arranged for me to spend six months at the Political Studies Department, University of Cape Town. Many people took time to read different parts of the manuscript at various stages and offer their valuable comments in Århus, Copenhagen, Uppsala, Oslo, Berlin, London, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban: Jørgen Østergård Andersen, Marianne Bakken, Mukulika Banerjee, Jeff Baqua, Simon Bekker, Per Åge Brandt, Sten Busck, Lars Buur, David Chidester, Ampie Coetzee, Tine Damsholt, Johan Degenaar, Anne Marie Dinesen, Norman Duncan, Julia Eckert, Espen Barth Eide, Niels Fredenslund, Johann Graaff, Gasan Gusienov, Thomas Blom Hansen, Ole Høiris, Steffen Jensen, Bruce Kapferer, Lars Bo Kaspersen, Rhoda Khadalie, Tonny Brems Knudsen, Preben Kårsholm, Carsten Bagge Laustsen, Antoinette Louw, Hans Jürgen Lüsebrink, Gerhard Maré, Kirstine Munk, Lars-Henrik Schmidt, Annette Seegers, Finn Stepputat, Albert van Zyl. The Spaces of Civil War, web ed. copyright H. Tin 2005 p.VII A special thank goes to Leonard Martin and Lawrence McGosh for sharing with me their memories of ‘the struggle’ and to Leonard in particular for his incisive comments to the chapters on South Africa helping me to make sense out of the dramatic conflicts in his home country. Needless to say, facts and interpretations are mine and my full responsibility. Finally my warmest thanks goes to my brother Mikkel B. Tin who helped me with everything from the basic structure of the book to the small details. The Spaces of Civil War, web ed. copyright H. Tin 2005 p.VIII INTRODUCTION What is civil war? In this book I suggest two ideas in order to answer that dauntingly complex question.