I copied an article me that yesterday was published in El Periódico de Catalunya:
American philosopher Judith Butler puts it very strongly In his last book (Mark of war. wept Lives, published by Polity Press): all lives are equally "worthy to be mourned." This is in the realm of policy, on the ground of the positive, however, not all are alike. The distinction between what constitutes a life worthy of being mourned and what is not is generated by frames of interpretation of reality are derived and protected by political power and who wields it. The injustices associated with this differentiation is embodied in many different forms and varied. Here are some examples.
ONE HAND, there are inequities in terms of international politics. The governments of democratic states favor more political alliances with some states than others. For example, until today, and since its inception in 1948, Israel has been widely favored by the West. Despite the claims of those who accuse Obama of being pro-Palestinian, "and he blamed it be irresponsible," even today the main political and intellectual leaders put the needs of defense of this country the right to survival (note that not even speak self-determination) of the Palestinian people. There are United Nations resolutions that Israel does not comply, as non-binding and, yet, do not involve potentially occur- if it were from other states-invasions, political and economic boycotts or coups. It happens that Israel may decide to distance themselves from anti-nuclear summit to save his skin, at a time when the collective and coordinated action of the major powers is presented as crucial to breaking arms race dynamics, and, practically, not to punish for it.
On the other hand, there are injustices in the field of domestic policy. The case of Israel and Palestine gives us, in this too, many examples. It's unfair that a family is evicted from her home in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, settlers, dating back to rights property allegedly granted during the Ottoman Empire (I say supposedly because Israeli lawyers have recently shown that some of these property rights are outright forgeries.) All, with the protection and support of the Israeli police at the time of eviction and later. This is so even though the police are paid with taxes of all: Arabs and Jews in Israel. We can also talk about injustice when the Israeli army decides not to let pass through a street in the West Bank city of Hebron, a Palestinian boy, wearing pants, shirt and flip flops, ensure that "can kill". Thus, maintaining desert-based bars, machine guns and checkpoints, a suburb of Israeli settlers, who in his position of superiority they still, however, the harassment of Arab residents of the street below-the latter have had to put fencing and other protections to prevent stones, vomiting piss and come to their homes and businesses, in fact, since the Oslo accords, which established its division, the shops in this city have had to be closed for long periods. If the alleged defense of the lives of these settlers passes over the right of Palestinians to live freely, to live, is because, in the words of Butler, the lives of the former are more worthy to be mourned than those of the second .
Finally, despite the oxymoron, there are also injustices affecting the judicial system in some countries.
In Spain, Judge Garzon will sit in the dock for having instigated the prosecution of officials who violated human rights under Franco. This type of transitional justice measures, which according to CIS data (Study 2760, prepared in 2008) would receive the support of 48.71% of the English population (a 26.72% would refuse, a 9.22% not reject or approve, a 14.37% would not take the issue), is the basis of a case of corruption. It said those who were threatened by prospective trials and have been protected to date in the shadow of a democracy that was born into a transition pact, which, now more than ever, proves to have significant gaps.
The transition did not get rid of the vestiges of a dictatorship that not only generated a toll that exceeds that of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, but let the victims of armed conflict between the English between 1936 and 1939 were treated with difference: in fact, "the general cause" Franco considered only the crimes of the red, while ignoring the crimes of the national army and militias Franco.
Returning to Butler, if it is only fair that we are all equally worthy of being mourned, it follows that to criminalize the attempt to make this possible is clearly unfair.
