journal of ethnophilosophical questions and global ethics · 2020. 2. 3. · e-mail:...

Journal of Ethnophilosophical Questions and Global Ethics – Volume 4 Issue 1 (2020) __________________________________________________________________________________

2

Imprint

Chief Editor: Timo Schmitz

Co-editor: Iulian Mitran

Reviewers: Timo Schmitz, Iulian Mitran, Nikolay Kuznetsov

Contact:

Timo Schmitz

c/o

Papyrus Autoren-Club,

R.O.M. Logicware GmbH

Pettenkoferstr. 16-18

10247 Berlin

GERMANY

E-Mail: [email protected]

Publisher/ Issuer:

Journal of Ethnophilosophical Questions and Global Ethics

Timo Schmitz

Trier, Germany

Website: www.ethnophilosophical-journal.de

ISSN: 2568-6828

This magazine is published under CC-BY-ND 3.0 license.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/de/deed.en

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/de/deed.en


3

Table of Contents

Forword ................................................................................................................................................... 4

SANDER WILKENS: Schisma und Schismatik der Ungleichheit ............................................................... 6

ILARIA SCAVELLI: Scientia Punienda/ Nefanda Curiositas: The Interpretation of Magic in the Roman

World ..................................................................................................................................................... 20

MIHAELA CIOBANU: Rwanda: Consequencesof a Genocide ................................................................ 37

Contributors .......................................................................................................................................... 48


4

Forword

Timo Schmitz

Dear reader,

It has been almost twelve months since our last issue was published. Since then, we were

researching on different topics, both, the reviewers and the contributors. Finally, we are not

only proud to present the first issue for this year, but also for being able to cover up a broad

field of topics. This is due to the spirit and efforts which the contributors put in their research

and we are very thankful for their works.

For this issue, we selected three papers on topics in which we wish to encourage more

discussion. The first one is by Sander Wilkens who wrote about inequality. In his article, he

analyses the different dynamics of inequality and shows different aspects of inequality within

world affairs in a new light, in which he does not only take a look on the inequality of capital,

but also integrates communication, globalization and consciousness. As such, Wilkens

connects the social inequality with the history of interaction, which he understands on the

basis of the energy field, communication is depending from, and not on a linear spectrum. In

the second article, Ilaria Scavelli gives an insight on the term magic, from its Greek meaning

to the Roman history and shows theoretical highlights of the conceptual development and

practical implications which followed out of its use. She shows in an astonishing way, how the

magician (whoever was labeled as such) was drawn into the illicit spectrum in the Roman

Empire and how (and even why) his activities were condemned. In the last article, Mihaela

Ciobanu talks about the Rwandan genocide. She does not only repeat the historical facts, but

further emphasizes on three major aspects that have to be discussed deeply: 1) the use of the

term “genocide”, 2) the Rwandan history of dividing an ethnic group in privileged and less

privileged during the Colonial Period as well as the aftermath of such Imperialist actions, when

arbitrary distinctions become socially accepted and unquestioned after generations, and

finally 3) the violence against women in a genocidal context. Out of these three factors, severe

consequences have to be concluded. The long-time distinction actually made two distinct

ethnic groups in the mind of the people at the ground and one group wanted to eliminate the


5

other group, which it understood as different (and “unpleasant”) ethnic group. Thus, it cannot

be seen as a tribal conflict among two hierarchies within the same ethnic group, but the will

to wipe out a group considered ethnically different is already clear enough to call it a genocide,

as she points out. Thus, the events which happened in Rwanda shall be part of the common

historical memory to prevent such events in the future.

I wish everyone a fruitful lecture of this issue and hope that it will lead to many new

discussions in the scientific community.

Timo Schmitz, 3 February 2020.


6

SCHISMA UND SCHISMATIK DER UNGLEICHHEIT

Sander Wilkens

1

Die Weltgeschichte verläuft in Wellen. Die Aussage beinhaltet gewiss eine Vereinfachung.

Gleichwohl ist wenigstens sicher, sie verläuft nicht gleichförmig im Sinne einer Linie, die eine

stete Steigerung, einen grundlegend gleichbleibenden Pfad, darstellt. Nun könnte sie auch im

Wellenverlauf, mithin als Kurve, gleichförmig verlaufen. Hiermit ist der Sachverhalt berührt

und es ist wenigstens gewiss, sie verläuft in Zyklen. Dies entspricht der üblichen Vorstellungs-

und Darstellungsweise unter Ökonomen, den Wirtschaftsverlauf in Zyklen festzuhalten –

unter der Grundvoraussetzung, ihre Kurven sind gerade nicht gleichförmig.

Weiterhin ist die Weltgeschichte mit der Wirtschaftsgeschichte überaus verquickt, und diese

Überschneidung und Durchdringung scheint sich nicht etwa zu verringern, sondern mit

zunehmender Globalisierung, zunehmender Enge, mit der die Menschheit diesen Globus

bevölkert, immer mehr zu steigern. Ergo bewegt sich auch die Weltgeschichte in Zyklen – oder

einer Wellenbewegung –, gleichwohl beruht diese Feststellung nicht erst auf einer

Beobachtung der jüngeren Geschichte.

Die Ungleichförmigkeit der Entwicklung, etwa der wirtschaftlich-sozialen, ist etwas anderes

als die Ungleichheit der Vermögensverteilungen, die aus derselben Entwicklung resultiert. Um

sich an die jüngere Entwicklung zu wenden, die noch immer in der Substanz des Geschehens

steckt bzw. noch immer nicht vollends abgearbeitet und erloschen ist – nach einer unter den

Intelligenzen des Zeitalters mindestens zwei Generationen vorgeahnten Umwälzung

übernimmt das Bürgertum im Wesentlichen die politische Macht, gleichzeitig besetzt es aber

auch die entscheidenden Stellen in der Wirtschaftsentwicklung. Der sogenannte Kapitalist

wird geboren, anderwärts aber auch eine Arbeiter- und Angestelltenschicht, die in die Städte

zieht und das heutige Antlitz der Urbanisierung verantwortet. Die heutige Welt ist noch immer

(mehr oder weniger) stolz auf diesen Fortschritt, welcher der Menschheit, angeblich, eine


7

unerlässliche Stufe der Selbstverwirklichung und Selbsterkenntnis beschert hat. Sie steht

seitdem unter der Verpflichtung, die Grundrechte und Grundwerte zu achten, die gleichfalls

erst unter dem Prinzip der Gleichheit durchzusetzen waren, außerdem deren Formulierung an

die stetige Entwicklung anzupassen. Auf der Gegenseite macht sich inzwischen eine gewisse

Trägheit oder Übersättigung bemerkbar, die politische und parlamentarische Kräfte motiviert,

sich von dem Lobgesang, wenigstens dem Katechismus der Grundrechte freizumachen – der

Ausdruck möge durchaus implizieren, der Grundrechtskatechismus ist in gewissem Sinne ein

ebenso Ersatz wie Erzeugnis der gleichzeitigen, geradewegs parallelen Säkularisierung,

innerhalb derer die Staatsreligion den politischen Boden verließ –, um wieder auf neues

Fundament zu stoßen, in dem Energien frei werden können, neues Kapital, Talent,

Menschenwerk zu schöpfen und/oder zu verbrauchen ist.

Schon die bürgerliche Gesellschaft, nachdem sie sich mit Mühen – seit den englischen

Revolutionen – im 19. Jahrhundert allmählich durchsetzte, war alles andere als ein Siegel der

Harmonie. Karl Marx und seine Gesellschaftsanalyse wäre unmöglich, hätte nicht die erste

Industrialisierung tatsächlich die gewaltigen Ungleichgewichte in Europa erzeugt, die er mit

den verschärften Mitteln Hegels auf den dialektisch-undialektischen Begriff brachte. Die

Verschärfung lag in einer direkteren Beanspruchung der Polarität, welche nicht zulässt, nach

synthetischen Begriffen zu suchen, welche den zugrundeliegenden Gegensatz auszugleichen

haben, außerdem darauf verzichtet, es müsse sich die Gesamtentwicklung dem Absoluten,

und damit der Idealität, zuwenden. Die Geschichte dieser Gesellschaftsanalyse, verbunden

mit der Etikette des Kommunismus, die damit nicht identisch ist, ist das erste oder womöglich

noch immer maßgebliche Zeugnis eines Bogens – er möge besagter Weltgeschichte, die in

Zyklen verläuft, angehören –, der im Hintergrund oder eher noch im direkten Schatten, also

der Nachprojektion eines nächsten Bogens liegt, der offensichtlich die Gegenwart

charakterisiert, das erste Drittel im 21. Jahrhundert. Der Begriff möge der Natur entlehnt sein,

als ob die Sonne im Spiegel der schwebenden Feuchtigkeit um den Erdball ein Prisma ihrer

Farbenfreudigkeit entlässt, welches die Umgangssprache den Regenbogen nennt, und

ähnliche Projektion motiviert auch hier. Die Welt befindet sich wieder in einer Spannungslage,

die zwar ihr Geschick seit der überlieferten Antike beständig motiviert und impulsiert hat.

Aber die stete Ungleichheit der Vermögensverteilungen, an denen diese Spannung abzulesen

ist, hat inzwischen ein völlig anderes Gesicht als noch zu Zeiten von Marx, und so kommt man


8

zunächst nicht umhin, den Zyklus anzuerkennen, ihm die Darstellung der Lage zu gewähren,

gleichwohl zuzugestehen bis hin zu wissen, dieses ‚Ding‘, diese Spannung oder dieser Bogen

liegt nicht in vertrauter einfacher Anschauung. Er ist auch nicht übersinnlich im Sinne

derselben Philosophie, die darauf vertraut, sie könne die wesentlichen Erkenntnis- und

praktischen Momente in eine reine Vorstellung des Subjekts übertragen, sondern in einem

Bereich des Zeitgeistes, der Zeitgeschichte und ihrer Fundamente, die ein Stück weit wie Luft

erscheinen und doch geradewegs das direkte Gegenteil sind.

2

Die Luft ist traditionellerweise der Träger, das Medium der ersten Kommunikation, i.e. der

Sprache und ihrer Elemente (die Gehörsmembran nebst den sog. Sprachwerkzeugen).

Insbesondere die nordamerikanische Entwicklung, seit Erfindung, Promulgation und steter

Fortentwicklung des Computers mitsamt der zugehörigen Programmierungstechniken und

Technologien ist aber überaus stolz, geradezu erpicht auf die Tatsache, dass es seitdem eine

von akustischer Kommunikation völlig unabhängige gibt, deren Bedeutung die Erfindung des

Buchdrucks noch überragt. Selbiger Stolz ist (in gewissem Sinne) eine Täuschung und zugleich

nicht. Wie so oft, liebt die Menschheit diese Uneindeutigkeit – das Prädikat für den Augenblick

toleriert, denn die echte Liebesfähigkeit dieser Menschheit ist eher sehr gering bis minuslastig,

und so mag auch hier eine Täuschung, sprich Doppeldeutigkeit vorliegen –, da sie selbiges

Schwanken oder Uneindeutigkeit in eine Schwebung versetzt; respektive ihr einen

bestimmten Frei(heits)raum gewährt, mal zu der einen, das andere Mal zur anderen Seite zu

tendieren. Dies meine, auf den Anfang bezogen, die traditionelle Kommunikation ist einmal

geradewegs Luft, i.e. unzureichend und obsolet, auf dem Ast absteigender Geltung

angekommen, bzw. anderwärts die neue Kommunikation, ihre Elemente und gepriesenen

neuen Umgangsformen bedingen einen neuen Verkehr der Menschen untereinander,

schürfen völlig neue Verkehrswege und Möglichkeiten, die Person zu kreieren und

einzubringen. Und freilich auch Kapital zu schöpfen, an den Börsen und Märkten per

›ventrikuliertem Pumpenwerk‹ der Banken zu platzieren oder wenigstens in Verkehr, dies

meine die unabdingliche Zirkulation, zu bringen. Nun ist noch nicht ausgemacht, ob der Weg

der Kommunikationen hiermit auch tatsächlich erschöpft ist, i.e. ob tatsächlich die

Zweiwegigkeit – Akustik und physischer Buchdruck versus neue Technologien und


9

elektromagnetischer Wellenverkehr – das gesamte Spektrum erfüllen. Falls nicht, dann nicht

etwa wegen zukünftiger Entwicklung der Technologien, hochgradig subventionierter Projekte

wie BRAIN in den USA oder das Human Brain Project in Europa, die jeweils eine Kartierung

versus Simulation der effektiven Gehirnwege suchen,1 sondern weil die energetische Basis des

humanen Bewusstseins qua Gehirn und Gehirnwelle eine weitere Möglichkeit offenhält. Sollte

auch diese Möglichkeit zutreffen und der Mensch kommuniziert seit Urzeiten, seit langen

Jahren und Schüben der Evolution auch über die elektromagnetischen Wellen seiner

Gehirnenergie, vielleicht anfangs ungezielt, grob und stümperhaft (oder tappend), so doch

über den Verlauf der genetischen Generationen letztlich sicher und bewusst, dann ist in einem

Zug die Akustik ein Stück weit außer Kraft und die nichtakustische, gleichwohl natürliche

Kommunikation in ihr Recht zu setzen.2

Die sogenannte Gedankenleserei – ein sicher unpräziser Begriff – ist inzwischen in die

Informatik, Genetik, Biologie und Hirnforschung eingekehrt.3 Sie meint nicht die Simulation,

die man hinzurechnen müsste, auch nicht die instantane Imitation des Artgenossen, insb.

Primaten, die notwendig eine fürsorgliche und/oder eindringliche Empathie voraussetzen,

sondern tatsächlich die Beobachtung und Wahrnehmung eines Gedankens, eines von

Bedeutungsträgern begleiteten Energieverlaufs im Gehirn eines Probanden. Es existiert

außerdem in der Biologie die sog. »Machiavelli-Intelligenz«, welche davon ausgeht, bereits bei

den Primaten und Vorläufern des Menschen existiert eine echte Abschätzung des Innenlebens

des Artgenossen, was den Beobachter, das Beobachtertier, dazu veranlasst, sein Verhalten zu

täuschen resp. den beobachteten Artgenossen in seinem Verhalten zu übervorteilen.4 - Nach

dieser Faszikel an Information und Entwicklung wird es offenbar Zeit, sich auf die Überschrift

zu beziehen und überhaupt ein Stück weit erste Schlüsse zu ziehen. Liegen (i) die Menschen

1 Vgl. Michio Kaku. Die Physik des Bewusstseins. Über die Zukunft des Gehirns. Reinbek bei Hamburg 22017,

Kap.11, 362ff.

* Der Autor dankt der Redaktion und dem Herausgeber für hilfreiche redaktionelle Bemerkungen. 2 Literatur nebst weiterführender zu dieser Behauptung: Vf., Ichbewusstsein – Gruppenbewusstsein. Die

Energiebasis und ihre logische Folgen. Frankfurt-New York 2019 (in Ersch.). Vf. Sozialbewusstsein. Ursprung,

Exegese und die Beziehung zum theoretischen Bewusstsein. Frankfurt-New York 2015. 3 Einen knappen relativ vollständigen Überblick (außer der Biologie) liefert Kaku 2017. 4 Volker Sommer, „Geistlose Affen oder äffische Geistwesen? Eine Exkursion durch die mentale Welt unserer

Mitprimaten“. In: A.Becker, C.Mehr, H.H.Nau, G.Reuter und D.Stegmüller (Hg.). Gene, Meme und Gehirne. Geist

und Gesellschaft als Natur. Eine Debatte. Frankfurt/Main 2003, 112-136, 131, außerdem der Beitrag von Susan

Blackmore im selben Band.


10

seit je über Kreuz, da sie sich nur streckenweise und keineswegs über die gesamte Art und

Gattung sympathisch finden oder tatsächlich leiden können, ist (ii) die Geschichte der

Menschheit im Licht der politisch-gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung ein steter, ungebrochener

Wellen- resp. Achsverlauf, in dem einem bei weitem umfangreicherem Anteil der Bevölkerung

ein wesentlich geringerer gegenübersteht, die zusammen im direkt umgekehrten Verhältnis

das nationale Einkommen oder Vermögen darstellen; und ist (iii) davon auszugehen, die

Menschheit kommuniziert seit Urgedenken, nicht erst seit der sog. Globalisierung5 wenigstens

auch im Umkreis eines Bewusstseinsvermögens, das die erwähnte Machiavelli-Intelligenz zu

umreißen sucht, i.e. der Mensch und Menschen, ein größerer Anteil nebst einem weiteren,

der mit dem könnenden seit der frühesten Aufzucht eng verschmolzen und somit auch kann,

sind sehr wohl imstande, dass Innenleben ihrer Zeitgenossen wahrzunehmen und

abzuschätzen, (i.e. nichtakustisch zu hören und zu vernehmen), dann möge in dieser

Punktgleiche, i.e. in der Diagonale, eine bestimmte Schismatik verankert sein. Sie veranlasst

nicht nur den steten Erhalt ihrer Konstituentien, das Miteinanderleben wird also (i) niemals

reine Sympathie oder reine Antipathie, sondern stets eine Zwischenstrecke der Stellwerte, (ii)

die Ungleichheit im Ganzen wird niemals soweit schwinden, um ein Nationalvermögen nahezu

gleichmäßig über die gesamte Bevölkerung pro Kopf zu verteilen, als ob das reale, ggf. mitsamt

des Buch- und Zahlenkapitals in den wirklichen Ausgleich oder die Balance überginge, und (iii)

ist auch nicht – oder nur sehr zögerlich – zu erwarten, die Menschheit wird ihren Geist

tatsächlich, mit und ohne Mithilfe von Philosophie und anderer, gleichgesinnter und eventuell

gleichrangiger Wissenschaften reinigen und eine Vernunft erreichen, in der sie sich bruchlos

und direkt eine Kommunikation zugesteht, die nicht auf den überaus per Gewohnheit

eingekerbten Kommunikationsmitteln beruht – gemeint sind die Sprechwerkzeuge und die

modernen technologischen Hilfsmittel. Welch letztere eine geradezu Canarie oder Caprice der

steten Steigerung der Schismatik bedingen, da ja der Kontakt immer enger, gegenwärtiger,

scheinbar bruchloser oder in diesem Sinne »kontinuierlicher« wird, obgleich ihm, seiner

Vorausnahme, das direkte Gegenteil unterliegt, eine Kommunikation unter, gewissermaßen,

strikter und steter, geradezu verschworener Geheimhaltung, die schon längst vielzählige

Inhalte, wenn nicht das Wichtigste ausgetauscht hat, bevor die verbale oder sonstige

Kommunikation unter den Bürgern und Nichtbürgern beginnt. An dem sich i.Ü. seit einiger

5 Zum jetzigen Stand vgl., p.e., Globalisierungsreport der Bertelsmann-Stiftung 2018 sowie Fn.7.


11

Zeit die latente Schismatik behauptet, da er seine innere Kontinuität – sie ist für die

Demokratien unabdinglich – immer mehr verliert: der Nichtbürger ist nicht nur, und

insbesondere, der Migrant, sondern auch derjenige, der auf den Stellplatz seiner

Verdoppelung abhebt, jener, die ihm seine energetische Basis samt allgemeiner Zuhaltung

ermöglicht, abgesehen davon, dass sich der in der Öffentlichkeit auftretende

Konzernvorsitzende im selben, vermehrten Sinne gegen den Vergleich mit dem Angestellten

in seiner Mietwohnung sträubt. Was selbiges insgesamt für das Tauschwesen besagt, das

bekanntermaßen Marx veranlasste, in die Wurzel des Zwists über den Kapitalismus zu setzen,

bleibe hier zunächst offen. Wenn aber ein Teil der Beweggründe der erläuterten Schismatik in

den Tausch (oder Pfand) übergehen, verliert dieser vermehrt und stetig seine Rechtsmittel, da

es seinet- oder ihrethalben leicht ist, die schriftlichen Rechtsmittel zu umgehen, die bislang

stets nur für das einzeln und einfach deklarierte Subjekt gelten.

Nun liegt in (i) ein Grund der Schismatik in der natürlichen Antipathie, mit der sich die

Menschen stets begegnen und begegnen müssen, da keineswegs zu erwarten ist, dass sie

schon qua Evolution tatsächlich nur die eine Art oder Gattung sind. (Das Genom schafft hier

bislang keine Eindeutigkeit verschafft, da es offenbar für alle Menschen gleich ist. Dass in

Vergleich mit signifikanten Säugetieren, Maus – 30000 gleiche Gene6 – oder Schimpanse –

98,5 % des Genoms oder 15 Mio. gegenüber 3 Mrd. Basenpaaren7 – die Potenz der

Rückkopplungsschleifen des Gehirns eine hochgradige Differenz in monoton absteigender

Richtung gewähren muss, bezeichnet eine notgedrungene Folgerung, die kaum beredt ist:

nicht nur die eigentliche Intelligenz, sondern auch alle Kapazität, die über die gewöhnliche

sog. ‚Theorie des Geistes‘ – die bislang nur das Schisma resp. die Schismatik bekräftigt –

hinausgeht, ist hier zu veranlagen). Anderwärts lässt der Verkehr unter der Spezies Mensch

keine andere Umgangsform zu, als sich ein konstant bestimmtes Maß an Sympathie – oder

Wegfall von Distanz in irgend Richtung – zuzugestehen. Dies Schismatik zu nennen, und zu

dürfen, ruht freilich auch in der Bedingung des Energiefeldes oder dass die Annahme, ein jeder

hätte die Energie nur für sich, quasi wie Kerze und Wachs in den bloßen Händen oder seinem

einsamen, alleinigen oder »autonomen« Verstand, verfehlt ist: Distanz erlebt sich demnach

6 Vgl. Spektrum der Wissenschaft 2/2003, 10. 7 Kaku 2017, 220-2.


12

durchgehend nicht nur äußerlich, am Ort der äußeren Gegenstände, sondern auch

geradewegs innerlich nach dem Verkehr und direkten unvermittelten Austausch des

Bewusstseins, das nirgendwo eine isolierte Statur nur für sich besitzt (und besitzen könnte).

(Innerlich meint demnach keine romantische oder psychologische Instanz, die es auch gibt, als

das echte Innenleben, sondern die gesamte Sphäre des Energieaustausches, die sich

dazwischen – zwischen allen Subjekten – erstreckt, wobei der Begriff Subjekt nachhaltig an

der Zentrierung oder sogar Isolierung im Sinne der bloßen Veräußerlichung des Bewusstseins

teilgenommen hat). In (ii) hingegen braucht der Grund kaum mehr aufgerufen zu werden, da

die Geschichte der Ungleichheit mit ihren jüngsten Entwicklungen und Bezeichnung durch

Ökonomen (insb. Th. Piketty in Frankreich) geradezu unmittelbar die Hypothese aufwirft, die

Achse der Ungleichheit birgt ein unüberwindliches – geradezu ahistorisches, sich der Historie

widersetzendes – Schisma. Dies meine ein manifestes Überkreuzliegen, das durch politische

Handlung, die zumeist hierzu auch gar nicht willens, nicht aufhebbar ist, auch wenn das

Ausmaß und die Bewegung der historischen Fluktuation unterliegt. Ein gewisser Leidensteil,

der bei weitem größere, geht in die Ertragensseite und hält dieserart die stets prekäre,

gewissermaßen unrichtige Balance, während der andere, bei weitem zahlenmäßig geringere,

die Aktivseite übernimmt, Kapital anzieht und ausgibt, verwaltet und im eigenen Herd mehrt.

Selbiges heißt die Prosperität, und daher liegt sie an und für sich seitig, obgleich die ehemals

nicht prosperierenden Stände inzwischen einen gewissen Anschein der Teilhabe erworben

haben (s.w.u.). In (iii) wiederum, wie bereits angedeutet, liegt der Grund in der Verfestigung

des wesentlichen Instruments der Kommunikation, der humanen Sprachen, die mit der

Verankerung einer personengebundenen Grammatik, überdies distinkten Zählweisen der

Bezeichnung von Gegebenheit und Nichtgegebenheit, einstweilen keine Schneise, dies meine

einen wahren Horizont eröffnen, in dem sich Sprecher und Nichtsprecher zugleich die

Tatsache vermitteln könnten, dass ihr Bewusstsein aneinander teilhat resp. sie miteinander

über den faktischen Dialog hinaus kommunizieren. Es sei denn, sie gestehen sich gegenseitig

– auch und mittels der Sozialmedien oder elektronischen Kommunikation – die Fusion, dies

meine die Verschmelzung ihrer Energie, zu, was überdies lenkbar und einen gesellschaftlichen,

einstweilen unsanktionierten, jedenfalls unter keinen Umständen regulierten und eigens

bezeichneten Akt (in Gesetzgebung, Verwaltungswesen oder Rechtsprechung) verkörpert.

Gewiss liegt die Volksfreude seit eh, beim römischen Kolosseum angefangen, und zu Zeiten

der reisefreudigen und umtriebigen Globalisierung umso mehr, in dieser Art von Vermengung,


13

(das zerstreuende Wesen von Kneipenwirtschaft, Restaurant und Boulevard demnach

eingeschlossen), aber damit ist keineswegs ausgemacht, wo ihre Grenzen anzusetzen und wie

sie sich über die Stände im Ganzen verbreitet.

3

Nun kehrt der Bogen und seine historische Interpretation zurück – wenn es zutrifft, dass im

Politischen ohnehin stets ein Zettel den Verkehr der Machthaber resp. Regierungsamtlichen

begleitet, i.e. sie verkehren zwar zum Zwecke der Abmachungen, Vereinbarungen, Pakte,

Verständnisse und Verträge, aber sie unterhalten stets nur einen Zipfel bis Halbseite der

Realität, mithin Wahrheit, was alle zwingt aufzumerken, ihren Verkehr zu berühren und zu

beobachten. Offenbar (der Untersuchung Pikettys folgend)8 bewegt die Jetztzeit erneut einen

Apex der Verteilung, die Ungleichheit gleicht Verhältnissen um die sperrigen Zeiten des 19.

Jahrhunderts zu Beginn und gegen Ende. In der Mitte bewegte sich Marx resp. der Aufstieg

von Sozialismus versus Sozialdemokratie, beides politische Bewegungen, die der

Arbeiterschicht entweder das ganze Heft übergeben, oder sie wenigstens am bestehenden

Machtsystem maßgeblich teilnehmen lassen wollten. Die Sozialdemokratie mag sich

geschichtlich berechtigt sehen, dass sie wenigstens unter der letzteren Bedingung überlebt

hat und regelmäßig-unregelmäßig die ganze oder wenigstens teilweise Kompetenz erlangt

hat. Unklar bleibt bei dieser Einschätzung allerdings das Weltgeschehen, denn weder existiert

in Nordamerika eine echte Sozialdemokratie oder Vertretung der Mittel- bis Unterschichten

in diesem Sinne, noch ist das Einparteiwesen Chinas direkt und unmissverständlich in diesem

Sinne – anstatt des direkten Gegenteils – zu vereinnahmen; i.e. es dient gleichfalls dazu, die

kapitalistische Methode einzusetzen, um das Volksvermögen zu generieren, und hierbei

kristallisiert notwendigerweise ein Schnittwesen der Gleichheit, das Wenigen ein immenses,

zumindest gegenüber der Mehrheit vermehrtes Vermögen gestattet.

Diese gewachsenen und im Weltmaßstab neu aufgehenden Verhältnisse liegen inzwischen an

und für sich im Gebiet der Toleranz der Allgemeinheit. Hierbei bezeichnet ‚inzwischen und an

und für sich‘ das Nachkriegsgeschehen, den Aufstieg der Globalisierung oder nahezu Erfassung

8 Thomas Piketty. Das Kapital im 21. Jahrhundert. München 2016.


14

aller Nationen dieser Welt in der Übernahme mehr oder weniger kapitalistischer Methoden

der Vermögenserzeugung, und damit auch seiner Verteilung. Im Durchschnitt oder Tenor ist

gewissermaßen klar, eindeutig und akzeptiert – wahres empirisches Bewusstsein, das bedingt,

ein Zeitgenosse der Gegenwart zu sein –, dass fundiertes Wissen und Erfahrung, die Chance,

eine Leitungsfunktion zu übernehmen und ggf. zu steigern, auch pekuniäre oder

Gehaltsunterschiede bedingt, die potenziell und nicht linear angelegt sind; und nicht von

ungefähr zählt Piketty deshalb zum oberen Dezil der Vermögensgesellschaft die

entsprechenden Funktionäre, Responsables, CEO, Vorstände, leitenden Angestellten.

(Obgleich sie den Anschein zu vermeiden suchen, nicht wenige der Amtsträger in den

modernen Demokratien, langjährig wechselnde Minister, Kommissionäre, Präsidenten der

globalen Institutionen sollten hier – ohne Abzug des weiblichen Elements – hinzugerechnet

werden). Dieselbe Entwicklung bezeichnet auf der Kehrseite aber auch das gewachsene

Bewusstsein von Moderne und Nachmoderne, keineswegs eine politische Bestrebung zu

tolerieren, welche aus der bloßen Teilhabe an der Vermögensgenerierung – Einsatz

bestimmter Arbeit und Arbeitszeit – das Recht ableitet, es müsse ihr Gewinn pro rata oder

strikt anteilig aufgeteilt werden. Dies war, bekanntermaßen, der Grundgedanke von Marx, der

sich ganz und in der Diagonale der Theorie auf den Mehrwert konzentrierte, in ihm die Wurzel

des Unrechts erblickte und – den Umsturz der wirtschaftlichen Verhältnisse prognostizierte

resp. geradewegs forderte. Dass er – bei unzureichender Statistik und einer Mehrzahl

fehlender wirtschaftstheoretischer Begriffe und Theoreme (hauptsächlich der Nachzeit) –

dennoch nicht völlig falsch lag, hat sich inzwischen gleichermaßen durchgesetzt – hierfür sind

keineswegs die nicht wenigen, gehaltvollen Bio- und Monografien der letzten Jahre allein

verantwortlich –, insb. da die gesamtgesellschaftliche Entwicklung tatsächlich in vielen

Einzelschritten die Balance zugunsten der Benachteiligten oder wirtschaftlich minder

Potenten, der vielen Angestellten, Arbeitnehmer und Staatsbediensteten, die konstant in der

Mehrheit und die politische Vertretung benötigen, zu heben suchte.

4

Nun ist sie jetztzeitig aber wieder an einem Apex – einer Apogée oder Klimax, gleichermaßen

Höhe- wie Angelpunkt – angekommen, in dem diese Balance fühlbar in Frage steht. Die

transparent werdende oder unmittelbar durchscheinende Schismatik bilanziert eklatant (a)


15

den politischen Verkehr der Mächte, (b) gesellschaftliche Bestrebungen und ihre (vornehmlich

popularistisch gesinnte) politische Vertretung, (c) die öffentliche Information durch den

vorgehaltenen Experten/Kommentator versus Vermassung in Gestalt des aggregierten,

fernsehenden und das Internet nutzenden Publikums, und es erhebt sich die Frage, welchen

Ausgang sie nimmt, oder wenigstens nehmen könnte. Man zitiert Marx stets unter der

Vorgabe der Dialektik, die ursprünglich ein idealistisches Denkverfahren darstellte, das der

Negation den Hauptimpuls der Fortschreitung verleiht. Das negierte Anfangsglied strebt zum

Gegenteil, und selbiges, wiederum negiert, da kein Element mit sich selbstidentisch oder darin

aufgeht, führt zur Aufhebung des geführten oder belangten Gegensatzes (exemplarisch

einzusetzen im Verhältnis Ware, Äquivalentform oder Tauschwert, Geld). Diese

Vorgehensweise, quasi Verabsolutierung der Negation als Negativität, hat ihm – und freilich

auch Hegel – keine Schule, gleichgültig ob klassisch oder nachklassisch, abgenommen, da sie

seit Boole und Venn, übrigens Zeitgenossen, darauf aus war, die Distinktivität der Klassen (im

logischen Sinne) festzuhalten; resp. mit Frege die Abklärung des Verhältnisses von Funktion

und Argument in der logischen Basis, entsprechend in ihrer Verschachtelung und möglichem

Aufstieg, i.e. die Klasse besetzt das Argument, womit Russells Typenlehre oder Klassifikation

erreicht ist, die Antinomie eingerechnet. Die Negation bedient in diesem Falle stets nur die

Klassenzugehörigkeit oder ›in ihr enthalten‹ oder ›nicht enthalten‹. Nun besteht aber

tatsächlich Anlass, Marx häufiger unter der Polarität zu begreifen, womit sich die theoretische

Basis auch dem Keim der Ungleichheit nähert und nicht wenige echte Theoreme der

Ökonomie begleicht. Es sollte ja wenigstens die Möglichkeit einkehren, der Ungleichheit eine

echte Extremität zu bescheinigen, statt stets nur kontinuierlich gesteigerte Größenordnungen

verrechnen oder überhaupt ansetzen zu müssen. (Man ist i. Ü. keineswegs notwendigerweise

ein Sozialist, wenn die ökonomische Theorie die Polarität ins Fundament aufnimmt – sondern

eher ganz im Gegenteil: p.e. Börsen und Aktienmarkt, mithin der Ansatz des Wertpapiers als

eines notwendigen Wertverlaufs zwischen Gewinn und Verlust nebst aller Finanzinstrumente,

die sich daran heften, sind geradewegs oder rein polar. Der Gegensatz der Komplementarität

und seines Binnenverlaufs liegt genau darin, dass sich die beiden Seiten bis in das Extrem

gegenseitig bedingen, gewiss eine völlig andere Voraussetzung als zu behaupten, sie lassen

sich dialektisch interpretieren oder auseinander herleiten. Ein zweites Beispiel jüngster

Geschichte: das Nichtabsinken des nordamerikanischen Handelsdefizits trotz der definitiven

Schwellenmaßnahmen, insb. Erhebung von Zöllen – offensichtlich reagiert der Markt, die


16

betroffenen Nationen nicht durch den Gegensatz eines bloßen Kontrasts, sondern das polare

Gegenverhalten resp. sich polar behauptende Gegenzentrum, und das Defizit steigt

tatsächlich 2018 um 18,8%. Für das Nachfolgende, will man einer von beiden Seiten ein

Falschsein zusprechen, dann selbstredend aus anderen Quellen, nicht aus der Relation selbst,

denn dann, wie sogleich erläutert, läge man im Widerspruch und müsste die Gründe

benennen können, die zur Neutralisation führen). Marx sprach gleichermaßen, nunmehr im

Feld des gesellschaftlichen Gegensatzes, von Diremption oder Entzweiung, Alienation oder

Entfremdung, Expropriation oder Ausbeutung (ein Begriff mehr des Manifestes), und diese

Begriffe liegen an und für sich im Widerstreit oder der Möglichkeit, beiden Seiten, per Existenz

oder Gegebensein, ein Wahrsein zuzugestehen und zugestehen zu müssen. Dies trifft – im

direkten Gegensatz zum Widerspruch – auch für die Polarität zu. Das Hauptmerkmal dieser

Opposition besteht darin, die beiden Seiten wachsen gleichzeitig, und nicht etwa

nacheinander oder logisch auf verschiedenen Ebenen (was sie selbstredend zudem

vermögen), und daher liegen sie quer zum Widerspruch, indem (i) tatsächlich die beiden

Seiten koinzidieren, (ii) sich in Gegenrichtung entfalten und müssen, (iii) die Extreme oder

Extremlagen entwickeln. Nun meint die Schismatik dieses Überkreuzliegen, das, solange es

beherrscht bleibt und die stete Zirkulation der Vermögen bedingt – in der den Vielen relativ

konstant ein zufriedenstellender Anteil zufällt, der sie sogar beobachten lässt, dass sie über

die Strecke ihres Berufsverlaufs an Vermögen zunehmen, jedenfalls ggf. der nachfolgenden

Generation einen Start eröffnen, auf den sie selbst verzichten mussten –, kein Aufsehen oder

wenigstens keine latente, fühlbare Unruhe erzeugt. Offenbar ist diese Fühlbarkeit, ein

spezifischer neuralgischer Punkt, der die Ungleichheit gleichermaßen begleitet und evoziert,

jedoch erreicht.

Der Kern der Marx‘schen Theorie vertraute weiterhin darauf, die Koinzidenz des

Klassengegensatzes, den seine Zeit tatsächlich erlebte oder konstatieren musste, führt im

Extrem dazu, dass die inliegende Feder zurückschnellt. Indem der Kapitalist immer mehr

akkumuliert, die Arbeiterschicht aber nicht einfach neutral daneben existiert, sondern davon

völlig abhängig ist, muss selbige ihres Gewichts halber den Zustand erreichen, in dem sie sich

erhebt oder danach strebt, die politischen Kräfte zu bedingen – zu eigenen Gunsten zu

überwältigen. Die geschichtliche Substanz dieser Auffassung braucht nicht mehr erörtert zu

werden – gesetzt, man legt ein bestimmtes Apriori in die Feder und ihre zwangshafte


17

Reaktion, so hat die Empirie nur das Schisma bestätigt. Die Ungleichheit war in keinem Fall

aus der Welt, da sich die Personen des Parteiapparats stets eine Sondergunst gegenüber der

Arbeiterschicht herausnahmen, außerdem die Gesamtwirtschaftsleistung sich unter dieser

Voraussetzung nicht gegen die Staaten durchsetzen konnte, die kapitalistisch geblieben

waren. Im historischen Weltmaßstab, so auch der Tenor Pikettys, ist die Ungleichheit daher

die unbedingte Konstante.

5

Wohin nun gehört selbige Weisheit – oder Wahrheit? Das Schisma gehört traditionell in die

Kirchengeschichte und meint die Spaltung der Glaubensgemeinschaft. Im hiesigen

Zusammenhang meint es die unnachgiebige Tatsache, dass sich die Prosperität einer

Gesellschaft, die Weltgemeinschaft eingeschlossen, stets in eine Scherung begibt, die

unmöglich den Achspunkt, dort wo die beiden Seiten gegenüber der theoretischen Balance

auseinanderfallen, auflöst, schmelzen oder zergehen lässt (und die Prosperität weicht in eine

Unterspanne gegenüber dem vacuierend, mehr oder weniger leerlaufenden ausgleichenden

Hauptteil). Gibt man aber der Schismatik nach, wachsen die Ziehkräfte und das

Zusammenleben der Schichten wird mühsam und spannungsreich – die herrschenden Klassen,

gesetzt dieser Ausdruck ist für die Umkreise der Entscheidungsträger wieder passend, gehen

sich und insbesondere den Untergestellten (subditus),9 in diesem Sinne vermehrt Abhängigen

aus dem Weg. An der elektronischen Kommunikation gemessen, nimmt das mangelnde

Eingeständnis einer natürlichen, nichtakustischen Kommunikation zu, und die E-Medien

9 Mit diesem Begriff bezeichnet Kant in der Rechtslehre vorübergehend den Untergebenen und greift nicht auf

das Subjekt als Untertan zurück (§47 u.ö., in: AA VI, 315). „Person ist dasjenige Subjekt, dessen Handlungen einer

Zurechnung fähig sind“, heißt es i.Ü. (AA VI, 223), und mehrfach verrechnet er die Menschheit im Licht des

Einzelnen (oder Subjekts), abgesehen von dem im Rahmen der Vertragstheorien notorisch schwierigen Ansatzes,

die Gewaltenteilung auf „ein Oberhaupt“ zu konzentrieren, das „(nach Freiheitsgesetzen betrachtet, kein

anderes als das vereinigte Volk selbst sein kann)“, und ein Verhältnis erläutert, in dem es sich „zu der vereinzelten

Menge ebendesselben Volkes“ darstellt und entfaltet, „d.i. des Gebietenden (imperans) gegen den

Gehorsamen (subditus)“ (wie zuvor). Nach klassentheoretischen Bedingungen ist ein solches Verhältnis

geradewegs unmöglich, was sicherlich auch Kant nicht entgangen sein wird. Aber er hätte, um die Möglichkeit

zu erläutern (und nicht nur zu statuieren), auf die Polarität des Gegensatzes zurückgreifen müssen, da es sodann

geradewegs möglich ist, über die geteilte Achse die Differenz – Vereinzelung versus Nichtvereinzelung, zudem in

Gegenseitigkeit – vorzunehmen. Außerdem sollte ihm das Faktum des Energiefeldes, die Wirklichkeit des

Verkehrs der Subjekte, entgegenkommen, wie hier angesetzt (und von ihm gewissermaßen gemeint oder

zumindest nicht verleugnet wird).


18

übernehmen einen spezifischen Träger des Schismas, also geradewegs die Koinzidenz von Plus

und Minus, in der die Plusseite die einzig offizielle und zugestandene, die Minusseite die im

gleichen Atemzug unterdrückte oder verleugnete andere Kommunikation darstellt, das

Sozialmedium oder sein Blog ein gestelltes Versuchslabor der Kompensation.

Man mag ernsthaft daran zweifeln, ob tatsächlich nur und insbesondere die wirtschaftliche

Ungleichheit für die Schismatik verantwortlich ist – nicht vielmehr natürliche Antipathie und

verleugnete Kommunikationsriten in der Basis bis hin in die Kreise der politischen Exekutive

nebst Parlamentariern –, jedenfalls ist die Öffnung, das Durchscheinen (oder »Gähnen«) der

Ungleichheit an ihrem Knotenpunkt resp. Punkten ein gesellschaftlicher Makel und ein Risiko,

das sich im internationalen Verkehr, in wachsender Spannung bis hin zum Austragen der

militärischen Maßnahme – als zugehörige Potenz – niederschlägt. Die Weisheit kann offenbar

nicht darin liegen, die Wahrheit zu stopfen. Der Widerspruch ist ein historisch wohlbelegter

erstrangiger Konfliktimpuls oder -stifter, gleichgültig ob an der Innen- oder Außenbeziehung

gemessen. Da gleichwohl noch immer die Handelswachstumsraten, wenn auch nur leicht, die

globale Produktion überragen,10 anderwärts die protektionistischen (ausgelöst seitens der

USA) und nationalistischen Maßnahmen versus Besinnungen im erhöhten Grad zunehmen,

zudem die internationalen Nachkriegsinstitutionen – UN und nicht zuletzt die WTO –

zunehmend mit Konstitutionsproblemen befasst sind, liegt es nahe, am Fortbestand und sogar

eventueller Steigerung der Schismatik – sie sei der Begriff für Zusammenfließen, bedingtes

Austarieren und eventuelles Platzen, i.e. das Eklatieren der Spannung – nicht zu zweifeln. Es

wird also ratsam sein, von passiven Vermögensverteilungen (insb. Besteuerung von

Hochverdienenden) in der Hauptsache Abstand zu nehmen – dies wäre polaritätsstiftend oder

polarisierend im schlechten Sinne – und stattdessen tatsächlich den dauerhaften Versuch

einer investiven Lohnpolitik zu unternehmen (angehendes Muster wäre ansatzweise der

jüngste Tarifvertrag im Öffentlichen Dienst in der BRD bei ca. 8% über 3 Jahre), bei welcher

der Staat über Jahre Schrittgeber ist und beobachtet, ob und wie die Privatwirtschaft mitzieht

– bei Mäßigung der erwähnten Klasse oder Schicht im ökonomischen oberen Dezil (das nicht

fordert, in seinen Renditen mehr als die offenbar empirisch kritische Marge von offiziell 7-8%,

10 4,2 % nach 5,2%, vgl. Jean-Pierre Faugère, « Économie mondiale 2018 – croissance, restrictions commerciales

et argent plus cher ». In : Encyclopedia Universalis (online). URL : http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/

(Februar 2019).


19

nunmehr pro Jahr, einzutragen, gesetzt, hier sollen Zahlen als Folie einkehren). Dieses

Stichwort sei, in aller Kürze, an dieser Stelle beglichen, es ist aristotelischer Herkunft, der, als

Philosoph der Polis, eine Mäßigung der reichen Stände oder Oligarchen empfohlen hat, um

dem Gemeinwesen gerecht zu werden – die Geschichte bewies und beweist aber seit

Jahrhunderten, gleichgültig ob in den Kaiser- und Fürstentümern oder im anhebenden

Zeitalter der Industrialisierung, dass sie als Argument und Maßnahme offensichtlich nicht

taugt; die menschliche Natur – im Kollektiv und beim Einzelnen – strebt zum Extrem und will

sich dessen nicht vorab berauben, i.e. in seinen Optionen, Fähigkeiten und Potenzen nicht

privatieren lassen (dies war der Gegensatz, in dessen Form Aristoteles überwiegend oder

vorherrschend die Polarität – resp. Antonymie – abhandelte bzw. beherbergte, und ›gleich‹

versus ›ungleich‹ ist ggf. eines der Muster dieser steresis). Um jedoch den vorherigen

Gedanken zu vollenden, es wird eine zunehmende Prosperität in den Mittelschichten – sie

erhält und bedingt gleichwohl eine ungeschmälerte Zirkulation von Vermögenswerten und -

ständen – deren Mitglieder an die Forderung knüpfen, im Ansatz und durchgehend über die

Lebenszeit ein vermögensaktives Verhalten zu beweisen, i.e. abgesehen vom Konsumieren

nicht einfach nur zu sparen, sondern freilich zu erwerben und zu verwalten (oder verwalten

zu lassen). Infolgedessen sollte sich der Bürger auch erheblich leichter dem Zyklus anpassen

oder geradewegs zyklischer Teilnehmer werden, als es ihm in der Hauptsache schadenfrei

möglich wird, auch Vermögen zu veräußern, falls der Bedarf aufkommt. Im Weltmaßstab

jedenfalls sollte über 20-30 Jahre, also etliche Legislaturen nach heutigem Maßstab, im

Bereich der hochentwickelten Industriestaaten tatsächlich ein Gemeinwesen einkehren, das

die Weltgeschichte noch nicht gesehen hat.11

11 Es sei angemerkt, dass die hiesige Analyse von den jüngsten Ist-Soll-Analysen oder -prospekten

angloamerikanischer Herkunft abweicht, gemeint John Rawls. Gerechtigkeit als Fairness. Ein Neuentwurf.

Frankfurt/Main 42014 und Thomas Nagel. Eine Abhandlung über Gleichheit und Parteilichkeit. Frankfurt/Main

2016. Zum einen liegt eine dezidiert neutralisierende Position vor, die Polarität in der Basis gar nicht erwägt

(Rawls), zum anderen eine Position, welche zwar Polarität zurechnet, sogar in der Basis (Nagel), aber kaum eine

echte Systematik entfaltet (und beherrscht), die deren Konsequenzen berechnet, noch je die Verletzlichkeit oder

Unüberwindbarkeit des Schismas anspricht.


20

SCIENTIA PUNIENDA / NEFANDA CURIOSITAS:

THE INTERPRETATION OF MAGIC IN THE ROMAN

WORLD

Ilaria Scavelli

It is not easy to univocally define the concept of magic. From anthropology to ethnology, from

the history of religions to sociology, different disciplines have encountered this subject, trying

to codify its main elements and to extrapolate an intrinsic meaning with universal

significance. But what belongs to the magical world, in its many manifestations, cannot have

a single definition. In general, when we talk about magic, we refer to a series

of borderline behaviors between different realities and, therefore, it is impossible to reach a

universal definition, which is always valid. In order to get better theme to thoroughly

understand its nuances, sometimes labile, sometimes me and marked think it is necessary to

make a small excursus in that part of historiography modern just magic has concentrated

attention causing fundamental studies. Hans Kippenberg, professor of comparative religious

studies at Jacobs University in Bremen, expresses clearly that the problem of understanding

magic has not been settled (Kippenberg, 1997: 137) and uses only instruments that it

considers scientifically valid for understanding this phenomenon, namely interpretive models

(“We never can understand [...] without referring to an interpretative model of our own”;

Kippenberg, 1997: 137) of James Frazer (Frazer, 1973) and Bronislaw Malinowski (Malinowski,

1925).

James B. Rives refers to both authors (Rives, 2003: 315) considering that the dominant

approach in the current studies refers to magic as a valuable term for labeling activities and

beliefs belonging to the cultural sphere of religion, and that those which qualify

as “magical” religious practices are rather considered immoral, fraudulent or otherwise

unacceptable. Fritz Graf (Graf, 1995: 14) directly applies to classical antiquities a simplified

and linear version of Frazerian theory; Ann Jeffers, who is of opposite opinion, rejects Frazer's


21

position that sees magic as a form of coercion (“Frazer was quite mistaken when he explained

magic as a tecnique of coercion; Jeffers, 1996: 7). Edward Taylor regards magic as the

explanatory system of the world and, therefore, a means of controlling and governing

phenomena (Graf, 1995: 15). Malinowski, the cornerstone of functionalism, would invent the

term "magic action ", which is understood as that action that provides for the psychological

well-being of man in those situations that are beyond his control; such actions serve to

preserve the identity, the individual or the community in times of danger (Kippenberg, 1997:

137). Marcel Mauss would counter Frazer's individualistic intellectualism with the concept of

magic as a "collective phenomenon", belonging to the same community representations of

religious myths and rituals, focusing not on what humans did, but on what society thought

they were doing (Graf, 1995: 17). Edward Evans-Pritchard sought the function of magic and

witchcraft charges, realizing that it were precisely these accusations that allowed society to

accept events and misunderstandings (Graf: 1995, 17).

One of the major obstacles that does not allow us to fully understand the real meaning that

such ars (practices) had for ancient peoples is to evaluate magic by extrapolating from its

context of origin. According to Chales R. Phillips, modern people have extended the concept

of magic to all those manifestations of the ancient religion that they themselves do not

consider conforming to their notion of "true religion" and "true science", regardless of what

ancient eyes were looking at them (Phillips, 1991: 261 f.) This reflection could end with these

words: "magic, is what a society calls it", because this practice is defined in different ways in

different societies, but it remains an omnipresent element and an essential part of the

ideological and social structure (Phillips, 1991: 262). The specialized studies of the sciences of

antiquity conceptualize magic as "the idiosyncratic and private rites not controlled by the

public religion" (Graf, 2002: 104). But in the ancient world, it is not always possible to draw a

clear line that distinguishes the religion of magic because many religious ideas and rituals are

based on magical foundations (Pharr: 1932, 269). More than a religious act, Pharr argues that

magic was conceived as a practice of opposition to organized society: a set of anarchic and

subversive practices used by some people to obtain personal blessings to the detriment

of community. As society has progressed, people lose this sense of powerlessness and terror

in the presence of the almighty magician and gradually set up regulations to protect the group

from antisocial use of magic.


22

These regulations would be introduced into the legal system of many civilizations and

furthermore, it was Rome, in particular, that made magic a real legal category (Kippenberg,

1997: 138) ; the old Roman law recognized certain activities as deviations considered illegal

and dangerous (ibid.) , which modern, but not ancient, defined as " unsanctioned religious

activities " (Phillips, 1991: 262). "For the ancients, magic was the means of operating

effectively beyond the limits that nature imposed on man" (Bulgarini, 2001: 218): with these

words, Francesca Bulgarini only emphasizes how much the concept of magic, even in the

ancient world, did not indicate anything specific , if not a reference to a very broad sphere of

relevance, that is, to function beyond human capabilities. James Rives, in his work based on

the study of Pauli Sententie, emphasizes how rarely the term magic is specified in Roman law

and, when it is done, is not able to give an exact definition: as a result, the convictions that

resulted were always different, subject to case-by-case negotiation (Rives, 2006: 48).

Initially dominated by a certain dichotomy, both in lexicon and in actions, we speak in this

sense of "theurgia , the action of those who work divine things, that is, the so-called white

magic, and the goeteia , the recitation of magical formulas, to reach the ends of evil, that is,

the so-called black magic ” (Castello, 1990: 666); although, in reality, it was often impossible

to distinguish which of the two was the case, since the reference was to actions that were far

from the specific qualifications, at least semantically, from the two explicit concepts. Theurgia

was used when healing was needed, so it is referred to as a magic that is very similar to

medicine or if some form of protection was required. Jean-Benoit Clerc exposes these

different uses, believing that magic was not only a therapeutic purpose, but also protective as

in the case of amulets. This magic required protection against all the evils and dangers that

threatened the daily life (Clerc, 1995: 157). Positive things such as long life, health, good

hearing, good vision, memory, beauty, endurance, well-being, daily food, wealth, prosperity

and success in the business world, as well as in love, were demanded from the magician, and

the art of convincing with their own speeches. In short, magic would contribute to earthly and

human happiness. Again, magic was used to obtain revelations about the past, present and

future, through a dream, evoking a god or the soul of a deceased as a medium of trance (Clerc,

1995: 158). Especially, there are some "positive" spells defined as χαριτήσια, which, like

structural and ritual defixiones, become part of the concept of sympathetic magic, i.e. the type


23

of magic that uses objects or images that symbolically evokes the person who wants to be

"spellbound" or “witched”, using the same principle as voodoo.

According to Andrzej Wypustek, spells of the χαριτήσια type were generally engraved on gold

or silver lamellae, which were used to provoke φιλία. Even violent spells were sometimes

engraved on gold tablets, but nonetheless, for more aggressive magic operations, such as

curses and other forms of black magic, lead tablets were mainly used (Wypistek: 1999, 51)

"Aggressive" practices are tabellae defixionum, lead sheets, generally rolled or folded, pierced

with one or several nails, on which exsecration formulas were written or curses combined

with the name of the one who should be settled or fixed in a chain, i.e. lock it). Most often

they are placed in the grave of a deceased person, who is entrusted with the task of carrying

out the prescribed actions. The texts on these laminates describe, sometimes with cruel

precision, all the physical and psychological torments they want to cause to the victim (Clerc,

1995: 158 f.). Clerc defines this practice as a specific magical technique to provoke a torment,

of any kind to an individual. To achieve the proposed purpose, in addition to the filters (venena

/ φάρμακα), rituals were used to "pierce", "fix", "bind": the technical terms of these actions

are, in fact, defigere, obligare, καταδεĩν.

To better understand the extent of this phenomenon, it is essential to know the origins and

the path of the magical art to reach the Roman era. From Greece, Plato uses the word

"μαγεία" to indicate the philosophy and religion of the wizards of Persia (Plato, Alcibiades,

122a). Later, Aristotle added to the term "μαγεί" the adjective "γοετικὴ", but the meanings of

the two words were so similar that one seems to be synonymous with the other (Aristotle:

Fragment no. 9) , so that Theophrastus uses the first term lacking the adjective γοετικὴ

(Theophrastus: 9, 15, 7). The most important evolutions inherent in the meaning of the word

occurred in the first part of the 3rd century AD, when for the first time this expression was

used to indicate what is most semantically about the current concept of magic (Tavenner,

1916: 3). The Roman world took the word "μαγεία" and its meaning from the Greek,

translating it into Latin corresponding to the word magic. Still in Catullo (Catullo: 90) and

Cicero (1, 40) the original definition of art, science and religion of the magician is preserved,

but not long after, already in Virgil (Bucoliche, VIII) and Horatio (Epod, 8;12) the perspective

changes and the magic assumes an aspect of a disastrous and illusory practice. Pliny the Elder


24

approached the study of magic with that scientific curiosity that always distinguished him.

Book XXX of his main work, Naturalis Historia, is a real treatise on the different forms of magic

and their history, observing everything with a strong sense of aversion to this ars. Pliny begins

by describing magice vanitates in two distinct phases. (Plinio il Vecchio: XXX, 1-2)

At first, he sketches the Genesis of magic, as coming from the combination of three arts:

medicine, religion, astrology. He does not properly outline an evolution, but projects his values

and distinctions in the past. It separates medicine, "true medicine", from magic, defined by

him as false and arrogant medicine, which is considered to be higher and closer to the divine.

Therefore, it was formed by taking over the functions of true medicine. Later, magic-medicine

approached the religious forces. The applied sphere designated here by the term religio is far

from the modern meaning. It is rather a fervor, an excessive religiosity that magic uses to

achieve its own purposes. Finally, astrology (artes mathematicae) from which magic

approaches for the ability of diviners (Graf, 1995: 48 f.). After this first explanation of the

formation of the magic phenomenon, Plino goes on to spread the magic starting from his

country of origin, Zoroaster's Persia, where even at the time of the author it dominated

undisputed (Graf, 1995: 49). Departing from Persia, the Latin author follows his expansion,

first in time clearly impressed by the Millennial past and the tenacity of a tradition that has

not been facilitated to be transmitted, either through writings or institutionalized schools; and

then in space, from Persia to the Greeks, to the Jews, to the Cypriots, and then to the Italian

peoples and those across the Alps. (ibid.) Zoroaster's figure becomes as mythological as that

of Socrates (ibid.). Herrmippo, his commentator, claims that the Prophet Zoroaster, a master

of magic, handed down about 2,000,000 verses about magic art. Unfortunately, this abundant

production seems to have disappeared already during Plino's time, which states that the first

who left the writings on the magic matter was Osthane, who accompanied Xerxes, King of

Persia, in the war against the Greeks. This just facilitated the spread of magic, because in many

journeys with the king, he sowed, in his own way, the seeds of this monstrous art, thus

contaminating more countries (Diouf, 1999). The first Osthane was followed by a second, who

accompanied Alexander the Great and who, in the same way, spread magic in the peoples and

territories conquered by the general. (Diouf, 1999: 73) From this moment on, this practice

found its second homeland in Greece and from there, it invaded the whole Mediterranean, so

it happened for all the other Greek arts, from philosophy to rhetoric, from religion to


25

medicine. (ibid.) Plino finds traces in Rome and Italy in general. (ibid.) The Roman legislation

punishes already in the laws of the XII Tables with the most severe punishment, death, anyone

who has dedicated themselves to magic with the intention of harming or affecting others.

(Diouf, 1999: 77) From Italy, the magic phenomenon crossed the Alps and reached Galia,

where the priests - the Druids - are often mistaken for wizards. The same use of this art is

found in the British Isles, where his followers developed such a devotion that they seemed

that it seemed that they taught the Persians (Diouf, 1999: 74). The human sacrifices and art

of the Druids, which prospered and survived to the end of the world, near the British, were

banished by Tiberius, and the measure taken by the emperor inspired Plino to the following

patriotic comment (Graf, 1995: 50): “And it cannot be sufficiently estimated how much is due

to the Romans, who eliminated the monstrosity in which the murder of a man was in the act

of great religion, and also very healthy to be eaten” (Gaio Plinio: XXX, 4).

In Naturalis Historia, some of the many magical types are demonstrated (Garosi, 1976: 23) to

be hydroromancy, i.e. observing the movements of water, usually from a source or basin of

sacred water, in which the objects were placed, sometimes stones, other times true and their

own offerings (gifts): the movements produced by the immersion of objects were used for

read the future. Spheromania, which involved the use of spheres, sometimes crystalline

materials: for example, Druids used quartz crystal to see what would have happened.

Aeromancy, the art of reading the future in air and wind movements: in specificity it is the

movements that these two elements bring to the surface of the water deposited in a copper

container. Astronomy means reading the stars. Lycnomania is a practice of reading fire, which

has obtained predictions from observing the flames of candles or light. Lechanomania is a

divination technique, which observed the interactions that took place from two different

liquids, usually water and oil, poured into a metal basin. Assinomancy is predicting the future

by using an ax: according to some practices, the ax had to be thrown on the ground or on the

trunk of a tree, for others it was necessary to observe the deformation of its blade obtained

by exposure to heat, and for others it was necessary to observe rolling on the blade to a sphere

of onyx. Necromancy uses for its purposes the evocation of the souls of the deceased. Of all

the regions conquered by the Romans, no one was free of magic, and for this reason, although

they are assigned a homeland and a father, who formalized and systematized them, Plino was

convinced that in every man he there was a predisposition towards it (Diouf, 1999: 74).


26

The debate about magic became more intense in the first centuries of the Empire, because

with the spread of Christianity, people of different faiths were accused of magic. Ireneo, in the

middle of the 1st century A.D., associated magicians with heretics, in a way that annihilates

his opponents. The Bishop of Lyon accused his enemies of labeling them as wizards, claiming

that they possess supernatural powers that will lead them to success, but that such power had

been given to them by evil demons or, in the case of major opponents, even by Satan himself.

But as to the effectiveness of magical practices he always remained suspicious, considering

them fraudulent, although he accepted the idea that some people might manipulate the

powers of evil and also do magic. (Janowitz, 2001: 17 f.). The most comprehensive and

exhaustive report on magic can be found in the second book of Doctrina Christiana by

Augustine of Hippona (Agostino: 20, 30, II, 24, 37). Augustine takes into consideration the old

pagan traditions and the new teachings of Christianity in order to understand which was best

to undo (eliminate) and which was best to preserve. To do this, there are two groups: things

established by man and those established by divinity. In the first group Augustine inserts the

distinction between what is superstition and what is not, and here the magic argument is

placed (i.e. treated). The Father of the Church defines superstition as something that has been

established by people for the purpose of worshiping idols, or to consult and make

arrangements with demons by established conventional signs. The catalog we offer includes

magical practices and auspicious books, healing rituals, spells, amulets, astrology, demonic

divination and many small daily acts of superstition. In the 5th century AD, magic does not yet

find a specific definition and is considered in unity with pagan idolatry and cults (Agostino: 20,

30, II, 24, 37). Augustine distinguishes three types of magic: theurgy, witchcraft and divination,

but none of them has a positive connotation because they all act unjustly toward God, and all

acts are motivated by unhealthy curiosity. Furthermore, it is precisely the curiosity that he

considers to be one of the greatest sins. For the bishop of Hippona, magic is the veneration of

demons, beings made up of air that fills the space between heaven and earth which turns out

to be a constant threat to a Christian, especially at the hour of death, when the soul has to

cross their kingdom, and to get out of it immune needs the help of angels (Agostino: 20, 30,

II, 24, 37).

Lattanzio dealt extensively with the topic of demons (Lattanzio : II, 14, II, 16) . They are

mentioned by him as descendants of angels, corrupted by contact with matter. Neither divine


27

nor human, the body made of the etheric matter like that of the celestial powers, but with the

soul subject to the passions, like that of the people. They are intermediate beings, and their

nature allows them to rise to the gods through which they carry people's prayers. Because of

the etheric substance of which they are made, they manage to perform incredible acts in the

eyes of man, and for this reason magicians try to enslave one. Moreover, for Lattanzio, in the

light of Christian doctrine, demons become fundamental to the economy of salvation. Being

the result of a "fall", demons are slaves to passions, are incapable of virtue, are condemned

and have as their lord the devil. They deceive people to be their ministers through magic and

divinatory practices, but in reality it is a great deception designed to distance man from divine

salvation. (Bulgarini, 2001: 226-228) Augustine in De Civitate Dei (Agostino: X, 9) continued

the anti-magic controversy through the testimony in which this burnt nefariae curiositas were

still very much alive and believing that she called magic, witchcraft or turgery only about evil

rituals of demons, invoked as angels of the magus. (Cocchini, 1976: 242) The magus, an

excellent practitioner of the artis magicae, is an emblematic figure, who has traveled centuries

incorporating different categories depending on the changing times. According to Graf, this

word appeared very late in Latin, only when there was a conscious reflection on magic within

the Roman civilization. The first affirmations of the term, clearly borrowed from the Greek

language, are found in the middle of the first century BC, in Catullo and Cicero. Both authors

have linked the magus to his homeland (Graf, 1995: 34). For Cicero magi are nothing more

than the official priests of Persia, genus sapientium et doctorum in Persis (Cicerone: La

divinazione, I, 91). The author introduces this new word, magi, with a strong ethnographic

connotation, which does not need explanation, and proposes the same condition in De

legibus. ( Cicerone: Le leggi II, 26) James Rives makes a brief digression of the term: “the word

is indeed Old Persian in origin (makuš or maguš): by the mid-fifth century BC, it had passed

from Persian into Greek as loanword μάγος, and then from Greek eventually into Latin” (Rives,

2005: 60). The scientist goes on to point out that the word magus is not attested before 50 BC

in Latin and when it does appear, it only indicates Persian religious specialists.

Thus, Cicero refers several times to the experience of magi in divination (Div . 1.46, 47, 90 -

1), observes the treatment of the dead (Tusc. 1,108), states that they reject the practice of

annexing the gods to the Temple (leg. 2.26). ) and recalls the history that claims that

Pythagoras would have studied with them (ND 1.43; Fin. 5.87). In the existing prose texts, this


28

use remains entirely consistent until the second half of the 1st century AD in which the magus

indicates a Persian expert in divination and ritual traditions or a Persian philosopher. Still Rives

emphasizes how much Plino the Elder and his contemporaries have negatively connoted

magus and his similarities (Rives, 2005: 61). Other figures, because of some of their

peculiarities, were assimilated to magicians: they were generally outsider, possessing certain

characteristics, such as the ability to heal people even if they were not doctors, or were

itinerant. These were καθαρταί, meaning purifiers αγύρται, and αλαζόνες defined as

charlatans, but also astrologers and anyone else who understood the predictive methods of

the future. They were targeted in particular so-called kathartaί very close to the figure of the

magician and the doctor. They, like doctors, observed and studied the symptoms. But while

the kathartaί were seeking the deity considered to be the origin of the disease, the doctors

used etiology, a chain of detailed observations on the symptoms and functions of the somatic

organs, thus deducing a therapy. (Graf, 1995: 32) In the Roman world, the magus has been

subject to trial even from the XII Tables, although different types of crimes were assimilated

to this accusation. Pharr claims that wizards have been charged with crimes, such as sexual

violence, and that some of the mysterious cults, such as Bacchanals (Pharr, 1932: 279),

were classified as magical rituals. Because they almost always violated the graves, for the

most disparate reasons, but especially to insert tabellae defixionum or to procure corpses for

necromantic ceremonies, they were accused of making human sacrifices or ritual homicides

(ibid.).

The magician's practice consisted in performing ritual acts, such as immolating victims or

consulting the gods, rendering them ineffective if they are not accompanied by prayer,

carmina, so an oral ritual that has the same gestural ritual value (Graf, 1995: 43). This vocal

ritual (singing) is part of a larger ritual set, the whole of which, it seems, is called cantatio for

Catone (Catone: 160), carmina auxiliare (Plinio il Vecchio: XXVIII, 21), by Plinio (Graf, 1995:

43). It distinguishes malum carmen from other types, usually neutral or beneficial. These are

defamatory songs and carry with them a destructive force capable of compromising or even

destroying an individual's social position. On the other hand, however, there was also

beneficial carmina (Graf, 1995: 42), the latter was generally used in the medical field. The

means of action most attributed to the magus are the use of poison. In 81 BC with the

promulgation of Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficiis and the creation of the respective


29

quaestio, veneficus would become one of the synonyms of magus. Pharr argues that the

semantic evolution of the Greek root φαρμακ is closely related to the Latin vene (n) -.

Φάρμακον can be a plant, a drug (useful or harmful), a magic potion, a filter, a delight, a

poison, a dye or a paint. Whether both words were originally technical terms of magic,

especially related to the use of magic herbs, or whether they originally just meant herbs in

general and were only later used in context of magic ceremonies, they soon began to get

coined in that meaning and one assumed the negative aspect (Pharr, 1932: 272 f.).

The ambivalence of the term φάρμακον/venenum, is related to another ambiguity, that

between venenum and medicamentum. In its original form, the verb medeor has the meaning

of "taking care", "coming to help". All words derived from the root "med" retain the same

specialized technical meaning, designating the activity of the doctor and the practice of

medicine. Again, within the enigmatic, negative practices of medicine (venenum, veneficium,

veneficus) and positive practices (medicamentum, medicus) came out. With the word

venenum, different notions can be expressed depending on the context of use. It is not

essential to understand only the semantic development of the term, but also to understand

its use at the synchronic level. (Garosi: 1976, 46-47) Considering only the negative connotation

of venom, Phillips proposes a new analogy between its use and unauthorized religious activity.

The lack of a universally accepted definition of unauthorized religious activity and, in parallel,

the lack of a general theory of natural causation, make poison and the unauthorized religious

activity appear similar, because both seem to invoke hidden forces. (Phillips, 1991: 264)

“Christianity inherited from Rome the definition of magic. The ‘evil’ quality of this, which could

no longer be justified in an antisocial activity, i.e. against the community, especially the Roman

citizen, was transferred into a diabolical action directed against civitas Dei.” Sabatucci, 1976:

233). At this moment, magus becomes "the one who acts by exploiting the power of

demons" (Bulgarini:, 2001: 229). The possibility of creating great works, similar to miracles,

makes it possible to draw a comparison between the magus, who begins to take the

connotations of evil and of the Christian Saints. Both sorcerers and saints conduct wonders

with the help of their superhuman allies, and in both cases, these powers are subject to the

most powerful name - the name of God - given by God to saints and exorcists, or to the name

of minor, but always powerful deities, with which wizards terrorize demons. The difference

between the actions of the two categories is great, the wizards' miracles are less than the


30

miracles of the saints. In addition, Augustine (Agostino: XXIX, 2) emphasizes on a diversity of

intentions (different purposes) and legitimacy (different deities): while the wizards abuse the

divine name for their private purposes, and do so after a secret agreement with a demon, the

Saints act on behalf of God and under His Command, for publicam iustitiam (Graf, 1995: 94).

With the strengthening of Christian religion and culture, it was the public opinion that would

decide. Wizards and guessers were seen to awaken strong terror (Grodzynski, 1982:

318), because they are considered inspired by Satan himself. They were punished by laws

harsher in the past, because the devil must be defeated. The magician becomes a product of

public opinion, because he is the one who has notions as a practitioner of a hidden and secret

art. In other words, the community did not have the same image of the magician and his

powers that he himself and his art had. It was the society that wanted magic to be profane,

sacrilegious and contrary to the gods, not the magician, who considered it a divine and sacred

art. From this negative perspective, it will go from magus to maleficus, so much so that, from

the 2nd century AD, the negative term would completely replace the first and the literary and

the common language (Clerc, 1995: 193). Looking at Roman law, and considering only some

of these laws enacted in relation to magic, one can see how artis magiae include a wide

spectrum of activities and that apart from agrarian magic, they have always been considered

negatively.

Lex Cornelia, wanted by Silla himself, had a significant impact on crimen magiae, which turns

out to be surprising when one considers that the initial intention was to restore public order

(Kippenberg: 1997, 147) and public safety, which failed during the years of civil war. This law

punished those who practiced sacra impia noctunave for the purpose of obcantare, defigerent

or obligarent, penalizing crucifixion. Condemn those who pay homage to hominem

immolaverint exve eius sanguina litaverint or fanum polluerint. The punishment of the

sorcerers was burning. This law affected not only the practice of art, but also the knowledge,

thus, no one had the right to possess magic books. Anyone found in possession of a magic

book was punished by confiscating property and deported to an island, or, if belonging to a

lower class, was even killed (Rives, 2006: 47). The repression against magic, as veneficium and

as an act of religious deviation, continued throughout the republican period, until the figure

of the magus was joined by that of vates. Cassio Dione (XLIX, 43.5) who reports


31

the consortium order issued by Agrippa in 33 BC, confirms this association. The edict decreed

the expulsion from Rome of the astrologers and γόητες.

Many measures have been taken throughout the history of the Empire. The first was with

Augustus, who became the highest pontiff in 12 BC, immediately burned more than 2,000

divination books. Augustus prohibited magic and forbade the guards to predict the death of

anyone, concerned with protecting public order and state security. The princes tolerated the

practice of magic, as long as it does not cause anxiety and murder. Augustus's successor was

Tiberio, who reformed the magic, now considered almost one with divination, Lex maiestatis

and all previous ordinances. The sanctions established were: the prohibition of aqua ignique

and the confiscation of mathematici, Chaldei, harioli et caeteri qui simili inceptum fecerunt for

the Roman citizens, death to the externae gentes. Later, the aqua ignique ban was replaced

by deportatio, relegatio insulam, metallum damnatio, and sometimes even with death.

(Castello, 1990: 668) Vitellius also promulgated a law against astrologers in his very brief reign.

According to Svetonius, the emperor ordered the astrologers to be evacuated from Urbe and

Italy until October, and they, in retaliation, by using a libello (book), predicted that the same

day he would die. It seems that Vitellio became so irritated that he killed, without listening to

it, any astrologer which was denounced. Antonino Pio and Marco Aurelio only dealt

with vaticinatores, being inventors of fake news and because they thought that they act

monitu deorum (Castello, 1990: 671) disturbing the publica quies and Imperium populi

romani (Desanti, 1990: 56). In In reality, repression did nothing but strike only those who

prophesized a new religion, different from the Roman cult, but still disturbing the souls.

After the Edict of Tolerance of 313 AD in the Roman Empire, things changed. The Christian

culture, which conquered many emperors, led to stricter measures. In the Codex

Theodosianus, the edicts of these emperors were included in Book IX, title 16 de maleficis,

mathematicis et ceteris similebus, or in Book XVI, title 10 de paganis sacrificiis et templis.. It is

obvious that the titles of the Codex assimilate the figure of the magician with that of the

"wizard", the astrologer and all things related to the ancient religion. Constantine prescribed

that no haruspex et sacerdos could cross the threshold of any home, even if the reason for the

visit was different from the practice of art, such as a friendship. Any haruspex found at another

home would have been burned alive and anyone who housed him would have been deported


32

to an island and stripped of all his belongings. However, those who denounced this crime were

not considered delinquent, but well-merited, and anyone who wanted to believe in this

superstitio had to go to the public altars (aras publicas). (Vernant, 1982: 294) With the

adoption of these laws, it seems clear how much the emperor wanted to prohibit their use in

private contexts far from the control of the state, rather than punishing the haruspices or

magic in general. The central power of the Roman world always tried to eliminate everything

beyond its control, for example the repression of mysterious cults, because in the absence of

its own authorities, a conspiracy could be organized. Costanzo continued his father's policy in

the year 357 AD. He resumed accusations against magic, now becoming synonymous with

divination and prohibits the consultation of the haruspex, astrologers, guessers, prophets and

all those who were identified by the people as "wizards" (maleficos), punishing them with

beheading (ibid.).

Costanzo demonstrated that he wanted to judge all the practitioners of the occult arts without

discrimination, who represent the traditional religion, punishing all without exception.

(Mazza, 2006-2008: 62) Only a year later, the emperor passed a much stricter law, which

stipulated that even a politician, though normally exempt from torture, should he be surprised

in a situation of magic consultation had to be "handed over to the horse, hooked to enter his

hips and endure the punishment worthy of his crime"(Grodzynski, 1982: 295). Nefanda

curiositas magic was misunderstood and persecuted from the origins of Roman law. Punished

with death, a sentence which was reserved only for major crimes, and so dangerous that it is

part of the list of "five crimes": murder, poisoning, adultery and rape (Grodzynski, 1982: 296

f.). And thus considered a mistake so serious that only their Majesty's betrayal was superior.


33

Bibliography

Augustinus: De civitate Dei.

Agostino: Le diverse questioni.

Aristotele : Frammento n.9.

Bulgarini, F.: « Scientia punienda ». L'accusa di magia nel passaggio dal paganesimo al

cristianesimo. Nuova rivista storica 85 (2), 2001, pp. 215-234.

Castello, C.: Cenni sulla repressione della magia dagli inizi del principato fino a Costanzo II,

«Atti dell’accademia romanistica Costantiniana. VIII Convegno internazionale. Spello –

Perugia, 29 settembre – 2 ottobre 1987». Napoli 1990, pp. 665-693.

Cassio Dione: Storia romana.

Catullo: Carmina.

Cicerone: La divinazione.

Cicerone: Le leggi.

Cipriani, G.; Masselli, G.M.: Eros maledetto. Bari 2005.

Clerc J.B.: Homines magici. Étude sur la sorcellerie et la magie dans la société impériale. Berne

1995.

Desanti, L. : Sileat omnibus perpetuo divinandi curiositas. Indovini e sanzioni nel diritto

romano. Milano 1990.


34

Diouf, E. : Magie et droit chez Pline l’Ancien. In : Moreau, A. ; Turpin J.-C. (eds.) : La magie. III:

Du monde latin au monde contemporain. Montpellier 2000, pp. 71-84.

Frazer, J.: Il ramo d’oro. Studio sulla magia e sulla religione. Traduzione di L. de Bosis. Torino

1973.

Graf F.: La magia nel mondo antico. Roma – Bari 1995.

Graf, F.: Theories of Magic in Antiquity, «Magic and Ritual in Ancient World». In: Mireki, P.;

Meyer, M.: Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World. Leiden – Boston – Köln, 2002, pp. 93-104.

Grodzynski, D.: Per la bocca dell’imperatore, Rome IV secolo. Vernant, J.P.: Divinazione e

razionalità. Torino 1982.

Janowitz, N.: Magic in Roman World. Pagans, Jews and Christians, London – New York 2001.

Jeffers, A: Magic & Divination in Ancient Palestine & Syria, Leiden, 1996.

Kippenberg, H., Magic in Roman civil discourse: Why Rituals Could Be illegal. In: Schäfer, P.;

Kippenberg, H.: Envisioning Magic: A Princeton Seminar and Symposium. Leiden 1997, pp.

137-163.

Lattanzio: Istituzioni divine.

Malinowski, B: Magic, science and religion, 1925.

Malinowski B., Magic, science and religion. London 1925.

Mazza, M.: L’intermediazione proibita: magia e divinazione in alcune costituzioni del

Teodosiano – con qualche considerazione sui fondamenti culturali della repressione religiosa

nella tarda antichità. «Romanobarbarica», 19 (2006-2009), pp. 48-81.


35

Orazio: Epod.

Pharr C.: The Interdiction of Magic in Roman Law. «Transaction of the American Philological

Association,» 63, 1932, pp. 269-295.

Phillips, C.R.: Nullum crimen sine lege: Socioreligious sanctions on magic. In: Faraone, C.;

Obbink, D. (eds.): Magika hiera: Ancient Greek magic and religion. New York 1991, pp. 261-

262.

Platone: Alcibiade.

Plinio il Vecchio: Storia naturale.

Gaio Plinio Secondo: Storia naturale: vol. III. Traduzione di Alessandro Barchiesi. 1982.

Rives, J.B.: Magic in Roman Law: The Recostruction of a Crime. «Classical Antiquity», 22, 2003,

pp. 313-339.

Rives J.B.: Magic, Religion and Law: The Case of the Lex Cornelia De Sicariis et Veneficis. In:

Ando, C.; Rüpke, J.: Religion and law in classical and Christian Rome. Stuttgart 2006.

Rives, J.B.: Magus and its cognates in Classical Latin. In: Gordon, R.L.; Simón, F.M.: Magical

Practice in the Latin West. Papers from the International Conference held at the University of

Zaragoza 30 Sept. – 1 Oct. 2005. Leiden – Boston, 2010, pp. 47-67.

Svetonio: Vita di Vitellio.

Tavenner, E.: Studies in magic from Latin literature. New York 1916.

Theophrastus: Historia Plantarum.


36

Virgilio: Bucoliche.

Vernant, J.P.: Divinazione e razionalità. Torino, 1982.

Wypustek, J. : Un aspect ignoré des persecutions des chrétiens dans l’Antiquité. Les accusations

de magie érotique imputées aux chrétiens aux IIe et IIIe siècles. «Jahrbuch für Antike und

Christentum», 42, 1999, pp. 50-71.

Xella, P. : (ed.): Magia. Studi di storia delle religioni in memoria di R. Garosi. Roma 1976.


37

RWANDA: CONSEQUENCES OF A GENOCIDE

Mihaela Ciobanu

Introduction

The term "genocide" was coined in 1946 by Raphael Lemkin - a Polish jurist of Jewish origin,

scholar and expert on the Armenian genocide of 1915 - during the Nuremberg trial to

encompass in one word the barbarism waged against Jews in the Second World War. The

Holocaust or Shoah (Hebrew term meaning "catastrophe", "destruction") has become the

genocide par excellence, although massacres against peoples have been documented since

the Middle Ages (such as the crusade against the Albigensians) and continued in modern age

(an example is given by the atrocities committed against Aztecs and Incas by European

conquistadors).

In the twentieth century, we must remember the extermination of about a million Armenians

perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks during the First World War; the Kulaki massacre carried

out by Stalin in the 1930s and the massacre wanted by the Cambodian leader Pol Pot on his

own population between 1975 and 1976. These horrors, however, do not have a peculiarity

of the genocide of the Jews, that is, the lucid and crazy systematicity, intended to wipe out

the entire Israelite community, known as the "final solution to the Jewish problem", from the

globe (Sabbatucci & Vidotto, 2011: 437). Applying the same term to the atrocities that took

place in Rwanda in 1994 caused many international problems: the nations of the world

remained indifferent to the event since they did not implement a timely intervention to stop

the genocide. Among the aspects on which it is appropriate to shed light, there is certainly the

set of dynamics that favored the development of actions so extreme as to be considered

genocidal acts. Investigating the causes of those events allows us to understand the very

essence of what occurred in the Great Lakes region and to understand why a genocide had

occurred again. Rwandan facts can explain the phenomenology, the dynamics, search for

analogies and - above all - the differences, but the reasons that led to it remain unknown

today. We have to understand how it was possible that a small group of extremists has been


38

able to organize themselves in such a way as to involve an entire community in drawing

crowds to erase an ethnicity.

The idea of ethnicity in Rwanda has long been disseminated and exploited by the colonists,

first Germans and then Belgians, who in the 1930s began to divide people by introducing

ethnic identity cards and favoring those they considered richer and of different origin: the

Tutsis. "You became Tutsi with more than 10 cows, with less you became Hutu" (Fusaschi,

2009: 21). Subsequently, the concept of ethnicity was exasperated until the national-racism

of the single party in power, headed by President Habyarimana, and finally assimilated by the

population through the official media.

1. Background

The twentieth century has been called the "century of the Genocide" or "century of

totalitarianism" in which violence, mass extermination and war reached unprecedented

levels. The twentieth century began under the banner of nationalist ethnocentrism and

everyone, from nationalists to socialists, thought in terms of "nation", "ethnicity" and

"people's right to self-determination". Since the beginning of the century, fronts and

outbreaks of war have opened in every continent, especially in Africa, rich in mineral

resources, but above all in population - the same that, a few centuries earlier, was deported

to America in conditions of slavery. European interest grew hand in hand with the desire to

conquer new lands. It was the one hundred most bloody years in human history: the earth

was flooded with violence from the early years with the Armenian genocide and then, with

the First and Second World Wars, massacres, conquests and industrial violence occurred due

to technological progress.

One of the darkest chapters in the history of mankind concerns the events that happened in

Rwanda in the spring of 1994. To shed light on what happened in those terrible hundred days

between Tutsi and Hutu, in which 800,000 people died through machetes, the anthropologist

Michela Fusaschi in her ethnographic investigation, starts from the problematization of the

term "genocide", showing how the consideration of these events was conditioned already by

terminological controversies. She notes that the term in question does not find any

correspondence in the local dictionary: the ambiguity of the term is evident (and the


39

neologisms that arose to express this concept show it) so that it led to a real debate. Thus, it

was necessary to find an adequate expression in the Kinyarwandan language that translated

that of genocide. Pasteur Bizimungu, the first post-genocide head of state, used two terms to

refer to the tragedy; both words were used in various public speeches, but in a generic way,

not specifying the specific object of the genocide. Two other expressions coined with the

intention of specifying the tragic event occurred to designate the massacre of a group, a

category or class were subsequently adopted. However, in recent years, the term jenoside has

prevailed as it allows immediate recognition and understanding on a global level to indicate

the tragedy of 1994, exactly as the word Shoah translates the singularity of the genocide of

the Jews.

A similar difficulty is also found in giving a definition of "victim" and "refugees", whether we

refer to those months, or to the forty years of extremist Hutu regime in which we witnessed

forced migrations, massacres and killings. To the survivors of the interior, the Tutsi of the exile

of the years 1959, 1973, 1994 were added, but, at the same time, "new refugees" were

created, i.e. those of the Hutu component, who went to occupy the Congolese camps, which

would be became theaters of horror and terror in the following months. These forty years

were characterized by constant clashes for power between the Hutus and the Tutsis, until in

1990 a Tutsi minority in exile in Uganda, led by Paul Kagame, organized an army called the

Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR), operating against Hutu. The FPR entered Rwanda across the

northern border with Uganda and aimed at Kigali to attempt a coup: this, however, had the

effect of fueling hatred towards the Tutsi minority inside Rwanda.

2. Genocide and post-genocide

On April 6, 1994, probably in an attack, President Habyarimana died. The extremist ruling

Hutus took advantage of this to start a strong crackdown on the Tutsi and moderate Hutu

minorities and to divert the FPR from the intention to take power, thus trying to calm the

internal discontent towards the regime in Rwanda. Eight hundred thousand Tutsi and

moderate Hutu lost their lives, many others (about two million) fled to neighboring countries

to save themselves. Confusion was created between victims and executioners: as soon as the

Tutsi took power in July 1994, the massacres ended and the exodus of the refugees and the

killers themselves began, the latter for fear of reprisals (Carbone, 2015: 241). Most of the Hutu


40

refugees went to the Congo, and together with the civilians, the Interahamwe militias,

responsible for the genocide, also fled and found refuge in the refugee camps of Gomma and

Bukavu, set up by the UN and by numerous NGOs intervened on the spot. The case of France

and its ambiguous role in the Turquoise operation approved by the UN in June 1994 is

particular. The objectives were to support the Hutus against the FPR and restore the status

quo to the period prior to April, as well as create an area safe to host civilians. In reality, the

French army immediately occupied a quarter of the country to face the FPR and only then did

France ask the UN to consider the area of application as a "safe zone". The operation ended

amid much criticism in August for the expiration of the UN presidency mandate: the troops

were withdrawn leaving the civilians to their fate.

In the region of Kivu in which they found shelter, the Hutu soon had to face the Congolese

war, also called the first African World War, i.e. the disagreement between the "indigenous"

populations and groups of Rwandan origin - a mixture of Tutsi and Hutu, called Banyarwanda

and Banyamulenge, Tutsi minority with less political weight and united to the first only for the

language. Banyarwanda means "originating in Rwanda": this term is used to indicate the

Kinyarwanda-speaking population. It is a mixture of Tutsi and Hutu that settled in the region

in different periods, starting with the Belgian colonial one in which there was a need for

manpower to be employed in mines and plantations; therefore the Mission d'Immigration des

Banyarwanda (MIB) was established in 1937, an association with the task of managing

migratory flows from Rwanda. The problem between the Abanyarwanda and the indigenous

groups arises from a different way of conceiving the ownership of the land: the former viewed

it as private property while the latter considered themselves deprived of the land belonging

to the family. In 1972, the situation worsened because the Congolese state also granted

citizenship to the former, thus giving the possibility of political ascent to some members. In

1973, the Kinshasa government enacted a law providing for the nationalization of Congolese

soil and subsoil. This change led to increased inequality between communities. “In 1991, the

citizenship of the Banyarwanda was revoked, leaving this community in an ‘identity confusion’

that would quickly lead to violence” (Carbone, 2015: 90).

When the Hutu refugees arrived in Rwanda's Kivu in 1994, they found themselves in the

aforementioned explosive context and their arrival only aggravated the situation. In reality,

the refugee camps became centers where genocidal militias reorganized by forming alliances


41

with the indigenous Congolese militias, the Mai-Mai. These were alliances characterized by

sudden changes of fronts, but which had in common an enemy: the Tutsi present among the

Abanyarwanda. Despite innumerable requests to the United Nations from Prime Minister Paul

Kagame to close the refugee camps. Faced with the silence of New York, the prime minister

decided for a military solution, using the defense of the Tutsi as a pretext to legitimize his

hegemonic ambitions in eastern Congo. In 1996, the Rwandan army entered Congo for the

first time and subsequently, the Kigali regime supported many rebel movements, such as the

Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie, which arose in Kivu in 1998. Despite various

rebellions that have resulted in these years, the Rwandan government and the movements

related to it, continued to justify that their intervention and war, were related to the defense

of the Abanyarwanda. Meanwhile, in the Congolese forest, the genocidal militias, gathered

into a movement, the Democratic Forces of the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), with the

intention to regain Rwanda. Instead of fighting the FDRL, the Congolese government

supported it militarily to counter the ambitions of the Kigali regime. In all this, the UN blue

helmets, present in the region, failed to impose the end of the war activities. The

Banyamulenge instead remained on the margins of political life, apart from some exponents

who managed to enter the circle of Mobutu. From here arose conflicts with the populations

of southern Kivu, who did not welcome the acquisition of Banyamulenge citizenship. The

movement of Congolese politics towards democratization exacerbated relations so that many

young Banyamulenge left the country expatriating to Uganda to join the FPR. It was the

pretext used by the Congolese as to repress the Rwandan presence in southern Congo.

3. Testimonials

Internally, in the first months of the post-genocide, there are the testimonies of those who try

to tell the drama in looking for friends, relatives despite being aware of finding "only bones".

José Kagabo, a Rwandan historian, tries to recount the experience of returning to his

hometown in August 1994. In 1973, he was forced to flee to France where he obtained French

citizenship. He defines himself as "indirect witness" and "victim". The political scientist

Mahmood Mamdani, divides in his work When victims become killers (2001) the post-genocide

population into five categories:


42

1. The returnees, referring to the indentors of and with the FPR;

2. The refugees, both "historical" refugees, exiled from 1959 and 1973, and "new" ones

from 1994;

3. The victims, i.e. those on whom the genocide was launched (Tutsi and moderate Hutu);

4. The survivors of the genocide among whom it is appropriate to distinguish between

"victims" / "direct witnesses" and "indirect witnesses". In the category of "indirect

witnesses" many actresses and actors define themselves as "victims" because they

identify with the reasons of the survivor. Instead, in the "direct witnesses" category,

according to Mamdani, all those responsible should be included, even those who

planned the genocide, even though they did not kill directly and who merely fueled

genocidal ideologies and practices.

5. The perpetrators, the fifth category identified by Mamdani, who actually carried out

genocidal acts. This thesis is also widely supported by José Kagabo who considers it

useless to try to distinguish small and large culprits when the facts show that the

actions performed and those only planned are revealed to be of the same inhuman

nature.

The "indirect witnesses" are those who were not present because they were exiled, i.e. the

"historical" refugees from the time of the social revolution of 1959, the year in which the

Hutus rebelled against the Tutsi denouncing their racist domination and thus leading to a

change of the Rwandan leadership: Power was taken by the discriminated majority, the Hutus.

The rescapes or the survivors are the eyewitnesses of what happened, undergoing firsthand a

process of inferiorization, humiliation and a dehumanizing treatment perhaps for the whole

life (as clarified by the expression "symbolic violence" of which Bordieau speaks). Here is the

example of a testimony taken into consideration by the author:

«Ever since I was a child, I was humiliated (as Tutsi), I managed to enter the

quotas and I attended primary school, every day the teacher who just

entered told me that I had to stay up [...], so that the others saw how

different I was. […] I continued to undergo mortifications to the point that,

sooner or later, I would have been killed, in fact I myself would have liked to

offer my neck to have it cut. At some point in my life (the reference is at the

beginning of the nineties, when there was the first descent of the FPR) I


43

wasn't even afraid of dying anymore. I would have preferred to die a

thousand times because after all I have been walking since I was a child, but

I have always been dead » (Fusaschi, 2009: 31 f.).

This story highlights the progressive incorporation of symbolic violence as recognition of

«Violence that is exercised precisely in the way in which it is not recognized

as violence, is the fact of accepting that set of fundamental, pre-reflective

assumptions that social agents bring into play for the simple fact of taking

the world as obvious, and to find it natural as it is [...]. Since we were born in

a social world, we accept a certain number of postulates, which are tacitly

assumed and which do not need to be inculcated » (Fusaschi, 2009: 32).

It deals, therefore, with people who carry physical signs, but above all psychological ones,

which are not visible. They are signs of the loss of human dignity, of the sense of guilt, of

frustration to have survived sexual abuse, marked in the body and mind by the atrocities

suffered. Violating women makes rape the greatest weapon of terror, especially in the context

of genocide: if we consider carnal violence as a tool of racial purge, this fully testifies to the

iniquities of a genocide. During the Rwandan genocide, women were raped not only as a

traditional "spoils of war" and as a form of humiliation of the enemy because "appropriating

a woman's body is a symbol of the earth, of the nation itself" (Fusaschi, 2009: 49 ), but also as

an instrument of extermination; extermination that would have produced effects both in the

immediate and in retrospect, through the spread of terrible diseases, first of all AIDS. Pauline

Nyiramasuhako, a former Hutu minister for the condition of women and family affairs,

organized a series of criminal teams, also made up of drug addicts, and AIDS rapists, sending

them to rape and kill Tutsi women. Social pregnancy was functional to "ethnic cleansing",

moreover, additional violence was carried out on pregnant women, as if to mark their

responsibility as generators of the "enemy lineage". The proportions of this evil campaign

were immense: it is estimated that today more than two thirds of the victims are HIV-positive.

In addition to the huge number of raped women, an even more regrettable question is added:

the birth of children generated by the violence, often not accepted, who are abandoned and

excluded from the community of the mother and the father aggressor. Another defendant to

remember is Jean-Paul Akayeshu, then mayor from the Rwandan city of Taba, who was


44

sentenced only in 1998 to life imprisonment for the massacre of 2000 Tutsi refugees in his

town hall, for the collective rape of Tutsi women and for participation directed to several

murders. The trial concerning the former mayor is perhaps the most important having been

the first in which a court was called to interpret the definition of genocide. The court

recognized that "acts of sexual violence can be prosecuted as constitutive elements of a

genocidal program and that therefore rape, in Rwanda, is to be considered a true act of

genocide" as rape was carried out only on Tutsi women. Some authors have attempted to

write a history of rape trying to define it; among them, Susana Brownmiller, in 1975, exponent

of feminism, said that: "sexual violence consists of a conscious process, through which all men

keep all women in a state of fear" (Fusaschi, 2009: 42). It is a very controversial definition,

according to Ruth Seifert, since the author believes that "the biological aspect is a sufficient

explanation through which men manifest social power by means of rape" (ibid.). The woman's

body thus becomes a weapon which is at the same time political and a warfare through which

the victim's physical death is not aimed: as Apadurai states, "the aggressor does not want to

physically eliminate his enemy but wants to make her harmless and humiliate her by profaning

the woman and her body" (Fusaschi, 2009: 43), as it is a symbol in and of the private, symbol

of the earth and therefore of the nation itself. In this way, raped women become antisocial

beings, deprived of their essence and, as Guenivet would say, "dirtying his image means

destroying the country".

Historian Josè Kagabo harshly criticizes NGOs because he considers their "humanitarian"

intervention after the genocide to be useless only in order to demonstrate a “’good

conscience’ and and to stand then, almost like ‘saviors’ of this people at national and

international level”. (see Fusaschi, 2009) According to the historian, it was necessary to

intervene earlier: instead of giving weight to the question of memory and the genocide that

took place in those hundred days in Rwanda, NGOs were concerned about talking about

medical assistance, distributing blankets and provisions. According to them, we need to think

about the future, think about forgiving and not lingering on the past. To identify and judge

those responsible for the genocide, on 8 November 1994 the United Nations Security Council

created the International Criminal Court for Rwanda (ICTR/ TPIR), based in Arusha, Tanzania.

The main objective of this Tribunal was to contribute to the national reconciliation process in

Rwanda and to maintain peace within its territory, although criticism concerning the timing of


45

the proceedings was not lacking. In fact, the government of Rwanda restored the traditional

judicial system called Gaçaça (Fusaschi, 2009: 56), based on the confession / forgiveness

formula and on the distinction between genocide planners and perpetrators. The goal of the

Tribunal is to speed up the path of justice. Over the years, these courts have allowed many

detainees, following the confession of their crimes, to be released and to be reintegrated into

the community with the obligation to perform "socially useful jobs". This practice meant that

killers and victims were on the same road.

«In the Gaçaça assemblies, the survivors say they are aware of the sexual

violence that has taken place, but the victims rarely take the word. For their

part, the detainees confess that they were part of militia groups that carried

out the rapes, however denying their active participation» (Fusaschi: 2009,

168).

An example of a testimony of this kind is provided by Francesca Polidori, who reports the story

of a Tutsi girl named Liberata, who was just 10 years old during the genocide. Liberata

testified, during a Gacaca session, to have been raped by a group of Interahamwe who lived

on the same hill. During the testimony, Liberata indicated the two detainees present who had

raped her, who despite having admitted to being part of the Interahamwe group, denied their

implication in sexual violence. Justice therefore developed along two independent strands:

the national one, which materialized through the Gacaca courts and that of the Arusha

International Tribunal. To commemorate and collect evidence of what happened, the

Murambi Memorial Center was established with the aim of preventing future genocidal acts

on the assumption that memory is consciousness and self-awareness. The choice to place this

museum in Murambi is not accidental: on 21 April 1994 more than 50,000 people were

exterminated on this hill, who had taken refuge in a building of the secondary technical school.

The Amagaju association, founded by some former Tutsi refugees, set itself the goal of giving

the victims who died there a worthy burial. However, due to the lack of funds, the association

turned to "political and administrative actors". In fact, annually on 7 April, the genocide that

took place in Murambi is commemorated. The Murambi Memorial Center is divided into three

parts:

the first part is made up of tombs;


46

the second part is made up of a photographic exhibition through which the stages of

the genocide can be traced chronologically;

the third part uses ossuary pavilions in which some mummified bodies of the victims

are exposed.

The center's first task is to dedicate itself to memory, taking into account some considerations

such as: trying to identify the "genocide", the act of remembrance must be based on a story

built on established evidence and legitimize identity; to keep the memory alive and to honor

the memory of the victims, the memorial must ensure that each visitor does not need a guide

but, once he leaves the center, is induced enough to no longer lend any credit to the disclosure

in the negationists and revisionists; therefore, to pay attention to the reasons for the conflict,

the policy and its objectives of the genocide, the history, the role of the victims and survivors

and above all the indifferent observers in front of the execution of the genocide. The memorial

center also takes into consideration people who have shown an act of courage, trying to save

the threatened people, and will still have to show how the international communities have

abandoned the Rwandans to their fate despite being aware of it, but rather, they provided

help to the executioners. The second mission of the Center of Murambi is to reconstruct

history starting from when the state began to no longer consider the population as composed

of equal citizens since the country's divisionist ideology was introduced.

4. Conclusions

It is very difficult to explain the reasons for the genocide that the Hutu ethnic group carried

out against the Tutsis in the approximately 100 days that separated the 7 April 1994 to the 16

July of the same year. The responsibility for this exploit of lucid and systematic violence of the

Rwandans against other Rwandans could be attributed to the white man or the Camitic

hypothesis or to Belgian colonialism or to the Habyrimana dictatorship or to the civil war

(Gourevitch, 2000: 184 f.). None of these causes will bring back to life that impressive number

of victims which is still difficult to establish with certainty and which oscillates according to

the most reliable sources between eight hundred thousand and one million deaths between

Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The Rwandan genocide is the testimony of how the western world

is indifferent to events that it feels distant from its own interests, but it is also an example of


47

how certain tragic events are exploited to feed stereotyped ideologies of peoples who have

always been considered "inferior" from every point of view . The population of the whole

world settled on the most common stereotypes which were not only simplistic but also

erroneous and very dangerous. Human rights associations tried in vain to bring everyone's

conscience to the reality of the facts. The image that the mass media disclosed of the war in

Rwanda was that of a mere tribal conflict characterized by violence based on a primitive

hatred that united those peoples.

Assumed that it was not a real ethnic difference between Tutsi and Hutu, the lexicon used by

the media succeeded in persuasive intent to implement this devastating genocide. Today we

must look at the genocide as a historical paradigm and we must distinguish it from murder for

the criminal and criminal intent of wanting to eradicate ethnic populations like weeds. The

crime lies in the idea of wanting to do this. (Gourevitch, 2000: 208). And all this must be made

public, as has been done for other similar events but distant in time and space, with the hope

that these facts will be a warning for subsequent generations.

Bibliography

Carbone, Carlo: Etnie e Guerra fredda. Una storia dell’Africa dei Grandi Laghi. Pisa: Edizioni

ETS, 2015.

Fusaschi, Michela: Ruanda: etnografie del post-genocidio. Roma: Meltemi, 2009.

Gourevitch, Philip : Desideriamo informarla che domani verremo uccisi con le nostre famiglie.

Storie dal Ruanda. Trad. it. a cura di Norman Gobetti. Torino, Einaudi, 2000. [published in

English under the title “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our

Families: Stories from Rwanda” in 1998.]


48

Sabbatucci, Giovanni; Vidotto, Vittorio: Il mondo contemporaneo. Dal 1848 ad oggi. Bari:

Editori Laterza, 2011.

Contributors

SANDER WILKENS

Study of philosophy, musicology and linguistics. Dr. phil. in philosophy and musicology 1988/2001,

habilitation in philosophy 2011 (TU Berlin) and 2017 (University of Trier). Several publications in the

field of theoretical philosophy, p.e. "Die Konvertibilität des Bewusstseins" (2002), "Metaphysik und die

Ordination des Bewusstseins" (2014), "Sozialbewusstsein" (2015), "Ichbewusstsein -

Gruppenbewusstsein. Die Energiebasis und ihre logischen Folgen" (2019).

ILARIA SCAVELLI

Second year doctoral student at the “Sorbonne Université de Paris (Department of Latin Studies)” in

co-tutorship with the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Department of Archeology), is conducting a

research project on social changes, rituals and religious that took place in Rome during the reign of the

last three kings. She studied Lettere e Beni Culturali at Università della Calabria. Later, she joined a

postgraduate course in advanced training in the History of Religions followed at the University of Rome

"La Sapienza".

MIHAELA CIOBANU

PhD student in the second year at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Bucharest in co-tutelage with

Università della Calabria, with a research topic in the History of political thinking on the Tradition of

democratic communism in Italy: from Gramsci to Berlinguer. Ciobanu graduated in Philosophy and

History from the University of Calabria.

journal of ethnophilosophical questions and global ethics · 2020. 2. 3. · e-mail:...

Documents