An Appeal to a Beautiful Life Force ---- In these bellicose times,
propaganda, the stirring up of base instincts through posters in the
subway, announcements in the media, and games on social networks, all
create a climate conducive to violence and other perversities inherent
in war. It is a pleasure to find a small but very informative book,
entitled Cursed Be War, written by Pierre Drouillard-Lefèvre and
published by Divergences. A heartfelt salute to the orphan of Gentioux
and to this plea, "Never again!" The author emphasizes the proliferation
of conflicts in the world. "Wherever you look, the strong devour the
weak. The gears are turning. New major confrontations are brewing." With
supporting figures, he demonstrates that "in the age of total war and
the balance of terror, humanity concentrates a destructive power
unprecedented in history, any escalation jeopardizing its very
survival." The rise of destructive forces regularly fuels the media. For
him, "it is therefore vital to rebuild a popular anti-militarist
consciousness, accessible and adapted to our times. This is the ambition
of this manual[...]."
It is worth noting that in France today, no major voice of the
institutional left speaks out against war with the same force as Jean
Jaurès. The President of the Republic readily adopts warlike vocabulary,
even against a virus, a posture of wartime leader. One only needs to
look at the Bastille Day parade on an avenue emptied of the population.
Our country has a cult of the military; our dubious expertise was
exported to the dictatorships of Latin America in the 1970s and 80s, to
South Africa, to Françafrique... The arms industry is powerful,
employing 200,000 people, with increasingly successful arms fairs, and
France is the world's second-largest arms exporter.
"Nationalism Leads to Massacre"
What kind of war are we talking about? Pierre Drouillard-Lefèvre offers
the following definition: "War is a process of extreme, mass,
disciplined, and institutionalized violence,[...]the product of
centralized power." He traces its origins to the writings of Rousseau
and, more recently, James C. Scott. For him, "nationalism leads to
massacre," both externally and internally.
The entry into war is a shock, a state of emergency, freedoms suspended
indefinitely, and the surveillance of the population established. The
aim of war is supposedly to prevent the end of the world... Yet the
world has seen ends before. In North America, South America,
Australia... Colonization is a war of conquest, of destroying peoples.
There is no land without people, except perhaps in Antarctica...
Fascism loves war; it finds its origin there, along with violence and
contempt for the "inferior." For Aimé Césaire, the oppressor is also
alienated and decivilized by his own crimes. He destroys himself. For
the fascist writer Marinetti, "war is beautiful." D'Annunzio is on the
front lines, as is Ernst Jünger.
From Profits to Ecocide
For others, war is a source of profit. Budgets increase, and war is
privatized with private military companies, as in Iraq (see Stéphane
Lanos, *Les sous-traitants*, Ed. La Lanterne, 2025). Research is fueled
by conflict: drones, nuclear fire, artificial intelligence, the horror
of the augmented soldier. And then, after destruction, reconstruction is
necessary-more profit! Current events in Ukraine and Gaza demonstrate
this. Everyone knows Anatole France's famous quote: "We think we are
dying for our country, but we are dying for industry." Let's not forget
ecocide. In Vietnam, napalm, Agent Orange-dioxin. Worldwide, the ongoing
devastation caused by nuclear tests, the dumping of nuclear weapons in
ocean trenches, and the storage of nuclear submarines in the ports of
the former Soviet Union.
Pierre Drouillard-Lefèvre calls for disarmament but also for the right
to self-defense. Hating war without laying down arms. Peace does not
mean bowing our heads before violence. He refers to true pacifists such
as the philosopher Simone Weil, Albert Camus, Robert Desnos, and the
members of La Nueve. An interesting reminder of the anarcho-syndicalist
tradition against war in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He
concludes with a call to action: "While there is still time, we can
replace the death instinct that hangs over our world with a life force."
* Pierre Drouillard-Lefèvre
Cursed Be War: A Manual of Antimilitarist Resistance
Divergences Publishing, 2025
https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8667
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
propaganda, the stirring up of base instincts through posters in the
subway, announcements in the media, and games on social networks, all
create a climate conducive to violence and other perversities inherent
in war. It is a pleasure to find a small but very informative book,
entitled Cursed Be War, written by Pierre Drouillard-Lefèvre and
published by Divergences. A heartfelt salute to the orphan of Gentioux
and to this plea, "Never again!" The author emphasizes the proliferation
of conflicts in the world. "Wherever you look, the strong devour the
weak. The gears are turning. New major confrontations are brewing." With
supporting figures, he demonstrates that "in the age of total war and
the balance of terror, humanity concentrates a destructive power
unprecedented in history, any escalation jeopardizing its very
survival." The rise of destructive forces regularly fuels the media. For
him, "it is therefore vital to rebuild a popular anti-militarist
consciousness, accessible and adapted to our times. This is the ambition
of this manual[...]."
It is worth noting that in France today, no major voice of the
institutional left speaks out against war with the same force as Jean
Jaurès. The President of the Republic readily adopts warlike vocabulary,
even against a virus, a posture of wartime leader. One only needs to
look at the Bastille Day parade on an avenue emptied of the population.
Our country has a cult of the military; our dubious expertise was
exported to the dictatorships of Latin America in the 1970s and 80s, to
South Africa, to Françafrique... The arms industry is powerful,
employing 200,000 people, with increasingly successful arms fairs, and
France is the world's second-largest arms exporter.
"Nationalism Leads to Massacre"
What kind of war are we talking about? Pierre Drouillard-Lefèvre offers
the following definition: "War is a process of extreme, mass,
disciplined, and institutionalized violence,[...]the product of
centralized power." He traces its origins to the writings of Rousseau
and, more recently, James C. Scott. For him, "nationalism leads to
massacre," both externally and internally.
The entry into war is a shock, a state of emergency, freedoms suspended
indefinitely, and the surveillance of the population established. The
aim of war is supposedly to prevent the end of the world... Yet the
world has seen ends before. In North America, South America,
Australia... Colonization is a war of conquest, of destroying peoples.
There is no land without people, except perhaps in Antarctica...
Fascism loves war; it finds its origin there, along with violence and
contempt for the "inferior." For Aimé Césaire, the oppressor is also
alienated and decivilized by his own crimes. He destroys himself. For
the fascist writer Marinetti, "war is beautiful." D'Annunzio is on the
front lines, as is Ernst Jünger.
From Profits to Ecocide
For others, war is a source of profit. Budgets increase, and war is
privatized with private military companies, as in Iraq (see Stéphane
Lanos, *Les sous-traitants*, Ed. La Lanterne, 2025). Research is fueled
by conflict: drones, nuclear fire, artificial intelligence, the horror
of the augmented soldier. And then, after destruction, reconstruction is
necessary-more profit! Current events in Ukraine and Gaza demonstrate
this. Everyone knows Anatole France's famous quote: "We think we are
dying for our country, but we are dying for industry." Let's not forget
ecocide. In Vietnam, napalm, Agent Orange-dioxin. Worldwide, the ongoing
devastation caused by nuclear tests, the dumping of nuclear weapons in
ocean trenches, and the storage of nuclear submarines in the ports of
the former Soviet Union.
Pierre Drouillard-Lefèvre calls for disarmament but also for the right
to self-defense. Hating war without laying down arms. Peace does not
mean bowing our heads before violence. He refers to true pacifists such
as the philosopher Simone Weil, Albert Camus, Robert Desnos, and the
members of La Nueve. An interesting reminder of the anarcho-syndicalist
tradition against war in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He
concludes with a call to action: "While there is still time, we can
replace the death instinct that hangs over our world with a life force."
* Pierre Drouillard-Lefèvre
Cursed Be War: A Manual of Antimilitarist Resistance
Divergences Publishing, 2025
https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8667
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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