Reflections on Political Responsibility

Well, I could be writing about the stock-market I guess, but really, I just don't have much to say about it. It's not a shock to me; the financial market is a big, global casino and like at any good casino, poor Jane and Joe who are hoping for the a roll of the dice to change their lives, are getting fucked in a bad way. I'm sorry for them. That's it.

I would much rather write a short entry in response to, or in reflection on, an article written by Serbian political scientist Dasa Duhacek on the role of individual and collective responsibility in Serbian. She is making her analysis of the events of the 1991-1999 period through the lens of Hanna Arendt's thesis of responsibility. In essence Arendt, and subsequently Duhacek, argue that it is the responsibility of the individual for crimes committed in their name, by their political representatives, elected or not.

As Duhacek suggests, "No leader, no hierarchical structure can stand without the support of a plurality of individuals..." Thus it is suggested that anyone who participates in an unjust system, who does not actively oppose or declare their "disloyalty" is responsible for all acts carried out by the system. Arendt's most famous work on the subject is, of course, Eichmann in Jerusalem.

As I read Duhacek's text, and the parallels she draws to Serbian society, I found myself in agreement, nodding my head in a somber, scholarly fashion at the appropriate moments. But a question jumped out at me half way through: what about knowledge? I wondered what the role of knowledge was in relation to individual responsibility? I know that for myself, knowledge is precisely what makes me responsible for what is carried out by my government (as I have not done much to oppose it or declare myself disloyal...). Yet, can we say the same about individuals who, for one reason or another, have never been educated to construct such critical thoughts of the political system under which they live?

I thought of these question in the Serbian context. There is a significant gap in wealth between Belgrade and the rest of the country, and again between the region of Vojvodina and Central and South Serbia. As a result, educational centers such as top academies and Universities tend to be clustered in Belgrade and Vojvodina (with a few minor exceptions). Thus it is also logical to conclude that there is a difference in level, strength, and access of education also.

So, can we say that a person, to poor to move to Belgrade and attend university, where they would acquire the same critical analysis skills I posses, is also responsible? What about agricultural communities? There lives are focused on the production of food, there academic education is secondary to the agricultural one. What is their relationship to responsibility?

My question, finally, is simply, what responsibility does an individual have, who has no knowledge, and therefore no ability or tools with which to critically asses their lives as political, towards the actions of the state?

Luckily, I will have the occasion to ask Dasa Duhacek herself tomorrow. Stay tuned...