Terror, terrorism and recognition = Terror, terrorizmus és elismerés

Gondar, Jô (2018) Terror, terrorism and recognition = Terror, terrorizmus és elismerés. Kaleidoscope history, 9 (16). pp. 241-247. ISSN 20622597

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Abstract

In this paper, I intend to discuss the notions of terror and terrorism from a psychoanalytical perspective. With Freud, we can question the idea of splitting the world: they and we, reason and brutal violence, barbarians and civilized. This does not mean putting on the same basket the many degrees of violence, leveling the extreme acts and those mediated by words. It means to denounce the pretension of speaking about “them” without questioning “us”. With Ferenczi, we can notice that what terrifies someone is not physical violence, but the fact that his suffering may not be recognized. The notion of denial or disbelief can be understood as a denied recognition, thus spread to the social field. It indicates that power relations have mean subjective effects when they involve humiliation, shame and, mainly, deficits of recognition. An articulation of Ferenczi’s and philosopher Axel Honneth’s ideas allow us to understand denial as a political and social problem. The Tunisian psychoanalyst Fethi Benslama locates the deficits of recognition on the root of radical Islamism derangement, associating them to the martyr’s industry of jihadism. Understanding the circulation of the affects in terror situations is an important contribution of psychoanalysis, both to create non violent answers to the aggressions as to recognize the collective responsibility in the terror and terrorism situations.

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