The Power of the Powerless parts VIII - X

Part VIII - Post-totalitarian systems impose a false, anti-human way of life on their subjects. Refusal to play along with the lie is a constant threat to their power. Simple refusal to speak the lie is a form of power and inevitably creates a formidable opposition.

Part IX - We need a higher cause than mere survival and material prosperity. Loyalty to the truth can be that cause. It may not produce immediate payoffs, but it will, by its nature, create resistance to post-totalitarianism.

Part X - In a post-totalitarian system, there is no such thing as non-political activity. Those who depend on lies must fear (and thus must attack) dissent from any possible angle. Nothing can be left alone to be enjoyed for its own sake because there is no telling where dissent may suddenly pop up.

---

Sorry for posting this late (and short), guys. I can only plead that we're still getting moved in and set up and it's consuming more time and energy than I had anticipated. Hopefully, we'll have everything back to normal soon. I'll try to get through part XIV for the next post.

The Power of the Powerless parts I - VII

First of all, Happy Easter, and he is risen!

Second, let’s go ahead and get started discussing Havel’s extended essay.

The Power of the Powerless

Part I - There is a thread of dissent running through Eastern Europe. Who are these dissidents? What is the system they rebel against? What form does their dissent take?

Part II - The system Havel contends with is not a dictatorship as traditionally understood, although it may have started out that way. Dictatorships are run strictly by force, and are, in a fashion, disconnected from the tradition and the larger culture. What Havel faces is something else, which he calls post-totalitarian.

Part III - Havel gives the example of a small greengrocer who posts in his shop the sign “workers of the world unite.” What does he mean by this? What is the real import of that sign? How is his posting of that sign a part of the post-totalitarian system?

Part IV - What is the essence of the post-totalitarian system? When and how does it affect those living under it?

Part V - The post-totalitarian system is driven by an ideology which seems to take on a life of its own. Even those seemingly in power must follow the demands of the ideology, and can be quickly destroyed if they step out of line.

Part VI - Why does the system demand a repeating of its mantras? Why must everyone, regardless of acting in line with its demands, also mouth its lies? Everyone in such a system, down to the lowest level, is complicit in its evil because every act of compliance and compromise reinforces it.

Part VII - What happens to those who refuse to comply? How does such refusal threaten the post-totalitarian system?

---

For next week, we'll read through part XII, page 37 on my copy. I look forward to your thoughts.