Denouncing Historical “Misfortunes”

• DOI: 10.1177/0090591714544706
• Author: Mihaela Mihai
• Published date: 01 August 2014
• Date: 01 August 2014
• Subject Matter: Special Section: “Old” Media and Political Theory

Political Theory

2014, Vol. 42(4) 443 –467

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DOI: 10.1177/0090591714544706

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Special Section: “Old” Media and Political Theory

Denouncing Historical

“Misfortunes”: From

Passive Injustice to

Reflective Spectatorship

Mihaela Mihai1

Abstract

This essay’s starting point is Judith Shklar’ diagnosis of a pathology marring

democratic societies: complex injustices passing as “misfortunes” that

nobody feels responsible for. I propose that denunciations can reveal the

political nature of the suffering that everyone conveniently ignores, thus

advancing democratic accountability. While denunciations can target various

invisible injustices and take many forms, this essay deals with the case of

societies with an unmastered past of violence. In order to avoid taking

responsibility for the plight of victims, the past is often redescribed in the

language of “catastrophe” or “necessity.” Building on Hannah Arendt’s views

on spectatorship and storytelling, this essay analyses theatrical denunciations

addressing the wider community. Theatre—professional or amateur—can

repoliticise neutralised areas of social interaction and transform passive

onlookers into reflective spectators. The Argentinean performance of

escraches and Thomas Bernhard’s play Heldenplatz are discussed as examples

of successful political denunciations communicated in dramaturgical form.

Keywords

denunciation, injustice, political judgment, spectator, political art

1University of York, York, United Kingdom.

Corresponding Author:

Mihaela Mihai, Department of Politics, University of York, Heslington, YO10 5DD, United

Kingdom.

Email: mihaela.mihai@york.ac.uk

544706PTXXXX10.1177/0090591714544706Political TheoryMihai

research-article2014

444 Political Theory 42(4)

Introduction

Denunciations refer to public statements of condemnation targeting unjust

acts, practices, institutions, or persons. Typically, they occupy positions on a

continuum between “a social critique that points out an injustice in its most

general aspect without necessarily calling for reparations” and “an individual

critique that targets an individual, in the sense of denouncing someone to the

authorities for the purpose of having a sanction applied.”1 They are usually

proclaimed in the name of the common good of the relevant community.

Because of their prominence as weapons of political control within non-dem-

ocratic regimes (e.g. Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, Nazi Germany),

as convenient mechanisms for eliminating political enemies and stifling dis-

sent during revolutionary moments (e.g. revolutionary France, Maoist China),

and as expressions of “public disgust” towards various groups (e.g. homo-

sexuals, heretics), denunciations have a bad reputation. Often hailed as a vir-

tuous civic act, denunciations have too easily and too often degenerated into

delation: a self-interested, abusive, “civil homicide.”2

While denunciations have greatly preoccupied historians,3 political theory

has been rather silent on the topic. This essay seeks to contribute a theoretical

account of such practices. It argues there is nothing intrinsically problematic

with denunciations: when oriented by a commitment to the guiding principles

of constitutional democracies and resonating in the wider society they can

kick-start important political debates. I will not address denunciations of

individuals by individuals directed to the authorities for the purpose of pun-

ishment.4 Instead, I focus on the harder case of denunciations that target com-

plex injustices, that is, injustices that involve, beyond the direct perpetrators,

many who allowed or even condoned the abuses in the past and who now

benefit from turning a blind eye. Such injustices are, more often than not,

invisible: they seldom feature as “injustices” in political debates. I argue that,

in re-politicising previously neutralised areas of social life, legitimate acts of

condemnation can play a crucial critical role: they can raise awareness and

fuel important public debates over how pervasive injustices reproduce unim-

peded. Given the invisibility of complex injustices and the entrenched por-

trayal thereof as “misfortunes,” I argue that denunciations can be vehicles for

communicating democratic interpellations: they can invite the passive

onlooker to take a position regarding the plight of the victims of “misfor-

tune,” thus becoming a reflective spectator who can think politically and con-

sider various forms of political redress.

While denunciations can target a multitude of invisible systemic injustices

and can take a variety of forms, this essay deals with the particular case of

societies with a past of political violence and analyses two theatrical denun-

ciations. In order to avoid taking responsibility for the plight of victims,