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declanmj's review
5.0
Whilst at time's prone to tangents, this work is a fantastic delve into some of the foundational ideas regarding humanitarian law. Strongly recommend.
neoludification's review
3.5
A dense and messy account of how contemporary humanitarian efforts are complicit in the violence they seek to mitigate, and how individuals (e.g. human rights lawyers) and organisations (e.g. Médicins Sans Frontières, Human Rights Watch) become incorporated into the very systems that mete out the violence they are trying to prevent. This occurs through a perverse logic of 'the lesser evil', which in the hands of neo-colonial and genocidal regimes amounts to cynical calculations of permissible civilian casualties and 'humanitarian minima'. The argument is solid, if contentious, but the book feels a bit rushed in places.
stevendedalus's review
4.0
An odd, muddled book that has a great point about institutional capture buried in its dense musings.
Weizman details how the best of intentions of humanitarian work can be utilized and become essential to the execution of cruel acts. Weizman lays out the origins of the debate and situates it, as many of these discussions end up, in Hannah Arendt's thought. He lays out her argument that complete resistance is better than mitigating harm within the oppressive system because then that oppressive system becomes legitimized and may actually end up depending on you.
Weizman places particular emphasis on the Israeli Palestinian conflict, and the strength of the book is in the specificity of his examples.
However, he spends considerably less time laying out an alternative course of action. The short book becomes frustrating by laying out a compelling argument against a certain course and then just handwaving a new direction almost as an afterthought.
It's a valuable addition to a larger discourse, but you may end up more despairing after you're done.
Weizman details how the best of intentions of humanitarian work can be utilized and become essential to the execution of cruel acts. Weizman lays out the origins of the debate and situates it, as many of these discussions end up, in Hannah Arendt's thought. He lays out her argument that complete resistance is better than mitigating harm within the oppressive system because then that oppressive system becomes legitimized and may actually end up depending on you.
Weizman places particular emphasis on the Israeli Palestinian conflict, and the strength of the book is in the specificity of his examples.
However, he spends considerably less time laying out an alternative course of action. The short book becomes frustrating by laying out a compelling argument against a certain course and then just handwaving a new direction almost as an afterthought.
It's a valuable addition to a larger discourse, but you may end up more despairing after you're done.
sennett's review
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
One of my favorite academic works so far. It's not too accessible but seriously worth the effort. Because of the different topics, the slowness of such a philosophical work is reduced. Would strongly recommend if you're interested in humanitarian law, human rights, Gaza, or humanitarian aid organisations.
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