Written
almost 500 years ago, and sounds like an anarchist analysis,
certainly still makes excellent sense today.
The Politics of Obedience:Discourse of Voluntary Servitude
“What is so remarkable is that La Boétie
did this in 1552 or 1553 - four-hundred-and-forty years ago! It is
also interesting that modern tyrants use the same formula today to
subjugate and dominate their victims. Here are the main elements of
the La Boétie analysis as I see it:” (FrederickMann)
The only power tyrants have is the power
relinquished to them by their victims.
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The tyrant is often a weak little man. He has no special qualities that set him apart from anyone else - yet the gullible idolize him.
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The victims bring about their own subjection - they "win their enslavement."
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If without violence the tyrant is simply not obeyed, he becomes "naked and undone and as nothing."
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Once you resolve to serve no more, you are free.
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We are all born free and naturally free.
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Grown-up adults should adopt reason as their guide and never become slaves of anybody.
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People can be enslaved through either force or deception.
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When people lose their freedom through deceit, it is because they mislead themselves.
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People born into slavery regard it as a natural condition.
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In general, people are shaped more by their environment than by their natural capacities - if they allow it.
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Habit and custom are powerful forces that keep people enslaved.
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There are always some people who cannot be tamed, subjected, or enslaved. Even if freedom were to be entirely extinguished, these people would re-invent it.
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Lovers of freedom tend to be ineffective because they are not known to one another.
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People who lose their freedom also lose their valor (strength of mind, bravery).
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Among free people there is competition to do good for humanity.
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People seem to be most gullible towards those who deliberately set out to fool them. It is as if people have a need to be deceived.
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Tyrants stupefy their victims with "pastimes and vain pleasures flashed before their eyes."
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Tyrants parade like "workers of magic."
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Tyrants can only give back part of what they first took from their victims.
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Tyrants attain their positions through: (a) Force; (b) Birth; or (c) Election.
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Tyrants create a power structure, consisting of a multi-layered hierarchy, staffed by a conspiracy of accomplices. Accomplices receive their positions as a favor from the tyrant.
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The worst dregs of society gather around the tyrant - they are people of weak character who trade servility for unearned wealth.
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Accomplices can profit greatly from their positions in the hierarchy.
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If people withdraw their support, the tyrant topples over from his own corrupted weight.
LeDiscourse of Voluntary Servitude by Éttiene de la Boétie.(abridged and edited from the Harry Kurz translation)
"Let us therefore learn while there is yet time, let us learn to claim our liberty. Let us open our eyes to our natural freedom for the sake of our honor, for the very love of virtue. As for me, I truly believe I am right, since there is nothing so contrary to reason as self-imposed tyranny. I believe the time will come when support will be withdrawn from tyrants and their accomplices. Then let us watch them all fall from their own corrupted weight."
When will we ever learn, when will we ever learn?
