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A review by wellworn_soles
The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
4.0
I am surprised how well Hannah is known and yet simultaneously how little it seems her political perspectives have entered into the public arena. Her discussions on the origin if anti-Semitism were astounding; nuanced, clear and cogent, with plenty of evidence to support her argument. It was a far muddier version of the story than what I grew up hearing and believing, and thus rings more true.
It also tied beautifully into her discussion on imperialism. Once nation-states have been formalized, stateless people are in an extremely dangerous predicament. However, no solution comes by pushing the problem down the line, as it were. This is what was done in Israel: after World War 2, what could have happened was a deconstruction of the state as a framework. This was the perfect historical moment to fully reimagine alternatives that did not expose whole ethnic groups to liquidation. Unfortunately, the problem was merely transmitted from the Jews of Europe onto the indigenous population of Palestine, perpetuating the wound of stateless peoples further.
Hannah does have some very telling racism evident in her work, which was not my favorite. This especially reared its head in the Imperialism section, with continued references to “higher” and “lower” cultures. This was a classic argument during the colonial period, which pivoted to claim a moral duty to “civilize” non-European peoples. Admittedly, Arendt may have been repeating these things purely to give us insight into the perspective of colonizers at the time; its hard to tell, but that’s kind of my point.
Its interesting to note that she was a heavy critic of Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth. This does not damn her by any means, but Fanon’s work is all about critiquing colonial frameworks. Arendt notes how colonial perspectives engendered the rise of totalitarian movements, but she seems to have some unexamined prejudice in-line with the time period, which I was a bit disappointed by.
Regardless, her elucidation not only of the machinations of power in totalitarianism, but the psychology of these movements from their genesis to their apex is extremely valuable. One of those books I’d like to own a copy of and underline all over the place. 4 stars.
It also tied beautifully into her discussion on imperialism. Once nation-states have been formalized, stateless people are in an extremely dangerous predicament. However, no solution comes by pushing the problem down the line, as it were. This is what was done in Israel: after World War 2, what could have happened was a deconstruction of the state as a framework. This was the perfect historical moment to fully reimagine alternatives that did not expose whole ethnic groups to liquidation. Unfortunately, the problem was merely transmitted from the Jews of Europe onto the indigenous population of Palestine, perpetuating the wound of stateless peoples further.
Hannah does have some very telling racism evident in her work, which was not my favorite. This especially reared its head in the Imperialism section, with continued references to “higher” and “lower” cultures. This was a classic argument during the colonial period, which pivoted to claim a moral duty to “civilize” non-European peoples. Admittedly, Arendt may have been repeating these things purely to give us insight into the perspective of colonizers at the time; its hard to tell, but that’s kind of my point.
Its interesting to note that she was a heavy critic of Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth. This does not damn her by any means, but Fanon’s work is all about critiquing colonial frameworks. Arendt notes how colonial perspectives engendered the rise of totalitarian movements, but she seems to have some unexamined prejudice in-line with the time period, which I was a bit disappointed by.
Regardless, her elucidation not only of the machinations of power in totalitarianism, but the psychology of these movements from their genesis to their apex is extremely valuable. One of those books I’d like to own a copy of and underline all over the place. 4 stars.