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Freedom's war.

Article Excerpt
When will the war end? In Arena Magazine No. 75, Ghassan Hage described 'warring societies' as those 'permanently geared towards war'. Such a society ceases to be structured around the distribution of, or aspiration towards the 'good life': freedom, security, community. Instead, its economy and culture are pervaded by the reproduction of a 'permanent state of war'. In such a society, war becomes central, normalised and continuous rather than an extreme and aberrant event. Rather than defending the good life, war impresses itself onto the society, becoming a mode of life itself.

With the public being continually prepared by governments for the prospect of a new war, whether it be with Iran or China against Taiwan, it is necessary to reflect on our inching towards a warring society. Two years into the war in Iraq, it is now time to review its effects in the Middle East, how it conditions future conflicts elsewhere in the world and the extent to which it sets us in train for continuous conflict.

Those who supported the invasion should now ask themselves how comfortable they feel about expansion of the war into Iran. The invasion of Afghanistan was easily justified by the September 11 attacks and provided a kind of slipstream impetus for the war in Iraq. Now, with the 'success' of the Iraqi elections, the US can surely call on those supporters again in the effort to spread freedom further still. Then there is the signal state of unfreedom in North Korea. Does the threat of global war deter the supporters of the present war from conflict in North Korea or Taiwan? And if Venezuela should threaten the supply...

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