Grey Zones of Resistance and Contemporary Political Theory

Abstract

Of late, resistance has become a central notion in political theory, standing at the heart of attempts to respond to the dilemmas of contemporary times. However, many accounts tend to ascribe to an idealised, heroic view. In this view, resistance represents a clearcut action against injustice and stems from individuals’ conscious choice and their unwavering ethical commitment to the cause. Some liberal scholars, most notably Candice Delmas and Jason Brennan, have argued that citizens of democratic societies have a moral duty to resist state-sanctioned injustice. This resistance occurs either through ‘principled – civil or uncivil – disobedience’ or through ‘defensive actions’ (Delmas 2018: 5; Brennan 2019: 15). While acknowledging that pervasive injustice can compromise our cognitive and moral capacities, however, their articulation of our political obligation to resist refrains from a sustained examination of the moral dilemmas, uncertainties and risks that arise when fighting systemic oppression (Delmas 2018: 198–222; Brennan 2019: 28–59, 210–14).

The Ambiguity of Betrayal: Contesting Myths of Heroic Resistance in South Africa

“…This binary logic obscures the complexities of resisting organized atrocity—the difficult choices and situations that stem from resisters’ embeddedness within the very conditions of systemic violence they are fighting to dismantle (Mrovlje 2017). Examples include the human rights violations committed in the service of freedom and justice; the ways in which the pursuit of moral goodness or self-sacrifice may backfire; and the ways that unheroic, compromised actions may constitute powerful avenues of resistance (Kirkpatrick 2011, 414–21; Leebaw 2019, 459–76; Mihai 2019; Mrovlje and Kirkpatrick 2020; Vogler 2020). A consideration of the complex experiences of resistance, these critics argue, can challenge the deeply entrenched patterns of complicity in systemic violence (Leebaw 2019, 475) and disclose “a richer—if less heroic—repertoire of political engagement” (Mihai 2019, 64).…”