The Symbolism of Violence
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AJHSSR
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For centuries, history of nationshas shown that the recourse to violence has been the sine qua
non condition for the establishment of peace, order, progress, expansions, and the like. Violence, no matter its
form, is believed to be the means for peace, justice, or unity. On the contrary, this paper shows that violence
calls for violence, for it is based on the mimetic desire, which is the principle of reciprocal violence. Basing on
Frantz Fanon‟s description of violence as a liberating tool for decolonisation in Africa, the present reflections
borrow theoretical tools from R.N. Girard and P. Ricoeur to show that violence hardly achieves permanent
peace, justice, or unity in the human race. This is because its mechanism is rooted in desire for more-having,
dominion, pride, cupidity, and arrogance leading to the negation of humanity in others. Any justification for
violence constitutes an apparent meaning, which hides a more fundamental desire: the desire for more-being
fuller being, that is to say, the plenitude of being. Its condition of possibility is not of material order. It is rather
of moral order: the respect of human dignity.
Keywords
symbolic language.