Saló: Political Apparatus of Torture

Year 2016, Issue: 21, 17 - 30, 01.05.2016

Ali Rıza Taşkale

Abstract

Focusing on Pier Paolo Pasolini’s final film, Saló, this article discusses torture as an apparatus of domination, as the most privileged actualisation of state terror. Based on Agamben’s conceptualisation of the state of exception, it argues that, on the one hand sovereign political power turns the state of exception into the rule; on the other it aims to justify repressive apparatuses such as torture. In this sense sovereignty is not only about states of exception. The article therefore discusses torture and the state of exception as inseparable elements of the ‘liberal way of war’. Torture reveals the nature of sovereignty and its rational consciousness. At issue here is a kind of torture that is political, a constitutive act of state terror, which aims to decrease the body’s revolting capacity.

Keywords

Sovereignty, torture, the state of exception, Saló, the liberal way of war

SALÓ: POLİTİK BİR AYGIT OLARAK İŞKENCE

Abstract

Bu makale Pier Paolo Pasolini’nin son filmi Saló’ya odaklanarak, işkenceyi egemenliğin bir tahakküm aygıtı, devlet terörünün en ‘ayrıcalıklı’ politik biçimlerinden biri olarak kuramlaştırmayı amaçlamaktadır. Agambenci bir şemayı kullanan makale, egemenliğin bir taraftan istisna hâlini kurala dönüştürürken, diğer taraftan işkence gibi baskı ve kontrol tekniklerini de meşrulaştırmaya çalıştığını iddia etmektedir. Dolayısıyla, egemenlik sadece istisna hâliyle sınırlı değildir. Makale, bu bakımdan, işkence ve istisna hâlini ‘liberal savaş biçimi’nin ayrılmaz parçaları olarak tartışacaktır. İşkence hem egemenliğin doğasını hem de rasyonel bilincini tüm çıplaklığıyla açığa vurur. Burada söz konusu olan politik bir işkencedir, çünkü işkence bedenin oluş ve direniş potansiyelini azaltan kurucu bir devlet terörü edimidir

Keywords

Egemenlik, işkence, istisna hâli, Saló, liberal savaş biçimi

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