Toate dictaturile sunt odioase, dar unele sunt mai infioratoare decat altele. Obsedat de ideea unei regenerari absolute a conditiei umane, urmarind maniacal purificarea sociala, regimul Khmer Rouge a reprezentat o exacerbare a celor mai cumplite trasaturi ale bolsevismului in oricare dintre variantele sale. A incetat din viata, la 87 de ani, Ieng Sary, fostul “Frate Numarul 3” din ierarhia gangsterilor sociopati care au condus Partidul Comunist din Cambodgia. Odata ajunsi la putere, in 1975, acesti maniaci au schimbat numele tarii in Kampuchea. Au fost ucisi, prin infometare si asasinate in masa (the killing fields), circa 1.700.000 de oameni. “Culpa” lor? Niciuna, doar faptul ca erau oraseni, ca purtau ochelari, ca vorbeau o limba straina, ca erau atasati de micile lor posesiuni, ca simbolizau ceea ce Stalin a definit drept “inamicul obiectiv”.
http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/ieng-sary-dead-before-justice-is-done/
Educat in Franta la inceputul anilor 50, Ieng Sary a fost cumnatul monstrului absolut numit, acel Stalin al Cambodgiei numit Pol Pot. A colaborat cu ideologul en titre al regimului, secretarul general adjunct Nuon Chea, personajul fimului “Enemies of the People”. Dintre sceleratii care au organizat exterminarile din Cambodgia, doar unul a fost condamnat (sentinta a fost inchisoare pe viata). Nu unul dintre demnitarii din varful piramidei, ci un director de penitenciar, un tortionar, un executant. Nuon Chea si Khieu Samphan sunt in inchisoare, au peste 80 de ani, probabil ca vor muri inainte de a fi condamnati. Ieng Sary, fostul ministru de externe al clicii lui Pol Pot, a negat ca ar fi avut de-a face cu genocidul din anii 70. A pretins chiar ca a salvat oameni, ca are un suflet caritabil, ca este o “persoana tandra”.
Care sunt resorturile sociologice si psihologice care motiveaza aceste visuri de dominatie totala? Cum explicam angajamentele fanatice in absenta carora genocidul nu ar putea avea loc? Cum a fost posibila inregimentarea unor intelectuali sofisticati in asemenea experimente? Care sunt similitudinile dintre tiraniile ideocratice (comunismul si fascismul) si cele numite de Daniel Chirot “tiranii ale coruptiei”? Cum explicam fenomenul Stalin? Cum poate rezista constitutionalismul democratic asalturilor totalitare? Aceste teme vor fi dezbatute in cadrul unui simpozion care se va desfasura la Boston College luni 18 martie 2013.
Dreams of Total Power:
Dictators and Dictatorships in the Twentieth Century
The Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy at Boston College
March 18, 2013
Thompson Room, Burns Library
9:00 am Welcome Remarks
9:15 am Session I
Authoritarianism in the 20th Century
Paul Hollander, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Intellectuals and Dictators: Political Hero Worship and the Discontents of Modernity
Holly Case, Cornell University
Remembering Totalitarianism in Central Europe
Mark Kramer, Harvard University
Soviet Union’s Declining Dictators: From Stalin to Gorbachev
Chair: Kathleen Bailey (Boston College, Political Science)
10:50 am Coffee Break
11:05 am Session II
Avatars of Communist Dictatorships
David Brandenberger, University of Richmond
Stalin and the Muse of History: The Dictator and His Critics on the Editing of the 1938 Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
Bogdan C. Iacob, Imre Kertész Kolleg, Jena
Comparing Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej and Nicolae Ceausescu: The Fate of Stalinism in Romania
Jeffrey Herf, University of Maryland
At War with Israel: East German Anti-Zionism from the Anti-Cosmopolitan Purges to 1989
Chair: Julian Bourg (Boston College, History)
2:00 pm Keynote Address
Vladimir Tismaneanu, University of Maryland, College Park
Explaining Stalin: 60 Years since the Dictator’s Death
Chair: Vlad Perju (Boston College Law School and Director, Clough Center)
Book Launch & Autograph Session, Vladimir Tismaneanu, The Devil in History. Fascism, Communism and Some Lessons of the XXth Century (University of California Press, 2012)
3:00 pm Coffee Break
3:15 pm Session III
Fascism and the Politics of Charisma
Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi, University of California, Santa Barbara
A ‘Beautiful’ Dream: Mussolini’s Delirium of Omnipotence
Constantin Iordachi, Central European University
Comparing Fascist Autobiographies
Dennis Deletant, Georgetown University
Ion Antonescu: The Temptation of Fascism in Romania
Chair: Nasser Behnegar (Boston College, Political Science)
5:00 pm Reception (Faculty Dining Room, McElroy Commons)
6:00 pm Dinner and Keynote Address
Horia-Roman Patapievici
Reflections on Dictatorship and the Mindset of a Free Government
Chair: Vlad Perju (Boston College Law School and Director, Clough Center)
http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/centers/cloughcenter/events/0318-dictators.html