{UAH} THOSE WHO CARRY OUT THE TORTURE? ARE THEY ANIMALS DEVOID OF CONSCIENCE?

By Amos Kasibante 

THOSE WHO CARRY OUT THE TORTURE? ARE THEY ANIMALS DEVOID OF CONSCIENCE?

There are books written as well as research done on the psychological dimension of security personnel who brutalise or carry out torture on the perceived enemies of the state. One such book is Willlian T. Cavanaugh's, "Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ". The book focuses on the experience of Chile and the Catholic Church there, before and during the regime of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-90). Cavanaugh had firsthand experience of working with the church in that country. 

Do not be put off the book because it's a theological book or mentions "the body of Christ". The "body of Christ" is both individual and corporate and Cavanaugh mentions in relation to Chilean politics because Chile is a predominantly Catholic country and both Church and politics impinge on each other. In this regard he describes the Church's response to the Chilean regime and makes a proposal as to how the Church should engage with the particular state. 

Cavanaugh says that torture and related acts are a form of "social discipline", used by the state to whip the society into order – that is, into the state of body and mind that the political state wants them to be. The power and politics of the state is therefore exercised on the bodies of individuals and communities. We usually see torture as an isolated event or as the action of bad apples within a police force. That is sometimes the case, but often torture is systemic and falls into a pattern that serves and suits the regime.

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"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"

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