Eyal Weizman Humanitarian Violence from Arendt to Gaza

About

EYAL WEIZMAN: THE LEAST OF ALL POSSIBLE EVILS The Mosaic Rooms is delighted to present Eyal Weizman to celebrate the launch of his new book published by Verso, The Least of All Possible Evils on: Wednesday 6th June, 7pm The principle of the ‘lesser evil', which asserts that it is acceptable to pursue an undesirable course of action in order to prevent a greater injustice, exercises a powerful influence on Western ethical philosophy and modern politics, most recently in the invasion of Libya. In The Least of All Possible Evils, Eyal Weizman examines the dark side of this pragmatism, arguing that too often the end becomes a mechanism for perpetuating the means. Weizman is the author of the critically acclaimed Hollow Land, which explored the political space created by Israel's colonial occupation. Following on from this, Weizman pursues the problem of the lesser evil — the moderation and minimization of violence as a mechanism of government and control. The Least of All Possible Evils investigates its political consequences and traces its intellectual genealogy from classical ethics and Christian theology, through the political theory of Hannah Arendt to contemporary debates on humanitarianism. It also features photographs by Kai Weidenhofer, (read more about his exhibition here in January 2011) Eyal Weizman is Professor of Spatial and Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he directs the Centre for Research Architecture and the European Research Council funded project Forensic Architecture. He is also a founder member of the collective Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency (DAAR) in Bethlehem, Palestine. He is the author of Hollow Land, The Least of All Possible Evils, and co-editor of A Civilian Occupation. He lives in London. FREE rsvp@mosaicrooms.org / 020 7370 9990