Paris 3rd February 2017 12:30 PM –
I have been blissfully unaware of the goings on at the Louvre, a shooting. I went out this morning, having been
informed that the ink cartridges that I had ordered were now in the store, only
to find that my intended bus had been diverted and that most services were
temporarily disrupted. The sun was out, the sky was blue, the air was nippy but
pleasant and crisp. Other people at the bus stop were equally perturbed. The
inciting incident for this disturbance was taking place some 900 meters down
the Avenue de l’Opéra. So far as
I could tell all those about me, as well as myself, were blissfully unaware of
the goings on, and slightly pissed off at the disruption in transport. But it
was a lovely day and I accomplished my mission taking another bus part way (I
am becoming familiar with various alternative routes) and back, including some
healthy walking. Nothing seemed out of
the ordinary. The first I knew of the incident was a phone call from Irene
Cotton whilst I was in the local supermarket getting milk and linguini on the
way back to the flat. Getting back to 12 Rue Saint-Hyacinthe, some 500 meters
from the incident, I got a text from Ishbel Brown requesting information and an
email from Duncan MacAskill. I had spoken to Celia earlier, so she knew all was
OK.
‘Mais appart ça, Madame la Marquise, tout va très bien, tout va
très bien.’
 |
| Saint Augustine |
As to Violence et Droit : Le problème du
droit de la guerre it is
quite a class. Our lecturer, a young chap by the name of Lyess Bouderbala, is
an interesting man. So much of Just War Theory is bound up in the Catholic
Church, the term having been first proposed by Saint Augustine in his work The City of God published in 426. It is
essentially a way of getting around the commandment “Thou shalt not kill”,
which to most Catholics is the 5th commandment , and the 6th
according to Jews, Orthodox Christians and Reform Christians. Young Lyess, in
his historical build up to the theory of a just war, began with Jesus advising
turning the other cheek, the crucifixion and the early submissive martyred
Christians. In the middle of his exposé he gave a
rather graphic and clinical account of what happens to the body of a person
crucified. It amounts to a long, slow and painful suffocation. Why we needed to
know this I am unsure, but it was part of his overall performance, adding to
the flow. He’s clearly done the research, so why not.
 |
| Thomas Aquinas |
Briefly, as the Roman Empire turned from
multi theism to Christianity, the church moved from submissive martyr to top
dog. It liked being there, controlling order rather than being ordered. They
got used to it and over time got a bit lazy and decadent, as you do. With the
sacking of Rome by the barbarians in 410, pagan non-believers, something had to
be done to safeguard the future of what was left of the State Authority, in
effect, Church Authority. This would require some resistance and show of force,
but a show of force supported by God. Which meant getting around his
commandment and justifying killing of the innocents or perhaps more politically
correct, the spiritually challenged. And so Augustine comes up with his theory
of a just war, taken up and reinforced later by Saint Thomas Aquinas and still
later by the Council of Trent. The Church is more than happy to support killing
for God under the authority of the State. But it is from those very
philosophical arguments that nations are able to justify the taking up of arms
against aggression, but more importantly creating an international legal
framework with which to deal with what has become criminal aggression, by
individuals, extremist groups and overly aggressive nation states. There is
still much reading and learning to do.
In the Catechism of the Council Of Trent it
states, inter alia, with regard to the Fifth Commandment – Thou Shalt Not Kill
– “Utility and Necessity of Explaining
the Commandment – It is lawful to feed on beasts and to slay animals, `it is
lawful to sentence Men to death, and to slay them, in Judgment: another kind of
slaying is also permitted, which applies to those civil magistrates, to whom is
given the power of life and death, by the legal and judicial use of which they
punish the guilty, and protect the innocent. Far from involving the crime of
murder, the just exercise of this power is an act of paramount obedience to
this divine law, which prohibit murder. For since the end of this commandment
is the preservation and security of human life, to the attainment of this end
the punishment inflicted by the civil magistrates, who are the legitimate
avengers of crime, naturally tend, giving security to human life by repressing
audacity and outrage with punishments.”
Is that not a wonderful way of expressing
things – giving security to human life by repressing audacity – or saving life
by killing.
In
like manner, neither do they sin, who, actuated not by motive of cupidity or
cruelty, but by the sole desire of promoting the public good, take away the
life of the enemy, in a just war.
To
promote the public good,
how’s that for mitigation. Something like this went on today, this morning, in Paris. I was blissfully unaware.
I am not sure if this is healthy reading.
Satellite photo shows distance from flat to Carousel du Louvre
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