bs For Opacity Several yeary ek, iT made the staement, "We demand the Fight (a opacig,” or argued in lavor of this, whoever L was speaking to would exctaim indignantly “Now i's back wo b= Dari! How can you communicate with wat you don't understand?" Burin 1980, and before very diverse audiences, wea the samedemand was formulated, it aronsed new iter 6st. Who knovs? Mayhe, in the meanvvhile, the capiealiy of the question of dliferences (the right to difference) ha been exhausted. The theory of difference i invalvabe, Kha allowed ws 10 struggle against the reductive thought prociaced, in genetics Jorexample, b the presumption of rail excellence or spe- Fiovity. Albert Jacquard (Hoge de a diffeene, Editions du Seuil, 1978) dismantled the mechanisms of this barbaric notion and demonstrated how ridiculous i¢ wat 0 clam “scienti6e base for ther. (Leal the reversal und exasperae tion of self barbaric and just as inconceivable as the cruel results of these mechankins,) This theory hus also made it posible to take in, perhaps, not their existence hut atleast, the rightful entilement to recognition af de minorities ‘syamming througout the world and the defense oftheir sta tus. (Leal “right the escape far from any legitimacy anchored silently or resolutelyin possession ancl con ‘But difference itself can sill contrive to reduce the Transparent, Uwe examine the process a “understanding” people ancl 189)leas from the perspective of Western thought, we discover that its basis this requirement for transparency In orler to lnderstand ancl thus aecept you, [have to measure your soliiy with the ideal seale providing me with gronle to make comparisons and, perhaps, jlgments, 1 have) reduce.! Accepting differences does, of course, upset the hieravehy of this seal. 1 nuderstand your difference, or in other words, without creating hierarchy, relate ie my nnn, adit You t existence, within mystem. Leteate you afte, Bu perhaps we need vb Displace all redaction, Agree n san wad to the very notion of asa, ly 4 the Fight wo difference but, carying this turther, agree aso wo the right to opacity that not enclosure within an impenetrable amuavehy but subsistence Within an ireducible singulavty. Opscites can coesist and converge, weaning fabrics. To snclerstand these wy one must focus on the texture ofthe weave and noton the natire ‘of ts components, For the time being, peshaps, give up tis ld obsession with discovering what lies at the bottom of natures. There would be something great and noble about nian such a movement, referting not to Humanity bu to the exultant divergence of humanities. Thought of self and heuught of other here become obsolete in their duality. Every Other is citizen and no longer a barbarian, What is here ‘pen much as tis there. {wou be incapable of project ing foom one wo ther. Thivere is the weave, and it weaves no boundaries, ‘The right to aptcty would not estabe Tish autism; it would be the real faundation vf Relation, freedoms A now what they tell me is, Vou ealnly pack your poesia into these eraters of opacity and clam to rie so serenely beyond the preaigiously elucidating work thatthe West hae accomplished, but there you go talking nonstop about this West” "And what would yout rather tlk beginning if not this transparency whose aim was to rede out at the 10 1a? Because, i don’t begin there, yo il ecomaumed he sullen jabber of cies refs, convulsive nd pa evless. This isjwhere Estar, As forty entity, 1 take cate a that myselC" There has to be dslogue with the West, which, morvover is eomtadictory in ise (usally thie isthe angie ment raised when alk aout cules of the One plementary discourse of whoever wants to give-onanitvih ust be added to the West. And can you not see that we ar implicated in its evolution? Merely consider the hypothesis of a Christian Europe, con vinced of its legitimacy, rallied together in its reconstituted luniversaiy, having nice again, therefore, transformed is forees into a “universal” yale—tiangiated with the techaior logical strength of the United Sates andthe Hinancal soxer= ignty of Japan—anal you wil have some notion af the ence tnd indiference tat for the next fit yeuts i possible ‘hus to estimate) surround the problems, the dependencies and the chisotie sufferings of the counties ofthe south with ‘nothingness And also consider that dhe West iself has produced dhe variables to conuadict its impressive trajectory every time, Thisis the way in which the Wests ot monolithic, and this ‘shy itis surely necessary dha itmove toward entangleme The real question is whether it will do so in partiipatory manner oF its entanglement vill he based on old impose tions, And even if we should have no illusions about the rea ites, heir facts already begin to change simply by asking this question, ‘The opaque isnot the obseure, though itis possible fori to tbe so and be accepted a5 such. Its that whieh cannot be ‘reduced, whieh isthe mest perennial guarantee of partclpae tion and confluence. We ae fom the opacities of Myth or Tragedy, whose obscurity was accompa by exclusion and whove pparency aimed at “grasping” In this version a sintering the verb gra contains the movement of wotJuands that grab heir streownctings andl bring then back Wo themseles. A gesture of enclosute if not appropriation, Let esanding prefer the gesture of givngonan with "hat opens finally on vray AL this point I eed to explain what Laean by dis coat hhave made so much noise about. Itisthe idea itself of totaly, as expressed so superbly in Western thought, hat in deat ‘ned! with immobility, We have sugested that Relation is at ‘cooling upon ise. That meas that, dhowght net Its the principle of wai that we subtract hoe i not the Ray a is Parts: for multiplicity i wtaly stall aliversin Let os sy this again, opaguely the idea oF wtlity alo . te rosa We have already articulated the poetic force, We see tas radiant replacing the lac he ving concept af any ne of Relation. The: : 2 iaginary does not bear with tthe enereine requirements of idea, Ie prefgures re ity, withoue deter ing it prior, ‘The thought of opacity diswaets me from absolute uths whose guardian F might believe myself wo be, Far fom cor. nering me within futility and inaedvty, by making me sense ity of every action within me. Whether hi cares a sprang enerarching ger des hanging te Sanerecy the law of th the, pee a eal ‘icing some apace hora hig i the mane ‘of efficacy, the theught of opaciysives ie from unequivocal ‘courses and iseversble choices As far as any ide ity is concerned, I wil take care of it nyse. That is, Ishall not allow it to heceane cornered in ay essence; I shall also pay attention to not aniing it into any malgan. Rater, it des not cst me to accept tha there are places where my identity is bare to me, and the fet hat it amazes ane Hoes nor mean Vretnaaish ft Honan lng Detuvions are fractal in nature, IF we become conscious of thin give up apg to reduce such Belvions wo the obvi fousness of 4 tansparerey, this will, perhaps, contrite to lightening their loa, as every indicia hegins wot grasping om, eaking himself apart in this manner. The n (what is calle ethics or ele the ideal or just by bis own moti rule of Joga relation) would gain ground—as an obvious f not being mixed inta the preconceived transparency of uni il models. The rule of every action, individual o com ‘munity, would gain ground by perfecting itself through the ‘experience of Relation. Its the network that expresses the ethies. Every moral doctrine is a utopia, But this morality would only become a utopia if Relation itself had suk into an abyolite excessiveness of Chaos, The ger is tat Chaos is order and disorder, excessveness with no absolute, fate { dhusam able to conceive of the opaeiy without reproach for my opsicity For hin. To fel in soldaigy ‘th hin 4 bull with ho to Te wh he does, itis not necesiay far me to grasp him, IC 8 not necesiry try to Ihecome the other (io became oats) nor to “make” him in amy innige. These project of tranaritatioe piychosis—have resulted from the worst pretensions an the ‘greatest of magnanimiies on the part of West. They describe the fate of Wielor See The death of Segalen is not just a physiological outcome Wie recall his confiding, in the lst days of his fife, about the slovenliness of his body, whose illness he was unable 10 dings nose and whose decine he ws unable to contro, No doxbt itil be kore, with a ist of his symptoms an! de help af medical progress, what he died of. And! no doubt the people aroun him could say he died of some sort of generalized ‘onsumption, But Lmyself beleve dat he dle of the opacity ‘of the Othe, of coming face to fee with the impossibility a accomplishing the transmutation that he dreamed of ke every Furopeats ot his ay he was arked wih a sue 193,antia, even if unconscious, dose of ethnocentrism, But he was ao possess, more thin any af hi contemporaries, by this absolute and incomplete generosity realize bi at trove bin 10 wel elvevhere, He sullered fram this accursed Fontradition. Unable to know that a taster into tans parency ran counter to his project and that, on the contrary, respect for muta ithe was heroic Forms of opacity woul have accomplished ly consumed in the imposibiliy of bei Odher: Deal is the vatcome of the apices, and tis why the idea of death newer leaves (On the other hand, fam opacity isthe bass fora Legitimacy, this would be the sign of is having entered into a palitieal dimension. A formidable prospect less pechaps ‘han he esting ta which $0 way cestanies andl 30 many clea, sealed ued truth have he these political assurances would fort the sense not that everyti to absolute ti ne excestes of rately be contaiied by 5s file bu that there ave fits low can one point out these nits without 'apsing ine skepuicisn or paralysis? How can one reconcile the hard tine inherent ies and the questioning sssential to any relaion? Only by understanding tat it impossible t reduce anyone, no matter who, co'a wuth he ou! not have genera eon is oven ‘That i within the ‘pacity of his ime and place. Pat's city i far Pato, Heel’ vision i for He the griorstowa is for the yriot. Nod prohibits oar seeing she in canfltence, wither confusing thet fn some magna or reducing them each other: This se opacity is also the force dhat drives every community: the thing that would bing ws together forever and Permanently distinctive, Widespread consent to specific ‘pacts is the most straighforwane equivalent of aombar Saris Wectamor for the sight so opacity for everyone,