Volyn, Bucha, Amsterdam… Categorical violence?

The Nazis killed Jews because they were Jews. This is a textbook case of genocide, driven by ethnicity.

Today, Russians are killing Ukrainians because they are Ukrainians. Yet they might spare those Ukrainians who identify politically and culturally as Russian. So, it’s not ethnic-based violence but rather a cultural and political one.

Whether this constitutes genocide depends on how we define genocide.

In Volyn in 1943, Ukrainians killed Poles. Was it based on ethnicity, culture, or politics? Were the Poles targeted as an ethnic group, a culture, or a state? It seems that the primary motivation was political: the question of "Is this land still Poland?"

In other words, by attacking Poles, including civilians, Ukrainians aimed to reverse the impact of interwar Polish occupation policies and negate Poland's claims (including those of the government-in-exile in London) to these lands as Polish territory.

Whether this is true or not is open to debate. But it’s this very question that shapes whether Ukrainian actions against Poles qualify as genocide.

And the violence toward Maccabi fans in Amsterdam — what’s that based on? Ethnic, cultural, or political grounds? Is it simply an ethnic conflict, or is it a political stance tied to the state of Israel?

Answering this depends on whether the attackers’ actions are seen as anti-Semitism.

All these situations reflect what Charles Taylor aptly called "categorical violence" — violence directed at someone not for their personal actions but solely because they belong to a particular group. Categorical violence is always an ethical crime, except in war and only for the side fighting a just cause (and even then, only against combatants). Often, it’s also a criminal act.

So, I’m not justifying any of these examples.

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t understand the nuances and acknowledge the distinctions.

Without accurately classifying the motives behind conflicts, we can’t hope to stop ongoing violence or meaningfully address its aftermath.

Source

About the author. Oleksiy Panych, philosopher, member of the Ukrainian Center of the International PEN Club, blogger.

The editorial staff does not always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.