https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2025/09/10/18879696.php
Times of Twilight
When it gets dark politically, we have to light the lights ourselves — great poets and thinkers provide us with the inspiration to do so.
Revolting is like Sisyphean labor — to allude here to Albert Camus, one of our author’s favorite writers. The state authorities are always more powerful and better prepared. The basic feeling of the citizen is powerlessness. This would not be so bad if we were ruled by the most brilliant and upright minds of our age. However, “it is often the worst, most insignificant, cruelest, most immoral, and especially the most dishonest people who rule” (Tolstoy). So does it make sense for those who have retained their humanity to sacrifice themselves for the just cause? Or would it be preferable to save ourselves for the dawn, when people like us are urgently needed? The cause of freedom is not looking good. Nevertheless, we must not stop rolling this heavy rock up the mountain, even if it seems unlikely that it will ever reach the top.
by Rudolf Hänsel
[This article posted on 7/31/2025 is translated from the German on the Internet, https://www.manova.news/artikel/zeiten-der-dammerung
The political poem by German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898 to 1956), “To Those Born After,” provides a suitable basis for describing the present day. In this poem, Brecht gave an honest, harrowing, and cautionary account of life under National Socialism in the 1930s. He wrote:
“Truly, I live in dark times! (…)
What kind of times are these, when
A conversation about trees is almost a crime,
Because it implies silence about so many misdeeds” (1).
Contemporaries who live in prosperity, far away from terrible theaters of war, will not be able to apply Brecht’s words to today. But let’s take a look at the current world:
The global economy is being converted to a war economy at horrendous cost because Russia and other major Eastern powers allegedly pose a threat. Arbitrariness and violence reign supreme. Russia has always been a thorn in the side of the capitalist system. But the peoples are not responsible for the wars; human nature is peaceful. The only ones to blame are the ruling classes, who try to subjugate each other. The lust for power of those who act as authorities within the peoples and are imbued with the spirit of violence due to their social position repeatedly leads to armed conflicts in which the peoples bleed to death for the benefit of their masters.
The self-appointed “leaders of the world” perform a grotesque political spectacle every day. What was promised or threatened the day before is questioned or revoked the next day. Only wars are not questioned. Disagreement within the government, the pursuit of prestige, or pure arbitrariness are possible causes for this behavior.
For understandable reasons, it is kept secret from the people that government leaders worldwide cooperate and make secret plans behind closed doors. As a rule, these secret plans make the poor (99 percent of the population) poorer and the rich (1 percent) even richer.
Outwardly, leading politicians appear to be at odds with each other, threatening to destroy each other’s countries or wage nuclear war. This makes the people afraid of a third world war and uninterested in the secret plans.
If the economy needs natural resources that are not available in its own country, the countries that possess them are engulfed in war and their citizens are driven from their homes to make it easier to obtain the coveted goods. The world looks on idly.
If the rulers do not like the president of a government, the citizens are divided into supporters and opponents and pitted against each other. Democratically held elections are annulled and repeated if the result does not meet their expectations. This destabilizes the entire society and ultimately the country.
As early as 1905, the Russian writer and representative of nonviolent resistance Lev Nikolayevich Count Tolstoy (1812 to 1910) wrote in his “Political Pamphlets”:
“One could justify the subjugation of an entire people to a few people if those in power were the best people; but that is not the case, has never been the case, and can never be the case. Often, the worst, most insignificant, cruelest, most immoral, and especially the most dishonest people rule. And that this is so is no coincidence” (2).
Many adults react to the confused instructions of these politicians like children or primitive primitive humans: in the form of a magical belief in authority, uncritical and clouded by moods and promises of happiness.
And this has consequences: belief in authority inevitably leads to obedience to authority, which usually triggers a reflex of absolute mental obedience and intellectual paralysis. Sensible adults are then no longer able to think independently and judge reasonably. They believe the brazen lies of politicians, scientists, and the mass media and no longer say no.
However, this behavior strengthens the social system. Bertolt Brecht drew attention to the danger of arbitrariness and violence in National Socialism at an early stage and subsequently wrote the parable “Measures Against Violence.” Using this parable, every adult citizen can grapple with the issue and come to the realization of meaningful action through independent thinking (3).
The paralysis of reason caused by fear is not inevitable. Throughout human history, citizens have had to courageously oppose and rebel against tyrants of all stripes in order to fight for their rightful freedom and not allow themselves to be subjugated.
For this reason, Albert Camus, a representative of French atheistic existentialism, has the final word. In his libertarian writings, he provides answers to the question of what to do in dark times when politics frightens citizens, but they should not despair. His thoughts are still valid today, as the problems of the world have not fundamentally changed.
“Truly, I live in dark times!”
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Excerpts from Brecht’s poem “To Those Born After,” published in June 1939:
“Truly, I live in dark times!
The innocent word is foolish. A smooth forehead
Indicates insensitivity. The laughing man
Has simply not yet received
The terrible news.
What kind of times are these, when
A conversation about trees is almost a crime,
Because it implies silence about so many misdeeds!
People tell me: go ahead and drink! Be glad that you have!
But how can I eat and drink when
I snatch what I eat from the hungry, and
My glass of water is missing from someone dying of thirst?
And yet I eat and drink.
I would also like to be wise.
The old books say what is wise:
To stay out of the world’s strife and spend the short time without fear,
To get by without violence,
To repay evil with good,
Not to fulfill one’s desires, but to forget them,
Is considered wise.
I cannot do any of these things:
Truly, I live in dark times! (…).
But when the time comes
That man is a helper to man
Remember us
With indulgence“ (4).
Measures Against Violence
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In Bertolt Brecht’s parable ”Measures Against Violence,” parallels to the current global political situation immediately strike the alert citizen. Even today, we shy away from the violence of illegal measures imposed by governments and do not say no. We are beginning to come to terms with the looming tyranny.
Will we continue to submit to state violence because, like Mr. Keuner in Brecht’s parable (“Stories of Mr. Keuner”), we have “no backbone to break”? And will we obey and serve the agent of a foreign power for years because we are waiting for the right moment to say no, like Mr. Egge? Based on the parable, every adult citizen can grapple with the issue and come to the realization of meaningful action through independent thinking.
In his short story based on a comparison, Brecht describes how the two main characters, Mr. Keuner and Mr. Egge, react in their own way to state violence. Mr. Keuner, the thinker, justifies his submissive reaction to violence towards his students with the words: “I have no backbone to break. I, of all people, must live longer than violence.”
Mr. Keuner then instructs his students with a story from the time of illegality: One day, an agent of the new rulers of the city enters Mr. Egge’s house and life uninvited. Mr. Egge, who had learned to say no, obeys and serves this strange agent for seven years, but does not speak a single word to him. Only after the agent’s death does he breathe a sigh of relief and answer the agent’s question from seven years ago, “Will you serve me?”, with a “No!” (5).
Perhaps it is the lesser evil to accept fate, not to offer open resistance, and not to speak one’s mind openly when one realizes that one does not currently have the power to do anything against violence.
Perhaps it is wiser to wait for the right moment to say no. It is an illusion to believe that one can rise up against the state. The state is well equipped.
I revolt, therefore we are!
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Human beings can only rise to their full stature when they do not bow to the dictates of power, but defend themselves with healthy indignation.
In his libertarian writings, Albert Camus provides answers to the question of what to do in dark times. The libertarian magazine Reconstruir asked Camus:
“Do the summit meetings between representatives of the United States and the Soviet Union give you any hope regarding the possibility of overcoming the Cold War and the division of the world into two antagonistic blocs?
Camus’ answer:
“No. Power drives those who possess it mad” (6).
The magazine’s last question in this interview was:
“How do you see the future of humanity? What would need to be done to achieve a world that is less oppressed by necessity and more free?”
Camus responds with a “message” intended to inspire the next generation:
“Give when you can. And don’t hate when possible” (7).
For Camus, nothing was more inexcusable than war and incitement to ethnic hatred. That is why he wanted to hope for peace and fight for it. In his own words:
“I believe in peace. That is where my own optimism lies. But you have to work for it, and that will be difficult. That is where my pessimism lies” (8).
Camus’ thinking culminated in the concept of revolt in the sense of a relentless struggle for a higher degree of freedom: “I revolt, therefore I am!” However, rebellion in the name of human rights and human dignity can never be carried out by individuals alone. It is carried out for all people: I rebel, therefore we are!
For free people, there is no higher goal than the realization of freedom for all. That is the true dedication to the people of the future.
True generosity toward the future consists in giving everything to the present.
Sources and notes:
(1) https://www.deutschelyrik.de/an-die-nachgebornen.html
(2) Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Speech Against War, Political Pamphlets, edited by Peter Urban, Insel Taschenbuch, 703; One Thing is Necessary (On State Power), page 74.
(3) Dr. Rudolf Hänsel (2021), Bertolt Brecht: “Measures Against Violence.” Political Parable from the Time of Illegality. In: “Global Research,” November 2, 2021.
(4) https://www.deutschelyrik.de/an-die-nachgebornen.html
(5) Dr. Rudolf Hänsel (2021), Bertolt Brecht: “Measures Against Violence.” Political parable from the period of illegality. In: “Global Research,” November 2, 2021.
(6) Lou Marin (editor) (2013), Albert Camus — Libertarian Writings (1948-1960), pages 363 ff.
(7) At the specified location, page 364.
(8) At the specified location, page 82.
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Rudolf Hänsel, born in 1944, has a doctorate in education, is a former teacher and school counselor, and has a degree in psychology with a focus on clinical psychology, educational psychology, and media psychology. He is the author of books and articles on the topics of youth violence, media violence, and values education.