Archive for February 2008
STATE OF EXCEPTION
The state of exception is essentially based on a suspension of the juridical order, which makes it possible for an individual to be deprived of his or her condition as a citizen, or political being, so that his or her life is reduced to mere biological existence. As a figure of necessity, the state of exception appears (alongside revolution and de facto establishment of a constitutional system) as an “illegal” but perfectly “juridical and constitutional” measure that is realized in production of new norms.
SOLOVETSKY ISLANDS, NOVEMBER 21, 1937
The Solovetsky Islands were the site of the first Soviet concentration camps, the SLON (Solovetsky special purpose camp), which held mostly political prisoners. The camp functioned from 1923 to 1939. The test was such a resounding success that Stalin eventually spread such slave-labor camps across the Soviet Union.
