War Footing

The PI on a war footing

Factor QIV of the 16PF test.

“[...] aggressive…” (25).

Factor QIV of the 16PF test.

“[...] belligerent…” (25).

Indeed, the PI sees himself as someone who lives on a war footing.

Paranoid character. Clinical case.

“Even as a child, I felt horribly alone and strange, without knowing why. Could it be because my parents were poor, or because I wasn't born like everyone else?... When I happened to come across other children I almost never joined in their games. I liked to keep apart, watching them with my serious green eyes of a judge and an enemy. It wasn't envy but rather contempt that I felt back then. It was at that time that the war between myself and other men began...” (14).

This belligerence is what causes the PI to have frequent altercations —with those close to him or with strangers— that can get him into trouble with the Law (in psychometric tests, PIs report having had legal problems more frequently than the rest of the population).

Paranoia. Clinical case.

“D. goes off to prison without forgetting himself: his trials will serve to verify his own ‘intrinsic worth’; he will show that a man worthy of that title must triumph over every obstacle, for his own sake and to set an example.

As an accountant in a prison workshop, he refuses to go along with the employer's embezzlement, gives him a piece of his mind, and is replaced that very afternoon.

Reduced to idleness, he takes the opportunity to request the removal of a bullet lodged in his ailing arm. Refused. The administration, disregarding D.'s interest, ignores that of society, which needs able arms.

D. tries to keep up correspondence with the League of the Rights of Man, sends complaints to the ministry of justice. Result: he is first on a list of troublemakers to be relegated to the ‘separate wing’.

In prison he puts the warden in his place. Cost: fifteen days in confinement. But he has given everyone ‘an example of what a sense of justice can do when one holds on to it’.

Repeat offense: thirty days in the punishment cell.

He embarks, arrives at St.-Laurent-du-Maroni and has a dispute with a fellow inmate. He is slapped and offers the other cheek.

Shortly after, D. is assigned to the invalids' camp at Hattes. He writes to the attorney general asking him to look into his complaint against R.'s verdict, to inform him of his state of health, and to point out some abuses: fifteen days in confinement for an unfounded complaint. He realizes that ‘the exercise of the right to complain is one of the greatest offenses a convict can commit against the administration…” (15).

The PI's aggressions, rather than impulsive and unexpected, have been conscientiously planned and prepared.

Paranoid personality. Clinical case.

“A patient had shown symptoms of paranoid personality for twenty-three years. Three months before stabbing his wife, he had displayed an obsessive interest in visiting places where murders had been committed and spent a great deal of time watching the butcher cut meat” (41).

A first manifestation of belligerence is the attraction to weapons and their use.

Messianic movements. Gilbert Bourdin (20th century).

“The city of Mandarom is in itself a unique place. It is accessed by paying twenty-five francs. It is dominated by a gigantic statue of Gilbert Bourdin, dressed in his long robe of glory, holding a scepter several meters long and curiously turning his back on the valley it overlooks. During a guided walk, one can admire a ‘cosmic Christ’ armed with a flaming sword, and even a ‘Virgin Mary’ carrying in her hands… a laser pistol.

The messiah's doctrine is, in fact, a strange cocktail of esotericism, millenarianism, and … science fiction. Gilbert Bourdin presents himself as a warrior messiah. He has also published an enormously confusing work, Je suis le Messie attendu, in which he describes, over some eight hundred pages, his psychic battles with demons from space. Thanks to it, one learns, for example, that in 1987 Hamsah Manarah [he] waged a terrible cosmic battle against the evil troops of the angel Metatron...” (4).

Taking a step further in his relationship with weapons, the PI carries them and shows himself willing to use them.

Folie à deux. Clinical case.

“[...] tried to lure him to another house, which she and her sister had gone to armed with pistols” (26).

Folie à deux. Clinical case.

“Miss X... never went about without weapons...” (26).

Biological weapons also provide him with security.

Folie à famille.

“We visited the house and found them in a small one-room apartment in a poor immigrant neighborhood. Mrs. A received us warmly, Mr. A with some reticence. The pistols were no longer in the house but had been replaced by a guard dog that Mr. A said ‘was always awake” (16).

It is not exceptional, among PIs, to practice the so-called martial arts, through which one learns to use one's own body as an effective weapon.

Folie à famille.

“The eldest son was trained by Mr. A in karate and the use of pistols to defend the house from ‘any oriental who approaches” (16).

Ceasing to live on a war footing can prove complicated. After having taken part as protagonists in prolonged conflicts, some soldiers are unable to reintegrate into civilian life. Unable to give up a lifestyle based on risk, violence, and loyalty to the group, ex-combatants join gangs of criminals and outlaws, or terrorist groups, or violent political militias. It is a process very well described by Barbara Ehrenreich. It happened with numerous soldiers of the Confederate Army after the American Civil War, and it happened notably with many of the Russian soldiers who had taken part in the invasion of Afghanistan. This “second mobilization” of ex-servicemen played a significant role in the emergence of Italian fascism and Nazism.

Italian fascism

“Fascism is the result of three social processes intimately related to one another. First, the war, which expelled and déclassé large masses of combatants from the bourgeois class. These, unable to return to bourgeois ways of life, and nostalgic for the habits and ideologies acquired during the war, went on to form the fascist ‘militias’, the patriotic ‘defense juntas’ with a peculiar militaristic ideology, antidemocratic and nationalist” (20).

The GCP on a war footing

From peace to war

Querulants. Clinical case.

"I'm one of those who file complaints instead of throwing pun…"

Paranoid clinical pictures are associated with expressions of hostility in which physical aggression is sublimated into somewhat more civilized behaviors. But as they progress, they tend to evolve into increasingly combative, violent, and potentially dangerous attitudes. This is something every psychiatrist has been able to verify on repeated occasions. Well, something similar happens with GCPs. Most curious of all is that the transition to violent behaviors occurs equally in groups that start from purely pacifist postulates.

With regard to ethnic nationalisms in their struggle against the oppressive States that prevent them from "exercising sovereignty," we observe how common it is for the most fervent elements to end up organizing militarily, resorting to armed violence. Violent activity always appears after several decades have passed since the beginning of the patriotic movement, and as the result of a gradual radicalization of the most furious elements.

Irish nationalism.

"[...] Irish nationalism remained one of the most active movements on the entire continent and at this stage underwent an essential transformation: the abandonment of legal methods of struggle and the shift to armed struggle against English domination" (30).

The fact is that a large part of the terrorism suffered by the Western world throughout the twentieth century must be attributed to nationalism, both in Europe (ethnic separatist nationalists or far-right state nationalists) and in the United States. In that country, "militias" were preparing to engage in shootouts against the international conspiracy to invade America hatched by the UN and the FBI and, at times, took the initiative by committing acts of terror. Nationalist terrorism does nothing but reflect the traditional warlike inclination of nationalism, which does not disappear with the achievement of independence. This is a propensity noted by virtually all historians.

Nationalism.

"Nationalisms have created States, even nations, have broken up Empires, have fueled internal and external wars and also, in their latest expression, have built Empires" (30).

With the exception of Islamist terrorism, it is true that, in our environment, the bulk of paranoid agitators do not take up arms nor seek to achieve their objectives through coercion and terror. Governmental surveillance mechanisms are probably sufficiently developed today to prevent it. Among the ancient messianic movements, on the other hand, a violent drift was indeed commonplace.

Messianic movements. Jacobina Mentz (19th century).

"Jacobina ignores this and continues to actively develop her cult, dangerously modifying her discourse: she frequently prophesies the end of the world and holy war, with a multitude of bloody details. At the same time, the mucker become increasingly violent toward their defectors and their 'impious' neighbors: fires and murders proliferate" (4).

The usual pattern, if we go back somewhat further in time, began with a lunatic who, through his preachings, gathered a growing group of followers. Over time, he gradually incorporated increasingly violent methods in recruiting new adherents and in confrontation with the establishment. In its violent degeneration the group came to resemble more and more (or perhaps more accurately, transformed into) a band of outlaws. The group formed by the messiah and his faithful made extortion and plunder a way of life. They may have had no other choice when, certain that a glorious future awaited them, they had abandoned their crops or means of subsistence.

Messianic movements. The Christ of Bourges (6th century).

"His popularity among the peasants is enormous and allows him to form a band of several hundred people.

Yet the most surprising thing is that the new Lord also seduces priests. Several clergymen deliberately enlist in his ranks.

Needless to say, Christ is showered with riches by his disciples; but he returns it all. The character shows no interest in gold, which evidently increases the number of his followers. Everything he receives he gives to the poor.

He has but one flaw: pride. Christ desires at all costs to be recognized as such. He demands devotion, respect, and fanaticism.

He quickly transforms his 'Church' into an armed troop. Jesus becomes Robin Hood. He attacks isolated travelers and strips them of their belongings, but he does so for a good cause. It is necessary to be self-financing; besides, the surplus always ends up going to the poor. Even so, the messiah gradually becomes the god of bandits. When he arrives in a city, he compels the bishops to 'recognize' him. As for his supporters, they are, of course, the most favored among the 'poor' (4).

Anabaptist messianisms. Jan Willemsen (sixteenth century).

"A generation after the heroic experience of Jan Bockelson, another Anabaptist messiah makes his appearance in Westphalia around 1567.

[...] Jan Willemsen is a fanatical reader of Rothman. In a last attempt to revive the kingdom of God on earth, he in turn creates an earthly Jerusalem and surrounds himself with a whole legion of saints. In the image and likeness of Münster, he establishes polygamy and develops a revolutionary theory according to which property is theft. Considering that everything on earth belongs to God, and not to men, the Christ Willemsen decides to finance his holy community by engaging in pillage. Consequently, he forms a small troop tasked with plundering the surrounding regions" (4).

Exceptionally, some of these outlaw PCGs maintain an acceptable level of affiliations, with which to compensate for the deaths in battle, through the kidnapping of children and their subsequent forced indoctrination. In northern Uganda, and in several neighboring countries, a children's guerrilla force has operated since the eighties, defending a form of Christian fundamentalism, resorting to this atypical form of proselytism. The LRA (Lord's Resistance Army), combining the intensive practice of prayer with kidnapping, looting, and rudimentary farming, has forced the displacement of more than half a million innocent people, mainly in the region of Acholi. Objective: a government for Uganda based on compliance with the Ten Commandments. With near certainty the objective will not be achieved; what was once an army of some three thousand soldiers has seen its numbers reduced to a scant hundred.

Exaltation of violence

Fascism.

"Typological description of fascism

[...] Positive evaluation of violence and war and the willingness to resort to them or the effective use of the same" (31).

Nazism.

"There began then for me, as for every German, the greatest and most unforgettable period of my earthly existence [the war]" (22).

Regardless of whether they are truly in a state of war or not, the PCGs, and most especially their leaders, deliver speeches in which the use of violence and armed struggle are extolled as a means to achieve their objectives, …

Maoist Leninism.

"War, which has existed since the appearance of private property and classes, is the highest form of struggle for resolving contradictions…" (29).

Nazism.

"A thirty-centimeter grenade whistles more loudly, invariably, than a thousand Jewish journalistic serpents. Let them whistle, then!" (22).

(…) and they insist on keeping alive the memory of the feats and heroes of the past.

Sectarian groups. TFP.

"A constant exaltation is made of the virility of warrior figures: the crusaders, Charlemagne, Saint James the Apostle..." (35).

Nazism.

"Even if thousands of years were to pass, it will not be possible to speak of heroism without evoking the memory of the German Army that fought in the Great War… as long as Germans exist, they will have to think that those men were sons of their nation" (22).

This is a rhetoric that scorns the soft and comfortable life in contrast to the nobility of heroic devotion on the battlefield…

Maoist Leninism.

"Making a revolution is not offering a banquet, nor writing a work, nor painting a picture or doing embroidery; it cannot be so elegant, so leisurely and refined, so peaceful, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous" (29).

(…) and that rejects the pursuit of agreements and peaceful solutions.

Sectarian groups. TFP.

"Official Spain, that of the establishment, the one drawn by the major media outlets, spoke, wrote, stirred itself and… made pacts. Authentic Spain, real Spain, narcotized, slept. Thus was born the Constitution of consensus. The ideal Catholic Spain —that for which its sons rose up in arms by the thousands in a magnificent outburst and shed their blood— was absent in the new constitutional physiognomy" (9).

Maoist Leninism.

"The same thing happens with everything reactionary: if you don't strike it, it won't fall. This is like sweeping the floor: as a general rule, where the broom doesn't reach, the dust doesn't disappear on its own" (29).

Sectarian groups. TFP.

"Would it not have been better if the Catholic Monarchs had not expelled the Moors from Granada? One would have thus taken advantage —the ecumenist will dream— of a historical opportunity to reach an agreement that would have diminished the Mohammedan momentum, whose power, colossal in North Africa, represented a terrible threat to Europe. Something similar is proposed today by the sensible religious and political leaders who, in the name of the fall of ideological barriers and of peace, want Europe to yield to Russian power" (9).

To be precise, we can distinguish between those arguments that glorify war because it constitutes the only means of reaching a desired end…

Italian Fascism.

"[...] was willing to engage in acts of destruction on a grand scale, at times going so far as the most horrendous mass murder, as a 'creative destruction' to arrive at a new utopia of his own invention, in the same way that the communists murdered millions in the name of an egalitarian utopia" (31).

Sectarian groups. TFP.

"Santiago Patron of Spain, Santiago Matamoros, is the very symbol of the militant Catholicity of a people who, after fighting eight long centuries to reconquer their territory from the infidels, had the spirit of Faith and found within their soul sufficient resources to launch themselves upon the seas and give a new continent to the Church and to Christendom. A symbol valid for all epochs of our history" (9).

(…) and those other arguments that consider that, furthermore, violence is something good and desirable in itself.

Italian Fascism.

"What was exclusive to fascism, in relation to violence, was its theoretical evaluation by many fascist movements, for which violence possessed in and of itself a certain positive and therapeutic value, and which deemed a certain dose of continuous violent struggle necessary, in the manner of Sorelian thought and extreme social Darwinism, for the health of national society" (31).

J.O.N.S.

"As for violence, their attitude is that of one who knows themselves to be deeply bound to the historical destiny of a people. It is that of one who accepts the spirit of sacrifice and the idea of duty, even at the cost of their own life. And it is also that —why not say it?— of one who knows that life is struggle, and that where man mutilates his sense of energy and violence, the groveling spirit triumphs, eunuchoid and hypocritical, of the worst representatives of the species" (27).

Nazism.

"Hitler was fanatically devoted to war and to nationalism conceived as a religion of war" (12).

Militarism: armies

In state nationalism (that of nations which do not aspire to have a state because they already have one), the national army plays a unique symbolic role. It is the institution that, above all other institutions, is called upon to bind an amorphous mass of people into a compact mass of compatriots. The army symbolizes the unity of wills, of action, and of feeling. After all, it is only during wars that fellow nationals forget all disputes, raise their flags, and willingly place themselves at the disposal of the authorities. Armies are, so to speak, the quintessence of each nation.There is no doubt that the greater the nationalism, the more militarism. All modern nations organize ceremonies in which the army is placed at the service of patriotic exaltation rather than defense. In turn, the reinforcement of patriotism increases the willingness of citizens to sacrifice themselves on the battlefield… if it is for the motherland.

Nationalism in general.

"In the twentieth century, war, and the readiness for war, so important in nationalism, have become factors that unify states and offer the individual transcendent goals. Today, the religious dimension of war manifests itself everywhere, even in times of peace. No public act of any importance can be carried out without the accompaniment of drumrolls and soldiers standing at attention. Presidential inaugurations, the coronations of monarchs, or the celebrations of national holidays are events that require the presence of the soldier as a 'ceremonial accessory.' Where there is no real army, a contingent is maintained for purely ceremonial purposes. Even the Vatican has a Swiss Guard, despite the fact that its semi-religious pomp and splendor would seem to make any further adornment unnecessary" (12).

American nationalism.

"American patriotism, like the nationalisms of other nations, is celebrated on special holidays that, in general, are dedicated to specific wars or to the remembrance of war. The Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Flag Day, and Veterans Day provide the occasion for military parades and the display of nationalist emblems and symbols, among which the flag is the most prominent. On these and other occasions, such as the commemoration of specific battles or wars, bugles sound, wreaths are ceremoniously laid at monuments and graves, veterans wear their old uniforms, and politicians deliver speeches extolling the nationalist values of duty and 'sacrifice" (12).

Fascisms added a new twist to the militarist drift of modern nations. In these, compulsory military service was not limited to preparing citizens for war but served to instill in them the patriotic spirit. But, with the arrival of fascism, it would be the nation itself that would transform into a gigantic barracks. The order-and-command should replace the deliberation of the body politic, and the right to remain silent would replace freedom of expression.

Fascism.

"Along with the tendency toward mass mobilization came one of the most characteristic features of fascism, that is, its effort to militarize politics to an unprecedented degree" (31).

Fascism.

"Typological description of fascism

[...] Attempt at mass mobilization, with militarization of political relations and of style, and with the objective of a mass party militia" (31).

Fascisms set out, in full awareness, to organize society as a whole as one great barracks. However, this was a tendency that had, in reality, inadvertently begun somewhat earlier.

Nationalism in general.

"In the era of nationalism, patriotic ceremonies began to be designed, consciously or unconsciously, with the aim of inspiring in civilians the feeling that they too constituted a kind of 'army', united by common danger and by rhythmic activities analogous to drilling. George L. Mosse observes that the nineteenth century witnessed the 'introduction of rhythm into all ceremonies — marches, parades and festivities — with the aim of transforming undisciplined masses into a disciplined crowd.' The Marseillaise was the first national anthem composed with a march rhythm; then other nations emulated it with anthems endowed with catchy and bellicose rhythms" (12).

In APs, it is common that, even unarmed, they imitate the distinctive features of armies, whether in their vocabulary or in ritual stagings.

Crisis cults. Smohalla (19th century).

"However, the cult he had created was highly ritualized, flags and bells were used, gymnastics were practiced; its elements were taken at once from the Catholic mass and from military exercises; not everything was entirely inspired by dreams" (5).

Sokagakkai.

"But the repeated mention in Komeito and Gakkai media of the 'mission of the Japanese people', the use of banners, insignia, martial songs, and military terminology, and the 'troop review' on horseback carried out by President Toda before 13,000 members of the Youth Division in 1954 have contributed to the image of the Gakkai as a 'fascist' organization" (46).

Sokagakkai.

"The structural terminology of the Youth Division —corps, company, platoon— has a military flavor. The corps (butai) of the YMD and the YWD, as well as their vertical equivalents, the chapters, each receive their own banners from the president" (46).

The APs that practice armed struggle consider themselves, define themselves, and present themselves as authentic armies.

Symbionese Liberation Army.

"[...] I heard a voice declare: 'I am the Field Marshal of the Symbionese Liberation Army. My name is Cin" (20).

In other cases, which are not exceptional in the sectarian universe, the APs organize a small army within their ranks. Unlike the Symbionese Army, the group does not claim to be an army but rather simply has an army.

Messianic movements. Jacob Frank (18th century).

"However, when one passes through the gates of his property in Brno, an astonishing spectacle is discovered. The Frankists wear uniforms and practice intensive military training. They form an armed militia of six hundred men, drawn in part from the battalion of Jewish Cossacks of General Potemkin. This small league escorts the messiah on his 'official' travels and constitutes a true praetorian guard" (4).

Militarism: soldiers

Mutatis mutandis, the members of the group become the soldiers —more or less metaphorically— of a cause.

Crisis cults. Hau-hau (19th c.).

"The Maori word hau, pronounced abruptly, like a bark, seems to allude to the wind, to breathing, or to the principle of life. Repeated twice it means: '!Attack! !Strike!' At the call '!Poriri hoia!', 'Form ranks, soldiers!', the congregation huddled around the mast or niu, lined up in rows and began to circle around" (5).

Sokagakkai.

"Our promise to President Josei Toda:

'The expectations that Josei Toda, great master of shakubuku in the Last Days of the Law and one of the most eminent philosophers in the world, has placed in us, fill us with deep emotion. On the eve of the great religious battle and in the 702nd year of the founding of True Buddhism, we, the five thousand Warriors of the Supreme Law, make the following promise:

'1. We, the warriors of the Male Youth Division, solemnly promise to the Dai-Gohonzon that we will dedicate our lives in absolute unity to the religious revolution aimed at the achievement of kosen-rufu [...]" (23).

The paranoid contagion group can likewise compel them to act as soldiers.

Cult groups. TFP.

"The horizon begins to fill with clouds, announcing in the distance the agro-reformist storm looming over Spain. Faced with these prospects, TFP-Covadonga cooperators stand guard of honor before the incorrupt body of Saint Isidore the Farmer, patron of Madrid and of farmers, exceptionally exposed to public veneration on the day of his feast" (8).

In other cases, the soldiers of former times serve as an example and source of inspiration.

Cult groups. TFP.

"We march toward the conquest of this ideal, with the courage, the perseverance, the resolve to face and overcome all obstacles, with which the Crusaders marched upon Jerusalem" (8).

Fascisms, some of the most combative nationalisms, and certain Asian communisms advocated that schools should serve, as well, for the military training of children.

Falangism.

"All men shall receive a pre-military education that prepares them for the honor of joining the National Popular Army of Spain" (33).

Japanese nationalism, which from the Meiji Revolution of the second half of the nineteenth century became state doctrine, also understood the importance of indoctrinating children in the spirit of war.

Japanese nationalism.

"During the time of the Second World War, Japan already had fifty years of tradition of secular nationalism, relentlessly disseminated through all Japanese institutions. Public education, with a school enrollment of 90 percent of children in 1900, included military instruction for boys and the systematic inculcation of militarism and the cult of the Emperor in both sexes. In arithmetic classes, problems based on wartime situations were solved; in science classes, among other things, general information was taught on reflectology, wireless communication, land mines and torpedoes" (12).

Militarism: wars

The PCG equates its activities to a war or presents them by resorting to an unequivocally military vocabulary. These may be more or less vague allusions…

Cult groups. Hermetic Philosophical Institute.

"I have imagined a utopia in a few lines, showing what the world could be once a moral crusade of a technical nature has been brought to completion, one that could convince people to enter, of their own free will, the path of the ascendant of their consciences" (2).

Sokagakkai.

"Several powers of the world —authority, money, brutality— attempt to violate human dignity. The role of Soka Gakkai in society is to employ the spirit that flows from the very depths of life to engage in combat with such powers" (24).

(…) or more openly hostile allusions.

Sokagakkai.

"The Society speaks of relations between religious groups as a 'matter of victory or defeat', and has created bodies such as the 'Liquidation Committee of Tenrikyo-Rissho Kosei Kai', which develops programs specifically directed at two rival cults" (43).

Cult groups. Scientology.

"The Church of Scientology uses what it internationally calls the 'declaration of suppressive person' against all those who criticize or oppose its activities. And, based on this declaration, critics are systematically persecuted and pressured by specially trained personnel of the cult" (37).

When the group has participated in a real war —not merely a metaphorical one— and has won it, it often insists on maintaining the fiction that it has not ended. The paranoid contagion group resists ceasing to live on a war footing.

Francoism.

"Our guided readings centered around the illustrated comic strips of Flechas and Pelayos, the catechism prayers alternated with the singing of the Cara al Sol, the portraits of Franco and the Absent One presided over the classrooms on either side of the crucifix. [...] and daily we would chant in the courtyard a hymn whose words and melody have not faded from my memory: 'War on the fatal sickle / and on the destroyer's hammer / Long live our caudillo…!" (17).

Predators

The attraction of some IPPs to large predators never ceases to be curious. Like militarism, it reflects the tendency to resort to violence in order to achieve objectives. It is also a reflection of the spirit of superiority.

Sokagakkai.

"I will end by expressing my fervent wishes that you have true courage in the struggle that awaits you, and by quoting a passage from the Gossho: 'My desire is that my disciples become the offspring of the lion king and that they never find themselves ridiculed by a pack of foxes'" (24).

Nazism.

"Waite's study of Hitler includes a very telling detail: his fascination with wolves, with whom he identified. As a child, Hitler was very pleased to learn that his name derived from Athawolf, which in Old German meant 'noble wolf'. He named his favorite dog Wolf, he referred to the SS as his 'wolf pack' and believed that his ability to inflame crowds stemmed from their sensing that 'he had been born of a wolf'" (12).

With some frequency, carnivores are used by PCGs as distinctive symbols, especially by nations and warrior lineages.

Nationalism.

"It is not only enemy nations that come to resemble threatening non-human creatures. Predators also play a starring role in the flags, coats of arms, and other less formal symbols adopted by nations: the eagle of the United States, Germany, Mexico, Poland, and Spain; the lion of Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Kenya, the Netherlands, Norway, and Iran; the falcon of Egypt; the bear of Russia. What we become when we merge with that 'something greater than ourselves' that the nation represents is the creature our species has most feared and most wished to resemble" (12).

And two rampant lions symbolize the sovereignty of the Spanish people. They pose proudly with one paw resting on their respective orbs, which seem to represent the planet.

The meanings of militarism

Defense

Militarism has a fairly obvious logical connection with other facets of paranoid behavior. It is very understandable that PCGs, which tend to feel besieged and threatened, resort to the use of weapons and prepare themselves to defend against an inevitable attack.

Maoism.

"Not only must we possess a powerful regular army, but we must also organize popular militia contingents everywhere,so that the imperialists, should they attack us, will find it difficult to move a single step in our country" (29).

Expansionism

But the militarism of the PCG is not solely related to defense against the enemy; it also bears an equally close relationship to expansionist aims.

Francoism.

"War on the fatal sickle / and on the destructive hammer / Long live our caudillo /and imperial Spain!" (17).

Italian nationalism.

"Perhaps the most radical aspect of the ANI's program was its ultimate objective, that is,to strengthen Italy in order to prepare it formodern war andimperial expansion" (31).

Other paranoid groups. The Sebastianisms of Pernambuco (19th century).

"The army was led by a commander and several chiefs, four captains and four second lieutenants. According to the testimony of one member of the group, military exercises were indispensable, as it was necessary to 'conquer the holy house of Jerusalem and paradise on earth and eliminate all those who opposed their sacred purpose as proclaimed by the law of God'. According to another witness, they were to 'be well armed to fight those who opposed this purpose, for when they were more numerous they were to seize Pernambuco and march to liberate the holy places of Jerusalem" (38).

The paranoid association

When proselytizing zeal places expansionist objectives ahead of any other consideration, the adherents of the PA easily begin to display unfriendly behaviors…

Nueva Acrópolis

"One can go to the posts with batons and lunchacos to intimidate those who interfere with what is being preached. This is justified by claiming that the human body also has cells that serve to defend against pathogenic agents" (32).

Sokagakkai.

"The Gakkai disapproves of all violence but recognizes that pressure may be necessary: shakubuku is a forced pressure, as in the case where a child is about to fall off a precipice or into a river. In that moment one does not concern oneself with niceties, but filled with zeal to save the individual, puts all their strength into the call and literally commands. However that may be, the spiritual motivation of shakubuku is always compassion [...]

Until the early 1960s, the literal translation of shakubuku, 'break and strike down,' was a reasonably accurate description of the proselytizing process. On occasion, members of the Gakkai would surround a home and make noise until one of the family members agreed to join" (43).

Sokagakkai.

"In recent years, the press had devoted more space to the affairs of Soka Gakkai, especially to the minor altercations that occurred when members went too far in their proselytizing activities" (23).

(…) or they evolve into unambiguously violent behaviors.

Sokagakkai.

"And there is an indisputable empirical record of illegal actions on the part of Gakkai members. Japanese government records implicate Gakkai members in incidents such as beating a supposedly 'lazy' member; beating a member and threatening others who spoke of leaving the society; attempting to murder a landlord who forbade his tenants from reading their prayers aloud; invading numerous temples of other cults and burning a temple of Konko-kyo, another new religion; several cases of shakubuku that ended in violence; the frequent destruction of the paraphernalia of other religions in the homes of new converts (a previously sanctioned practice called hobobarai or 'cleansing of erroneous things'); and the dismissal of several employees by the company president for failing to convert to Nichiren Shoshu" (43).

It must be acknowledged, however, that violent evolution is today less frequent. The Western world has developed effective social control mechanisms that hinder such a drift, but what they cannot prevent is the propensity toward aggressiveness in APs.

Cult groups. Mel Lyman.

"During that period, the cult begins to develop intimidation practices. The messiah's followers would like to take control of the main underground media outlets. Physical threats and beatings multiply" (4).

Cult groups. Morabitum.

"The opposition to Abdul Jader's absolute dominion over the Muslims of Granada reached its peak in 1986, when the Morabitum made a theatrical coup to storm Al Taqwa, the city's only mosque" (28).

In the internal jargon of cult groups, proselytizing is commonly compared to hunting (or fishing) and is even referred to without ambiguity by that very term. The image of the recruiter as a hunter (which necessarily implies seeing the recruit as prey) is consistent with the fascination that PPIs have with predators, and is also consistent with the violence that some PCGs ultimately resort to in their expansionism.

The PI

The individual equivalent of the PG's expansionism is the PI's pursuit of a group of people who will agree with him and whom he can regard as allies. This "individual expansionism" may also include resorting to violence.

Querulants.

"The struggle over the school became the key psychological experience for the patient. Gradually, he became more and more involved in the fight. He wrote numerous letters and articles that were so offensive that the local newspaper refused to publish them. The patient then stopped working. He attacked the government and all kinds of authorities, considering it a sin against God to close the small school. His wife did not support the patient's struggle, so he became angry with her, called her a whore, and physically assaulted her" (1).

Reformers. Clinical case.

"Their cold passion for justice develops with a rigor they suppose to be mathematical, and to achieve their ideal they break all resistance, destroy all obstacles, and consider any opinion contrary to their doctrine as a manifestation harmful, dangerous, even criminal, deserving of death" (12).

Crisis cults. The Melanesian cargo (20th century).

"On one occasion a 25-year-old male from Bougainville was admitted to the hospital with a history of violent behavior in his village. He had confronted those who opposed his beliefs" (5).

Nationalism

Those who share states of patriotic exaltation —nations— tend to transform themselves into war machines. National armies serve to discourage potential aggressors, to repel them, and likewise to initiate expansionist projects manu militari. In this way one witnessed the swift and astonishing betrayal, on the part of the French nation, of the pacifist ideals of that Enlightenment which originally created it.

French imperialism.

"As is well known, in the early days of the Revolution, the members of the Constituent Assembly, fully committed to the regeneration of France and imbued with the peaceful ideals of the Enlightenment, formally renounced any policy of aggression: 'The French nation renounces undertaking any war aimed at making conquests and shall not employ its forces against the liberty of any people' (May 22, 1790). Two years later, on April 20, 1792, the Legislative Assembly declared war, almost unanimously, on the king of Bohemia and Hungary, and ten months later found itself at war with Prussia, Sardinia, England, the Netherlands, and Spain" (44).

French imperialism.

"Finally, after being persistently requested, Brissot and the Girondins declared war with a composure that surprises us today; using a rhetoric steeped in references to the ancient Greek city-states and the recent American victory, and which spoke of the moderating effects that war had on the character of peoples and of the innate strength of free peoples against despots" (44).

Throughout the nineteenth century, and in a more gradual manner, German nationalist thought underwent the same metamorphosis as the French, from initially eminently peaceful tenets to violent expansionism.

German nationalism.

"Instead of Fichte's lofty spiritual ambitions, Treitschke now writes: 'A dragoon soldier who strikes a Croatian over the head with the butt of his rifle does far more for the German cause than the best political writer can do with his pen'" (10).

Leninism

The warlike drift of paranoid groups and movements is not limited to nationalism. In Russian socialism it came about, in large part, under the influence of an implacable charismatic leader.

Soviet Leninism.

"A man of enormous will, Lenin succeeded in steering his party toward violence and coercion as a means of confronting the problems of peace, land, and freedom" (42).

Soviet Leninism.

"Electrified by the Comintern Congress that had just been inaugurated in Moscow, by reports from abroad, by his own analysis of the world situation and above all by the advance of the Red Army on Warsaw in the war unleashed by the Soviets against Poland, that afternoon he had sent a dispatch to Stalin, then in Kharkov: 'The situation in the Comintern is splendid. Zinoviev, Bukharin and I myself think the moment has come to stimulate the revolution in Italy. My opinion is that for this to be possible Hungary must be Sovietized, and perhaps also the Czech lands and Romania. This must be thought about seriously'" (42).

The Sino-Albanian variant of Leninism conferred on armed expansionism an even more preponderant role, going so far as to consider it the only path to access to power. Acting accordingly, they only financed and gave shelter to those small groups from any part of the world that adopted Maoist doctrine and were willing to embark on the path of armed struggle. Little did it matter what the local conditions of each country were. The fight to the death between social classes was conceived as a universal phenomenon and the strategy to be followed had to be the same at any point on the planet: kill the enemy.

Maoist Leninism.

"In class society, revolutions and revolutionary wars are inevitable; without them, it is impossible to bring about leaps in social development and to overthrow the reactionary ruling classes so that the people may seize Power" (29).

Leninism. Shining Path.

"He adds that power is seized through violence. That is the experience of the world, 'with a parliamentary majority one can defend a law, but power is seized through violence and defended through dictatorship'" (7).

This stance was stubbornly maintained on the part of the Chinese and Albanian authorities, denying support to those supposedly Maoist small groups that rejected or did not dare to take the step toward "armed struggle" (the entirety of French Maoists and the near entirety of Spanish ones, for example).

Maoist Leninism.

"The same did not occur in France or Spain, where the Maoists raised the question of terrorism, as the 'superior form of the anti-imperialist class struggle' and of the 'fraternity-terror' so appreciated by Sartre; backing down when push came to shove and dissolving in France, and carrying it out in practice in Spain, with the sorry results that are all too well known" (39).

Logistical and economic support was maintained only for that minority (within the already meager minority that convinced Maoists constituted in Western countries) that decided to take up arms. Such was the case of the FRAP (Revolutionary Antifascist and Patriotic Front), financed and trained in Albania. From that country there arrived messages of encouragement and revolutionary proclamations via Radio Tirana, a station that could be received, albeit with a rather limited audience.

Extermination

The paranoid contagion groups dream of a world in which their ideas and authority enjoy general and unanimous acceptance. Seeing that the effectiveness of proselytism is limited, they may opt for another solution: eliminating those who do not accept the Truth. Those who live in error and persist in continuing to live in error are superfluous and must die.

Anabaptist messianisms. Thomas Müntzer (16th century).

"In Allstedt he gathers workers, peasants, and artisans within a new organization with an evocative name, the League of the Elect, ninety percent of whose members are illiterate. It is the revenge of the heart's illuminated over the Lutheran academics.

The messiah's sermons greatly concern the authorities. Müntzer is obsessed with violence. War seems to him an absolute necessity: 'A man without faith has no right to live at the expense of those who have faith. The sword must be used to exterminate them [...] If they resist, let them be cut to pieces without mercy [...] For the wicked have no right whatsoever to live, unless the Elect authorize it" (4).

Not a few of the obsessive personalities with millenarian beliefs postpone extermination to the near future. An extermination that they themselves must carry out or that some supernatural power will take care of.

The elimination of those who do not integrate or submit can be limited to a specific territory, which the paranoid contagion group seeks to appropriate.

Serbian nationalism.

"These and other irrefutable testimonies clearly demonstrate the unequivocal will of the pan-Serbian fundamentalists —steeped in a bloody mythology and secular yearnings for revenge over the defeat at the Field of Blackbirds in Kosovo in the fourteenth century— to exterminate Bosnian Muslims in the strict physical sense of the term" (18).

In reality, the main cause of genocidal impulses is not to be found in History, as Serbian patriots would have it, but in nationalist exaltation itself. History provides nothing more than pretexts. The genocide of Muslim Serbo-speakers was planned once other Serbian-speakers, the latter of the Orthodox faith, became convinced that they constituted a nation, one that defined itself as Christian. Not before. Muslims were necessarily excluded, by definition.

Serbian nationalism.

"The Program of Serbia's Foreign and National Policy, elaborated by Garashanin in 1844, truly constitutes the first reasoned script of the Balkan wars of extermination of the twentieth century: 'The Serbian State, which after its happy beginning must be strengthened and expanded, finds its firm base and foundation in the Serbian empire of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, as well as in our glorious and rich history. [...] The arrival of the Turks interrupted its evolution and prevented this [imperial] enterprise for a long time; but now, with Turkish power broken and, so to speak, in ruins, one must once again reclaim the rights and resume the truncated work. [...] Our present will be fulfilled in relation to the past; therefore, Serbianism, with its national character and state existence, is covered by the protective mantle of a sacred historical right [italics mine]. The realization of the Program implies different phases: extension of Serbian borders, homogenization of the conquered territories; ethnic purification. The Serbs must rid themselves not only of Ottoman power, but of the neighboring peoples who occupy their historical space: first and foremost, of the Albanians of Kosovo, usurpers of the cradle of the medieval Serbian State.' For the first time, the term 'cleansing' ('cistiti') appears in the Balkan vocabulary" (19).

In these massacres planned (and sometimes carried out) by certain sectarian groups and radical nationalisms, the possibility may exist, for the victims, of escaping death through conversion.

Sectarian groups. Hare Krishna.

"The Hare Krishnas have never ceased to see in the Vedic Scriptures the announcement of an imminent catastrophe, in the form of a world war, that would annihilate the planet with the exception of some survivors and, logically, of the pure devotees of Krishna. Prabhupada himself, founder of the cult, said on one occasion that, in those days, it was necessary to locate each and every one of the karmis (non-members of the cult) who survived and ask them to chant the Hare Krishna mantra; if they refused, the devotee should kill them immediately" (36).

Serbian nationalism.

"During the conflict, Croatian and Dalmatian representatives of the 'Yugoslav movement' discussed with the Serbs the federation or confederation that was to unite them. Pan-Serbianism did not bode well for the partners of the state that was to bring together the peoples of the South Slavs. In a conversation held in Nice in 1917 between the Croatian delegate Trumbic and Srojan Protic, Finance Minister of the Serbian Government in exile and first Prime Minister of the new kingdom in 1919, regarding the future of Bosnia, the latter said: 'Leave the matter in our hands. We have the solution for Bosnia.' 'What is it, Mr. Protic?' asked Trumbic with curiosity. 'When our army crosses the Drina it will give the Turks (sic) 24 or even 48 hours to return to the faith of their ancestors. And whoever refuses will be liquidated, as we did before in Serbia' (cfr. Memoirs, by Ivan Mestrovic, Buenos Aires, 1961)" (19).

Exploitation and plunder

The armed struggle of the PCG may also aspire to the establishment of a relationship of privilege, with the subjugation and exploitation of those who do not belong to the group.

This was the public and acknowledged objective of Nazism and is that of some PCGs that see themselves as the elite destined to govern a world populated by inferior beings.

Crisis cults. The Baniwa Venancio (19th century).

"More than a thousand fanatics, armed with firearms, lived there together, ready to fight against the white people who were to become their slaves..." (38).

Nazism.

"The Administration must not turn Poland into a province or a model State, according to German ideology, nor sanitize the country economically.

Polish intellectuals must be prevented from becoming the ruling class. In the country, the standard of living must remain low; from there we only want to extract workers" (45).

Inferior beings over whom one would not only be able to command, but also exploit and plunder.

Nazism.

"One must start from the concept that these peoples have no other duty than to serve us on the economic level. Our efforts must therefore focus on extracting from the territories they occupy everything that can be extracted..." (Adolf Hitler, quoted in 21).

Both, the indigenous messiah and Hitler, were relatively sincere and conscious of their intentions. In other cases, subjugation and exploitation took place without being recognized as such and in full contradiction with the principles in whose name such invasions had been carried out. Unlike what would subsequently occur with Hitlerian expansionism, plunder did not figure among the explicit and acknowledged objectives of the Napoleonic invasions, but...

French imperialism.

"If the behavior of the military and the internal logic of maintaining large armies explained popular resentment, the economic policies of the successive revolutionary governments in the occupied territories disappointed the urban elites, who gradually distanced themselves from the entire process. To speak of 'economic policies' in that decade of the revolution is perhaps excessive, since such policies consisted only of hopes and economic ambitions, which were constantly frustrated and complicated by immediate contingencies. Specifically, the short-term reality of economic policy in the occupied territories consisted of two overlapping processes: the first was characterized by the agence d'extraccion established in Belgium and in the German territories in 1794; the second, by the return to private initiative with regard to the provisioning of the armies. The plundering of the occupied territories through the agence d'extraccion and other requisition agencies in Belgium was so uncontrolled and ineffective, that it became one of the main causes of the annexation and reorganization of the country into departments, following the French model (1795)" (44).

French imperialism.

"The 'sister republics', like other occupied territories, were obliged to pay extraordinary taxes and to maintain the 'protecting' armies. Whatever the amount of such exactions (which Godechot has estimated at no less than 360 million francs between 1792 and 1799), they constituted an essential part of the Directory's revenues; perhaps a quarter in years VI and VII" (44).

French imperialism.

"The agences d'extraccion of Belgium and the Rhineland in 1794, and the commissioners and generals who crossed the Rhine in 1796, had instructions to send to Paris potentially useful mechanized machinery, and even to destroy machinery that directly competed with domestic textile production" (44).

Antimilitarism

One final observation. Quite a few paranoid contagion groups are fervent antimilitarists, to the point that their members are willing to die by execution rather than wear a uniform or bear arms.

Messianic movements. Friedrich August Hahn (19th century)

"Yes, Friedrich August is Christ returned to earth. And with a highly innovative message: for him, the Bible is nothing more than a fanciful book. In reality, God is a universal fluid through which souls migrate.

The Hahnians, fierce anticlericals, are also resolute conscientious objectors who refuse with obstination to become soldiers" (4).

Messianic movements. Peter Verigin, Doukhobor leader (19th century)

"During the summer of 1890, he is exiled to the Arctic port of Kola and will make use of this polar seclusion to radicalize the Doukhobor faith. In 1893, he sends his disciples a directive urging them to henceforth refuse military service.

This antimilitarist campaign provokes devastating effects. Suddenly, the army finds itself confronted with hundreds of young recruits who refuse to bear arms. After an initial moment of hesitation, the Cossacks will embark on all-out repression. The Doukhobors become dangerous anti-Tsarist conspirators…" (4).

It is a paradox that radical antimilitarism should be one of the recurring themes found in a good part of the paranoid contagion groups. At first glance, this fact contradicts the militarist dynamic we have discussed in this section.

But the transition between drastic pacifism and violence can be rapid and surprising. Following the arrival of the first Dukhobors in Canada in 1899 (primarily due to their opposition to conscription into the tsarist army), the first tensions would not be long in coming. Indeed, the members of the cult refused to send their children to school, as well as to accept that, contrary to what had been agreed, they were prevented from living communally and from collectively owning land. They also refused to accept the British citizenship that was sought to be imposed upon them, and even less so the obligation to swear allegiance to the Crown. The movement suffered a new split between those who accepted the new conditions (the minority) and the followers of Peter Verigin, who emigrated to the lands he had acquired, where they were able to continue practicing their way of life. A third faction, the "Sons of Freedom," violently confronted the authorities, staging provocative nudist demonstrations, setting fires, and planting bombs in public schools, bridges, and courthouses. In total, more than a thousand violent acts were recorded, continuing through to the 1970s.