English subtitles for clip: File:Ikusgela - Hannah Arendt.webm

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Do you think you have
lived through unstable times?

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Have you grown tired of the constant
succession of historical moments?

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You're probably right.

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But, unfortunately, we
are not the only ones

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to whom tumultuous times
have befallen us, far from it.

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The philosopher Hannah
Arendt, for example,

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experienced Nazism, the two
world wars, the Russian Revolution,

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the development of mass society

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and the atomic bomb
in the 20th century.

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The effort to understand those
dark times was what guided

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the evolution of her thought,

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and even to understand
today's world,

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she is an indispensable thinker.

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But who was Hannah Arendt?

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She was born in 1906
in Hanover, Germany,

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into an intellectual
family of Jewish origin.

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From an early age,
she perceived that

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her Jewishness set her apart.

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And she was not wrong:

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it would be decisive
in the development of

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her life and thought.

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She studied at the universities
of Freiburg, Marburg

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and Heidelberg, together with
several intellectuals of the time.

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In 1933 she had
to flee to Paris,

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when Nazism had just taken

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over the German government.

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She spent eight years in Paris,

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until she went into
exile for the second time.

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In 1941, she moved to New York

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in search of an opportunity
to rebuild her life.

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Little by little she
found her place:

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she immersed herself in
intellectual circles of the time,

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became a university professor,

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and published there

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her most emblematic works.

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She died in 1975,
during the Cold War.

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The repercussion
of this eventful life

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in her works is remarkable.

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One need only analyze
"The Origins of Totalitarianism",

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published in 1951.

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In it she investigates the
elements that intervene

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in the appearance
of totalitarianism.

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She divided the work into
three sections or topics of study:

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anti-Semitism or hatred of Jews,

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imperialism, and
totalitarianism.

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For Arendt, the first two are,

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together with the precarious
socio-economic situation

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left by the First World War,

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the precursors
of totalitarianism.

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She also analyzes the symptoms

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and ways of doing
totalitarianism:

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Totalitarianism
imposes a single vision,

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oppresses the capacity

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for reflection and expression;

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and nullifies debate
and political action.

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In Arendt's view,
totalitarianism is not only

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a new form of domination,

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but also the
elimination of politics.

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Therefore,

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Hannah Arendt insists
on the importance of rights,

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political freedom and
protest movements.

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She also looks
in the book at the

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characteristics of
totalitarian governments.

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Here are some of them.

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They have a single,
omnipotent leader.

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They have a justifying
narrative of the regime.

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They classify and
rank individuals.

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They dominate by
propaganda and terror.

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They destroy individuality,

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diversity and autonomy:

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they want to control each
and every sphere of life.

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They nullify freedom
of speech and press.

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The work she published in 1958

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also caused a stir.

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She called it "The
Human Condition".

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In it she develops the
concept of active life,

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trying to understand

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the political disintegration
caused by totalitarianism.

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Arendt distinguishes
two basic forms of life:

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the active and
the contemplative,

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among which

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she focuses on the active.

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The work consists of
three sections in which

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she analyzes the
activities of active life:

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work,

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which focuses on responding
to the necessities of life;

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production,

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responsible for producing
permanent objects;

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and action

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or activity with others
and in the public space,

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which involves the
development of freedom.

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This third is the one
that annuls totalitarianism.

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Action is not
limited to activity,

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action and word are united,

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that is why

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through them we show who
we are in the public sphere.

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It is a characteristic
trait of the human being

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that requires three
conditions for its development:

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1- to recognize that human
beings are equal and multiple.

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2- Freedom of expression.

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3- Protection of
the common world.

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The experience in 1961

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was a milestone for Arendt.

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Sent by The New Yorker magazine,

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she was in Jerusalem

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during the trial of the Nazi
official Adolf Eichmann.

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He was considered responsible
for the Nazi massacres

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and sentenced to death.

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Two years later, Arendt
published the book,

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delving into that case.

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The idea she addresses in it is

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how we can be murderers,

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without feeling that
we are murderers.

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She used the concept
of the vanity of evil.

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In her words,

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even if we are not
motivated to do evil,

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acting uncritically
and without thought,

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we can do evil.

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Eichmann's own
case is a case in point.

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At his trial he testified

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that he merely
carried out orders.

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If he really was,

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is he responsible
for what he did?

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For Arendt, yes.

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This lack of reflection
on his actions

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is precisely Eichmann's
greatest crime.

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It is this lack of criticality
that, in her words,

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allows totalitarianism
to gain ground.

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Due to the uncritical masses 
looked the other way,

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Hitler succeeded in
establishing Nazism in Germany.

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Politics and lies.

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Lies and politics.

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Arendt also analyzed the
relationship between both.

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Her latest books

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contain these
kinds of reflections.

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Politics does not appreciate
the truth and sometimes

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telling the truth is an
anti-political attitude.

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The politician (especially when
they want to impose their power)

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it suits that the reality 
is on their side.

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In order to achieve this goal,

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the truth will always
be an obstacle.

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As we live in the
era of fake news,

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this is a very contemporary
debate too, isn't it?

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All this and much more is the

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legacy left by the thinker.

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And all this and much more is

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Hannah Arendt:

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an essential thinker to
understand the fundamental events

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of the twentieth century.