FREEDOM
Suicide: the biggest problem in the world
Michel Foucault’s concept of biopower might help explain why authorities around the world find it so difficult to legalise assisted suicide
Suicide is one of the most vexing political questions facing humanity. It is at the centre of the intractable problem that gave the world US President Donald Trump, Brexit and the rise of the European right: salafist terror, which uses the most effective smart weapon of mass destruction yet devised — the suicide bomber. At the other end of the spectrum is assisted suicide — a topic raised again in SA after the death of one of the country’s greatest writers, Karel Schoeman. At this stage, it is only suspected that his death was an assisted suicide; it is possible that he starved himself, two years after he had tried to do so and failed, according to his suicide letter. Suicide bombing has been declared a crime against humanity, to no avail, since there does not seem to be any reduction in the supply and training of willing recruits. Adolescent angst and exploitation of the youth play a role, and Israel’s jails are full of Palestinian teenagers who had the sense to chicken out, but it...
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