Famil, says Lacan, shows us the metaphorical function of the family [1], that is, the phantasmatic signification attributed to the desire of the Other, to the lack of the Other. This idea is amplified in a formulation from the “Note on the Child”[2], which emphasizes the irreducibility of a transmission from the family, namely : the object α, which differs from a universal transmission. Lacan attributes to the family a residual function in the evolution of society. This conception of the family responds to the “failure of utopian communities” [3], that is, the failure to form an extended collective with One utopian transmission. Family is a symptom of society, each one with its own singular transmission highlighting the failure of social unification. Moreover, this singular transmission results from an assemblage of desires that transforms this familial collective into a subject. Therefore, and according to the way Jacques-Alain Miller presents the School in The Turin Theory [4], we can refer to the phenomenon of an ensemble of families functioning as One, with the same object on the side of the ego ideal.
Together we will win! As opposed to Free them all now!
A very particular event that illustrates this type of multiplicity recently came to pass in Israeli society. It concerns the formation of a singular collective : “the family of the families of the hostages.” This family of families is a community with a collective mission : to fight for the liberation of the hostages. The point of identification of the whole or of the common cause is the drive, despite the fact that each family maintains its subjective solitude and singular transmission. In this unification of families, we find a group composed of representatives from different sectors of society, with diverse political positions, but consolidated as One in view of their objective : All for One and One for all — for life. Their exhaustive public activity includes regularly organizing demonstrations, together or individually, as well as issuing statements, making representations abroad, publishing reports, declarations, etc., to obtain international support from various governments and organizations. This is carried out to influence and put pressure on the parties concerned, with the aim of freeing the hostages at all costs. The eruption of events that triggered the war known as the “Swords of Iron” [5] produced a crisis in society, an effect of demassification through the abrupt disjunction in the social order between know-how [savoir y faire] and power — particularly as a consequence of the collapse of the ideal of protection and security. The result of this crisis was, on the one hand, a fracture in society and, on the other, a segregative unification that prioritized life over power.
This disjunction contributed to the increase of a total lack of security, an exacerbation of vulnerability among citizens, and their collapse into the abyss of Hilflosigkeit and anxiety. It seems to me that this helplessness is especially intense among the families of hostages. The anxiety that emerges here is not without an object — it is a confrontation with a real that makes a hole in the Other of power.
Each family, as a subject, demanded that the government-Other guarantee that they would assume responsibility for saving the hostages’ lives. The position of the Other, in systematically postponing negotiations for the release in question, revealed a radical collapse of the illusion of the Ideal and the emergence of a lack. This master’s policy [politique de maître] is camouflaged by the following slogan : Together we shall win! This in order to create a semblance of unification that erases differences, conceals the social fracture, and proclaims a common goal, an illusory victory — a way to try to establish harmony between knowledge and power under the signifier of power. The various governmental alliances guarantee this master’s power. Suspending or delaying negotiations clearly implies the continuation of war and ensures that power remains in place. An interesting fact is the frequent use of another slogan : We are all brothers !, thus transforming the entire population into one big family, a brotherhood where blood ties are above all else. The ironic use of this slogan functions as a prop of power.
This family denounces the existence of a lack in the so-called existing social order and reveals the irreducible disjunction between knowledge and power. This confirms Lacan’s idea when he speaks of an empire or Emporiums [6], that is, a domination under the capitalist order, saying : “In order for something to be missing, there must be things that are counted [compté] [7]”, for it is necessary to have left the empire in order to denounce the existence of a lack in the so-called existing order. Indeed, the ensemble of families constitutes a part of the entire population, but it is a part that not only disapproves of the government’s ideology, but is also excluded by different factions of society — to the point of being criticized, insulted, and threatened because of its discourse and its relentless struggle.
It must be emphasized that the families of those recently released declared shortly after their liberation their ethical commitment to continue the struggle together in various ways and to demand the return of their sons, partners, fathers — their loved ones.
[1] Lacan J., The Seminar of Jacques Lacan book xvi, From an Other to the other, edited by J.-A Miller, trans. Bruce Fink, Cambridge & Hoboken, Polity, 2024, p. 254.
[2] Lacan J., ‘Note on the Child’, trans. Russell Grigg. The Lacanian Review 4, p. 13-14.
[3] Ibid., p. 13.
[4] Cf. Miller J.-A., Théorie de Turin sur le sujet de l’École, Presses Psychanalytiques de Paris, 2024.
[5] The name “Swords of Iron” was announced by the army on the day of the Hamas attack, The Times of Israël, 18 December 2023.
[6] Lacan J., The Seminar of Jacques Lacan book xvi, From an Other to the other, op. cit., p. 256.
[7] Ibid.
Translation: Polina Agapaki
Proofreading: Robyn Adler
