Noli Me Tangere The Moral Untouchability of Humanitarianism

unique research object. First, its manifestations are so diverse and indeed contradictory that its purpose seems nearly impossible to apprehend. Ranging from programs for assisting Central Asians in refugee camps to Seattle street demonstrations against globalization policies, from the struggle against famine in Africa to the defense of the national social protection system in France, from nongovernmental organizations decrying armed intervention to military operations justified in terms of assistance, the humanitarian world always exceeds what we can say about it. Second, it appears saturated with discourses that often turn out to have been authored by its own actors. Regardless of whether those humanitarian workers speak in the first person or proceed by way of their authorized commentators, whether they denounce world disorders or their own errors, they themselves are the ones to circumscribe the relevant questions and define what may legitimately be said about them. Finally—and this point follows in part from the two preceding ones—the world of humanitarianism tends to 2