Passion and tenderness as political forces

To understand contemporary forms of social organization it is not enough to know the geopolitics in course; it is also necessary to enter the field of micropolitics and, particularly, the affections and sensibility modes that sustain the construction of social ties. Different affections and sensibility modes will differently build social and political life. In distinguishing the language of passion from the language of tenderness, Ferenczi did not intend to have a political discussion, but we can use these notions to think about the current possibilities of political coexistence. Fear and hatred are violent and incisive passions. Tenderness, on the other hand, constitutes another kind of force, more fluid and porous, opening a more extensive surface of communication with the outside world. It is the child’s form of sensitivity, but also that of relationships of solidarity through dispossession. In this sense, the language of tenderness refers to the notion of vulnerability theorized by Judith Butler. It is not about defending a puerility or naivety, but a force of non-violence that, when affirmed, creates the possibility of a less unequal, fairer political coexistence, especially in countries immersed in a culture of hate such as Brazil.