[HPforGrownups] Re: Further Notes on Literary Uses of Magic and Anti-Globalization in Harry Pott

[Janette]

No: HPFGUIDX 168180

>
> Betsy wrote:
>
> > The DA *was* segragated.  No Slytherins were allowed, and no one who
> didn't agree to be completely loyal to Harry (and Dumbledore) was
> allowed.  There was even a certain taint of "Hitler Youth" to the
> ruthless understanding that students would stand against their family>
> if need be (Marietta).
>
> dan: You've removed the only thing that matters here - the DA is working
> for good, not evil. This is not an aside, this is essential. Rowling
> is realistic, not idealistic - her world is partisan, she does not say
> loyalty is all one - loyalty to Voldemort and his cause is bad,
> loyalty to Dumbledore and his is good. This doesn't justify extremes
> of violence, but the DA doesn't either - they are focussed on outing
> what they know is going on behind the scenes.


montims:
In this respect, I think it's worth remembering that JKR worked for a while
for Amnesty, and she has a link to Amnesty International on her website.
This is an organisation that deliberately works to subvert the government of
countries that practice human rights abuses.  Active opposition to bad
practices, regardless of the source or intentions of such practices.

As to the "Hitler Youth" reference, I really think that parallel is to the
Slytherin group that Umbridge grooms.  Her whole sequence of edicts to me is
very reminiscent of the way a totalitarion authority gradually erodes
peoples' rights until they suddenly realise that they have none, and the use
of a group of people in that authority's good graces while, or because, they
spy on and intimidate their peers, is very chilling.  Harry's DA was never
(in Harry's mind at least) intended to be other than preparation for
encountering the worst that LV could throw at the WW, through filling the
gap left by Umbridge's abysmal teaching.  Had their DA classes been
conducted according to syllabus by a competent teacher, I believe DA would
never have come about.


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