Political Scatology: On the Right to have Rights in Hannah Arendt and Elfriede Jelinek

Abstract: A prevailing view in political theory dictates that for an issue to become political it must appear. This view is complicated by Die Schutzbefohlenen (2013–15), Elfriede Jelinek’s theatrical engagement with the media shitstorm around the so-called European migrant crisis. Focusing on the representation of the forced displacement of people exposed in their bodily need, Jelinek’s play shows that the politics of need is not necessarily served by a framing that brings it to light. Revisiting Hannah Arendt’s remarks on the “right to have rights,” I argue that before the right to appear on the political scene as a political agent, there is a right not to have to appear . Jelinek’s play addresses the destitution of the political theater when it is reduced to “political scatology,” a phrase I use to refer to the moment when people are treated “like shit” because they are exposed in dire need.