Should the left’s answer to rightist populism really be a “Me Too”? Part II

Should the left’s answer to rightist populism really be a “Me Too”;? Part I Let’s take an (artificially) clear-cut case. Imagine a democracy, in which a large majority of voters succumb to the anti-immigrant populist propaganda and decide in a referendum to close borders to the refugees and make life more difficult for those who… Continue reading Should the left’s answer to rightist populism really be a “Me Too”? Part II

As Trump, Bannon, Assange & Oprah make headlines: The Empire Strikes Back

As Trump, Bannon, Assange & Oprah make headlines- The Empire Strikes Back

The global elite will use any means necessary to prevent the economic radicalization of the left. So “MeToo” and smears distract while tax evasion has become legitimate. Three widely reported recent events sum up our current sad predicament: the open conflict between Donald Trump and Steve Bannon, Oprah Winfrey’s speech at the Golden Globe awards,… Continue reading As Trump, Bannon, Assange & Oprah make headlines: The Empire Strikes Back

The problem with Venezuela’s revolution is that it didn’t go far enough

Back in the early 1970s, in a note to the CIA advising them how to undermine the democratically elected Chilean government of Salvador Allende, Henry Kissinger wrote succinctly: “Make the economy scream.” High US representatives are openly admitting that today the same strategy is applied in Venezuela: former US Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger said… Continue reading The problem with Venezuela’s revolution is that it didn’t go far enough

The Left’s Fidelity to Castro-ation

The Left’s Fidelity to Castro-ation

I am critical of Cuba not because I am anti-Communist but because I remain a Communist. We all remember the classic scene from cartoons: a cat walks over the precipice and magically goes on, floating in the air—it falls down only when it looks down and becomes aware that it has no ground under its… Continue reading The Left’s Fidelity to Castro-ation

Slavoj Žižek on Castro’s death (+ transcript)

[Transcript below video.] RT: Joining me live now here on the programme on RT International Slavoj Žižek – a philosopher and international director at the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities. Great to see you today. Thanks for coming on the programme. Let’s discuss the breaking news here, Mr. Žižek, that over the death of Fidel… Continue reading Slavoj Žižek on Castro’s death (+ transcript)

Democracy’s Fascism Problem

Sometimes faces become symbols of the anonymous forces behind them. Was not the stupidly smiling face of Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem the symbol of the European Union’s brutal pressure on Greece? Recently, the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP)—the European cousin of the Trans-Pacific Partnership—acquired a new symbol: the cold face of E.U. trade commissioner… Continue reading Democracy’s Fascism Problem

Thanks to the EU’s villainy, Greece is now under financial occupation

my short essay on Greece after the referendum “The Courage of Hopelessness” was republished by In These Times, its title was changed into “How Alexis Tsipras and Syriza Outmaneuvered Angela Merkel and the Eurocrats”. Although I effectively think that accepting the EU terms was not a simple defeat, I am far from such an optimist view.… Continue reading Thanks to the EU’s villainy, Greece is now under financial occupation

The courage of hopelessness

The courage of hopelessness

The Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben said in an interview that “thought is the courage of hopelessness” ─ an insight that is especially pertinent for our historical moment, when even the most pessimistic diagnosis as a rule finishes with an uplifting hint at some version of the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. The true courage is not… Continue reading The courage of hopelessness