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

Should the left's answer to rightist populism really be a 'Me Too' - Part I

The latest trend in the vagaries of Leftist politics is the weird movement of MeToo. The Left, however, should learn from the rise of Rightist populism, because WeToo can play the populist game… We are repeatedly told that Left populism is de facto winning and it works. But where and how does it work? Everywhere where it… Continue reading Should the left’s answer to rightist populism really be a “Me Too”? Part I

Steve Bannon’s Brussels plans threaten Europe’s liberal legacy

The American far right has spotted a gap in the European market, as the continent buckles from the fallout of mass migration and austerity. For liberals to maintain control, they must ally themselves with the radical left. Recently, it has been widely reported that Steve Bannon plans to establish a group to coordinate right-wing nationalist… Continue reading Steve Bannon’s Brussels plans threaten Europe’s liberal legacy

Slavoj Žižek on Trump and the Republican Party

[This is an extract from Slavoj Žižek’s appearance at Left Forum on May 22nd 2016. The primary topic is Trump and the Republican Party, but he digresses among others to WikiLeaks, normalisation of torture and rape, and of course toilets. Transcript below the video.] …today. I’m sorry. I speak too long, I will start to, try… Continue reading Slavoj Žižek on Trump and the Republican Party

Democracy and Capitalism Are Destined to Split Up (transcript)

Transcript below. People often ask me: ‘how can you be so stupid and still proclaim yourself a communist. What do you mean by this?’ Well, I have always to emphasize that, first, I am well aware that – let’s call it like this – the twentieth century’s over. Which means that all, not only communists… Continue reading Democracy and Capitalism Are Destined to Split Up (transcript)

The Universal Exception (Preface)

The Universal Exception

The big Other between violence and civility Slavoj Zizek   The ‘universal exception’, according to Lacan, is the fundamental feature of the symbolic order (the ‘big Other’) as the order of universality: each universality is grounded in its constitutive exception. This feature is to be supplemented with its no less paradoxical obverse, the so-called ‘not-All… Continue reading The Universal Exception (Preface)

“I’m a Fighting Atheist”, Interview with Doug Henwood

Question: A lot of readers of American underground publications read Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, and the stuff coming out of small anarchist presses. What would they get from reading your work that they might be missing? Zizek: Martin Heidegger said that philosophy doesn’t make things easier, it makes them harder and more complicated. What… Continue reading “I’m a Fighting Atheist”, Interview with Doug Henwood

In the Wake of Paris Attacks the Left Must Embrace Its Radical Western Roots

In the Wake of Paris Attacks the Left Must Embrace Its Radical Western Roots

In the first half of 2015, Europe was preoccupied by radical emancipatory movements (Syriza and Podemos), while in the second half the attention shifted to the “humanitarian” topic of the refugees. Class struggle was literally repressed and replaced by the liberal-cultural topic of tolerance and solidarity. With the Paris terror killings on Friday, November 13,… Continue reading In the Wake of Paris Attacks the Left Must Embrace Its Radical Western Roots

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