Below is the transcript of Zizek’s introductory statement. First, a brief introductory remark. I cannot but notice the irony of how Peterson and I, the participants in this duel of the century, are both marginalised by the official academic community. I am supposed to defend here the left, liberal line against neo-conservatives. Really? Most of… Continue reading Žižek & Peterson Debate – Happiness: Capitalism vs. Marxism (transcript of opening statement)
Tag: Marxism
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
A Marxist for Trump
[Note: The embed feature of vice.com does not seem to work correctly; link to video is provided below the transcript.] Slavoj Žižek: I think it’s totally wrong to say Trump is really a dangerous right-wing fundamentalist. No. He is nothing. He is an opportunist, the way I see it. Narrated: Slavoj Žižek is Slovenian philosopher,… Continue reading A Marxist for Trump
Communist Absconditus (transcript)
[Transcript below video.] Schirmacher: If you don’t know him, you don’t live in this world. Obviously he is the one best-known philosopher in the world, the not the best but the best-known …. To say, the most dangerous one, you know. And he has already threatened us with his last 1000-page book, Hegel is coming… Continue reading Communist Absconditus (transcript)
Slavoj Žižek: Blofeld rides again, Interview with Danny Leigh
Slavoj Žižek is in bed. He’s wearing cheap pyjamas in a porridgy shade of grey. He looks exactly like the photographs I’ve seen of him: fag-ash beard, ghostly complexion. I loom over him, and he glowers back. His face is just inches from mine, so close I can feel his breath. “No, you are wrong!”… Continue reading Slavoj Žižek: Blofeld rides again, Interview with Danny Leigh
China’s Valley of Tears
The explosion of capitalism in China has many Westerners asking when political democracy–as the “natural” accompaniment of capitalism–will emerge. But a closer look quickly dispels any such hope. Modern-day China is not an oriental-despotic distortion of capitalism, but rather the repetition of capitalism’s development in Europe itself. In the early modern era, most European states… Continue reading China’s Valley of Tears