Slavoj Žižek on resurrecting the Left

[Delenda Carthago]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIr88vrTL54

Food for thought.

[Q]

Good piece. There is indeed nothing "inevitable" about the resurgence of socialist ideas. Berlusconi's Italy points the very opposite. I also support his call for collective action warmly (don't we all?). I don't really get his part on regulations though, could anyone elaborate?

[Belisarius]

i generally agree with Zizek. the left has become a kind of moralising group apart from society. our acts are "micropolitical", a manifestation here, a meeting there, but nothing really serious for capitalist governments. it's not like we're really making a difference.

the time to act is now, but hasn't it been this way all along?

[Kwisatz Haderach]

What we need above all are large-scale organizations of the working class with a clear political aim to overthrow capitalism. In other words, revolutionary trade unions, or at least trade unions with revolutionary rhetoric. Without large numbers of workers identifying themselves as revolutionary socialists, the left is powerless.

[Tablo]

It would be nice if the entire left, everything from Trotskyists to Marxist-Leninist to Left Communists to Anarchists, unified in a group with the sole purpose of fighting Capitalism. Pretty much impossible since it would deteriorate into sectarian conflict in the very first meeting. :lol:

[Dimentio]

i generally agree with Zizek. the left has become a kind of moralising group apart from society. our acts are "micropolitical", a manifestation here, a meeting there, but nothing really serious for capitalist governments. it's not like we're really making a difference.

the time to act is now, but hasn't it been this way all along?

I would claim that there is a dichotomy between the language of the left and the general society. Apparently, there is a lot of people who could be wooed into leftist sentiment but haven't. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain the rapid rise of the Zeitgeist Movement.

[Rusty Shackleford]

how is the zeitgeist movement faring by the way?

is this something that we can learn form the Zeitgeist movement? To show socialism but never mention socialism?


Also, i think the mention of "Large regulating actions" is just mass movements that counter something.

[Matty_UK]

Zizek's new book, "First as tragedy then as farce" has a lot of good points in, I recommend you all read it. Aside from the advocacy of voluntarism rather than a belief that it's going to come, I think his most salient point is how the proletariat has been divided between "intellectual work," characterised by enlightened libertarian hedonism and a cosmopolitan worldview (yet still riddled with huge cultural prejudice against the other aspects of the proletariat), and then into the manual/unskilled workers, characterised by regressive populist fundamentalism, and finally the outcasts (lumpen-proletariat, long term unemployed). For a revolution to be possible, these 3 groups need to be united in demands. Most active leftists fall into the first category, and we ought to be working out ways to unite with the other 2 categories, to open up some sort of space for communication and synthesising.

He also does a good job identifying the utopian ideological dogmatism of the "cynical pragmatist," and its really about time that was identified as the hegemonic ideology of post-modern capitalism and attacked as such.

[GatesofLenin]

Just finished reading his Lenin book Revolution at the Gates, wonderful must read for everyone! Highly recommended!

[Q]

Just finished reading his Lenin book Revolution at the Gates, wonderful must read for everyone! Highly recommended!
Could you give us a summary?

[leninpuncher]

Surely leftist labour unions have got a membership boost during the crisis? Even if this isn't the start of a revolution, we must be making progress through it?

[Rusty Shackleford]

Surely leftist labour unions have got a membership boost during the crisis? Even if this isn't the start of a revolution, we must be making progress through it?


i dont have anything to support this, but i have heard that at least in the US unions have been dropping in popularity.

[Liberateeducate]

I really liked the end points he makes a jab at like recycling i'm guessing, when he mentions the "separating news paper in your trashbins". Not because I hate recycling, but because I know many eco/social justice/leftist activists whatever you want to name them, who find much more satisfaction in regulating their own life aspects then organizing larger efforts or communities towards actions, e.g. finding local food, eating vegan/vegetarian, recycling, riding a bike more often, and its not to say that all those acts aren't great. But, they leave it at that, its like they feel organizing or discussing issues, enlightening others about the issues is just like too troublesome for them, but yet they are willing to scrutinize anyone they know in any organizing efforts for not doing the individual acts they do? I dont know if anyone has any similar experiences, but its frustrating nonetheless.
I know the old slogan is think globally, act locally, but I have to say it should be educate locally, so you can liberate globally.

[which doctor]

Surely leftist labour unions have got a membership boost during the crisis? Even if this isn't the start of a revolution, we must be making progress through it?
Traditionally unionized industries have been some of the hardest hit in the current economic crisis, thus resulting in large layoffs and decreased production.

[Das war einmal]

A great video. But I think we need to fight for reforms within the system and revolution at the same time.

[Deny]

Just this evening some friends and I watched Zizek's film, The Reality of the Virtual, which among many other things discusses the co-option of leftist sentiment into the mainstream. He goes into how ideas such as political correctness, "tolerance", and even much of critical theory are merely more subtle manifestations of reactionary principles. Very, very interesting to listen to.