Slavoj Zizek on Direct Democracy

[EverythingNothing]

I would like to share with you,fellow comrades,a great clip,about direct democracy,EZLN,and the Greeks,as seen by Slavoj Zizek:

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

[tuwix]

He's wrong in terms of direct democracy. For Old Prussians the greatest power hand mas meeting. And it was working for centuries.

[Tim Cornelis]

I have no idea what this guy is on about. I can't tell tongue in cheek comments and serious opinion apart. Is he opposed, then, to workers' self-rule? As for examples of direct democracy working for more than 2-3 months, the Landless Workers' Movement has had an egalitarian structure since 1986.

[fear of a red planet]

I have no idea what this guy is on about. I can't tell tongue in cheek comments and serious opinion apart. Is he opposed, then, to workers' self-rule? As for examples of direct democracy working for more than 2-3 months, the Landless Workers' Movement has had an egalitarian structure since 1986.

This guy as you call him is quite clearly arguing that the childish enthusiasm many on the revolutionary left have for elevating brief emancipatory outbursts as the only worthwhile way to bring about radical social change ignores the fact that they have never succeeded in universalising their principles and in fact are ultimately recuperable by the capitalist state at worst, and safety valves at best.

He is saying that you cannot have local self organisation and worker's control unless you are prepared to support a strong state that can provide a coherent framework and defend equality.

Which I dunno evidence seems to back up.

[blake 3:17]

Are the Brazialian landless or the Zapatistas opposed to representative democracy?

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

Zizek is oversimplifying the issue to criticize the EZLN on that front. While he's right that they failed to create a universalizable model, or even a model that could spread to the rest of Mexico in the short term, their direct democratic model has survived for over 20 years and Subcommandante Marcos has all but retired, and it has since spread to other communities.

[blake 3:17]

This guy as you call him is quite clearly arguing that the childish enthusiasm many on the revolutionary left have for elevating brief emancipatory outbursts as the only worthwhile way to bring about radical social change ignores the fact that they have never succeeded in universalising their principles and in fact are ultimately recuperable by the capitalist state at worst, and safety valves at best.

He is saying that you cannot have local self organisation and worker's control unless you are prepared to support a strong state that can provide a coherent framework and defend equality.

Which I dunno evidence seems to back up.

On a theoretical level there is a problem of where the State begins and ends. I've tended towards rightish Marxism on the question -- with Engels understanding of the State as a product of class struggle, not simply one of domination.

One of the great ironies of libertarians is how despite their anti-statist claims they're in love with the State & rely on it 100% to enforce property rights.

One of the best programmes for socialist democracy comes from the USFI in the 80s. http://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article921

It is well worth studying and discussing.

[Tenka]

Zizek merely raises questions, and that's what he's good for, I think. Disregarding any technicalities such as how long certain direct democracies have lasted, how truly democratic or direct they are/were and how well they may be imitated on a global scale, the concern seems to lie with how people intend to live when/if they're not participating directly in their own governance and that of the many facets of technology and infrastructure, etcetera, that make living bearable for many of us today.

I could have it wrong of course. At any rate, I've no answers.

[blake 3:17]

Zizek merely raises questions, and that's what he's good for, I think.

That's what I love about him. I see him as comparable to Nietszche -- dude says stuff nobody else will.