Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Slavoj Žižek comes to Seoul asking unconventional questions about global problems




By Choi Won-hyung staff reporter  
 
Slavoj Zizek, a Slovenian cultural theorist known for his radical blend of realpolitik and pop culture, is visiting Korea this week after having been away since his 2003 appearance at the Conference of Korean Philosophers.
The first stop on his itinerary this time was a conversation with Hong Se-hwa, a noted progressive writer in Korea. The meeting coincided with the 62nd anniversary Monday of the start of the Korean War, saw Zizek talking about the current crisis in the capitalist system, and what “progressives” and “leftists” should be aiming for at such a time. He also spent two hours sharing his thoughts on the division of the Korean Peninsula and the continuity of the regime in Pyongyang.
Hong began the conversation on the topic of the recent second round of elections in Greece as a way of gauging the direction of the financial crisis in Europe. In light of the results, he asked what Zizek expected to see with the crisis in the global capitalist system.
Zizek argued that the situation in Greece, which is closely linked to Europe’s most developed economies, was a good example of the inability of even Western states to move forward from the current crisis of capitalism or sustain a welfare state.
He also voiced concern that democracy might suffer a setback from the ultimate victory of New Democracy, which supports austerity measures leveled against Greece. Zizek said that what worried him most in the crisis are the moves toward a “divorce” in the marriage between democracy and capitalism.
Although capitalism has supported democracy to date, Zizek predicted, the new model of post-neoliberal capitalism would not require it. He pointed to a global trend, and the resulting problems, of non-democratically elected “technocrats” making the important decisions in countries like Russia, Italy, and Greece.
He also took a positive view of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), which drew support in the election by presenting a clear choice between accepting austerity and negotiating the bailout. Zizek said that SYRIZA brought order to the Greek chaos, and that a victory for it might have opened the way for a new type of citizenship.
He argued that while the coalition failed to come to power after a below-the-belt propaganda offensive charging that they would bring “Stalinism” to Greece, its ability to increase its support levels from under 5% to between 25% and 29% by searching for a “way of surviving in the Eurozone” provided an instructive example for the rebuilding of a new left-wing party in South Korea.
Hong went on to ask about the difficulties leftists are facing around the world. He noted the South Korean example, in which the military dictatorship was brought to an end by the June 1987 democracy struggle, but the next ten years of reformist liberal administrations ended up dividing the working class and strengthening big business through intensive restructuring.
Zizek was pessimistic about the prospects, observing that the left, despite its critique of capitalism, was unable to do anything when crisis struck, and remains in a profound state of crisis. Whereas the left wing of the past believed it was enough to know what would happen and organize people who agreed with it, he argued, the current situation is one where there is no way of knowing what is going on, and the left is not asking the “big questions.”
He also said another limitation of the current left is its tacit acceptance of democracy and capitalism, with an interest on how to make things better by working within the system.
He argued that the left, rather than presenting a utopian perspective and dogma for a solution, needs to be a presence asking the question of what an be offered to people, from a perspective that problematizes a system that divides people through embracing and excluding -- what the philosopher calls the “new Apartheid.”
The important thing, he added, was not giving answers but asking the right questions.
What practical steps need to be taken to rebuild the left? According to Zizek, the question of what people really feel represents change is more important what how many people have called for the same thing. The task of the left, he added, was to look squarely at a complex reality where pragmatism is bound together with idealism.
The conversation segued into accounts of the difficulties faced by the South Korean labor movement. Hong described the occupation of a crane last year by Korean Confederation of Trade Unions member Kim Jin-suk to protest layoffs at Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction, the Hope Bus campaign to support her struggle, and the plight of layoff victims at Ssangyong Motors, who failed to draw the same level of interest from civil society despite the deaths of 22 union members in the wake of the firings.
Zizek said that helping out when the basic social system is not functioning properly is not an issue of philosophy. Like coming to the aid of someone who lies bleeding in the street, he said, helping people is a fundamental part of an ethical society that goes beyond the discussion on neoliberalism.
The philosopher showed a particular interest in the division of the peninsula and the North Korean regime. He noted that unlike other communist countries where bureaucrats dominate the system, North Korea follows a heredity succession, even going so far as to invoke supernatural phenomena.
Zizek said he was very interested in what contributed to North Korea developing such a unique system in the present day and age. He also said that despite opting for “isolation” over the years, Pyongyang was actually far more dependent on the outside, relying on food aids and focusing on establishing diplomatic relations with Washington and Tokyo.
Zizek’s visit attracted notice because he was the one who suggested it. He plans to meet with the public in seven o’clock lecture meetings at the Kyung Hee University Peace Hall on Wednesday and the Konkuk University New Millennium Hall on Thursday. He is scheduled to depart Saturday after a weeklong stay.

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