Saturday, January 28, 2017
Žižek settles the “Is it OK to punch a Nazi?” question once and for all
January 27, 2017
“Is it OK to punch a Nazi?” is
a question that has ricocheted around Twitter ever since Jan. 20, when
“alt-right” provocateur and American white supremacist Richard
Spencer got slugged on video by a masked protester during Donald Trump’s US
presidential inauguration. Footage of the punch spread quickly around the
internet, where it became a
topic of much debate, a website
and even a meme.
But while some people
celebrated the punch, others wondered if, on a more philosophical level, sucker
punching a neo-Nazi is ever acceptable behavior. Most respectable
types said no, while others,
including many on the so-called “Dirtbag
Left,” pointed out that punching Nazis is
a time-honored American tradition.
I asked controversial
Slovenian philosopher and professor at the European Graduate School Slavoj
Žižek what he thought. His answer might surprise you.
(Editor’s note: the following
transcript has been edited for clarity.)
Quartz: So, is it OK to punch
a Nazi?
Žižek: No! If there is
violence needed, I’m more for Gandhian, passive violence.
I once made a statement, maybe
you know it, which cost me dearly. I said the problem with Hitler was that he
wasn’t violent enough. Then I said, in the same statement, that Gandhi was more
violent than Hitler. All Hitler’s violence was reactive violence. He killed
millions, but the ultimate goal was basically to keep the system the way it
was—German capitalism and so on—while Gandhi really wanted to bring down the
British state. But his violence was symbolic: peaceful demonstrations, general
strikes and so on.
If a guy talks like that jerk
[Richard Spencer], you should just ignore him. If he hits you, turn around.
Don’t even acknowledge him as a person. That’s the type of violence I would
call for. Not physical violence. Because, you know, people say symbolic
violence can be even worse, but don’t underestimate physical violence.
Something happens when you move to physical violence. I’m not saying we should
greet everyone, embrace them. Be brutal at a different level. When you
encounter a guy like the one who was punched, act in such a way that even
hitting him, even slapping him is too much of a recognition. You should treat
him or her or whoever as a nonperson, literally.
In other words, leftists
should “go
high?”
I remember when [Greek leftist
party] Syriza
was still competing for power in Greece. A representative of [far-right
political party] Golden
Dawn threw glasses full of water at his Syriza opponent at a TV round
table. A couple of times, Syriza members of parliament were attacked in
parliament, and so on. Today it’s these new alt-right people who are acting
physically violent. They represent the decay of common morality and decency.
And I use here the the very precise term, Hegel calls it Sittlichkeit. It’s not
simple morality, it’s a set of thick unwritten rules which makes our social
life bearable. And, paradoxically, I think that progressives should become the
voice of common decency, politeness, good manners and so on.
Here I see also the failure of
political correctness, because political correctness is, for me, a desperate
reaction to this disintegration. But they are doing it in a suicidal way, by
precise regulations, saying this word is forbidden and so on. If it has to
proceed like this, the left has already lost.
But the “when they go low, we
go high” strategy didn’t actually work for Democrats against Donald Trump in
2016.
It’s much more complex than
that. I think that’s their biggest mistake. Isn’t is sad that the best
left-liberal critique of Trump is political comedy? People like Jon Stewart,
John Oliver and so on. It’s nice to make fun of him, but you laugh at him and
he wins. My God! There is something terribly wrong with playing this game of
ironically making fun of Trump. You know, in medicine they call it symptomatic
healing, when you take some things, they just neutralize the effects, like you
have this pain, but they don’t heal the disease itself. Criticizing Trump is
just symptomatic healing. Trump is an effect of the failure of the
liberal-left. Everybody knows this knows this now. The only way to really beat
Trump is to radically rethink what does the left mean today. Otherwise he will
be getting ordinary people’s votes.
What do you think Trump will
do?
You know what my fear is? Not
that Trump will fail and there will be chaos, but for some real period of time,
what if he succeeds? You know what happened in Poland? The Law and Justice
party, they did such a tremendous social transfer to the poor that no elected
European government would dare to do it. They lowered retirement age, they made
better conditions for health care, more help for mothers with children and so
on. No wonder that people like them. My God! They did something that no left
government dares to do. And for me this is the sad truth of Europe: it’s a
paradox.
When I was young I remember
when former US president Nixon went to China. The idea was that only a
right-winger can do something like this. If a left-winger, or a Democratic
president had done this, he would have been attacked as a traitor. The same
paradox in France, you remember. Only De Gaulle was able to recognize an
independent Algeria. A left-winger would have been considered a traitor. And we
are at the end of this crazy logic. If you want better conditions for the
working class, you have to be populist right wing.
What will you do?
The only way to survive such
shitty times, if you ask me, is to write and read big, fat books, you know? And
I’m writing now another book on Hegelian dialectics, subjectivity, ontology,
quantum physics and so on. That’s the only way to survive. Like Lenin. I will
use his example. You know what Lenin did, in 1915, when World War I exploded?
He went to Switzerland and started to read Hegel.
In these desperate times, I’ve
begun to look at old Hollywood musicals. Now everybody’s seen it, but I found a
good pirate copy of La La Land. And then I saw one of the old musical
masterpieces: [from 1935], Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire. Top Hat. And it occurs
to me, I want to write something in defense of these old musicals, where they
tend to act without psychological depth. They just move like puppets. It’s too
psychological for me, La La Land. I prefer the total puppets of Ginger Rogers
and Fred Astaire. Maybe I will write something.
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
500 songs playlist - starting with Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLqYXv_L7NiEyYnfZhVHR7ixOTANxjes89&v=R3rnxQBizoU
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Žižek and others to speak at SCI-Arc during 2017 Spring semester
The Southern California Institute of
Architecture (SCI-Arc) has released a list of its featured public programs
for the Spring 2017 semester that includes, among its events, a debate between
controversial Slovenian philosopher Slajov Žižek and SCI-Arc Distinguished
Professor of Philosophy Graham
Harman.
SCI-Arc’s lecture series will
be complemented by two exhibitions that will occur throughout the semester. The
Duck and the Document, curated by Sylvia Lavin, will showcase
a collection of architectural ephemera that includes handrails and facade
panels salvaged from canonical buildings from the 20th century. Drawing
Conclusions, curated by Jeffrey Kipnis and designed by Andrew Zago, will
explore the year of 1990 as a potential “apex” for hand drawing as a
representational, technical, and conceptual tool for architects.
The university’s public
program for the semester will include the following events:
Didier Fiuza Faustino Lecture,
01/25/2017
Mat Olson Lecture, 02/01/2017
José Oubrerie: Chapel of the
Mosquitos Library Gallery Exhibition Opening, 02/03/2017
José Oubrerie + Todd Gannon
Duel + Duet, 02/06/2017
***Graham Harman + Slajov
Žižek Duel + Duet, 03/01/2017***
Peter Cook Lecture, 03/08/2017
Neil M. Denari Lecture,
03/15/2017
Jeffrey Schnapp Lecture,
03/20/2017
Drawing Conclusions Symposium
+ Exhibition Closing Reception, 03/24/2017
Sylvia Lavin Lecture, 03/29/2017
Jake Matatyaou + Amalia Ulman
Lecture, 04/03/2017
Giancarlo Mazzanti Lecture,
04/05/2017
The Duck and the Document SCI-Arc
Gallery Exhibition Opening Reception, 04/14/2017
Spring Show Exhibition Opening
Reception, 04/29/2017
Maxi Spina: Thick SCI-Arc Gallery
Exhibition Opening Reception, 06/16/2017
For more information on
SCI-Arc’s events, see the SCI-Arc website.
About the author
West Editor, The Architect's
Newspaper
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