Notes on seeing Slavoj Zizek in Amsterdam last night

AFTER THE COURAGE OF HOPELESSNESS

Slovoj Zizek spoke at the Westerkerk (Church) in Amsterdam, and I’m happy to report he kept up the reputation of a witty provocative intellectual giant. Forgive me as I mangle some of his thoughts together with my own.

These recollections are splintered and fragmented by the rather dull Q & A period that caught me off guard and distracted me. Zizek asked, “what happens on the days after the revolution” by using a clever analogy of the next day after the final scenes of V for Vendetta? This baffled some on the panel who had not heard of the graphic novel, or the movie, which in turn baffled me.

I would have answered Jerusalem by Alan Moore, provides an example of what happens after the revolution. It all happens again, and again, in a kind of eternal return, a past present future all-at-once. If you ask the question how does the revolutionary event change the day to day perception of the people, or how can the changes be sustained over time? The principle of eternal return, exhibited by Alan Moore in his book, makes a good start.

Zizek rapped hard on Ecology, and on catastrophe of the ecological variety, (Rene Thom) and relations with global capitalism. He seemed critical of the carry-on-regardless attitude of those who make token gestures to save the planet like recycling, buying organic food and biodiesel, without addressing deeper causes at root: consumerism and neoliberal attitudes. As you suspect, he communicated this in his unique terse, dynamic language.

He spoke on how the symptom of any problem, can often be misread as the cause, he constructively criticized the leftist political movements for these symptomatic solutions to problems. Interestingly to me, 'Simtome' is latin for Symtom, and was a phrase introduced by Lacan and used by Zizek which was borrowed from James Joyce.
“"the symptom can only be defined as the way in which each subject enjoys (jouit) the unconscious in so far as the unconscious determines the subject."--Jaques Lacan.

Zizek went on to describe how, paradoxically some far-right parties in Poland support workers union rights, something that traditionally you might associate with the left. Another example is how the European Union (who the leave campaign branded as those unelected officials in brussels) in reality helped to avert far worse humanitarian disasters than we currently see around us. Paradoxically, intervening with fully legitimate elections and parties such as the aforementioned in Poland, so as to avert openly racist, xenophobic and homophobic policy spreading. Totalitarianism, may at times result in a better outcome for the people than open democratic elections.

Zizek points out, to his horror, that the voting people, for the most part across Europe are against immigration and integration, preferring insular and right leaning political policy and strong right leaning leaders. The attacks upon the character of Jeremy Corbyn by the UK right wing press are all based on his inability to admit hes a serial killer.

The decision by Angela Merkel to go ahead and open the borders to the immigrants, going against the popular will of the German voting public, is another example of overpowering of the will of the people with a higher executive order, arguably for the good of humanity? In these examples, Zizek argues some leaders are in favour of progressive ideass to help refugees, or to curb xenophobia and racism, to do the right thing from a humanitarian point of view, that may mean going against the democratic will of the majority of the voting public. Man...this forced me to think in new ways.

The message on Brexit was a similar, the will of the voting public in Europe is right leaning, democracy has led to those with the most hatred and ignorance winning at the polls. The left are left shocked without an alternative strategy to capitalist democratic principles. Bernie Sanders in the U.S, and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK, both seem capable of making such a progressive strategy for an alternative. Currently the political leadership in the UK and USA, seems to me the worst political leadership in the history of both countries. A shambles, a disgrace, an example of what democracy and capitalism, combined with media coercion lead to: Donald Trump.

I think that the UKIP movement and the Leave campaign were both riding an old guard conservative Trojan horse, designed to bring back the old white classicist, racist, greedy guts, Tory principles back into number 10, with a new rule book of xenophobia. Hatred of the poor, the vulnerable, mentally and/or physically disabled, those on welfare, artists, and more or less anybody that is not them and not slaving away for some global capitalist monster or other. The shit stained threads are unravelling between the Nigel Farage, Richard Mercer, Steve Bannon, Julian Assange, Dominic Clements and Cambridge Analytica. A complex of forces are always at play, but how much can you blame the media for coercing people to leave the European Union? How insular and xenophobic where millions of brits before the leave campaign provided a bus to jump on? Hard questions, but necessary.


I am forced to reconsider ideology I have clung to for a while, that open source democracy and representative democracy are practically good and solutions to the current political economic system. I have to rethink the idea of a constitutional framework like a safe-guard against abuses at a transnational scale, a legally binding document which prevents the violation of basic human rights. To paraphrases to quotes: Never underestimate the stupidity of people in large groups, monarchy is rule by one imbecile, democracy by 500 imbeciles"

At one point Zizek said that if most white people were to hear how he talks with his black friends they would be appalled, and understand his lack of political correctness.
He touched on the subject of Zionism and right-wing conspiracy theories, putting forward another paradoxical reality by describing Zionist Anti-Semitism. He highlighted mass murderer Anders Brevic as an example of a violent terrorist holding right-wing, Zionist inspired paranoid fantasies about immigration and the arayan superior white races. He went on to point out that some conspiracy theorists propose that there is a Judeo Muslim conspiracy behind the turmoil in Europe and the near east, his point being that those wafting the flames can always find another conspiracy linking whatever bogeyman they have to the most recent world events. The imagination of the paranoid specializes in making links where there were previously none, inversely the imagination of the pronoid also makes links but to the betterment and wider understanding of a situation.

Over the past 12 months wild conspiracies are surfacing, for the first time, within the mainstream political sphere. Fully cracked and crazed far-right white supremacy, and Eugenics most toxic and devoutly blind. Other journalists have traced the rise of the American right and Trump, to 4chan message boards, Reddit, Pepe the frog, and the ranting fat mouth zealot Alex Jones, and the trajectory fantastical conspiracies about the global elite, the globalists and their attempt to create prison planet earth, usually with help from George Soros, Hillary Clinton. I think these are somewhat easy meat for a pop conspiracy theory, royals and bankers always turn something up. Zizek didn’t speak explicitly about Cambridge Analytica and Richard Mercer, and the relations to Nigel Farage, Dominic Clements and the well funded leave campaign. To me, this is the cutting edge of conspiracy research right now. There are thousands of slimy tentacles.

Some of the most stimulating parts of his talk for me, were where he quoted and improvised on Peter Sloterdijk, who should have been on the panel but had an unfortunate accident. Zizek riffed on the new anthropocene period, where humanity can no longer ignore its footprint all over the face of planet earth, and that these big boots are designed and paid for by capitalist expansion, commodification, and so a complete ignorance to the ecological threats noticeably now upon us. Melting glaciers, earthquakes, fires, floods, famine.

Furthermore, Zizek pointed out some cruel Hegelian reversals, a company capitalizing on newly uncovered, dry land, revealed due to the melting ice caps in Greenland. The company imply that this new green land, in Greenland, is, green land. To mean green, as in ecologically friendly. Such is the power of marketing and the endless tricks up their muddy sleeves.

I was fascinated to hear Zizek discuss his friends in America, and their research into the predictive ability of computers, versus humans, with particular focus on personal questions such as: will this marriage or relationship last. The computer program is fed a whole array of data sets stretching back in time, and calculates the approximate scenario. The punchline is that the computer program knows you better than you know you. Other artificially intelligent software has been disrupting the stock market too, according to Zizek, and produces more accurate stock predictions than a highly paid Wall Street human. (if you can call anybody who works on Wall Street fully human?)

I imagine this is due to the susceptible nature of humans, emotions, desires, complexes, delusions and amplifications, improvisations, which lead us to spur of the moment decisions. Quick to judge and impatient people, rarely representative of the long game perspective of intelligent machine learning.

Zizek joked that perhaps the way to get rid of the clown, Gert Wilders, is with help from computers like this which simply outsmart the dumb, or those playing dumb. I’m here reminded of an unanswered question “why are our politicians and world leaders not wired up to a simple lie detector, a polygraph, or some such device built sense bullshit, in real time?” Direct democracy connected to a hierarchy of values based on an verifiable, transparent system. Call it the Bushit detector, in Honor of the master of Bullshit George W. Bush. Catalogue name: Nightmare Bushit' Whirl.

Zizek said words to the effect that if you don't address the likes of Gert Wilders and Marie Le Pen, and Nigel Farage then what else are you standing for? This is the fight for Europe. To figure out our common ground and shared weirdness, and to basically agree to tolerate each others manias. Respect my atheism because of it, not in spite of it. Please respect my beliefs because...not, in spite, of them.

The phrase ‘spaceship earth’ leapt into my ear when i heard it in the context of Peter Sloterdijk. Due to its use by Buckminster Fuller in the title of his book : Operating Manual For Spaceship Earth. I have yet to look into Sloterdijk's recontextualization of the term, for Fuller it approximated all-around-the-world synergy and shared resources, doing more with less.

Zizek proposed that in the future, countries will need to figure out temporary land loans in the wake of ecological crisis, and of other unforeseen problematic relations between sovereign states in times of dire catastrophe. I can imagine solving the refugee crisis by giving a certain people, defined by their homelessness, land, perhaps only temporarily, but under a sovereign agreement. Ending the status of immigrant and native. If people are not living on the land (i.e the billions of square meters on earth currently not occupied by humans, but capable of sustaining a life of relative comfort) why not let them. Maybe add the stipulations of no guns, and no claim to land ownership. I can dream of a return to the sovereignty of our planetary biosphere, DNA-RNA systems, life, not the borders on a map defined by death, war and coercion.

The big man seemed kind and forgiving to me, and was open for lively debate, passionate and open to changing his mind based on new evidence. I found this to be refreshing, I hope he continues on his current trajectory.

--Steven Pratt

Amsterdam 25/03/2017.

A tough question and a poem

To celebrate 100’000 blog views, a blog tough question, and a poem

I started writing this as a response to the question below, taken from an article that whizzed by on social media. Since starting i watched some Slavoj Zizek on youtube, and marveled at his diligent dance around philosophical questions, and then recalled his comments on punching a nazi, a theme of this blog, that i conclude to mean, don’t punch a nazi, please, it lowers any progressive movement and authenticity of the undeniable force for good. By using the oppressors method of violence. Zizek holds his place as public intellectual and comedic philosopher of our times IMHO.

“By definition, the antifa arguments are both radical and controversial. The unanswered question is whether liberals, moderates and others who oppose the radical right can learn something from the antifa activists’ confrontational stance. Or will the violent tactics they advocate only worsen tensions in a divided society and beget more violence?http://www.salon.com/2017/03/10/anti-fascist-radicals-liberals-dont-realize-the-serious-danger-of-the-alt-right/

Yes, the liberals, moderates and others who oppose the radical right can learn something from the antifa activists' confrontational stance, and yes, violence worsens tensions, and begets violence. The unanswered question can be answered with art, i think. Yes, in my humble opinion. Let me try to explain...art to mean and deeper/broader sense of the interconnection between things.

Anarcho-pacifism, to mean a kind of make crazy peace not normal war, love bombs, etc. Disruption comes in many forms. To build, artfully, can can say whatever it is you want to draw attention too by destroying it. Temporarily apply huge artificial cracks, fake smashes, and the illusion of destruction to any target, without actually breaking or damaging anything, permanently. A temporary augmented dystopia.

The world is watching, so put on a jolly good show out there. Who’s watching who? An umbrella, a funny 3D printed steampunk mask, general clowning, moving music, intricate beatbox, singing, tone-science experiments, dancing, and lion shit’s are all fun and games. The heart of the battle, the muddle of the political language of change, the language of class warfare, and the general left leaning humanism associated with it, seem to me, in the balance. To be an undeniable force for good?

What we need right now are artists united in a willingness to step to the front lines and translate this raw humanism into a new language we can all read. And that may make us laugh, or interrupt the tragedy of two valued global divisions. My main critique of the violent far-left type of anarchism is that it does not make me laugh. Or, it makes me laugh and then, later, feel awkward and sticky.

Although, i laughed out loud when i first watched the video of Richard Spencer getting sucker punched, a widely perceived deserved punch, to a neo-nazi. The meme 'punch a nazi" went viral in and a lot was said about by thinkers and provers alike. But, if violence leads to more violence, it must be stopped to go forwards. To be seen as a force for good, without question.

Next in my way, on my way to defending anarcho-pacifism is the obstacle brought to my attention about an incident of sexual harassment at a school. A girl was repeatedly harassed by a boy, snapping her bra, and somewhat ignored by the teacher, so she punched the boy in the nose, twice. Again, my first instinct is justice, and to think - here is an example of necessary force used, nobody has any permanent damage. Right on sister! However, i can't help but think of alternative scenarios here. What if the boy had suddenly died, less justification? What if it was the teacher snapping her bra, and who then got punched, more justified? either way here i am forced to think of an artistic alternative. For example: draw a picture, write a song, make a video, or cast a spell/poem into the heart of the matter. Much of the responsibility in this case was deflected and propagated by the teachers, and the justified response of the parent who leads the story with her narrative.

Thought #1: Slogans on bra straps that read "when is it not okay to punch a pervert? and signs all over every city war memorial that read: "When is it not okay to punch a Nazi? temporary signs and sigils, but please, nothing to physically damage property.

One problem, i have with physical violent retaliation, from experience, is that it depends on a 100 percent certainty you know from where the violence originated. In the moment, split second your senses tell you, roughly from what direction the punch came,  and from who. But you might be mistaken, cause another cycle of violence. I ask you dear reader to think, please think before physically striking anybody. Yet, if it comes down to it, be prepared to feel psychically self-defeated sometime afterwards. The gut instinct in these cases, after long consideration, was wrong. The goal is to stop the wheels, or change them for a new set, and then stop them. Non-violent civil disobedience is a friend of Art and in need of magick. Know thyself, love one another.

To live by example, to express charity, compassion and shared openness to others, perhaps even strangers, and leave no doubt in anybody else's mind that you are a force for good. For peace.

Tolerance, Brevity.

Poem by Steve Fly

tough minded and spirited saft

tender minded pacifists united

up the creek on a raft craft

everyone united artists

intuition counterparty to unique

the removal of

violence from all human relations

refuse to cooperate by it, resist

repeat general strike

'on your bike, take a hike'

psychically self-defeating.

to coerce by beating to reverse

the meaning of solidarity cooperation

mutual aid open thought

taoist targeting total state

either capitalist or socialist

the centralised control block

square solid unmoving

blubber state

wailing to oppose violence

tool of oppression, non-verbal

hatred in action

fascism racism and war-mind

factions other say a little provocation can

go a long way to social upheaval

knee jerk reactions

Music as a weapon

is a weapon in a pig pen

music weapon when a weapon

made of music

weapons weapons weapons

an artists stockpile of fantastic

weapons built to last and built to fight

against the forces of ignorance

of racism, greed, corruption, murder

and genocide

music is a weapon to fight fascism

music is a weapon

stolen from the musicians

sound weapons are used by government

sonic cannons are a thing

but can they sing and do they swing?

punching nazis weeping poeweapen.

punching nazis is not punching judo

it’s punch and judy

and getting all moody

whoever the crew be violence

crude 'G'

don't punch a fascist and don't

punch a nazi

try them trial them shame them

file them rehabilitate don’t hate

who can turn a nazi

better than the English paparazzi?

American Russian

see how the poem took a jab there

a punch in the nuts and guts

a slight lump on the figurehead

i see you reading me

what is this?

punching a Nazi

bop, right on the nose.

oh i do hope the blood doesn't stain

his nice clothes.

Hugo Boss at a toss?

look, here's the brain floss,

an eye for eye for an eye for a ear is wrong.

like a nose for a foot for a hand for a

toe for a tongue

my enemies enemy is your enema.

go suck yourself off in a

16 screen cinema

sinnerman sick of ya' yappin'

and clappin' sappin' and strappin'

floppin' and flappin' 'flippin' and

'strippin' the patience

out of friends

leaving the innocent with

a case of the bends

anger can be handy

but not on the brandy

and not on the candy

early on a sunday

better to run than risk breaking

that spine you so rigidly hold

on your back all the time

relax and don't punch

stretch out now don't hunch, get a healthy lunch

if you breath and

have water all's fine

if you visit the waterfalls finer

take a break don't worry

shut up look up fuck up

let the mindspray mindspray

book up

ideas into chapters

raptures vultures pecking

memory bleeding

seeding painful inner cactus

and barbed wire pasta

string of fishing-hook on toast

the sour shit sandwich

served up

and still i have a smile and a message of

good luck duck

don't do it

like a Gremlin after midnight

it makes them multiply and

justify such a violent psychology

both physical and mental

be gentle be a man, beer man!
awake from ideology

--Steven Pratt.

Amsterdam.

17/03/2017