Demanding the Impossible Read Online Free Page B
Author: Slavoj Žižek
fundamentalists.”
If a new secular left does not emerge – I don’t mean “revolutionary” in the sense of killing people, but I mean “revolutionary left” precisely in the sense of certain radical measures which could safeguard, as we would like to see it, the liberal legacy – we will find ourselves reaching what in Europe we ironically call “capitalism with Asian values,” which means totalitarian capitalism.
We are approaching it now. Look at Italy, Hungary, or even Western Europe. We are seeing new forms of racism in Europe. Sweden is not so bad, but when I was in Norway they told me that even there the second party is already an anti-immigrant party. The Netherlands, a country that was always considered to be a symbol of tolerance, is also the same. This is very worrying. You cannot imagine what a strong hold authoritarianism is having in Hungary and how this is linked with the rehabilitation of fascism. The latest fashion of the European right, from Italy to Hungary to Romania, is to focus everything on Hitler, so that you can save others. The right wing say that they are totally against Nazism, not fascism. Say Mussolini was not so bad, and Franco was not that bad, but this is just to save the other soft fascists. Why this urge to save, not ex-functionaries of “soft” fascist regimes like the one in Italy itself, but Nazis themselves, whose ideology was explicitly anti-Christian, pagan? Well, I see so many problems with all this.
8
Another World Is Possible
It might have disappointed readers who wished to find an answer from your notion of communism. I also believe that the obligation of the secular left is not just to struggle for ideology but also to begin from the beginning, as you quoted Lenin at his Beckettian best, which brings about the big question. You once mentioned that the difficulty of today’s capitalism is, in effect, that we cannot even imagine a viable alternative to global capitalism. Are we really not able to envision a possible alternative? What will be our only possible option? How do you picture the new model of a good society? What is your idea of the future? What sort of society do you want?
SŽ: If you ask me what will be our future, my model is this: did you see that wonderful film Brazil by Terry Gilliam? It came out almost 30 years ago, but it’s a beautiful film, a totally crazy comedy, and it shows the future England under a totalitarian regime, but also with private hedonistic pleasure. It is not the dignified authoritarian way, but a kind of Groucho Marx in power. Isn’t the first step of Berlusconi, a former prime minister of Italy, close to this? Also, in China, at the level of private life, no one cares about your private perversions, but just don’t mess with politics. It is no longer the typical fascist mobilization. Liberal democratic capitalism is approaching its limit, and we need large, coordinated social actions. Otherwise the future will resemble the film Brazil .
I think that the new authoritarianism will not be like the old one within the discipline order, but it will result in a strange society where, at the consumerist and private level, you will have all your sexual freedom or whatever you want and, at the same time, you will have a kind of depoliticized order. It’s a horrible thought. So how should we measure this?
Another meaning of common is very important in the context of common sense, common manners. This is why I like to shock people, telling them that I am in favor of authoritarian values. What do I mean by this? Let me give you an example. I wouldn’t like to live in a state where you have to argue that it is not right to rape women. It’s obscene. What kind of society is this where these values need to be debated? I would like to live in the society where there is no question that the very idea of rape is considered absolutely disgusting and crazy. And the same goes for racism, fascism, and so on.
The measure of ethical status in
If a new secular left does not emerge – I don’t mean “revolutionary” in the sense of killing people, but I mean “revolutionary left” precisely in the sense of certain radical measures which could safeguard, as we would like to see it, the liberal legacy – we will find ourselves reaching what in Europe we ironically call “capitalism with Asian values,” which means totalitarian capitalism.
We are approaching it now. Look at Italy, Hungary, or even Western Europe. We are seeing new forms of racism in Europe. Sweden is not so bad, but when I was in Norway they told me that even there the second party is already an anti-immigrant party. The Netherlands, a country that was always considered to be a symbol of tolerance, is also the same. This is very worrying. You cannot imagine what a strong hold authoritarianism is having in Hungary and how this is linked with the rehabilitation of fascism. The latest fashion of the European right, from Italy to Hungary to Romania, is to focus everything on Hitler, so that you can save others. The right wing say that they are totally against Nazism, not fascism. Say Mussolini was not so bad, and Franco was not that bad, but this is just to save the other soft fascists. Why this urge to save, not ex-functionaries of “soft” fascist regimes like the one in Italy itself, but Nazis themselves, whose ideology was explicitly anti-Christian, pagan? Well, I see so many problems with all this.
8
Another World Is Possible
It might have disappointed readers who wished to find an answer from your notion of communism. I also believe that the obligation of the secular left is not just to struggle for ideology but also to begin from the beginning, as you quoted Lenin at his Beckettian best, which brings about the big question. You once mentioned that the difficulty of today’s capitalism is, in effect, that we cannot even imagine a viable alternative to global capitalism. Are we really not able to envision a possible alternative? What will be our only possible option? How do you picture the new model of a good society? What is your idea of the future? What sort of society do you want?
SŽ: If you ask me what will be our future, my model is this: did you see that wonderful film Brazil by Terry Gilliam? It came out almost 30 years ago, but it’s a beautiful film, a totally crazy comedy, and it shows the future England under a totalitarian regime, but also with private hedonistic pleasure. It is not the dignified authoritarian way, but a kind of Groucho Marx in power. Isn’t the first step of Berlusconi, a former prime minister of Italy, close to this? Also, in China, at the level of private life, no one cares about your private perversions, but just don’t mess with politics. It is no longer the typical fascist mobilization. Liberal democratic capitalism is approaching its limit, and we need large, coordinated social actions. Otherwise the future will resemble the film Brazil .
I think that the new authoritarianism will not be like the old one within the discipline order, but it will result in a strange society where, at the consumerist and private level, you will have all your sexual freedom or whatever you want and, at the same time, you will have a kind of depoliticized order. It’s a horrible thought. So how should we measure this?
Another meaning of common is very important in the context of common sense, common manners. This is why I like to shock people, telling them that I am in favor of authoritarian values. What do I mean by this? Let me give you an example. I wouldn’t like to live in a state where you have to argue that it is not right to rape women. It’s obscene. What kind of society is this where these values need to be debated? I would like to live in the society where there is no question that the very idea of rape is considered absolutely disgusting and crazy. And the same goes for racism, fascism, and so on.
The measure of ethical status in
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