Zizek advocates a 'radical upheaval of the basic social relations' and uses the trope of violence to examine how this might be achieved. He is more interested in 'symbolic' and 'systemic' violence than in the normal sense of people hurting each other ('subjective') and shows how the capitalist system is in a sense 'violent' towards citizens (and indeed non-citizens). He does a good job of skewering the liberal, 'tolerant', 'humanitarian' attitude of Western left-wingers, showing how vacuous and hypocritical it usually is, but the alternative he offers of 'divine' or silent violence is at best convoluted and at worst ethically reprehensible (he seems rather charmed by the sight of shanty-town dwellers rioting in Brazil, for example). But overall I find more to agree with here than disagree, and if you want to understand what's really going on in key events like 9/11 and Abu Graib then Zizek is your best counter-intuitive guide. With a book by Slavoj Zizek you know two things will happen: 1. It will be eloquently written with great wit and insight. 2. It will blow your mind and make you look at world affairs in a whole new light. Whether you agree with him on most of these issues is of course a different matter. 'Violence' delivered, not surprisingly, on those two points. But Zizek managed to outline the subject of 'Violence' in a necessary way; to underline why False anti-violence should be rejected (the "fight" against subjective violence like terror which ignores the necessary "battle" against systemic/symbolic violence like global capitalism) and the endorsement of emancipatory violence (the very useful violence of Robespierre and his allies as well as the justification for violence in the name of the people in the writings of Che Guevara). I personally think that most of all the first claim is very crucial to form an understanding of the world today and how a superficial form of pacifism (whether pacifism is a useful framework for the world is another question), meaning a rejection of terror and brute force (violence that can be seen clearly), is useless when invisible violence/anonymous violence perpetrated by globalisation and free market capitalism is tolerated and even glorified. A gem, a definite must-read.
What do You think about La Violenza Invisibile (2007)?
В дополнение к фильму об идеологиях - хорошая книжка
—ET23
ONly read the required chapters. Wonderful ideas.
—elle
