Summary
Kostas Douzinas: Philosophy and Resistance in Crisis
Greece and the Future of Europe
The politics of resistance, "streets" and squares are well underway, and they represent an excellent corrective to both mainstream politics and radical political theory. We need new theoretical approaches, and perhaps new political strategies. Despite their differences, the new resistances form a series, not only because they trigger each other but also in a deeper way. Their simultaneity and similarity in form is conditioned by the shared socioeconomic and political situation. Historical variations and political specificities mean that insurgencies vary in scope and intensity. The Arab Spring had different goals than the Spanish indignados, the Greek aganaktismenoi and the Occupy movement. However, the systemic pressure and political reactions are similar. Biopolitical neoliberalism and the post-Fordist service economy treat people everywhere as desiring and consuming machines. Debt for consumption is the main driver of the economy. Mediating institutions, such as parties, trade unions and even churches, have been weakened in a similar way to the principle of representation. People become integrated into the economy directly, without mediation. But a submissive worker can suddenly, even violently, withdraw if integration supports fail. Disappointment of cultivated expectations and feelings of certainty can lead to a violent abandonment of dominant behavior patterns. It can occur in the form of a violent reaction or in the form of innovative political action. Rebellions are politics at zero level, and occupations are new democratic politics that are just starting to take shape. In the coming period, the world political landscape will be dominated by a series of demonstrations. Our age is the age of resistance. The possibility of historical change has firmly placed itself on the historical agenda. This book examines its sociopolitical as well as its ethical and cultural conditions.
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