McKenzie Wark on how #OccupyWallStreet re-introduces “The Political” where none existed before.
Excerpted from McKenzie Wark: “The most interesting thing about Occupy Wall Street is its suggestion that the main thing that’s lacking is not demands, but process. What is lacking is politics itself. It may sound counter-intuitive, but there really is no politics in the United States. There is exploitation, oppression, inequality, violence, there are rumors that there might still be a state. But there is no politics. There is only the semblance of politics. Its mostly just professionals renting influence to favor their interests. The state is no longer even capable of negotiating the common interests of its ruling class. Politics from below is also simulated. The Tea Party is really just a great marketing campaign. It’s a way of making the old rentier class demands seem at least temporarily appealing. Like fast food, it will seem delicious until the indigestion starts. It’s the Contract on America, its Compassionate Conservatism, but with new ingredients! The Tea Party was quite successful. But you can’t fool all of the people all of the time, and no doubt there’s a new marketing campaign waiting in the wings for when it runs out of steam. But none of this is anything but the semblance of a politics. So the genius of the occupation is simply to suggest that there could be a politics, one in which people meet and propose and negotiate. This suggestion points to the great absence at the center of American life: a whole nation, even an empire, with no politics. more... http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/mckenzie-wark-on-how-occupy-wall-street-re-introduces-the-political-where-none-existed-before/2011/11/07 _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
