Fw: Save us from the saviours

[Dave Monroe]

On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 8:32 AM, Matthew Cissell <macissell at yahoo.es> wrote:

> Man that Zizek is something. I suppose we should be happy that he left out
> the Lacan-Hegel stuff. I wonder how much the 'communist' gets for 1285
> words?
> "Save us from the saviours"! Ah yes, please save us. And who can save us?
> Super Zizek! He leaps over phallogocentric buildings in a single Lacanian
> leap, he flies faster than the speed of marxist dialectics on zanax and
> coffee!
> Anyone who has read Marx knows that he was up on the economics of his day,
> knew West and Ricardo. Is that true of Zizek? I mean economists don't agree
> about the present economic situation in Europe (it's roots or the solution -
> think Krugman and all the rest weighing in on the subject), but Zizek
> knows.
> I share Zizek's concern about the rise of radical right populist politics
> from Greece to Hungary (lets not forget Spain and others have their own
> elements waiting to rise to the top like scum on the bottom of a pond), but
> I feel he has left something out. When he writes, "The Greeks are not
> passive victims: they are at war with the European economic
> establishment..." he is not far off. A fair part off the problem in Greece
> was summarized by Ms. Lagarde when she told Greeks to pay their taxes. A
> profligate federal government with a populace that doesn't pay taxes is not
> a passive victim. The Italians kept choosing Berlusconi and look what they
> got.
> By turning this into 'The (true) left must save us from...' he's frames the
> whole issue ideologically and people will turn off before he can make a
> point. Great article for the intended audience, but if I want to listen to
> someone's spliel about the present economic situation than I'll take Krugman
> as a a defender of liberal values, it seems a more sober analysis.  But
> that's just me.

"Here is the paradox that sustains the ‘free vote’ in democratic
societies: one is free to choose on condition that one makes the right
choice. This is why, when the wrong choice is made (as it was when
Ireland rejected the EU constitution), the choice is treated as a
mistake, and the establishment immediately demands that the
‘democratic’ process be repeated in order that the mistake may be
corrected. When George Papandreou, then Greek prime minister, proposed
a referendum on the eurozone bailout deal at the end of last year, the
referendum itself was rejected as a false choice."

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v34/n11/slavoj-zizek/save-us-from-the-saviours