Zizek = the Third Way (was Re: Zizek on Haider)

JKSCHW at aol.com JKSCHW at aol.com
Fri Feb 11 07:48:13 PST 2000



> You see, the liberal hegemony is a flexible and

expansive one, and liberalism can & must sometimes renew itself with an

injection of illiberal philosophy.

Real liberals should be deeply insulted by the idea that Blair or Clinton might claim the mantle of liberalism, which, actually, they don't. They flee from it. They call themselves "moderates" ot "centrists" or something like that, while upholding policies to the right of those promoted by the conservatives of a generation ago.

Now, I don't know Zizek's work beyond a review of Getty's book on Stalin in NLR, but I haven't heard anything that would lead me to think that he supports the characteristic Third Way positions--workfare, privatization, repressive criminal policies, enhanced police power, weakened labor unions, free trade for capital, subservience to the fiscal markets, balanced budgersm lower taxes, all glossed with a symbolic brushing of women's rights and a nod towards gays and lesbians.

--jks



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