A Modest Proposal for The Empire

Charles Jannuzi jannuzi at edu00.f-edu.fukui-u.ac.jp
Mon Dec 24 20:33:56 PST 2001



>Wow, and I thought that among Negri's >great faults was that he's too
>optimistic, too eager to see any unrest >as revolutionary.


>Wasn't it you who thought it was >pointless to struggle against the
>U.S. war machine? Or was that some >other Carrol Cox?


>Doug

Hey, what happened to the other guy? Does Negri get all the credit for that book now?

If I might get back to this for Christmas. I pray to the ironic but indifferent all mighty that there is no wrapped up copy of Empire for me under the tree. I've already read the book and must now figure out a way to get rid of it besides throwing it out.

One problem with the Empire thesis is that the US post-war Imperium never went away and seems to have found new life under the Bush weenies. (That follow up about Americans waking up and finding themselves trapped in Empire had to be one of the best unintentionally hilarious moments on LBO Talk post 9-11--a list with a reputation for an abundance of it).

For all the talk of 'globalism' among the Dem. and Rep. economic liberals, they are still at heart (or heartless core) American firsters. It seems to be a problem on some of the LBO left, too.

Another problem with Empire is this: none of you really need some overblown economico-politico-philosophicus post-structuralist primer (the source material most of you haven't read anyway) to intermediate or interpret current events. (See Descombes).

Charles Jannuzi



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