> Human Sacrifice Is a Thoroughly Modern Phenomenon
> By Hans Magnus Enzensberger
>
> He certainly would not have dreamed of being "for" or "against" it. In the
> conflicts that erupted in places like Seattle, Gothenburg and Genoa, he
> would have seen no more than a bout of shadow-boxing.
Capital is the ultimate Shadow -- not a thing, but a set of social relations, of almost unimaginable complexity.
> enemies than on ruining their own countries. The as-yet unsurpassed
> pioneer of such suicidal behavior was Adolf Hitler, who was able to count
> on the support of the vast majority of Germans. Russia took 70 years to
> reach a state of total collapse, while Iraq even takes pride in its own
> demise.
>From bad to worse. Russia went from an atrociously poor Fourth World
country to a lower-income Second World country. Iraq was destroyed by ten
years of vicious US sanctions. Of course, he *has* to invoke the Cold War,
even though it ended eleven years ago, because otherwise he'd have to talk
about how neoliberalism completely raped Russia.
> economic migrants. Beyond all sense of justice, entire peoples from
> Afghanistan to Palestine will have to pay an enormous political and
> economic price for the actions of those who claimed to be acting in their
> name.
Disgusting. The classic sign of a conservative ideology is transposing the violence of the oppressor onto the victim. Who is inflicting that price? None other than that rogue state, the USA, with its ghastly political system, Bible-thumping oiligarchies, dreadful income polarization and time-tested talent for bombing the shit out of Third World countries.
> their violence is likely to accompany us throughout the 21st century. What
> we are witnessing now is the globalization of another of our species'
> ancient customs: human sacrifice.
He hasn't read his Adorno. Adorno wrote a long time ago, sacrifice is tied to the logic of introversion; you do violence to a symbolic object, as a way of influencing forces beyond your control. But Enzensberger doesn't want to recognize the symbolic object S11 targeted: none other than the global financial/military/economic superstructures of neoliberalism. It is neoliberalism itself, as a system, which is deeply, fatally self-destructive.
-- Dennis