H&N argue that capital can only be restructured by the actions of the proletariat. They would likely maintain that D&G's argument only applies to modern capital, whereas postmodern (i.e., restructured in response to rhizomatic proletarian social movements) capital is itself rhizomatic, or at least becoming-rhizomatic. This becoming-rhizomatic, as I understand it, is how H&N define Empire, and can only be attacked internally, lest external proletarian movements be met with a restructured (post-rhizomatic) capital in riposte. This is a gross oversimplification, but this is to some extent what they argue at the end of Empire and throughout Multitude.
zach.
On Nov 7, 2005, at 11:55 PM, lbo-talk-request at lbo-talk.org wrote:
> It is definitely from Deleuze and Guattari, though not just
> Anti-Oedipus. It also figures into most of their theory of
> schizoanalysis, particularly in Thousand Plateaus. As for why they
> choose rhizome, it is, as in this sentence, supposed to be opposed to
> the hierarchy of the "arborescent" (tree-like, i.e. deep roots,
> towering structure). Maybe it's just because they thought the term
> "Rhizomatic" sounds cool. You have to admit, as academic terms go,
> there are some very nice consonants working together in that one.
>
> I suspect someone knows of where they might have defended this choice
> of term or why biological metaphors were the starting point. And
> maybe they can answer this as well: D&G suggest the rhizomatic as a
> strategy for challenging the supposedly dominant tree-like power, but
> when Hardt and Negri use it, they are basically talking about capital
> working this way as well. Considering the predominance of corporate
> conglomerates, I don't understand this use: and since the latter also
> pose the multitude as a sort of rhizomatic movement, how do they
> square even their own claim with the original meaning: if the
> rhizomatic is effective because power is arborescent, how is it still
> effective if power and capital are also rhizomatic? Makes the
> "snake-oil" thesis seem more convincing.
>
> -s
>
__________________
Zachary Levenson
Radiation Effects Research Foundation
Hiroshima Laboratory
5-2 Hijiyama Park, Minami-ku
Hiroshima City, 732-0815 Japan
levenson at rerf.or.jp Zachary.Levenson at gmail.com http://rebenson.blogspot.com
"Latter-day capitalism. Like it or not, it's the society we live in. Even the standard of right and wrong has been subdivided, made sophisticated. Within good, there's fashionable good and unfashionable good, there's formal and then there's casual; there's hip, there's cool, there's trendy, there's snobbish. Mix 'n' match. Like pulling on a Missoni sweater over Trussardi slacks and Pollini shoes, you can now enjoy hybrid styles of morality. It's the way of the world--philosophy starting to look more and more like business administration." ~Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 3102 bytes Desc: not available URL: <../attachments/20051108/68719a40/attachment.bin>