[lbo-talk] Zizek: "Where to look for revolutionary potential?"

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

On 3/18/07, Wojtek Sokolowski <swsokolowski at yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > The question is, though, where is a revolutionary
> > potential?
>
> [WS:] You seem to take it an article of faith that
> there is a 'revolutionary potential.'  I question that
> assumption - I think that revolution is pretty much a
> romantic myth to put window dressing on nationalist
> economic development projects.  That was certainly
> true of the x-USSR and China, and is also true of
> today's Iran.  The color of that window dressing
> changed from red to green - but the nationalistic
> nature of these projects has not.

Compare China and India, two shining stars of capitalist development
in the South today: one went through social revolution, the other
didn't, and the difference shows in human development, imho:
<http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_CHN.html>
<http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_IND.html>.


> PS. I honestly do not give a flying fuck about Third
> world nationalism of any color and see no reason why I
> should.  Can you give me such a reason?

I'm far from saying that you should give a damn.  As Schopenhauer
said, "We want what we will, but we don't will what we want."  :->
-- 
Yoshie