> Maybe in the remainder of the article he makes this point, and maybe
> bringing it up as a sort of political as opposed to ontological
> project has some other potential, but here this just sounds like a
> more intellectual version of Obama. In fact, though he appeals to the
> idea of unity amongst the laboring classes, he doesn't advocate any
> change in the current configuration--Africans will be in the kitchen,
> Morrocans will be digging the holes, women (veiled or otherwise) will
> be caring for children: but you see, we'll realize that they are all
> human, just like Badiou. And why? Because they also inhabit the same
> geographic entity called "the world." They share space with Badiou
> and must also eat, sleep and shit. Once we/he realizes that...what?
Sean, all of your points are well taken -- and I really liked the Wilde essay, which I didn't know about.
Badiou writes that "The simple phrase, 'there is only one world', is not an objective conclusion. It is performative: we are deciding that this is how it is for us. Faithful to this point, it is then a question of elucidating the consequences that follow from this simple declaration." So presumably he's talking about something more than a cute thought experiment (although he writes of "elucidating the consequences" rather than "living" them, hmm...).
But suppose you actually do faithfully live the consequences of the axiom 'there is only one world.' What kinds of things will you do? Certainly you'll be doing a lot of agitating -- and for causes nearly all of us care about.
The primary value of Badiou's proposition, it seems to me, lies in the way it ties together -- and very efficiently so -- a lot of "leftist" causes that have been thought of as pretty disparate in popular discourse. For example, journalists seem congenitally incapable of understanding what unified anti-globalization protesters ("Labor, Peace and environmental activists. Together?! Huh?") Badiou's proposition makes tedious narratives that weave together imperialism, and the exploitation of labor and the planet unnecessary when it comes to communicating what The Movement is about. I think that'd be a good thing.
I still need to read the whole damn NLR piece though, -WD