Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 18:06:51 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Harry M. Cleaver" <hmcleave-AT-eco.utexas.edu>
Subject: Re: AUT: Re: Capital and the state


On Mon, 19 Apr 1999, ROWAN WILSON wrote:

> The problem with dialectics is that of identity where our opposition 
> remains tied by the terms of what we oppose.  
> One's opposition becomes a mirror-image of what we are trying to 
> oppose, e.g. the bureaucratic Marxist-Leninist party. That is to say, 
> just as the 'no' is present in everything, so is the 'yes', and we 
> never really escape the circle.
> Negri talks of capital being a dialectic where any struggle is 
> recuperated in to its logic. To oppose this Negri suggests that the 
> working class has a logic of separation that resists this dialectic - 
> instead of becoming the mirror-image of capital it expands in 
> complexity and multiplicity, rather than united under the tyranny of 
> identity (this is similar to John's critique of classification). So 
> the 'no' attempts to leave the 'yes' behind, in turn destroying the 
> parasite as it has nothing to feed on.
> 
> A good place to find an intro to this debate (rather than the 
> gibberish I just wrote!) is the introduction and conclusion to 
> Michael Hardt's book on Gilles Deleuze ('Gilles Deleuze An 
> Apprenticeship In Philosophy). This is taken from his phd on Deleuze 
> and Negri and is thus a very Negrian reading of Deleuze - 
> unfortunately the Negri bit is only available on microfiche, but it 
> is very good - send your petitions to Michael Hardt for an on-line or 
> bound version now! 
> 
> Rowan
> 
Rowan: No gibberish. I might not put it exactly the same way but your
comments are to the point. In Deleuzian and Negrian language
you are making the same point as Subcommandante Marcos in his "Book of
Mirrors" (available on the web) which, among other things, clarifies the
Zapatista critique of participation in the formal/electoral political
sphere and also argues that the EZLN is not the model for the future
because it mirrors the Mexican Army (hierarchical command structure) and
why they are not out to "seize power" but to "build new worlds."

Harry

book of mirrors: http://www.actlab.utexas.edu:80/~zapatistas/sim.html
............................................................................
Harry Cleaver
Department of Economics
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas 78712-1173  USA
Phone Numbers: (hm)  (512) 478-8427
               (off) (512) 475-8535   Fax:(512) 471-3510
E-mail: hmcleave-AT-eco.utexas.edu
Cleaver homepage: 
http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/index2.html
Chiapas95 homepage:
http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/chiapas95.html
Accion Zapatista homepage:
http://www.utexas.edu/students/nave/
............................................................................



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