From: "Nicholas J. Kiersey" <nkiersey-AT-vt.edu>
Subject: Re: AUT: Fwd: [VT_THEORY] on empire and negri
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 11:18:39 -0400


Hi Nate et al.

I have not read Balibar and only a little Virno and Agamben so far. 
However, to me, one of the most profound statements on postmodern 
fascism is Foucault's introduction to Anti Oedipus. In fact, the very 
purpose of the adoption of a genealogical stance was driven by his 
desire to overcome something that i understand to map onto this idea of 
postmodern fascism. For Foucault, fascism had not received the 
analytical attention it deserved -- as he notes: “The nonanalysis of 
fascism is one of the most important political facts of the last thirty 
years”. Foucault used the term fascism to refer to a sort of petty 
fascism, a fascism of everyday life: “the fascism in us all, in our 
heads and in our everyday behavior, the fascism that causes us to love 
power, to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us” (xiii). 
I like this idea a lot. In fact, I would say it is this potential for 
microfascism in all of us which is perhaps the basis for a definition 
of the multitude in the first place.

NiK

On Aug 24, 2004, at 20:53, Nate Holdren wrote:

> Virno talks about the multitude as an ambivalent form, just like the
> proletariat, and talks about 'postmodern fascism' as being a form the
> multitude can take in addition to the radical forms Negri identifies.
> I know Virno and Agamben and others worked on a journal called Luogo
> Comune (sp?) dedicated, among other things, to exploring postmodern
> fascism. Bits of the journal are around the net in Spanish, probably
> in Italian as well. I think points about fascism can be overstated but
> I think the idea might be helpful for understanding the religious
> right and fascists in our country, and maybe the Lega Nord in Italy
> etc.
>

Nicholas J. Kiersey
PhD Student, Environmental Design & Planning
VPI&SU
email: nkiersey-AT-vt.edu
home: nicholaskiersey-AT-mac.com
mobile phone: (540) 998-1218
AIM: NervousFishdown



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