From: swilbur-AT-wcnet.org
Subject: Re: [postanarchism] re: Panarchy and Badiou
Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2004 14:58:54 US/Eastern


For those who wish to understand panarchy as 
described by its inventor, John Zube has placed
de Puydt's account up in several languages at
panarchy.org. 

> There are many aspects of panarchy that I oppose but
> as with most truly innovative concepts and thinkers
> there are also some others that I think are really
> incredible, especially for the time period in which De
> Puydt was writing - 

I think you, again, give much too little credit
to 19th century figures. de Puydt is, in many ways,
a rather late entry into the utopian game. 

> however the parts that I find of
> interest are precisely those which Shawn did not
> mention, which have to do with the relationship
> between territory, identity and polity, while the
> parts I reject are oddly enough, precisely those he
> did mention, about the logic of the market, etc. 

The problem with trying to approve any element of
de Puydt's thought, while opposing his insistence
on the universal application of competition and 
market logics, is that his *entire* proposal depends
on the assumptions i quoted. Indeed, there is next 
to nothing in his analysis which is not directed
towards the proof that free competition is the 
natural rule in all circumstances. And there is
some question whether his belief that majorities
would "naturally" be rid of their minorities is
actually the case, since there's plenty of evidence
that minorities are frequently manufactured as 
a consequence of internal crises of identity, 
moral panics, and such. In order for de Puydt's
utopia to play out as he wishes, at least *one*
universal value must be *established*, and 
established *above all others*, since if there
is not nearly universal acceptance of the core
philosophy of "laissez-faire," not even his 
sociological assumptions can be counted on. 

-shawn

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