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Strypey
@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

"The left shouldn’t be afraid to add to its tasks ensuring the safety of ordinary people: there are clear signs of the growing decay of manners, of youthful gangs terrorising public spaces, from stations to shopping malls. Mentioning this decay is often dismissed as reactionary, with the insistence that we must look at the 'deeper social roots' of such ­phenomena, such as unemployment and institutional racism."

#SlavojŽižek, 2023

https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2023/07/age-of-anarchy-slavoj-zizek

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#PublicSafety

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Walrus 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
@Walrus@toot.wales replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

@strypey

It has been so long since I looked at the New Statesman, that I have forgotten why I was avoiding them.

But what would be wrong with both looking at the deeper social roots of a problem, AND doing something about the problem itself?

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Strypey
@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

"Yet if the left disregards public safety, it is conceding to the enemy an important domain of dissatisfaction that, in a time of anarchy, pushes people to the right. Everyday insecurity hurts the poor much more than the rich who live calmly in their gated communities."

#SlavojŽižek, 2023

https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2023/07/age-of-anarchy-slavoj-zizek

I'm pretty sceptical of some of the route Zizek takes to get there, but I broadly agree with this conclusion. Although I note he suggests no practical means to achieve this 🙄

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Strypey
@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

Most of the effective solutions available to the left - electoral and otherwise - arise precisely from a ...

"... look at the 'deeper social roots' of such ­phenomena, such as unemployment and institutional racism."

Also, I can't post this quote without noting the willful misuse of the word "anarchy". He's educated enough to know better, and like too many old Marxists, he uses this IR realist misdefinition of the word just to be a dick. To respond in kind;

https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=80X0pbCV_t4

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