Sunday 18 January 2009

Stripped of Dreams

A report from Greece, via Socialism and / or Barbarism. In confirmation, via a friend of the Institute, its true that radicalisation is very much from the young, and very much outside all the usual channels - including 'radicals'. The other interesting facts was the immediacy and geographic spread of the protests, which emerged everywhere at once. This is also discussed here, where Nikos Raptis writes 'The uprising was carried out by the students and the teenagers, especially the teenagers!'. He also notes that the main weapons were seville oranges (more often used here for marmalade) and the main targets police stations - as well as the usual tactic of provocation and 'plants' (police / police agents masquerading as anarchists).

Perhaps it is foolish to link these points together, but in discussion with the Institute yesterday we were reflecting on the relation between micro-regulation and a visceral biopolitical resistance. It seems that the capillary penetration of capital (which of course has always been there) is producing new immediate effects of resistance. Of course, the usual difficulty comes in linking and articulating these points. Although the Greek revolts are (at least in terms of 'immediate' cause) a result of extreme State violence, the immediacy that resulted there suggests an 'event'. In fact, what's interesting is the immediacy of the translation between the act of violence and the de-legitimation of the state.

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