Top officials in a number of countries including the UK, US and across the Medittaranean in Europe have been infected by Covid-19... or are in self-quarantine. And many say politics is a vulnerable profession - due to the average age of lawmakers.
Slavoj Zizek talks about the impact of Covid-19 outbreak.
The Holberg Debate: Slavoj Žižek: "Why I Am Still A Communist"
Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 3 PM – 5:15 PM
Slavoj Žižek has been called the «the most dangerous philosopher in the West» and a cultural theorist superstar, as he mixes Marxism with pop culture and psychoanalysis. Three decades after the fall of «Communism» in Eastern Europe, why does Žižek still call himself a communist?
Even though Europe’s authoritarian Socialist states have been gone for about 30 years, socialism and communism have not disappeared from the lexicon of political ideas in the West.
Here, the last decade has seen both a crisis of capitalism, high levels of polarisation and turmoil, a rediscovering of Marxism in certain circles, and a mainstream American Left that advocates «democratic socialism».
What exactly such terms mean to their advocates and critics, however, remains unclear, as the US enters one of the most contentious election years ever. And while the Nordic “social democracies” may be known for their expansive welfare states, arguing that they still represent “socialism” would likely require a stretch of both concepts and imagination.
In an age where the principles of the free marked have become the driving force of both the economy, public services, foreign policy, and education, “communism” remains a dirty word among the political establishment.
So why is Žižek still a communist?
"At the 2019 Holberg Debate, we are honoured to be joined by two big thinkers: Slavoj Žižek and Tyler Cowen. Prof. Žižek will deliver his keynote address, “Why I Am Still A Communist”, before being interviewed by Prof. Cowen. In the subsequent Q & A session, we encourage everyone to contribute with questions and comments, either from the floor, or via Twitter. Twitter users may use hashtag #qholberg for questions and submit their comments either in writing or as video snippets. Questions may be submitted at any time, before or during the event. In other words: You are welcome to submit your questions today."
"Slavoj Žižek's new book, Like a Thief in Broad Daylight, examines the rapid changes to the world triggered by big-tech and the dangers and radical possibilities those transformations offer up. I went to meet him to discuss some lighthearted topics like the changing face of capitalism, why the liberal consensus has collapsed, whether we are truly free, if Jeremy Corbyn's Labour project is an example of populism or whether Bernie Sanders could exist without Donald Trump."
Slavoj Žižek, once called "the most dangerous philosopher in the West", talks to JOE about the collapse of civility in British political discourse, how Jeremy Corbyn could beat Boris Johnson and the appropriate response to climate change.
"In 2019 June, I went to Slovenia to interview Slavoj Žižek (齐泽克) - a prominent but controversial public figure, sometimes called "the most dangerous philosopher in the West". We had a two-hour long discussion on various topics including Marxism, consumerism, political correctness, White Left(白左), the fall of the Berlin wall, happiness, marriage and even open relationships."
Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher. He is a professor at the Institute for Sociology and Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana and international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities of the University of London.He works in subjects including continental philosophy, political theory, cultural studies, psychoanalysis, film criticism, Marxism, Hegelianism and theology.
In 1989, Žižek published his first English text, The Sublime Object of Ideology, in which he departed from traditional Marxist theory to develop a materialist conception of ideology that drew heavily on Lacanian psychoanalysis and Hegelian idealism. His early theoretical work became increasingly eclectic and political in the 1990s, dealing frequently in the critical analysis of disparate forms of popular culture and making him a popular figure of the academic left. A critic of capitalism, neoliberalism and political correctness, Žižek calls himself a political radical, and his work has been characterized as challenging orthodoxies of both the political right and the social-liberal universities.
Žižek’s idiosyncratic style, popular academic works, frequent magazine op-eds, and critical assimilation of high and low culture have gained him international influence, and a substantial audience outside academe. In 2012, Foreign Policy listed Žižek on its list of Top 100 Global Thinkers, calling him “a celebrity philosopher”
Jordan B. Peterson is a clinical psychologist, cultural critic, former Harvard Professor, and currently a professor at the University of Toronto. His main areas of study are the psychology of religion and ideological belief, and the assessment and improvement of personality and performance. Dr. Peterson has published over one hundred scientific papers, as well as authored Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief, and the bestselling 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote to Chaos (January 2018). At Harvard, he was nominated for the prestigious Levinson Teaching Prize, and has been regarded as one of three of University of Toronto’s truly life changing professors. His classroom lectures on mythology and psychology were so well received that they were turned into a popular 13-part series on TVO. Dr. Peterson’s YouTube Channel has over 1.5 million subscribers, with videos averaging 1 million views, features his university and public lectures, responses to polarizing political crises of today and interviews with experts.
Jordan B. Peterson and his colleagues have produced online programs aimed at helping people understand their personalities and improve their lives. He has appeared on news sources such as BBC, Channel 4, as well as several popular podcasts and shows, including the Joe Rogan Experience, Under the Skin with Russell Brand, The Rubin Report, and many more. He has been featured in GQ, The New York Times, Esquire, and The New Yorker amoung many other publications.
