Recording Surface

While it might be overstating it to say that the Anglo-American response to the bloodletting in the Caucasus is one of glee, there certainly seems to be sense of satisfaction at the reappearance of a comfort zone. (more…)

He’s a lightweight. (more…)

Reading through Security, Territory, and Population, I’m reminded of a line in David Graeber’s Commoner article about the post-operaisti: (more…)

Were this Az’s blog, this post and the Austin Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and Equality Texas might just earn a spot in the category The First Up Against the Wall. (link) (more…)

Like all left believers in the essential progressiveness of capitalism, Simon Critchley thinks that the “truth of Marx’s work” lies in its conviction that the “dislocatory power of capitalism must be affirmed.” The alternative, as it’s usually presented is in these stories, is “a retreat into some sort of Rousseauesque and ultimately reactionary romantic anti-capitalism.” (more…)

It’s not just (neo)liberalism that increasingly insists on the primacy of ethics. Anarchism also seems more and more to talk about an “ethical orientation,” to use a phrase from Simon Critchley’s recent book, Infinitely Demanding. (more…)

As if U.S. electoral politics didn’t depress me enough, I somehow found myself reading the entire New Republic article on presidential candidate Ron Paul, a fave of large chunks of the antiwar movement. (more…)