[P2P-F] Reflections on Trump, and the role of the commons as an alternative (Holy Mountain)

Michel Bauwens michel at p2pfoundation.net
Sat Feb 11 09:25:10 CET 2017


https://georgelakoff.com/2016/11/22/a-minority-president-why-the-polls-failed-and-what-the-majority-can-do/

dear Kevin, see also the analysis by george lakoff,

Michel

1. Re: Reflections on Trump, and the role of the commons as an
>       alternative (Holy Mountain)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2017 16:07:01 +0000
> From: Holy Mountain <kev.flanagan at gmail.com>
> To: P2P Foundation mailing list <p2p-foundation at lists.ourproject.org>
> Cc: "staccotroncoso at p2pfoundation.net"
>         <staccotroncoso at p2pfoundation.net>, Ann Marie Utratel
>         <amu444 at gmail.com>, George Pór <george.por at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [P2P-F] Reflections on Trump,      and the role of the commons
>         as an alternative
> Message-ID:
>         <CACpSwUf_wDFoxy9CEL9NuaqZyyo7eQhvQU0MhX
> 1UGmCDA1TMMg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Hello Michel,
>
> We had a visiting lecturer Douglas Holmes a few weeks ago who wrote a book
> called Fast Capitalism which examined the rise of the far right in Europe
> throughout the 1990's he interviewed Le Pen for example. He said something
> along these lines, at least as I interpreted, that people tend to see the
> far right as something in the past something we have moved on from, but
> what is misunderstood is that the emergence of fascism was in some ways
> inseparable from the emergence of Liberalism and Socialism, it is part and
> parcel of modernity, the elements that fascists draw on and instrumentalise
> for their reactionary anti-democratic cause are everywhere part of the make
> up of the modern world. In a broad cultural sense we are still collectively
> working through, both unconsciously and consciously, the enlightenment and
> counter enlightenment. Listening to the lectures of liberal political
> philosopher Isaiah Berlin, he presents a strong argument in support of
> this. The struggle between the forces of the enlightenment and
> counter-enlightenment were incredibly productive, in the progressive sense
> in that it opened up great scope for debate and exploration of what it
> means to be human in the modern world, giving birth to so much art and the
> social sciences, but those same tendencies, the importance of culture vs
> nature also gives birth to the comparison of cultures, the ranking of
> cultures, the privileging of cultures, the sanctity of culture. We rush to
> the defence of those marginalised by the rough reductionist mechanics of
> 'western civilisation' but the claim of the extreme right is that the same
> respect be afforded to conserve the culture of the privileged or at least
> their mythic appropriation and re-construction of it. They claim western
> cultural and technological superiority is evolution at work an essential
> expression of their identity and that "nature" should be let off the leash.
> In this sense they are essentialist and vitalists and find common cause
> with the survival of the fittest, might is right logics of
> Libertarians/ancaps.They share the belief that authority is not rooted in
> the constructions the rational or man made which risks critical scrutiny,
> rather authority is located 'natural law' or in the mystical the mythical,
> beyond the reach of reason or man made law, here is the extreme rights
> obsession with new age spiritualism and the occult. The man and machine are
> subservient and must always work in the service of myth. Its a pretty dark
> view of human beings to say the least but it should be clear how they can
> appropriate and mobilise certain cultural tendencies that normally are
> considered benign. The transcendent Hero, the Superman, the Warrior for
> example.
>
> Berlin's lectures do not look so much at contemporary fascism as much as
> the ideological roots in the counter-enlightenment, Vico, Harmann, Herder
> and then De Maistre who he particularly terms a proto fascist. In the 3
> lectures on culture he follow Vico to Harmann. Then there are two other
> lectures one on Harmann and De Maistre.
>
> http://mediapub.it.ox.ac.uk/feeds/129062/audio.xml
>
>
>
>
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