Who would you vote for as President of the World?
I think it’s very dangerous to have intelligent people as presidents or leaders. Since this would be a ceremonial post, my requirements would be fully aesthetic – it should be a gentle idiot.
Can terrorism destroy democracy?
It depends on what kind of democracy we have – if a democracy’s corrupted in itself – just a formalised spectacle, then of course those in power will use the so called terrorist threat to squash it even further but I claim that if the democracy’s really thriving, in the sense that the majority of people feel engaged in the process, then the terrorist threat can and should even boost democracy. So we are at a test here, if democracy is true in our countries, we don’t have anything to fear.
Why bother to vote?
Good question. My answer is: so don’t bother to vote – I don’t vote. I can imagine ten situations where it would matter but I claim that at the typical elections, it’s a spectacle. By participating you do something which is absurd activity – it’s kind of a ridiculous imitation of an activity. So the true thing would be what Samarago developed in his wonderful novel ‘Seeing’ . If the majority of voters didn’t vote, I think that paradoxically this would put whose in power under much greater power – they would no longer be covered by democracy, like don’t criticise us, we are democratically elected, and they would be under much greater press to do something – so my proposal is – don’t vote. People claim today we are not active enough. I think that on the contrary there is way too much pseudo activity. You are frantically active all the time to cover up that there is no point to all of it. So I think that non participation can work as a reinvigoration of democracy.
Are women more democratic than men?
It depends how you understand this question. If we don’t mean some kind of eternal feminine essence, but what are because of social reasons the predominant feminine and masculine attitudes today, then I would say the balance is mixed. Some aspects of democracy – cooperative things and so on – women are better. But I think some other aspects of democracy –in the sense of radical tough measures – women are more sceptical. So I don’t think you can play this game of claiming we need more women in power.
Is God democratic?
I hope not. We tend to forget today that every democracy, in order to thrive, needs some non-democratic, firm standards, in so far as God is a name for these firm standards that you don’t debate. What do I mean that dogma is a condition of democracy? I wouldn’t like to live in a society where one would have to argue should we rape women or not or, as it is today, should we torture. I would like to live in a society where if somebody gives argument – maybe why should we rape women or even against raping women, he would simply appear an idiot. It’s dogmatically clear – you don’t do it. In this sense democracy needs dogmas, in this sense it needs God.
Is democracy good for everyone?
No, but nothing is good for everyone. I am for the spirit of struggle, I am for universality, but universality for me is a fighting category. So I hope not – what is good for everyone is good for nobody.
What would make you start a revolution?
That’s a nice question. I know what for me would be the ultimate cause of revolution – when the capitalist system gets too wide/ wild???. But the interesting thing is that what actually triggers revolutions is usually something totally trivial – usually even a rumour and so on. So in other words you have to be a practical opportunist. The only thing I do know is what starts a revolution is always a marginal, purely symbolic, irrelevant point so it doesn’t really matter, the point is to start it. I can absolutely imagine engaging in a violent struggle – I think that one of the big liberal taboos today is this dismissal of all violence. What this makes us overlook is the implicit violence in the system itself. People think that if things go on the way they are, then this is zero level, no violence, only change is violence. But in order for things to stay just as they are, a lot of ongoing violence has to be to be accomplished, and to break with this violence, you need something which is experienced as violence. So I don’t have any problems with violence. I think that the radical left should stop succumbing to this liberal blackmail, tabooing violence.
Are dictators ever good?
They can be good. I can well imagine situations where tough decisions have to be made and where you need something like a dictator, a firm leader. Let’s be frank, and I’m saying this as a leftist, popular opinion is chaotic and divisive. The way to push it to a much needed decision, you need sometimes a dictator – so I perfectly well can imagine paradoxically a measure which immediately appears as a dictator’s measure in the long term guaranteeing more freedom – Robespierre, Lenin, I’m a fan of all of them. Of course in some ways they were all dictators but what we should drop is the illusion of representative democracy – it’s not that people do know what they want and then the message goes through politicians, you implicitly have a vague idea but then it’s always this effect of mythical recognition – when a politician tells you something you say ‘Oh my God, that’s what I want’. A dictator is simply somebody who does this much better.
Can democracy solve climate change?
I think that the problem with climate change is that it’s easy to say that democracy or politics as such is too chaotic. The problem is who else will do it? New age ideologists and so on are too much caught in their own myth, they will not do it. Experts are too much in love, they are too clever and too naïve on account of their cleverness, they will not do it. So unfortunately only the political process of democracy can do it. But some people also say that not our usual corrupted democracy but everyone one of us should change and so on. That’s again a utopia. Somebody has to give a push – so it’s a little bit like what Winston Churchill said about democracy – it’s the worst possible system but if you compare it to others none other is any better. So we have to deal with this democratic political process, it’s maybe the worst possible to solve climate change but unfortunately all other options are even worse.
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