Slavoj Zizek on Capitalism, Health Care, Latin American “Populism”, and the “Farcical” Financial Crisis

by via Democracy Now

Thu, Oct 15, 2009 6:37AM

Thursday, October 15, 2009 :Dubbed by the National Review "the most dangerous political philosopher in the West", and the New York Times as "the Elvis of cultural theory", Slovenian philosopher and public intellectual Slavoj Zizek has written over fifty books on philosophy, psychoanalysis, theology, history, and political theory. In his latest book, "First as Tragedy, Then As Farce", Zizek analyzes how the United States has moved from the tragedy of 9/11 to what he calls the farce of the financial meltdown.

Zizek’s latest offering also excerpted in the October issue of Harper"s magazine opens with the words: “The only truly surprising thing about the 2008 financial meltdown is how easily the idea was accepted that its happening was unpredictable.” He goes on to recall how the demonstrations against the IMF and the World Bank over the past decade all protested the ways in which banks were playing with money and warned of an impending crash. They were met with tear-gas and mass arrests.

The message, he writes, was “loud and clear, and the police were used to literally stifle the truth.”

Well, Slavoj Zizek addressed a full house at Cooper Union here in New York city Wednesday night and he joins us now in the firehouse studio.

Slavoj Žižek, Slovenian philosopher, psychoanalyst and cultural theorist. He is author of more than fifty books, including his latest, “First as Tragedy, Then as Farce.”

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