Long Sunday
‘You are reserved for a great Monday!’ Fine, but Sunday will never end.—Kafka

Reading democracy

A belated introduction.  In some ways, a symposium on democracy at Long Sunday has been a long time coming.  Various discussions between contributors, here and at associated blogs, have hovered around or dealt with this theme over the last year or so.  And, it seems, this current symposium on democracy follows a thread through previous LS symposia: from Walter Benjamin's considerations of violence, written between the Treaty of Versailles and the electoral ascendancy of the National Socialists to government in Germany – to the symposium on Mario Tronti, who in his recent writings argues that the critique of democracy is the most urgent of tasks – to Gayatri Spivak and the play of differences that remain irreducible to universal tendencies – and, not least, the most recent symposium on Carl Schmitt, for whom democracy is not commensurate with liberalism but, instead, the sovereignty of the people (ein Volk).  Indeed, does it not also relate to previous discussions of solidarity and populism?

This is in no way to suggest that all of the contributions to the series of Long Sunday symposia have explored these threads, although some have. It is, however, to suggest that there is something of a conversation here, undertaken in quite different ways and from different perspectives, that nevertheless has, at this time, turned to the question of democracy as a question.

Chuckman_democracy_deliver Is this because this is a time in which the military export of democracy coincides with the recourse to democratic principles in the very critique of that war or, from another perspective, when – as Agamben puts it – the threshold between democracy and the state of exception blurs into indistinction.  But this, of course, is only to raise one aspect of what is at stake or seen to be so.

Given democracy is such an immense topic, we envisaged that each of the contributions would take a text or writer on democracy, using it as a point of departure or simply providing a reading of what the text or writers brings to a conversation on democracy. To that end, the provisional schedule of posts, at this stage is:

Friday: Jodi (Zizek) | Saturday:  Jon (Ranciere and/or Laclau) | Sunday:  Adam K (Nancy); IT (Badiou/Marx) |  Monday: Eric (Marx) | Tuesday: Carlos (Brown)  | Wednesday: Matthew C (Derrida and/or Levinas); Adam T (Blanchot/Derrida) | Thursday: Nate (Althusser and/or Ranciere) |  Friday: Craig (Lefort) | Saturday: Angela (?). 

There are three other contributors who have yet to schedule in their posts: CR (on Forster's Howard's End), Brett, and Matt (on Derrida) - but, as with previous symposia, the schedule is tentative and likely to sort itself out as the week proceeds.  Contributions on Arendt, Agamben, Mouffe, Tocqueville - or any other text (theoretical, literary or without deferral to such distinctions) - that is of relevance to the discussion on democracy would also be appreciated.  (If you're interested, drop in a comment here - and the same goes for administrative queries, timeswapping, etc.)

We hope the contributions spark discussion, debate, musings and meanderings.

[Craig + Angela]

By Long Sunday Admin | July 16, 2006 | Link to “Reading democracy” | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Conclusion: Carl Schmitt

Not looking to cut off at the last bits of discussion or to discourage future posts on the topic, but below is an interim index to the Carl Schmitt discussion, here at Long Sunday and elsewhere.  Should anyone be aware of any other discussions, please leave a comment with the URL.

I'd like to thank all the contributors - posters and commenters alike - for their participation.  The 'symposium' was far more successful than I had anticipated, given the length of the paper and the tendency of people to divide between those who can't look past his political affiliations and those who try to.

While there are no future symposiums under discussion at this time, I'd encourage people to write on nationalism/patriotism as we approach Canada Day (July 1) and the American Independence Day (July 4) and as we sit in middle of that soccer tournament.  Might I suggest the next formal discussion be on the topic of privilege?

Continue reading “Conclusion: Carl Schmitt”

By Craig | June 24, 2006 | Link to “Conclusion: Carl Schmitt” | Comments (15) | TrackBack

fast, cheap

I'll go ahead and (un)wrap the symposium here. Obviously, this shouldn't prevent anyone else from contributing further thoughts on "Scattered Speculations," on Spivak, or on any of the issues that have arisen during this symposium. I'll add any new contributions to the aggregated "Carnival of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak". But our intensive week of reading and discussion is now over. What remains is to unwrap, unravel...

Gayatri SpivakAs several people have noted, the idea for this symposium on Spivak arose during a discussion at the eponymous Weblog, in response to Adam Kotsko's "Theses on the 'Higher Eclecticism'". In other words, it arose in the context of what is by now a long-running debate on "Theory" that has been represented in terms of an antagonism between the two "sides": John Holbo's Valve on the one hand; and this blog, Long Sunday, in particular, on the other.

Continue reading “fast, cheap”

By Jon | April 25, 2006 | Link to “fast, cheap” | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Tronti blogweave

Fractal

For your quick or leisurely perusal, the compilation of Long Sunday's recent symposium on Mario Tronti's "The Strategy of the Refusal", and some remarks.  The multitudinous, but alphabetised, contributions:

»Jon Beasley-Murray, The new barbarians
»Eric Beck, Minor refusals
»George Ciccariello-Maher, Class and subalternity
»Jodi Dean, Two questions on Tronti [follow-up]
»Roger Gathman Fantasy sites and the conquistadors of the planet
»Nate Holdren, Notes on "The Strategy of the Refusal"
»John Holloway, Adorno meets Tronti
»Doug Johnson, Intellectuals, the refusal of power, office workers' unions
»Brian Lamb, I would prefer not to bore you
»Craig McFarlane, Refusing to engage
»David McInerney, Tronti and Althusser
»Angela Mitropoulos, When will this labour end?
»Brett Neilson, Five theses on Tronti
»Stephen Squibb, Strategy of refusal of strategy
»Keith Tilford, How no can you go? Part I [Part II]

The preamble to the Long Sunday symposium, which includes links to related texts.  The relevant essay by Tronti is here, and a quick link to Long Sunday's Tronti folder. 

There were also a number of related posts elsewhere:  Destructive Creation, Northanger, Going Somewhere, Philosophy.com, pas au-delà, Attitude Adjustor. (Those are the most directly related to the discussion, though I wouldn't be surprised if I've missed some.)  And, not least, there is always the ongoing reading at Leggiamo Tronti.

My immense gratitude to all those who contributed their writings, readings and questions - those who simply took the time to read along with, and specifically those, such as Matt, who spent much time coding and uploading.

Already, Jon has the ball rolling for another reading, and I'm hoping that blogweaving continues, mutates and grows.  Not only because it creates a shared conversation that cuts across various blogs without converging along the one line, but also because - in ways that have yet to be fully explored - it marks an autonomy of writing, reading and research from the university that, particularly in times such as these, becomes an imperative.  Needless to say, what we read and write is related to how we read and write, no less than it is to the diificult questions of who, how and why this 'we' might appear, in that process.

Many thanks for the adventure.

By s0metim3s | March 30, 2006 | Link to “Tronti blogweave” | Comments (21) | TrackBack

solidarity roundup

Solidarity

In the spirit of Ken's populism roundup, a list of contributions to the ongoing blogversation on solidarity and similar. It's a little more disparate than the discussion on populism, but worth collecting nonetheless.  From "bloodless abstraction" to "real realness" in a few easy steps...

And the beat goes on...

Continue reading “solidarity roundup”

By Jon | February 11, 2006 | Link to “solidarity roundup” | Comments (16) | TrackBack

Long Sunday Dialogues

By Long Sunday Admin | December 12, 2005 | Link to “Long Sunday Dialogues” | Comments (0) | TrackBack

"Critique of Violence" Roundup

By populist demand: the Long Sunday Symposion on Walter Benjamin's "Critique of Violence".

The Call For Contributors and the Schedule and the best plug.

Off-site discussion: Archive (Another); I Cite; Fort Kant; The Weblog; What in the hell...; Epideixis

(Should anyone have links to any other discussion of the symposium elsewhere, please leave a comment.)

By Craig | December 11, 2005 | Link to “"Critique of Violence" Roundup” | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Populism Roundup

For those who missed it, or who are interested in following along and thinking about it, here's a list of contributions to the recent blogversation on populism:

If I'm missing any, please leave the links in comments and I'll elevate them to the main post.

By kenrufo | December 8, 2005 | Link to “Populism Roundup” | Comments (17) | TrackBack