Slavoj Žižek, left, at Conway Hall

• WOW, provocateur philosopher Slavoj Žižek is reviewed in the local press, (Apocalypse now! Review, November 17).

He triggers serious debates in all his books.

1) On our utilitarian, egotistic market calculations: “The mad dance of capitalism’s unconditional spiral of productivity is… to escape its debilitating inherent contradictions” (that is, ruining the environment).

2) “The fundamental divide is one between those included in relative economic prosperity and those excluded from it.

“Today, religion emerges as the main source of murderous violence around the world.”

3) “Why are so many problems today perceived as problems of ‘intolerance’ rather than as problems of inequality, exploitation or injustice?”

4 ) “The paranoiac talk about the immigrant ‘threat’ is an ideological pathology.

“The much vilified ‘Brussels bureaucracy’ was a protector of minimal workers’ and refugee rights.

“EU versus nationalist populism has resulted in the decline of trust in the rule of law…

“What happens to democracy when the majority vote for racist laws?”

5) “Today’s anti-immigrant populists are the true threat to the emancipatory core of the European Enlightenment.”

MIKE BOR
St George’s Fields, W2