Slavoj Zizek’s ‘The Myth of Western Liberty’ at the Southbank Centre

One of the benefits of living and studying in Brighton is that London is only a short train journey away, and so it is easy to take advantage of all the museums, galleries, and events which the city has to offer, without having to put up with actually living there. The Southbank Centre is currently hosting a Literature festival, concentrating on ‘the themes of freedom, justice and democracy’, and aims to be a celebration of ‘the optimism of the human spirit and the ability of the arts to celebrate and transform lives.’ Last week I went along to Slavoj Zizek’s talk, entitled ‘The Myth of Western Liberty’.

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The talk began with a short lecture, which was followed up with a Q&A with Paul Mason, and then a few more questions from the audience. Zizek was as entertaining as ever, with the talk flitting from popular culture and current events, to Hegel’s dialectics and the ‘Frankfurt school’ (there was very little Lacan mentioned, to my dismay), and with a generous peppering of his usual jokes.

This was all hurtled through at a heady pace, which for me was at times pretty hard to follow. His Slovenian accent, constant nose-rubbing, shirt pulling, and gesticulating, were all further obstacles to a clear understanding of what was being said, and although the entire talk was being subtitled and shown on a large screen above, this was done with some delay, (and with some hilarious errors – Obama was translated as Owe Balm Ma, etc.). This meant that some of the subtleties of his argument, along with what was as far as I could discern as being (for me at least, having only read a few of his books) new material, was missed.

 The opening lecture was predominantly covering old ground, with a brief reassertion of his philosophical position – presumably intended for those unfamiliar with his work – and steered clear of the nitty-gritty complexities of his books.

Some of the more memorable things discussed were some worrying developments made by scientists in the USA, who have fitted microchips inside the brains of mice which allow their movements to be controlled remotely. According to Zizek, who has spoken with the scientists involved in the research, these experiments have already progressed on to humans. Perhaps even more worrying, is that the control goes completely unnoticed by the test subject. Whilst the chip is active the scientists can control the movements of the subject – make them turn left or right – but when asked afterwards if they felt like they were being controlled in any way, the test subjects responded that it felt like they were making their own decisions. They felt as if they wanted to turn left or right, when really it was the will of the scientist in the room adjacent. Zizek of course then made parallels with the current system of democratic capitalism dominant in the west, in which the big decisions that govern our lives are already made for us in secret, whilst we potter around thinking we are free. 

This is not a particularly new or shocking argument – one is reminded of Barry Schwartz’s The Paradox of Choice (2004), for example – but interestingly, Zizek goes further. Zizek would rather have less, not more, choice, which is one of his gripes with the current liberal attitude that is constantly complaining about capitalism infringing upon their freedoms. According to Zizek, some decisions should be made for us. We shouldn’t have to be burdened with choosing the best schools for our children, what healthcare insurance to have, and so on, these should be decided already.

Here’s where Zizek goes a little, in his own words, ‘Stalinist’. In fact, he excuses his Stalinist leanings quite frequently throughout the talk. Zizek’s alternative model involves the emergence of a benevolent ‘master’ figure, a person who becomes a figurehead for the mobilization of individuals to form a proper community, and is more of a facilitator, than a traditional leader. Someone who inspires rather than decides on the behalf of the public – and this is where I start to lose sight of what he is talking about. The trouble is, we have to just sit tight and wait for one of these ‘masters’ to emerge…

Zizek becomes quite vague when prompted further by a member of the audience to extrapolate on what should, or can be done, to change the current system. ‘We’re running out of time’, he says, with global warming, the current economic crisis. The time for ‘action’ is surely upon us, isn’t it?

Zizek’s answer is ‘no’. The action of the twentieth century which sought to instate an alternative; communism, uprisings, socialism, all essentially failed to alleviate the onset of late capitalism, and were perhaps the very catalyst for the next, more advanced phase of capitalism to emerge. According to Zizek, now is the time for re-thinking. To imagine, rather than re-act, to start Demanding the Impossible. Action now would more than likely be in the same vein as those twentieth century attempts at reformation, and would inevitably produce the same results. Zizek reworks the old Marxist thesis that ‘”philosophers have only interpreted the world; the time is to change it”’, instead, ‘we should say, “In the twentieth century, we maybe tried to change the world too quickly. The time is to interpret it again, to start thinking.”’[1] A sentiment that was no doubt comforting to the audience, who had spent their evening sat in the Southbank Centre doing just that.

Jack Thurland, 3rd Year Literature Student.


[1]  Zizek can be seen discussing this idea previously, too: http://youtu.be/IgR6uaVqWsQ

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