Re: <nettime> alex van der bellen wins austrian presidentials!!!

[Alex Foti <alex.foti@gmail.com>]

   Wow, Brian, comparative analysis of euroamerican middle classes and the
   populist left!
   according to laclau-chantalmouffe (from what I learned from Paolo
   Gerbaudo, check out his upcoming book) the people is constructed around
   a signifier (the wronged citizenry, the exploited precariat, the
   oppressed minority etc) counterposed to elite, oligarchy, caste etc.
   populism means that regular folks are reclaiming democratic sovereignty
   stolen by neoliberalism and the faux left (such a great expression). i
   totally agree that progressive populism must ditch marxist ideology if
   it wants to represent the precarized middle. more problematic is
   whether old socialists like sanders and corbyn can effectively embody
   the new demands for radical democracy that have emerged since 2008 and
   2011. personally, i'm a bit skeptical, but this is not the issue here.
   The issue is whether the EU can be salvaged by the populist moment. I'm
   glad that Corbyn and Loach are saying let's remain to push it
   leftwards, and that the Greens arguably are the only progressive
   federalist force left in europe, but let's face it: middle-class
   consent for transnational europe is dropping while nationalism is
   rising everywhere. Europe is no longer delivering prosperity and its
   macroeconomic policy is in the interest of Northern rather than
   Southern Europe. In Spain, a truly post-Marxist populism has emerged
   wth Iglesias, and especially Colau, who have managed to hegemonize and
   absord the existing red left. In Greece, a red government capitulated
   to eurocracy's blackmailing. In France a powerful social movement is
   exposing the crisis of French socialism and pushing people forward on
   to fight the increase in absolute exploitation, with the French
   precarious generation of lycéens and neets at the vanguard. In Italy,
   renzi and the 5-star movement are killing what's left of the left,
   while local elections in major cities are approaching and a
   constitutional referendum is scheduled for october.
   i suspect european xenophobic and fascistic tendencies are more
   entrenched than in the US (certainly in eastern europe) and that a
   post-liberal alternative to nationalist populism will be a harder sell
   with the middle classes. Also minorities are still very disenfranchised
   with respect to blacks in America (immigrants cannot vote and
   second-generation arabs are now considered terrorist suspects) so that
   the nativist bloc (think Scandinavia) has huge political weight.
   we badly need a european convergence progressive populist forces - for
   liberty against oligarchy, for equality against oligopoly, for a future
   after fossil capitalism - problem is the people has so far always been
   constituted at the level of the nation. how can an internationalist
   populism be devised, one that transcends borders marked by wars and
   dynasties in the EU?
   best ciaos and viva vienna and graz
   lx

   On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 9:40 PM, Brian Holmes <bhcontinentaldrift@gmail.com> wrote:

     I am glad that the Austrians did not swing to the far right. Before
     the next cliffhanger happens, let's think together about what to do
     in the future. It seems to me that the European left has to face at
     least two things. The first is the ongoing collapse of the classical
     Marxist analysis based on the agency of proletarians. Forget it,
 <...>

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