0:00:32.450,0:00:36.960
and welcome to the wall exchange my name

0:00:36.960,0:00:39.390
is Janice Sarah and I'm the director of

0:00:39.390,0:00:41.100
the Peterborough Institute for Advanced

0:00:41.100,0:00:43.800
Studies and a professor of law the Royal

0:00:43.800,0:00:46.289
Exchange is a series of downtown

0:00:46.289,0:00:48.030
lectures sponsored by the Peter wah

0:00:48.030,0:00:50.129
Institute of Advanced Studies at the

0:00:50.129,0:00:52.410
University of British Columbia and it's

0:00:52.410,0:00:54.170
really dedicated to trying to advance

0:00:54.170,0:00:57.120
innovative and fundamental research by

0:00:57.120,0:00:59.370
bringing people together in a fulsome

0:00:59.370,0:01:01.770
conversation about timely topics that

0:01:01.770,0:01:04.260
are highly important to us as members of

0:01:04.260,0:01:06.689
society and certainly tonight's

0:01:06.689,0:01:09.180
conversation promises I think to

0:01:09.180,0:01:12.119
generate a provocative and stimulating

0:01:12.119,0:01:14.159
debate I'd like to thank the Georgia

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Strait magazine for co-sponsoring this

0:01:16.680,0:01:19.590
event and to thank CBC Radio one ideas

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program its producer Kathleen flattery

0:01:22.290,0:01:25.250
en

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I would ask you to please turn your cell

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phone ringer Soph I know people might be

0:01:38.810,0:01:41.909
tweeting and things but we'd really like

0:01:41.909,0:01:46.110
not to have the noise so just briefly to

0:01:46.110,0:01:48.270
talk about the program this evening dr.

0:01:48.270,0:01:50.819
Butler is going to speak for about 50

0:01:50.819,0:01:53.670
minutes Charlie Smith will then serve as

0:01:53.670,0:01:56.250
moderator for a 45-minute question and

0:01:56.250,0:01:58.469
answer period Charlie Smith is an

0:01:58.469,0:02:00.780
accomplished journalist senior editor of

0:02:00.780,0:02:02.759
the Georgia Strait and former associate

0:02:02.759,0:02:06.000
producer of CBC Radio one it gives me

0:02:06.000,0:02:08.429
great pleasure to introduce Judith

0:02:08.429,0:02:12.090
Butler dr. Butler is the Maxine Elliot

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professor in the department's of

0:02:13.620,0:02:16.160
rhetoric and comparative literature and

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co-director of the program of critical

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theory at the University of California

0:02:20.700,0:02:23.130
Berkeley she holds the Hannah Aaron

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chair at the European Graduate School in

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Switzerland she received her PhD in

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philosophy from Yale University and has

0:02:31.230,0:02:33.450
been awarded the brudno Prize for

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lifetime achievement at that University

0:02:36.049,0:02:39.480
Judith Butler has been called simply one

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of the most probing challenging and

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influential thinkers of our time one of

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America's pre-eminent philosophers she

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has challenged the financial beliefs

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that anchor our cultural norms a

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prolific scholar of diverse interests

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she has published significant works on

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feminist and queer theory literary

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theory modern philosophy political

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ethics warning and a course war

0:03:04.130,0:03:06.680
dr. Butler applies her extraordinary

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theoretical knowledge to real-world

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situations and her ideas and insights

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have both informed and transformed

0:03:14.790,0:03:17.099
current thought she currently holds the

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Andrew Mellon Award for distinguished

0:03:19.109,0:03:22.019
academic achievement in humanities in

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her recent article in title dr. Butler

0:03:25.170,0:03:27.630
wrote on precarity embodiment in the

0:03:27.630,0:03:30.269
politics of public space to quote her

0:03:30.269,0:03:32.669
when bodies gather as they do they

0:03:32.669,0:03:34.380
express their to express their

0:03:34.380,0:03:36.569
indignation and to enact their plural

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existence in public space they are also

0:03:38.849,0:03:41.250
making broader demands they are

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demanding to be recognized and to be

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valued they are exercised

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a right to appear and to exercise

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freedom they are calling for a livable

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life

0:03:50.430,0:03:52.469
these values are presupposed by

0:03:52.469,0:03:54.719
particular demands but they also demand

0:03:54.719,0:03:57.150
a more fundamental restructuring of our

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socio-economic and political order

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please join me in welcoming dr. Butler

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thank you

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thank you very much

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I'm enormous ly pleased to be here in

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Vancouver today and I want first of all

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to thank the Peter Wall Institute for

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this wonderful invitation I'd like also

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to acknowledge that we are on the

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traditional lands of the Coast Salish

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peoples

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I'm particularly grateful to Joanna

0:05:08.990,0:05:11.509
Forbes and Janice Sara of the Peter wall

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Institute the wall family including

0:05:13.699,0:05:16.430
Sonja wall who I believe is with us this

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evening and the kind people at the vogue

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see her at Georgia Strait and of course

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the fabulous people of Vancouver thank

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you I have said that I would speak about

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bodies in the street and that is surely

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what I plan to address but I want to

0:05:33.800,0:05:36.440
take a moment with you to pause and

0:05:36.440,0:05:39.590
think about what such a lecture can be

0:05:39.590,0:05:43.090
an attempt to set aside some of the

0:05:43.090,0:05:46.009
misconceptions that can easily arise

0:05:46.009,0:05:49.849
from such a title it may be thought that

0:05:49.849,0:05:52.669
I will say that bodies in the street are

0:05:52.669,0:05:55.699
a good thing that we should celebrate

0:05:55.699,0:05:58.069
mass demonstrations and that bodies

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together on the street form a certain

0:06:00.680,0:06:03.139
ideal of community or even a new

0:06:03.139,0:06:06.020
politics worthy of praise though

0:06:06.020,0:06:08.419
sometimes bodies assembled on the street

0:06:08.419,0:06:12.099
are clearly cause for joy even for hope

0:06:12.099,0:06:15.620
let us remember that the phrase bodies

0:06:15.620,0:06:18.669
on the street can refer equally well to

0:06:18.669,0:06:22.279
right-wing demonstrations as military

0:06:22.279,0:06:24.159
soldiers assembled to quell

0:06:24.159,0:06:27.229
demonstrations and two forms of military

0:06:27.229,0:06:30.710
occupation so from the start we have to

0:06:30.710,0:06:33.650
be prepared to ask under what conditions

0:06:33.650,0:06:36.770
do we find bodies assembled on the

0:06:36.770,0:06:40.250
street to be cause for celebration or

0:06:40.250,0:06:42.800
what forms of assembly actually work in

0:06:42.800,0:06:46.039
the service of realizing greater ideals

0:06:46.039,0:06:50.419
of justice and equality minimally we can

0:06:50.419,0:06:53.029
say that those demonstrations that seek

0:06:53.029,0:06:55.969
to realize justice and equality are

0:06:55.969,0:06:59.000
worthy of praise but even then we are

0:06:59.000,0:07:02.419
called upon to define our terms since as

0:07:02.419,0:07:06.909
we know there are conflicting views

0:07:11.129,0:07:14.349
about justice to be sure and there are

0:07:14.349,0:07:16.689
sure then there are many disparate ways

0:07:16.689,0:07:21.189
of thinking and valuing equality to more

0:07:21.189,0:07:24.550
problems immediately present themselves

0:07:24.550,0:07:27.249
in certain parts of the world political

0:07:27.249,0:07:31.059
asylum alliances do not or cannot take

0:07:31.059,0:07:33.819
the form of Street assemblies think

0:07:33.819,0:07:35.830
about conditions of intense police

0:07:35.830,0:07:38.490
surveillance or military occupation

0:07:38.490,0:07:41.020
crowds cannot swell on the streets

0:07:41.020,0:07:43.749
without risking imprisonment injury or

0:07:43.749,0:07:46.300
death and so alliances are sometimes

0:07:46.300,0:07:49.119
made in other forms ones that seek to

0:07:49.119,0:07:51.339
minimize Bottle the exposure to violence

0:07:51.339,0:07:54.129
at the same time that demands for

0:07:54.129,0:07:57.849
justice are made hunger strikes within

0:07:57.849,0:08:00.490
prisons as we recently saw in Palestine

0:08:00.490,0:08:03.219
our forms of resistance that must take

0:08:03.219,0:08:06.759
place in spaces of enforced confinement

0:08:06.759,0:08:10.059
they are themselves bodily demands for

0:08:10.059,0:08:14.289
public space and public freedom so let

0:08:14.289,0:08:16.749
us remember that heightened bodily

0:08:16.749,0:08:19.749
exposure is not always a political good

0:08:19.749,0:08:22.180
or at least not always the most

0:08:22.180,0:08:24.729
successful strategy the Israeli

0:08:24.729,0:08:26.949
occupation of Palestine is a case in

0:08:26.949,0:08:30.189
point further we have to consider as

0:08:30.189,0:08:32.529
well that some forms of political

0:08:32.529,0:08:35.469
assembly do not take place on the street

0:08:35.469,0:08:37.828
or in the square precisely because

0:08:37.828,0:08:41.049
streets are not at the center of that

0:08:41.049,0:08:44.198
political action for instance a movement

0:08:44.198,0:08:46.480
may be galvanized for the purposes of

0:08:46.480,0:08:50.470
establishing adequate infrastructure we

0:08:50.470,0:08:52.540
can think about the continuing shanty

0:08:52.540,0:08:56.170
towns of South Africa Kenya Pakistan in

0:08:56.170,0:08:58.600
sites constructed outside the border of

0:08:58.600,0:09:01.660
Europe but also the Barrios of Venezuela

0:09:01.660,0:09:05.259
or the baracus of Portugal these are

0:09:05.259,0:09:07.509
more often than not groups of people

0:09:07.509,0:09:10.329
immigrants squatters and/or Roma who are

0:09:10.329,0:09:13.240
struggling precisely for running water

0:09:13.240,0:09:17.139
working toilets paved streets for work

0:09:17.139,0:09:20.199
and provisions indeed the street is not

0:09:20.199,0:09:21.220
the only site that

0:09:21.220,0:09:23.290
we can take for granted for certain

0:09:23.290,0:09:25.629
kinds of public assemblies because the

0:09:25.629,0:09:28.300
street is also a public good for which

0:09:28.300,0:09:30.730
people fight an infrastructural

0:09:30.730,0:09:33.279
necessity that forms one of the demands

0:09:33.279,0:09:36.639
of certain forms of mobilization and I

0:09:36.639,0:09:38.699
would add certain forms of mobilization

0:09:38.699,0:09:43.540
against precarity and yet I think we can

0:09:43.540,0:09:46.240
see that in such situations with or

0:09:46.240,0:09:49.660
without streets some basic requirements

0:09:49.660,0:09:51.850
of the body are at the center of

0:09:51.850,0:09:54.100
political mobilizations

0:09:54.100,0:09:56.879
we could certainly make a list of those

0:09:56.879,0:09:59.199
bodies require food and shelter

0:09:59.199,0:10:01.470
protection from injury and destruction

0:10:01.470,0:10:07.300
freedom to move employment healthcare

0:10:07.300,0:10:10.240
bodies require other bodies for support

0:10:10.240,0:10:13.509
for passion for survival and it matters

0:10:13.509,0:10:16.000
what age those bodies are and whether

0:10:16.000,0:10:18.699
they are able-bodied since in all forms

0:10:18.699,0:10:21.699
of dependency bodies require not just

0:10:21.699,0:10:24.970
one other person but social systems of

0:10:24.970,0:10:27.670
support that are complexly human and

0:10:27.670,0:10:31.300
technical but if I say this then another

0:10:31.300,0:10:35.139
set of questions emerge emerges are we

0:10:35.139,0:10:38.439
speaking only about human bodies and can

0:10:38.439,0:10:40.559
we speak about bodies at all without the

0:10:40.559,0:10:43.029
environments of the machines and the

0:10:43.029,0:10:44.639
complex systems of social

0:10:44.639,0:10:47.279
interdependence e upon which they rely

0:10:47.279,0:10:49.839
which form the conditions of their

0:10:49.839,0:10:53.680
existence and survival and finally even

0:10:53.680,0:10:56.079
if we come to understand and enumerate

0:10:56.079,0:10:58.629
the requirements of the body do we

0:10:58.629,0:11:01.180
struggle only for those requirements to

0:11:01.180,0:11:04.540
be met or do we struggle as well for

0:11:04.540,0:11:07.329
bodies to thrive it is one thing to

0:11:07.329,0:11:09.129
demand that bodies have what they need

0:11:09.129,0:11:11.709
to survive and indeed survival is a

0:11:11.709,0:11:14.350
precondition for all the other claims we

0:11:14.350,0:11:16.809
might make and yet it seems that we

0:11:16.809,0:11:19.689
survive precisely in order to live and

0:11:19.689,0:11:22.660
life as much as it requires survival

0:11:22.660,0:11:25.600
must be more than survival in order to

0:11:25.600,0:11:28.660
be livable so how do we think about a

0:11:28.660,0:11:31.540
livable life without positing a single

0:11:31.540,0:11:34.350
or uniform ideal for that life

0:11:34.350,0:11:37.470
it is not a matter in my view of finding

0:11:37.470,0:11:40.710
out what the human really is or what the

0:11:40.710,0:11:42.990
human really should be since it has

0:11:42.990,0:11:45.330
surely been made plain that humans are

0:11:45.330,0:11:47.910
animals too and that they're very bodily

0:11:47.910,0:11:50.400
existence depends upon systems of

0:11:50.400,0:11:53.180
support that include human and non-human

0:11:53.180,0:11:57.150
dimensions so to a certain extent I

0:11:57.150,0:11:59.250
follow my colleague Donna Haraway

0:11:59.250,0:12:01.980
in asking us to think about the complex

0:12:01.980,0:12:04.860
relation a letís that constitute bodily

0:12:04.860,0:12:07.800
life and to suggest that we do not need

0:12:07.800,0:12:11.160
any more ideal forms of the human but

0:12:11.160,0:12:14.730
rather complex ways of understanding

0:12:14.730,0:12:18.030
those sets of relations without which we

0:12:18.030,0:12:20.660
do not exist at all

0:12:20.660,0:12:23.880
perhaps I've gotten ahead of myself

0:12:23.880,0:12:26.280
or perhaps I keep lagging behind the

0:12:26.280,0:12:28.740
topic that forms the purpose of my

0:12:28.740,0:12:31.590
remarks this evening but I wanted to

0:12:31.590,0:12:34.200
pause at the beginning to make sure that

0:12:34.200,0:12:36.740
there are no unnecessary

0:12:36.740,0:12:39.630
misunderstandings although there are

0:12:39.630,0:12:41.910
those who will say that active bodies

0:12:41.910,0:12:44.370
assembled on the street constitute a

0:12:44.370,0:12:47.460
surging multitude one that in itself

0:12:47.460,0:12:51.180
constitutes a radical Democratic event

0:12:51.180,0:12:54.240
or action I am only partially in

0:12:54.240,0:12:56.850
agreement with that view there are all

0:12:56.850,0:12:59.760
sorts of surging multitudes I don't want

0:12:59.760,0:13:02.370
to endorse and they would include racist

0:13:02.370,0:13:04.500
or fascist congregations and mass

0:13:04.500,0:13:07.380
movements I don't think the point of

0:13:07.380,0:13:10.590
politics is simply to surge forth

0:13:10.590,0:13:13.170
together constituting a new sense of the

0:13:13.170,0:13:15.270
people although sometimes for the

0:13:15.270,0:13:18.500
purposes of radical Democratic Change

0:13:18.500,0:13:21.480
which I do endorse and for which I

0:13:21.480,0:13:24.300
struggle it is important to surge forth

0:13:24.300,0:13:26.610
in ways that claim and alter the

0:13:26.610,0:13:30.420
attention of the world something has to

0:13:30.420,0:13:33.840
hold together such a group some demand

0:13:33.840,0:13:37.410
some felt sense of injustice some lived

0:13:37.410,0:13:40.050
experience of the possibility of change

0:13:40.050,0:13:43.740
and that change has to be fueled by a

0:13:43.740,0:13:45.520
resistance to

0:13:45.520,0:13:48.190
minimally existing and expanding

0:13:48.190,0:13:51.160
inequalities ever increasing conditions

0:13:51.160,0:13:54.160
of precarity for many populations both

0:13:54.160,0:13:57.940
locally and globally resistance to forms

0:13:57.940,0:14:00.520
of authoritarian and security and

0:14:00.520,0:14:03.490
control that seek to suppress democratic

0:14:03.490,0:14:07.030
movements on the one hand there are

0:14:07.030,0:14:09.100
bodies that assemble on the street or

0:14:09.100,0:14:11.470
online or through other less visible

0:14:11.470,0:14:14.260
networks of solidarity especially in

0:14:14.260,0:14:16.810
prisons whose political claims are made

0:14:16.810,0:14:18.970
through language action gesture and

0:14:18.970,0:14:21.310
movement through linking arms the

0:14:21.310,0:14:23.890
refusing to move to forming bodily modes

0:14:23.890,0:14:25.750
of obstruction to police and state

0:14:25.750,0:14:29.140
authorities in making contact in ways

0:14:29.140,0:14:32.440
that are difficult to trace and in this

0:14:32.440,0:14:35.050
sense we can say that these bodies form

0:14:35.050,0:14:37.440
networks of resistance together

0:14:37.440,0:14:40.080
remembering that bodies are not just

0:14:40.080,0:14:43.560
active agents of resistance but also

0:14:43.560,0:14:47.440
fundamentally in need of support so

0:14:47.440,0:14:49.960
those movements when they work provide

0:14:49.960,0:14:51.970
provisional support in order to

0:14:51.970,0:14:54.580
facilitate the broader demand for forms

0:14:54.580,0:14:59.290
of support that make life livable so on

0:14:59.290,0:15:01.210
the one hand bodies assemble precisely

0:15:01.210,0:15:04.000
to show that they are bodies and they

0:15:04.000,0:15:05.680
let it be known politically what it

0:15:05.680,0:15:09.420
means to persist as a body in this world

0:15:09.420,0:15:12.400
what requirements must be met for bodies

0:15:12.400,0:15:14.770
to survive and what conditions make of

0:15:14.770,0:15:17.110
bodily life which is the only life we

0:15:17.110,0:15:21.550
have finally livable so on the one hand

0:15:21.550,0:15:25.870
as I'm saying bodies form in networks of

0:15:25.870,0:15:28.360
resistance on the other hand as I hope

0:15:28.360,0:15:31.240
to make clear bodies form in order to

0:15:31.240,0:15:33.730
produce not only structures of support

0:15:33.730,0:15:36.790
and in dependency but to events or enact

0:15:36.790,0:15:39.550
ideas of community and equality for

0:15:39.550,0:15:43.510
which the movement struggles it's not

0:15:43.510,0:15:46.420
only or primarily as abstract subjects

0:15:46.420,0:15:47.980
bearing rights that we take to the

0:15:47.980,0:15:50.470
streets we take to the streets because

0:15:50.470,0:15:53.140
we need to walk or move there we need

0:15:53.140,0:15:55.930
streets to be structured so that whether

0:15:55.930,0:15:58.610
or not we are in a chair we can move

0:15:58.610,0:16:00.199
and we can move there without

0:16:00.199,0:16:02.509
obstruction harassment administrative

0:16:02.509,0:16:06.139
detention fear of injury or death if we

0:16:06.139,0:16:08.029
are on the street it is because we are

0:16:08.029,0:16:10.850
bodies that require infrastructural

0:16:10.850,0:16:14.209
support for our continuing existence and

0:16:14.209,0:16:18.860
for living a life that matters so if I

0:16:18.860,0:16:21.709
caution against an easy celebration of

0:16:21.709,0:16:22.910
active bodies

0:16:22.910,0:16:26.119
I'm also cautioning against the idea

0:16:26.119,0:16:29.569
that activism requires that we think of

0:16:29.569,0:16:33.619
the body only as active as a Gentek if

0:16:33.619,0:16:37.399
the body were by definition active then

0:16:37.399,0:16:39.110
we would not need to struggle for the

0:16:39.110,0:16:41.809
conditions that allow the body it's free

0:16:41.809,0:16:43.850
activity in the name of social and

0:16:43.850,0:16:46.759
economic justice and though I do not

0:16:46.759,0:16:49.699
want to rest easily with an idea of the

0:16:49.699,0:16:53.449
body as vulnerable or indeed as passive

0:16:53.449,0:16:56.389
I do think that we cannot understand the

0:16:56.389,0:16:59.299
forms of interrelation allottee that

0:16:59.299,0:17:02.749
constitute our bodily lives if we do not

0:17:02.749,0:17:06.159
understand the complex relation between

0:17:06.159,0:17:08.299
vulnerability and those forms of

0:17:08.299,0:17:11.118
activity that come to constitute our

0:17:11.118,0:17:15.260
political resistance indeed even in the

0:17:15.260,0:17:18.230
moment of appearing on the street we are

0:17:18.230,0:17:21.019
vulnerable this is especially true for

0:17:21.019,0:17:22.760
those who appear on the street without

0:17:22.760,0:17:25.549
permits who are opposing the police or

0:17:25.549,0:17:28.240
the military or other security forces

0:17:28.240,0:17:31.970
one is shorn of protection to be sure

0:17:31.970,0:17:34.010
but this does not mean that one is

0:17:34.010,0:17:37.580
reduced to some sort of bare life on the

0:17:37.580,0:17:40.639
contrary to be shorn of protection is a

0:17:40.639,0:17:43.370
form of political exposure at once

0:17:43.370,0:17:46.070
concretely vulnerable and potentially

0:17:46.070,0:17:48.740
defiant how do we understand this

0:17:48.740,0:17:51.500
connection between vulnerability and

0:17:51.500,0:17:56.720
defiance within activism of course

0:17:56.720,0:18:00.200
feminist theorists have for a long time

0:18:00.200,0:18:03.110
argued that women suffer social

0:18:03.110,0:18:06.080
vulnerability disproportionately and

0:18:06.080,0:18:08.149
though there is always a risk in

0:18:08.149,0:18:09.860
claiming that women are especially

0:18:09.860,0:18:12.290
vulnerable given how many of

0:18:12.290,0:18:14.960
groups can certainly make that claim

0:18:14.960,0:18:17.660
there is perhaps something important to

0:18:17.660,0:18:19.870
be taken from this tradition of

0:18:19.870,0:18:23.630
argumentation the claim can sometimes be

0:18:23.630,0:18:25.640
taken to mean that women have an

0:18:25.640,0:18:28.280
unchanging and defining vulnerability

0:18:28.280,0:18:30.590
and that and that kind of argument makes

0:18:30.590,0:18:33.920
the case for paternalistic protection if

0:18:33.920,0:18:36.380
women are especially vulnerable then

0:18:36.380,0:18:38.390
they seek protection it becomes the

0:18:38.390,0:18:40.190
responsibility of the state or other

0:18:40.190,0:18:42.440
paternal powers to provide that

0:18:42.440,0:18:45.230
protection on that model feminist

0:18:45.230,0:18:48.020
activism not only petitions paternal

0:18:48.020,0:18:50.390
Authority for special dispensations and

0:18:50.390,0:18:53.540
protections but affirms that inequality

0:18:53.540,0:18:55.760
of power that situates women in a

0:18:55.760,0:18:58.070
powerless position and by implication

0:18:58.070,0:19:01.700
men in a more powerful one or it invests

0:19:01.700,0:19:04.970
the state with the responsibility for

0:19:04.970,0:19:07.790
facilitating the achievement of feminist

0:19:07.790,0:19:11.060
goals such a view is very different from

0:19:11.060,0:19:14.210
one from one that claims for instance

0:19:14.210,0:19:17.390
that women are vulnerable and capable of

0:19:17.390,0:19:19.700
resistance that vulnerability and

0:19:19.700,0:19:22.490
resistance can and do happen at the same

0:19:22.490,0:19:25.640
time as we see in certain forms of

0:19:25.640,0:19:28.490
feminist self-defense or even in certain

0:19:28.490,0:19:30.860
openly political movements of women in

0:19:30.860,0:19:32.840
the public sphere where they are not

0:19:32.840,0:19:36.050
generally allowed to appear we can think

0:19:36.050,0:19:38.750
of the walks or we can think about

0:19:38.750,0:19:41.990
those who oppose harassment or injury by

0:19:41.990,0:19:44.210
virtue of appearing as they do this

0:19:44.210,0:19:46.970
would in my mind also include Muslim

0:19:46.970,0:19:49.460
women wearing full veils in France who

0:19:49.460,0:19:55.550
are unjustly subject to to arrest and

0:19:55.550,0:20:00.260
and and and fines of course there are

0:20:00.260,0:20:02.120
good reasons to argue for the

0:20:02.120,0:20:04.700
differential vulnerability of women they

0:20:04.700,0:20:06.500
do suffer disproportionately from

0:20:06.500,0:20:10.220
poverty and literacy two very important

0:20:10.220,0:20:12.590
dimensions of any global analysis of

0:20:12.590,0:20:15.080
women's condition so when I'm asked for

0:20:15.080,0:20:18.200
instance are you a post feminist I say

0:20:18.200,0:20:20.630
well as long as women suffer

0:20:20.630,0:20:23.450
disproportionately from from poverty and

0:20:23.450,0:20:25.700
literacy and our disproportionate

0:20:25.700,0:20:28.250
vulnerable to violence I'm still a

0:20:28.250,0:20:38.450
feminist so the question that emerges

0:20:38.450,0:20:42.380
and forms the focus of my question here

0:20:42.380,0:20:44.779
is how to think about the vulnerability

0:20:44.779,0:20:46.730
of women in conjunction with feminist

0:20:46.730,0:20:49.370
modes of agency and how to think both in

0:20:49.370,0:20:51.769
light of global conditions and emerging

0:20:51.769,0:20:54.950
possibilities of Global Alliance this

0:20:54.950,0:20:57.799
task is made all the more difficult as

0:20:57.799,0:20:59.990
state structures and institutions of

0:20:59.990,0:21:02.840
social welfare lose their own resources

0:21:02.840,0:21:05.269
thus exposing more populations to

0:21:05.269,0:21:08.480
homelessness unemployment illiteracy and

0:21:08.480,0:21:11.179
inadequate health care so the struggle

0:21:11.179,0:21:13.519
in my view is how to make the feminists

0:21:13.519,0:21:16.190
claim effectively that such institutions

0:21:16.190,0:21:19.429
are crucial to sustaining lives at the

0:21:19.429,0:21:22.250
same time that feminists resist modes of

0:21:22.250,0:21:24.950
paternalism that reinstate relations of

0:21:24.950,0:21:28.580
inequality in some ways vulnerability

0:21:28.580,0:21:30.919
has been regarded as a value in feminist

0:21:30.919,0:21:32.269
theory in politics

0:21:32.269,0:21:34.639
this means neither that women are more

0:21:34.639,0:21:37.460
vulnerable than men nor that women value

0:21:37.460,0:21:40.309
vulnerability more than men do rather

0:21:40.309,0:21:42.830
certain kinds of gender defining

0:21:42.830,0:21:45.529
attributes like vulnerability and

0:21:45.529,0:21:48.139
invulnerability are distributed

0:21:48.139,0:21:51.769
unequally and for purposes of shoring up

0:21:51.769,0:21:53.870
certain regimes of power that

0:21:53.870,0:21:56.720
disenfranchised women we think about

0:21:56.720,0:21:59.990
goods as as distributed unequally under

0:21:59.990,0:22:03.460
capitalism we think about opportunities

0:22:03.460,0:22:06.230
distributed unequally under capitalism

0:22:06.230,0:22:08.269
we think about natural resources

0:22:08.269,0:22:11.299
especially water distributed unequally

0:22:11.299,0:22:14.450
but we should also surely consider that

0:22:14.450,0:22:17.269
one way of managing populations is to

0:22:17.269,0:22:20.149
distribute vulnerability unequally in

0:22:20.149,0:22:23.570
such a way that vulnerable populations

0:22:23.570,0:22:25.730
are established within discourse and

0:22:25.730,0:22:29.480
policy more recently we note that social

0:22:29.480,0:22:32.240
movements and policy analysts refer to

0:22:32.240,0:22:34.760
precarious populations and that

0:22:34.760,0:22:36.830
political strategies are accordingly

0:22:36.830,0:22:38.200
devised to think

0:22:38.200,0:22:40.330
about ameliorating conditions of

0:22:40.330,0:22:43.570
precarity as we extend the economic

0:22:43.570,0:22:45.880
notion of unequal distribution to

0:22:45.880,0:22:48.820
broader social and cultural spheres we

0:22:48.820,0:22:51.250
are also confronted especially during

0:22:51.250,0:22:54.430
times of war with the uneven grieve

0:22:54.430,0:22:58.390
ability of populations that is the idea

0:22:58.390,0:23:01.030
that certain lives if lost are more

0:23:01.030,0:23:03.580
worthy of memorialization and public

0:23:03.580,0:23:06.430
grieving than others populations

0:23:06.430,0:23:09.040
targeted for injury and destruction in

0:23:09.040,0:23:12.130
war are often considered unbelievable

0:23:12.130,0:23:14.680
from the start but so too are

0:23:14.680,0:23:17.860
populations whose labor is episodic and

0:23:17.860,0:23:20.110
precarious or who are considered

0:23:20.110,0:23:23.040
abandoned through systematic forms of

0:23:23.040,0:23:27.250
negligence when vulnerability is

0:23:27.250,0:23:30.190
distributed unequally then certain

0:23:30.190,0:23:32.830
populations are effectively targeted as

0:23:32.830,0:23:37.050
endurable with impunity or disposable

0:23:37.050,0:23:41.110
without reparation this kind of explicit

0:23:41.110,0:23:44.200
or implicit marking can work to justify

0:23:44.200,0:23:46.840
the infliction of injury upon them as we

0:23:46.840,0:23:49.390
see in times of war or in state violence

0:23:49.390,0:23:52.810
against undocumented citizens or we can

0:23:52.810,0:23:55.360
see such populations as responsible for

0:23:55.360,0:23:58.030
their own position or conversely in need

0:23:58.030,0:24:00.160
of protection from the state or other

0:24:00.160,0:24:03.640
institutions of civil society it's

0:24:03.640,0:24:06.270
important to note that when such

0:24:06.270,0:24:09.370
redistributive strategies abound than

0:24:09.370,0:24:11.920
other populations usually the ones

0:24:11.920,0:24:14.350
orchestrating or affecting the processes

0:24:14.350,0:24:18.210
of redistribution posit themselves as

0:24:18.210,0:24:21.580
invulnerable if not impermeable and

0:24:21.580,0:24:24.580
without any such needs of protection

0:24:24.580,0:24:27.460
this approach takes vulnerability and

0:24:27.460,0:24:30.460
invulnerability as political effects

0:24:30.460,0:24:33.370
unequally distributed effects of a field

0:24:33.370,0:24:35.830
of power that acts on and through bodies

0:24:35.830,0:24:38.590
if vulnerability has been culturally

0:24:38.590,0:24:40.990
coded feminine then how are certain

0:24:40.990,0:24:43.840
populations effectively feminized when

0:24:43.840,0:24:46.180
designated as vulnerable and others

0:24:46.180,0:24:48.550
construed as masculine when laying claim

0:24:48.550,0:24:50.539
to impermeable

0:24:50.539,0:24:53.239
once again these are not essential

0:24:53.239,0:24:56.600
features of men or women but processes

0:24:56.600,0:25:00.320
of gender formation effects of power

0:25:00.320,0:25:03.169
that have as one of their aims the

0:25:03.169,0:25:05.779
production of gender differences along

0:25:05.779,0:25:08.840
lines of inequality this has led

0:25:08.840,0:25:11.570
psychoanalytic feminists to remark that

0:25:11.570,0:25:14.119
the masculine position construed in such

0:25:14.119,0:25:16.879
a way is effectively built through a

0:25:16.879,0:25:18.970
denial of its own constitutive

0:25:18.970,0:25:22.279
vulnerability this denial or disavowal

0:25:22.279,0:25:25.210
requires the political institution of

0:25:25.210,0:25:27.559
oblivion or forgetfulness

0:25:27.559,0:25:30.379
more specifically the forgetting of

0:25:30.379,0:25:33.529
one's own vulnerability its projection

0:25:33.529,0:25:37.190
and displacement elsewhere the one who

0:25:37.190,0:25:39.049
achieves this impermeability

0:25:39.049,0:25:43.220
erases or externalizes all trace of a

0:25:43.220,0:25:46.099
memory of vulnerability the person who

0:25:46.099,0:25:49.070
considers himself by definition to be

0:25:49.070,0:25:52.009
invulnerable aspect effectively says I

0:25:52.009,0:25:55.039
was never vulnerable and if I was it

0:25:55.039,0:25:58.039
wasn't true and I have no memory of that

0:25:58.039,0:26:02.090
condition an obviously contradictory

0:26:02.090,0:26:04.099
statement it nevertheless shows us

0:26:04.099,0:26:06.679
something of the political syntax of

0:26:06.679,0:26:09.440
disavowal but it also tells us something

0:26:09.440,0:26:12.769
about how histories can be told in order

0:26:12.769,0:26:15.679
to support an ideal of the self one

0:26:15.679,0:26:16.970
wishes were true

0:26:16.970,0:26:19.549
such histories depend on disavowal for

0:26:19.549,0:26:22.039
their coherence and this coherence is

0:26:22.039,0:26:26.710
also thereby rendered suspect although

0:26:26.710,0:26:28.879
psychoanalytic perspectives such as

0:26:28.879,0:26:31.249
these are important as a way of gaining

0:26:31.249,0:26:34.070
insight into this particular way that

0:26:34.070,0:26:36.529
vulnerability is distributed along

0:26:36.529,0:26:39.049
gender lines it only goes part of the

0:26:39.049,0:26:41.659
way toward the kind of analysis needed

0:26:41.659,0:26:45.679
here since if we say that some person or

0:26:45.679,0:26:49.759
some group denies vulnerability we are

0:26:49.759,0:26:51.799
assuming not only that the vulnerability

0:26:51.799,0:26:55.700
was already there but also that it is in

0:26:55.700,0:27:00.259
some sense deniable of course one cannot

0:27:00.259,0:27:03.140
make an easy analogy between in

0:27:03.140,0:27:06.020
vidual and group formations and yet

0:27:06.020,0:27:08.960
modes of denial or disavowal can be seen

0:27:08.960,0:27:12.950
to traverse them both for instance to

0:27:12.950,0:27:14.990
certain defenders of the military

0:27:14.990,0:27:16.730
rationale for the destruction of

0:27:16.730,0:27:19.520
targeted groups or populations we might

0:27:19.520,0:27:22.880
say you act as if you yourself were not

0:27:22.880,0:27:25.250
vulnerable to the kind of destruction

0:27:25.250,0:27:28.490
you caused or to defenders of certain

0:27:28.490,0:27:31.610
forms of neoliberal economics you act as

0:27:31.610,0:27:34.370
if you yourself could never belong to a

0:27:34.370,0:27:37.010
population whose work and life is

0:27:37.010,0:27:40.880
considered disposable precarious who can

0:27:40.880,0:27:43.160
suddenly be deprived a base of basic

0:27:43.160,0:27:45.680
rights of access to housing or health

0:27:45.680,0:27:49.160
care or who lives with anxiety about how

0:27:49.160,0:27:52.490
and whether work will ever arrive in

0:27:52.490,0:27:55.490
this way then we assume that those who

0:27:55.490,0:27:58.340
seek to expose others to such positions

0:27:58.340,0:28:00.950
of Honor ability or those who seek

0:28:00.950,0:28:03.620
deposit and maintain a position of

0:28:03.620,0:28:07.880
invulnerability for themselves deny a

0:28:07.880,0:28:09.980
vulnerability by which they are in fact

0:28:09.980,0:28:13.810
bound to the ones they seek to subjugate

0:28:13.810,0:28:16.700
this last claim it's a claim I'm willing

0:28:16.700,0:28:19.430
to make moves in the direction of a

0:28:19.430,0:28:22.580
common or shared vulnerability but this

0:28:22.580,0:28:25.490
has meant less as an existential thesis

0:28:25.490,0:28:28.940
than as a general claim about how bodies

0:28:28.940,0:28:33.080
are invariably dependent upon enduring

0:28:33.080,0:28:36.050
viable social relations and institutions

0:28:36.050,0:28:40.060
for their survival and their well-being

0:28:40.060,0:28:43.100
although this claim can be understood as

0:28:43.100,0:28:46.130
an existential one it belongs in my view

0:28:46.130,0:28:49.160
more properly to the articulation of a

0:28:49.160,0:28:52.010
social ontology that I am trying in a

0:28:52.010,0:28:54.860
preliminary way to suggest can become

0:28:54.860,0:28:58.190
the basis for new forms of coalition one

0:28:58.190,0:29:01.040
that we see episodically instanced in

0:29:01.040,0:29:04.420
the contemporary politics of the street

0:29:04.420,0:29:07.340
even though i see the two levels of this

0:29:07.340,0:29:09.920
analysis i want to suggest that these

0:29:09.920,0:29:12.370
are not two forms of vulnerability

0:29:12.370,0:29:15.680
rather i want to argue that for

0:29:15.680,0:29:18.830
bodily vulnerability presupposes a

0:29:18.830,0:29:21.530
social world that we are as bodies

0:29:21.530,0:29:24.560
vulnerable to others and to institutions

0:29:24.560,0:29:27.200
and that this vulnerability constitutes

0:29:27.200,0:29:29.990
one aspect of the social modality

0:29:29.990,0:29:33.260
through which bodies persist and then

0:29:33.260,0:29:35.720
secondly I want to suggest that the

0:29:35.720,0:29:39.280
issue of my vulnerability or your

0:29:39.280,0:29:42.380
vulnerability implicates us in a broader

0:29:42.380,0:29:45.350
political problem of equality and

0:29:45.350,0:29:48.440
inequality since vulnerability can be

0:29:48.440,0:29:51.170
projected and denied psychological

0:29:51.170,0:29:53.900
categories but also exploited and

0:29:53.900,0:29:56.420
manipulated social and economic

0:29:56.420,0:29:59.050
categories in the production of

0:29:59.050,0:30:02.480
inequality this is what is meant by the

0:30:02.480,0:30:06.460
unequal distribution of vulnerability

0:30:06.460,0:30:09.470
vulnerability constitutes one aspect of

0:30:09.470,0:30:12.050
the political modality of the body where

0:30:12.050,0:30:14.750
the body is surely human understood as a

0:30:14.750,0:30:17.870
human animal vulnerability to one

0:30:17.870,0:30:20.570
another that is to say even when

0:30:20.570,0:30:24.200
conceived as reciprocal marks a pre

0:30:24.200,0:30:26.840
contractual dimension of our social

0:30:26.840,0:30:29.960
relations this means as well that at

0:30:29.960,0:30:32.630
some level it defies the instrumental

0:30:32.630,0:30:35.750
logic that claims I will only protect

0:30:35.750,0:30:38.920
your vulnerability if you protect mine

0:30:38.920,0:30:41.450
according to which politics becomes a

0:30:41.450,0:30:44.740
matter of brokering a deal or making a

0:30:44.740,0:30:48.020
calculation or strategically entering

0:30:48.020,0:30:51.470
into a contract in fact it constitutes

0:30:51.470,0:30:53.480
the conditions of sociality and

0:30:53.480,0:30:56.270
politically fit of political life that I

0:30:56.270,0:30:58.660
would argue cannot be contractually

0:30:58.660,0:31:01.160
stipulated and whose denial and

0:31:01.160,0:31:03.980
manipulable 'ti constitutes an effort to

0:31:03.980,0:31:06.850
destroy or manage a condition of

0:31:06.850,0:31:11.330
potential equality I don't mean to

0:31:11.330,0:31:14.030
suggest by this last formulation that

0:31:14.030,0:31:16.970
there's a single subject sovereign who

0:31:16.970,0:31:19.520
allocates vulnerability differentially

0:31:19.520,0:31:23.330
or unequally these modes of allocation

0:31:23.330,0:31:26.020
and even disavowal can be built into

0:31:26.020,0:31:28.519
institutional rationalities and stress

0:31:28.519,0:31:31.820
oh geez and so become forms of power

0:31:31.820,0:31:34.700
that operate without this the conceit of

0:31:34.700,0:31:40.969
a single deciding subject and so efforts

0:31:40.969,0:31:43.359
to challenge and contest these issues

0:31:43.359,0:31:45.559
something that happens more often than

0:31:45.559,0:31:48.769
not under the name of precarity takes

0:31:48.769,0:31:50.869
aim not only at individuals who make

0:31:50.869,0:31:53.989
policy but more fundamentally at the

0:31:53.989,0:31:56.539
forms of rationality representation and

0:31:56.539,0:32:01.129
strategy that inform this condition so

0:32:01.129,0:32:03.799
the way this differential allocation of

0:32:03.799,0:32:05.659
vulnerability works doesn't always

0:32:05.659,0:32:09.409
presuppose a dyadic frame one person or

0:32:09.409,0:32:12.739
group does something to another on those

0:32:12.739,0:32:14.839
occasions when there are groups who do

0:32:14.839,0:32:17.209
not appear at all or who do not count

0:32:17.209,0:32:19.599
whose bodies do not matter then the

0:32:19.599,0:32:22.099
institutionalized forms of a Faceman at

0:32:22.099,0:32:24.379
issue cannot readily be described

0:32:24.379,0:32:26.959
through recourse to the category of the

0:32:26.959,0:32:29.989
subject so it's not that one subject

0:32:29.989,0:32:32.149
does this to another whether the subject

0:32:32.149,0:32:35.479
is understood is singular or plural it's

0:32:35.479,0:32:41.599
rather that a set of strategies produce

0:32:41.599,0:32:44.259
the situation in which a population

0:32:44.259,0:32:48.829
cannot appear as a subject at all in the

0:32:48.829,0:32:50.839
US for instance the history of Native

0:32:50.839,0:32:52.969
peoples tends to fall into this category

0:32:52.969,0:32:55.729
and the history in Canada is of course

0:32:55.729,0:32:59.209
related yet distinct Native peoples are

0:32:59.209,0:33:01.099
described and given discursive life

0:33:01.099,0:33:03.229
through national narratives about the

0:33:03.229,0:33:05.479
founding of the Americas and yet this

0:33:05.479,0:33:08.059
very description these very narratives

0:33:08.059,0:33:10.759
more often than not become the means of

0:33:10.759,0:33:14.389
effacement as we know since Spain was an

0:33:14.389,0:33:17.029
imperial power before the u.s. that the

0:33:17.029,0:33:19.039
colonization of the Americas brought

0:33:19.039,0:33:21.409
with it acts of slaughter and killing

0:33:21.409,0:33:23.869
that are regularly denied on what is

0:33:23.869,0:33:26.539
still called in the u.s. Columbus Day

0:33:26.539,0:33:31.579
and now of course there is a popular

0:33:31.579,0:33:34.459
movement that has achieved rather

0:33:34.459,0:33:37.809
widespread success in renaming that day

0:33:37.809,0:33:40.530
indigenous peoples day

0:33:40.530,0:33:42.990
when we speak about a face meant we are

0:33:42.990,0:33:45.450
also speaking about the regulation of

0:33:45.450,0:33:47.400
memory and entering into another

0:33:47.400,0:33:53.880
formulation of disavowal there was no

0:33:53.880,0:33:56.460
slaughter for radical dispossession and

0:33:56.460,0:33:59.430
even if there were I do not remember it

0:33:59.430,0:34:02.520
or there is no reliable archive or it is

0:34:02.520,0:34:04.410
not among the histories that any of us

0:34:04.410,0:34:07.050
know or tell but if we were to enter

0:34:07.050,0:34:10.530
that history into a comparative study of

0:34:10.530,0:34:13.080
genocide or a comparative history of

0:34:13.080,0:34:15.418
forcible displacement then would we we

0:34:15.418,0:34:19.260
would see how the killing of whole

0:34:19.260,0:34:21.780
populations in Congo and Nazi Germany

0:34:21.780,0:34:23.429
and Armenia in the early part of the

0:34:23.429,0:34:25.320
20th century or the more recent

0:34:25.320,0:34:27.780
histories of the disappeared in Chile

0:34:27.780,0:34:30.330
Argentina or even the political murders

0:34:30.330,0:34:32.909
of Franco's Spain regularly become

0:34:32.909,0:34:35.909
matters for historians to dispute will

0:34:35.909,0:34:38.610
there be an institutionalized memory or

0:34:38.610,0:34:41.639
not and in such cases it's not a matter

0:34:41.639,0:34:43.980
of memory as something that is held in

0:34:43.980,0:34:46.230
the mind by someone who has experienced

0:34:46.230,0:34:49.620
this destruction directly rather it is a

0:34:49.620,0:34:51.719
memory that is maintained through

0:34:51.719,0:34:54.168
historical record through discursive and

0:34:54.168,0:34:56.399
transmittable means through

0:34:56.399,0:34:59.430
documentation image and archive to

0:34:59.430,0:35:01.860
preserve the memory of the vulnerability

0:35:01.860,0:35:04.800
of bodies under such conditions requires

0:35:04.800,0:35:07.440
a form of memorialization that must be

0:35:07.440,0:35:10.080
repeated and re-established over time

0:35:10.080,0:35:12.630
and space and this means that there is

0:35:12.630,0:35:15.510
no one memory that memory is not finally

0:35:15.510,0:35:18.450
a property of cognition but rather that

0:35:18.450,0:35:21.110
memory is socially maintained and

0:35:21.110,0:35:23.250
transmitted through certain forms of

0:35:23.250,0:35:26.790
documentation and exhibition through

0:35:26.790,0:35:30.060
media in this sense we might say that

0:35:30.060,0:35:32.340
the historical vulnerability of those

0:35:32.340,0:35:33.930
who were exploited whose land was

0:35:33.930,0:35:36.750
confiscated or whose lives were lost is

0:35:36.750,0:35:40.230
always at risk of disappearing this is

0:35:40.230,0:35:43.530
why Walter benjamine thought there that

0:35:43.530,0:35:46.350
there that a struggle must be waged for

0:35:46.350,0:35:49.110
the history of the oppressed precisely

0:35:49.110,0:35:51.750
because under modern conditions that

0:35:51.750,0:35:53.780
history runs the risk of

0:35:53.780,0:35:58.040
appearing always into oblivion it is

0:35:58.040,0:36:00.530
this Benjamin Ian Maxim that was and is

0:36:00.530,0:36:03.290
enacted by the madres de Plaza de Mayo

0:36:03.290,0:36:06.830
who beginning in 1977 started to meet

0:36:06.830,0:36:09.890
every Thursday in that large square in

0:36:09.890,0:36:12.290
Buenos Aires the site of Argentina's

0:36:12.290,0:36:15.230
government publicly to protest the

0:36:15.230,0:36:17.570
disappearance of their children those

0:36:17.570,0:36:19.880
suspected of activism against the

0:36:19.880,0:36:23.420
dictatorship illegally and persistently

0:36:23.420,0:36:26.660
they walked in nonviolent demonstrations

0:36:26.660,0:36:29.780
taking back public space and even making

0:36:29.780,0:36:32.540
use of their public exposure as mothers

0:36:32.540,0:36:35.870
precisely to defy the regime as they

0:36:35.870,0:36:39.080
walked they chanted we want our children

0:36:39.080,0:36:42.400
we want them to tell us where they are

0:36:42.400,0:36:45.680
the moderates said no matter what our

0:36:45.680,0:36:47.690
children think they should not be

0:36:47.690,0:36:49.670
tortured they should have charges

0:36:49.670,0:36:52.430
brought before them we should be able to

0:36:52.430,0:36:56.840
see them visit them the movement and

0:36:56.840,0:36:58.610
numbers of women whose children had

0:36:58.610,0:37:01.360
disappeared grew and in their weekly

0:37:01.360,0:37:03.710
demonstrations in those demonstrations

0:37:03.710,0:37:05.930
some carried pictures of the missing

0:37:05.930,0:37:08.660
children later they wore white scarves

0:37:08.660,0:37:11.240
to sell it to symbolize the white dove

0:37:11.240,0:37:14.060
of peace which they argued can unite all

0:37:14.060,0:37:16.970
women and yet this movement was neither

0:37:16.970,0:37:20.540
primarily identitarian nor maternal list

0:37:20.540,0:37:23.090
it opposed the brutality of the regime

0:37:23.090,0:37:26.350
and even when the regime finally fell in

0:37:26.350,0:37:29.960
1983 they continued weekly and even

0:37:29.960,0:37:32.450
continue now with other generations

0:37:32.450,0:37:35.300
joining them to protest any forgetting

0:37:35.300,0:37:37.850
of that brutality and for trials that

0:37:37.850,0:37:40.720
will bring all the torturers to justice

0:37:40.720,0:37:42.860
suffering a moralization

0:37:42.860,0:37:45.590
and political resistance mark that

0:37:45.590,0:37:48.860
ongoing public demonstration and yet it

0:37:48.860,0:37:51.530
is also a demonstration that claimed

0:37:51.530,0:37:54.290
public space when it was forbidden and

0:37:54.290,0:37:57.200
claims it still maintaining it as a

0:37:57.200,0:38:04.000
political right so I hope I am now able

0:38:04.000,0:38:07.400
to make clear at least two points about

0:38:07.400,0:38:07.790
Valle

0:38:07.790,0:38:10.670
ability that seek neither to idealize

0:38:10.670,0:38:16.150
nor to discount its political importance

0:38:17.920,0:38:20.870
the first is that vulnerability cannot

0:38:20.870,0:38:23.660
be associated exclusively with injure

0:38:23.660,0:38:27.290
ability that all responsiveness to what

0:38:27.290,0:38:29.810
happens including the responsiveness of

0:38:29.810,0:38:31.580
those who document the losses of the

0:38:31.580,0:38:34.390
past is a function and effect of

0:38:34.390,0:38:37.580
vulnerability of being open to a history

0:38:37.580,0:38:40.220
that is not told or being open to what

0:38:40.220,0:38:43.520
another body undergoes we can say that

0:38:43.520,0:38:45.980
these are matters of empathy but I want

0:38:45.980,0:38:48.260
to suggest that part of what a body does

0:38:48.260,0:38:51.470
to use the phrase of Delors derived from

0:38:51.470,0:38:54.350
his reading of Spinoza is to open onto

0:38:54.350,0:38:56.840
the body of another or asset of others

0:38:56.840,0:39:00.140
and for that reason bodies are not self

0:39:00.140,0:39:03.620
enclosed kinds of entities they are

0:39:03.620,0:39:06.820
always in some sense outside themselves

0:39:06.820,0:39:09.020
exploring or navigating their

0:39:09.020,0:39:11.830
environment extended and even sometimes

0:39:11.830,0:39:15.500
dispossessed through the senses if we

0:39:15.500,0:39:18.620
can become lost in another or if our

0:39:18.620,0:39:22.130
tactile or visual or auditory capacities

0:39:22.130,0:39:25.970
comport us beyond ourselves that is

0:39:25.970,0:39:28.370
because the body does not stay in its

0:39:28.370,0:39:30.920
own place and because dispossession of

0:39:30.920,0:39:34.280
this kind characterizes bodily life more

0:39:34.280,0:39:37.220
generally it is also why we have to

0:39:37.220,0:39:40.010
speak sometimes about the regulation of

0:39:40.010,0:39:43.430
the senses as a political matter there

0:39:43.430,0:39:45.680
are certain photographs of injury or

0:39:45.680,0:39:48.320
destruction of bodies in war that are

0:39:48.320,0:39:50.990
often forbidden to be seen precisely

0:39:50.990,0:39:53.900
because there is a fear on the part of

0:39:53.900,0:39:56.450
the state that regulates such matters

0:39:56.450,0:39:59.510
that some body will feel something about

0:39:59.510,0:40:02.120
what those other bodies underwent or

0:40:02.120,0:40:04.820
that some body in its sensory

0:40:04.820,0:40:07.550
comportment outside itself will not

0:40:07.550,0:40:11.020
remain enclosed monadic and individual

0:40:11.020,0:40:13.700
indeed we might ask what kind of

0:40:13.700,0:40:16.550
regulation of the senses what I would

0:40:16.550,0:40:18.710
call modes of ecstatic relationality

0:40:18.710,0:40:20.750
might have to be regular

0:40:20.750,0:40:22.790
related for individualism to be

0:40:22.790,0:40:26.060
maintained as an ontology required for

0:40:26.060,0:40:29.240
both economics and politics this is also

0:40:29.240,0:40:30.970
why certain forms of public

0:40:30.970,0:40:34.100
documentation in print and media in

0:40:34.100,0:40:37.400
museums and art spaces or even the art

0:40:37.400,0:40:40.400
space of the street become important in

0:40:40.400,0:40:44.500
the battle against historical oblivion

0:40:44.500,0:40:47.660
my last point here is that the body can

0:40:47.660,0:40:49.670
and does become a site where the

0:40:49.670,0:40:52.370
memories of others are transmitted no

0:40:52.370,0:40:54.380
memory is preserved without a mode of

0:40:54.380,0:40:57.170
transmission and the body is a point of

0:40:57.170,0:40:59.690
transfer in which your history becomes

0:40:59.690,0:41:02.240
mine or where your history passes

0:41:02.240,0:41:05.240
through mine I do not have to experience

0:41:05.240,0:41:08.000
your history history - to transmit

0:41:08.000,0:41:10.490
something of your history the

0:41:10.490,0:41:13.100
temporality of your life can and does

0:41:13.100,0:41:16.070
cross my own and a certain operation of

0:41:16.070,0:41:19.730
translation makes that possible one that

0:41:19.730,0:41:22.600
does not purport to translate everything

0:41:22.600,0:41:25.880
it is also because we are or can be

0:41:25.880,0:41:27.950
bound up with one another

0:41:27.950,0:41:29.810
which is very different from being

0:41:29.810,0:41:34.280
bounded as individual subjects thus the

0:41:34.280,0:41:36.530
possibility of transmitting a memory

0:41:36.530,0:41:38.840
under political threat the political

0:41:38.840,0:41:41.510
threat of oblivion depends upon the

0:41:41.510,0:41:44.180
transitivity of that memory its taking

0:41:44.180,0:41:47.060
shape and exercising an effect on bodies

0:41:47.060,0:41:49.460
that were not there and could not be

0:41:49.460,0:41:52.010
there this is not the same as the kind

0:41:52.010,0:41:53.900
of testimony given by those who were

0:41:53.900,0:41:57.050
there but it does suggest that testimony

0:41:57.050,0:42:00.350
depends upon transmission to survive in

0:42:00.350,0:42:04.040
time thus we might see the ways that the

0:42:04.040,0:42:06.260
memories of others arrive for us or even

0:42:06.260,0:42:10.220
in us as a mode of relationality we

0:42:10.220,0:42:12.290
might further understand this capacity

0:42:12.290,0:42:14.510
to receive and convey what the other

0:42:14.510,0:42:17.240
documents about history as a function of

0:42:17.240,0:42:19.910
our own corporeal relatedness across

0:42:19.910,0:42:22.910
time and space to those whose words we

0:42:22.910,0:42:26.510
carry we carry them in ourselves those

0:42:26.510,0:42:28.880
history become part those histories

0:42:28.880,0:42:31.490
become part of who we are but we also

0:42:31.490,0:42:34.660
carry them in spite of ourselves

0:42:34.660,0:42:38.060
so we're not just as bodies these

0:42:38.060,0:42:41.060
spatial and bounded creatures we can

0:42:41.060,0:42:44.060
never transcend that boundary completely

0:42:44.060,0:42:47.390
I agree but we are also the histories

0:42:47.390,0:42:49.460
that we never lived but which we

0:42:49.460,0:42:51.620
nevertheless transmit in the name of the

0:42:51.620,0:42:53.690
struggle to preserve the history of the

0:42:53.690,0:42:56.510
oppressed and to mobilize that history

0:42:56.510,0:42:58.460
in our struggle for justice in the

0:42:58.460,0:43:01.940
present when for instance the Israeli

0:43:01.940,0:43:03.800
government prohibits prohibits any

0:43:03.800,0:43:06.790
mention or memorialization of the Nakba

0:43:06.790,0:43:10.420
the forcible dispossession of more than

0:43:10.420,0:43:13.220
750,000 Palestinians from their homes in

0:43:13.220,0:43:16.850
1948 often in the middle of their meals

0:43:16.850,0:43:19.220
or in the middle of their night with no

0:43:19.220,0:43:22.130
warning and no justification in order to

0:43:22.130,0:43:24.650
produce domiciles for Jewish citizens of

0:43:24.650,0:43:27.530
the new state what precisely are they

0:43:27.530,0:43:30.770
doing they are surely seeking through

0:43:30.770,0:43:33.950
passing a law to regulate memory to

0:43:33.950,0:43:36.440
consign an historical and persisting

0:43:36.440,0:43:38.930
form of dispossession and suffering to

0:43:38.930,0:43:41.510
oblivion and to refuse the historically

0:43:41.510,0:43:43.910
demonstrated link between the forcible

0:43:43.910,0:43:46.490
dispossession of one people in order to

0:43:46.490,0:43:49.070
produce a Liberatore narrative for

0:43:49.070,0:43:52.070
founding a nation for another it would

0:43:52.070,0:43:53.810
be one thing if the dispossession

0:43:53.810,0:43:56.750
happened once but it inaugurated forms

0:43:56.750,0:43:58.910
of land confiscation and transfer that

0:43:58.910,0:44:01.820
happened continually and as we see in

0:44:01.820,0:44:03.740
the expansion and legalization of the

0:44:03.740,0:44:06.410
illegal of the illegal settlements

0:44:06.410,0:44:08.810
indeed all their settlements are illegal

0:44:08.810,0:44:11.750
the redrawing of territorial lines and

0:44:11.750,0:44:14.360
the new demands for loyalty oaths on the

0:44:14.360,0:44:16.400
part of Palestinians to Israel as a

0:44:16.400,0:44:19.640
Jewish nation and even in in the now

0:44:19.640,0:44:22.160
very public debate about transferring

0:44:22.160,0:44:24.320
those Palestinians who still live within

0:44:24.320,0:44:26.930
the boundaries of Israel to the occupied

0:44:26.930,0:44:30.320
territories of course there are many

0:44:30.320,0:44:32.450
different histories to be told here and

0:44:32.450,0:44:35.630
I cannot do justice to that to any of

0:44:35.630,0:44:38.810
them this evening but what I want to

0:44:38.810,0:44:41.960
suggest in a more modest way is that in

0:44:41.960,0:44:44.060
all of these struggles the body is

0:44:44.060,0:44:46.690
central as it is central

0:44:46.690,0:44:51.280
to the fight for the history of the

0:44:51.280,0:44:54.210
oppressed the fight against oblivion

0:44:54.210,0:44:56.770
what has happened to bodies is being

0:44:56.770,0:44:58.750
transmitted through various media and

0:44:58.750,0:45:01.030
those who openly struggle against the

0:45:01.030,0:45:03.280
faced past are themselves in a bodily

0:45:03.280,0:45:05.980
position of vulnerability being

0:45:05.980,0:45:08.319
impressed upon by a history and in this

0:45:08.319,0:45:11.020
sense being outside themselves even in

0:45:11.020,0:45:13.510
spite of themselves as they carry what

0:45:13.510,0:45:16.390
belongs to others no history can be

0:45:16.390,0:45:18.790
inscribed on a body or conveyed through

0:45:18.790,0:45:22.240
it without vulnerability an inscription

0:45:22.240,0:45:25.900
makes the body bend cave suffer and

0:45:25.900,0:45:29.079
respond even take new form in light of

0:45:29.079,0:45:32.770
that pressure the body then is not is to

0:45:32.770,0:45:34.720
be thought not as substance and

0:45:34.720,0:45:38.140
enclosure but perhaps as site of injury

0:45:38.140,0:45:41.740
ability receptivity passionate exposure

0:45:41.740,0:45:46.960
even ethical transport so I propose to

0:45:46.960,0:45:48.640
return now to the question of

0:45:48.640,0:45:51.250
vulnerability and to understand what

0:45:51.250,0:45:53.740
relation it might have to contemporary

0:45:53.740,0:45:56.290
coalition's and how the body figures

0:45:56.290,0:45:59.470
prominently in any idea of coalition we

0:45:59.470,0:46:02.500
may imagine for the present although we

0:46:02.500,0:46:04.780
often speak this way I do not think we

0:46:04.780,0:46:07.780
can consider vulnerability as a purely

0:46:07.780,0:46:11.260
contingent circumstance of course it's

0:46:11.260,0:46:13.660
always possible to say oh I was

0:46:13.660,0:46:15.790
vulnerable then but I'm not vulnerable

0:46:15.790,0:46:18.970
anymore sometimes that's even true and

0:46:18.970,0:46:21.270
we say that in relation to specific

0:46:21.270,0:46:23.980
situations in which we felt ourselves to

0:46:23.980,0:46:26.859
be at risk or enjoyable they can be

0:46:26.859,0:46:29.890
economic or financial situations when we

0:46:29.890,0:46:32.230
feel that we might be exploited lose

0:46:32.230,0:46:34.690
work find ourselves in conditions of

0:46:34.690,0:46:37.089
poverty or they can be emotional

0:46:37.089,0:46:39.490
situations certainly the political ones

0:46:39.490,0:46:41.170
are emotional or the economic ones are

0:46:41.170,0:46:43.900
deeply emotional to in which we are very

0:46:43.900,0:46:46.270
much vulnerable to rejection but later

0:46:46.270,0:46:47.470
find that we have lost that

0:46:47.470,0:46:50.410
vulnerability it makes sense that we

0:46:50.410,0:46:53.280
speak this way vulnerability seems

0:46:53.280,0:46:57.010
episodic it also makes sense that we

0:46:57.010,0:46:59.470
treat with caution the seductions of

0:46:59.470,0:47:00.369
ordinary just

0:47:00.369,0:47:03.549
course at such moments since though we

0:47:03.549,0:47:05.410
may feel that we are vulnerable in some

0:47:05.410,0:47:07.569
instances and not in others the

0:47:07.569,0:47:10.269
condition of our vulnerability is itself

0:47:10.269,0:47:13.480
not precisely changeable at most there

0:47:13.480,0:47:15.369
are times when our vulnerability becomes

0:47:15.369,0:47:17.859
apparent to us but that is not the same

0:47:17.859,0:47:20.170
as saying that we are only vulnerable at

0:47:20.170,0:47:23.049
those times we can be vulnerable without

0:47:23.049,0:47:25.569
knowing it and indeed that not knowing

0:47:25.569,0:47:29.309
it is part of vulnerability itself

0:47:29.309,0:47:31.660
vulnerability cannot be understood

0:47:31.660,0:47:34.329
restrictive ly as an effect restricted

0:47:34.329,0:47:37.089
to a contingent situation nor can it be

0:47:37.089,0:47:38.999
understood merely as a subjective

0:47:38.999,0:47:42.130
disposition as a condition that is I

0:47:42.130,0:47:44.740
would suggest coextensive with human

0:47:44.740,0:47:47.650
life understood a social life understood

0:47:47.650,0:47:50.230
as creaturely life and is bound to the

0:47:50.230,0:47:53.049
problem of precarity vulnerability is

0:47:53.049,0:47:55.119
the name for a certain way of opening

0:47:55.119,0:47:57.579
onto the world in this sense it's not

0:47:57.579,0:48:00.039
you know not only designates a relation

0:48:00.039,0:48:02.200
to the world but it asserts our very

0:48:02.200,0:48:05.650
existence as a relational one to say

0:48:05.650,0:48:08.109
that any of us are vulnerable beings is

0:48:08.109,0:48:11.920
to establish our radical dependency not

0:48:11.920,0:48:14.650
only on others but on a sustaining

0:48:14.650,0:48:17.710
sustainable world this has implications

0:48:17.710,0:48:20.410
for understanding who we are as

0:48:20.410,0:48:23.559
passionate beings as sexual as bound up

0:48:23.559,0:48:26.559
with others of necessity but also as

0:48:26.559,0:48:28.930
beings who seek to persist and whose

0:48:28.930,0:48:32.549
persistence can and is can be and is

0:48:32.549,0:48:34.989
imperiled when social economic and

0:48:34.989,0:48:40.019
political structures exploit or fail us

0:48:40.019,0:48:42.160
drawing on the work of Hannah Arendt

0:48:42.160,0:48:44.819
adriana cavarero the italian philosopher

0:48:44.819,0:48:47.349
tells us that one of the key moments of

0:48:47.349,0:48:50.470
politics what we might even identify as

0:48:50.470,0:48:53.319
its constitutive ethical moment is the

0:48:53.319,0:48:57.369
emergence of the question who are you we

0:48:57.369,0:48:59.440
asked this question implicitly or

0:48:59.440,0:49:02.259
explicitly when we seek to bring a

0:49:02.259,0:49:04.960
population into discourse or establish a

0:49:04.960,0:49:07.539
language of representation it's not

0:49:07.539,0:49:10.299
necessarily a single person who poses

0:49:10.299,0:49:13.190
this question an institution a dis

0:49:13.190,0:49:16.400
course an economic system that asks who

0:49:16.400,0:49:17.329
are you

0:49:17.329,0:49:19.970
seeks to establish a space of appearance

0:49:19.970,0:49:23.420
for the other to ask who are you is to

0:49:23.420,0:49:25.430
avow that one does not know in advance

0:49:25.430,0:49:28.010
who you are that one is open to what

0:49:28.010,0:49:30.050
comes from the other and that one

0:49:30.050,0:49:32.690
expects that no pre-established category

0:49:32.690,0:49:36.079
will be able to answer in advance the

0:49:36.079,0:49:38.599
question that is posed indeed I would

0:49:38.599,0:49:41.869
suggest in a certain of a nasty way the

0:49:41.869,0:49:44.270
question who are you has to remain an

0:49:44.270,0:49:47.569
infinitely open question unanswerable in

0:49:47.569,0:49:52.099
order to remain an ethical one it will

0:49:52.099,0:49:54.230
be important to keep active the

0:49:54.230,0:49:56.359
relationship between the various

0:49:56.359,0:49:59.420
meanings of the precarious if we are to

0:49:59.420,0:50:02.300
think how vulnerable 'ti relates to

0:50:02.300,0:50:05.230
coalition during this time

0:50:05.230,0:50:07.490
precariousness is a function of our

0:50:07.490,0:50:10.010
social vulnerability the condition of

0:50:10.010,0:50:12.500
our exposure that always assumes some

0:50:12.500,0:50:15.160
political form precarity is

0:50:15.160,0:50:17.630
differentially distributed and so one

0:50:17.630,0:50:19.730
important dimension of the unequal

0:50:19.730,0:50:23.450
distribution of conditions required for

0:50:23.450,0:50:27.680
a livable life precariat ization is also

0:50:27.680,0:50:30.470
an ongoing process as Isabel Isabel

0:50:30.470,0:50:33.230
Laurie has argued precariat ization

0:50:33.230,0:50:35.869
allows us to think about what Lauryn

0:50:35.869,0:50:38.210
Berlin has called the slow death

0:50:38.210,0:50:40.700
undergone by targeted or neglected

0:50:40.700,0:50:42.920
populations under conditions of

0:50:42.920,0:50:46.310
neoliberalism and it is surely a form of

0:50:46.310,0:50:48.619
power without a subject prokaryote

0:50:48.619,0:50:51.109
ization which is to say that there is no

0:50:51.109,0:50:53.270
one Center which propels its direction

0:50:53.270,0:50:57.260
and force of destruction if we only

0:50:57.260,0:50:59.450
considered the term precariat ization

0:50:59.450,0:51:01.700
I'm not sure we could account for the

0:51:01.700,0:51:03.859
structure of effect that is named by

0:51:03.859,0:51:06.829
precarity and if we decided to rally

0:51:06.829,0:51:09.349
under the name of the precarious as a

0:51:09.349,0:51:13.130
new identity or community formation we

0:51:13.130,0:51:15.890
might then be we might then draw

0:51:15.890,0:51:18.410
attention away from the globally

0:51:18.410,0:51:20.690
specific ways that precarity has lived

0:51:20.690,0:51:23.990
as a social political condition cloaking

0:51:23.990,0:51:26.930
some way that form of power

0:51:26.930,0:51:30.680
works so maybe precarious is what we

0:51:30.680,0:51:33.710
feel or would rather not feel and then

0:51:33.710,0:51:35.569
its analysis has to be linked to the

0:51:35.569,0:51:38.869
impetus to become impermeable as so

0:51:38.869,0:51:41.000
often happens within the discourse of

0:51:41.000,0:51:43.460
military nationalism and the rhetoric of

0:51:43.460,0:51:46.609
security and self-defense and yet it

0:51:46.609,0:51:49.069
will be important to call precarious

0:51:49.069,0:51:51.859
those bonds that support forms of life

0:51:51.859,0:51:54.170
those that should be structured by the

0:51:54.170,0:51:56.420
condition of mutual need and exposure

0:51:56.420,0:51:59.599
that bring us to forms of political

0:51:59.599,0:52:02.180
organization that sustain living beings

0:52:02.180,0:52:05.450
on terms of equality or at least dispose

0:52:05.450,0:52:08.750
them toward equality as an ideal worth

0:52:08.750,0:52:12.079
struggling for what seems finally more

0:52:12.079,0:52:14.180
important than any form of existential

0:52:14.180,0:52:18.020
individualism is the idea that a bond is

0:52:18.020,0:52:21.549
flawed or afraid or that it is lost or

0:52:21.549,0:52:24.230
irrecoverable and we see this I think

0:52:24.230,0:52:28.069
very prominently when for instance the

0:52:28.069,0:52:30.829
the Tea Party politicians in the United

0:52:30.829,0:52:37.220
States overtly rejoice over rejoice

0:52:37.220,0:52:39.619
about the idea that individuals who have

0:52:39.619,0:52:41.930
failed to take responsibility for their

0:52:41.930,0:52:44.930
own health care may well face death and

0:52:44.930,0:52:47.720
disease as a result apparently this was

0:52:47.720,0:52:50.920
this was mentioned at a at a tea party

0:52:50.920,0:52:54.529
congregation people who don't take

0:52:54.529,0:52:56.539
responsibility for their own health care

0:52:56.539,0:52:58.970
will face death and disease as a

0:52:58.970,0:53:00.440
consequence of their lack of

0:53:00.440,0:53:03.549
responsibility and the group rose up and

0:53:03.549,0:53:07.369
clapped joyously joyous clapping

0:53:07.369,0:53:11.119
rejoicing rejoicing we have to think

0:53:11.119,0:53:13.640
about that particular effect may be the

0:53:13.640,0:53:17.589
effect studies people will help us

0:53:18.220,0:53:21.490
okay at such moments I want to say I

0:53:21.490,0:53:25.610
want to say at such moments a social

0:53:25.610,0:53:28.700
bond has been cut or destroyed in ways

0:53:28.700,0:53:33.620
that deny a shared precariousness the

0:53:33.620,0:53:36.080
very particular ethos and politics that

0:53:36.080,0:53:41.000
ideally should follow from from that is

0:53:41.000,0:53:44.510
one that underscores local and global

0:53:44.510,0:53:47.750
interdependence II and actively resists

0:53:47.750,0:53:49.880
the radical radically unequal

0:53:49.880,0:53:52.490
distribution of precarity and grieve

0:53:52.490,0:53:55.340
ability okay so it's I mean of course

0:53:55.340,0:53:58.700
yes we need to think about sadistic

0:53:58.700,0:54:01.040
forms of joy at the thought of other

0:54:01.040,0:54:03.560
people lacking healthcare and dying as a

0:54:03.560,0:54:06.260
consequence but but what we really need

0:54:06.260,0:54:09.040
to see I think in that moment is that

0:54:09.040,0:54:12.230
the precarity of the one who takes that

0:54:12.230,0:54:15.110
sadistic joy is also denied as well as

0:54:15.110,0:54:17.930
the bond the the bond of interdependency

0:54:17.930,0:54:20.600
with the one whose death is being

0:54:20.600,0:54:25.220
joyously imagined such a struggle would

0:54:25.220,0:54:27.590
be at once opposed to forms of security

0:54:27.590,0:54:30.200
rien logics as well as the old and new

0:54:30.200,0:54:32.180
paternalism that are now linked to the

0:54:32.180,0:54:35.150
promise of security but this resistance

0:54:35.150,0:54:37.330
can happen only if modes of coalition

0:54:37.330,0:54:42.500
grounded in interdependency the in the

0:54:42.500,0:54:44.990
stem struggles against precarity and for

0:54:44.990,0:54:48.230
equality exercised power in ways that

0:54:48.230,0:54:51.950
break with the lure of paternalism this

0:54:51.950,0:54:54.260
cannot mean refusing all forms of state

0:54:54.260,0:54:56.990
and institutional support that form of

0:54:56.990,0:54:58.760
anti institutional politics

0:54:58.760,0:55:00.770
unfortunately allows with the

0:55:00.770,0:55:02.810
destruction of social democratic goods

0:55:02.810,0:55:05.270
and the idea of economic rights and

0:55:05.270,0:55:07.430
these forms of destruction the

0:55:07.430,0:55:09.470
destruction of those goods and rights

0:55:09.470,0:55:11.960
are precisely those that are being of

0:55:11.960,0:55:15.080
course undertaken and produced by

0:55:15.080,0:55:17.300
neoliberalism and secured terian

0:55:17.300,0:55:20.570
politics alike so yes one must struggle

0:55:20.570,0:55:24.320
for social democracy but in the context

0:55:24.320,0:55:26.900
I would suggest of a radical Democratic

0:55:26.900,0:55:28.720
politics and they are

0:55:28.720,0:55:30.700
friend we cannot presume that

0:55:30.700,0:55:33.130
interdependency is some beautiful state

0:55:33.130,0:55:35.530
of coexistence it's not the same as

0:55:35.530,0:55:36.660
social harmony

0:55:36.660,0:55:39.640
inevitably we rail against those on whom

0:55:39.640,0:55:42.400
we are most dependent and there is no

0:55:42.400,0:55:44.859
way to dissociate dependency from

0:55:44.859,0:55:48.310
aggression once and for all these may

0:55:48.310,0:55:51.640
not even be happy alliances or or

0:55:51.640,0:55:54.400
particularly joyous coalition's but they

0:55:54.400,0:55:57.490
are constituted from the insight I would

0:55:57.490,0:56:01.180
say the insight from the from the from

0:56:01.180,0:56:05.080
look from the condition of a pre

0:56:05.080,0:56:07.690
contractual set of relations that

0:56:07.690,0:56:10.810
pertain to social embodiment we require

0:56:10.810,0:56:13.630
one another to live this means that our

0:56:13.630,0:56:16.990
survival and well-being both are

0:56:16.990,0:56:19.690
invariably negotiated in the social

0:56:19.690,0:56:22.930
economic and political spheres indeed

0:56:22.930,0:56:25.060
our negotiations are the very sites

0:56:25.060,0:56:27.490
where those spheres converge and lose

0:56:27.490,0:56:30.970
their distinctness we can make this idea

0:56:30.970,0:56:33.730
popular by seeking recourse to broad

0:56:33.730,0:56:36.160
existential and humanist claims well

0:56:36.160,0:56:39.190
everyone is precarious but once we ask

0:56:39.190,0:56:41.589
about what this means or what forms

0:56:41.589,0:56:44.830
precarity assumes we see that we have

0:56:44.830,0:56:46.720
from the start left the existential

0:56:46.720,0:56:49.540
domain to consider our social existence

0:56:49.540,0:56:51.880
as bodily beings who depend upon one

0:56:51.880,0:56:54.280
another for shelter and sustenance and

0:56:54.280,0:56:56.609
who therefore are at risk of

0:56:56.609,0:56:58.900
statelessness homelessness and

0:56:58.900,0:57:01.859
destitution under unjust and unequal

0:57:01.859,0:57:04.660
political conditions in other words

0:57:04.660,0:57:07.839
precarious defines our existence as

0:57:07.839,0:57:10.960
political beings our survival depends

0:57:10.960,0:57:13.810
upon political arrangements and politics

0:57:13.810,0:57:16.869
especially as it becomes bio politics

0:57:16.869,0:57:19.150
and the managing of populations is

0:57:19.150,0:57:21.640
concerned with the question of whose

0:57:21.640,0:57:23.950
lives will be preserved protected and

0:57:23.950,0:57:26.349
valued and eventually mourned or

0:57:26.349,0:57:29.170
regarded in advance as potentially more

0:57:29.170,0:57:32.130
noble and whose lives will be considered

0:57:32.130,0:57:35.290
disposable and unbreathing all in this

0:57:35.290,0:57:38.070
way our precarity is to a large extent

0:57:38.070,0:57:40.359
dependent upon the organization of

0:57:40.359,0:57:41.200
economic and

0:57:41.200,0:57:43.660
social relations the presence or absence

0:57:43.660,0:57:46.869
of sustaining infrastructures and social

0:57:46.869,0:57:49.510
and political institutions modes of

0:57:49.510,0:57:51.820
struggling for them that produce and

0:57:51.820,0:57:56.320
sustain alliances so what I'm trying to

0:57:56.320,0:57:58.810
suggest is that precarity is indecisive

0:57:58.810,0:58:01.510
all form that dimension of politics that

0:58:01.510,0:58:03.310
addresses the organization and

0:58:03.310,0:58:06.550
protection of bodily needs precarity

0:58:06.550,0:58:09.849
exposes our sociality the fragile and

0:58:09.849,0:58:11.230
necessary dimensions of our

0:58:11.230,0:58:13.450
interdependency and this has

0:58:13.450,0:58:15.700
implications for how we join together in

0:58:15.700,0:58:18.940
struggle when we do no one escapes the

0:58:18.940,0:58:21.220
precarious dimension of social life that

0:58:21.220,0:58:23.859
is we might say our common

0:58:23.859,0:58:27.700
non-foundation indeed nothing founds us

0:58:27.700,0:58:30.880
outside of a struggle to establish those

0:58:30.880,0:58:35.410
bonds by which we are sustained so when

0:58:35.410,0:58:37.329
people take to the streets together they

0:58:37.329,0:58:39.940
form something of a body politic and

0:58:39.940,0:58:42.760
even if that body politic does not speak

0:58:42.760,0:58:45.070
in a single voice even when it does not

0:58:45.070,0:58:48.160
speak at all or make any claims it still

0:58:48.160,0:58:51.460
forms asserting its presence as a plural

0:58:51.460,0:58:55.630
and obdurate bodily life what is the

0:58:55.630,0:58:57.849
political significance of assembling as

0:58:57.849,0:59:00.069
bodies stopping traffic or claiming

0:59:00.069,0:59:02.890
attention or moving not as stray and

0:59:02.890,0:59:05.410
separate individuals but as a social

0:59:05.410,0:59:08.349
movement of some kind it does not have

0:59:08.349,0:59:10.839
to be organized from on high the

0:59:10.839,0:59:13.060
Leninist presumption and it does not

0:59:13.060,0:59:15.609
need to have a single message the logo

0:59:15.609,0:59:19.089
centric can seat 4 assembled bodies to

0:59:19.089,0:59:22.270
exercise a certain performative force in

0:59:22.270,0:59:26.619
the public domain the we are here that

0:59:26.619,0:59:29.230
translates that collective bodily

0:59:29.230,0:59:32.200
presence might be read as we are still

0:59:32.200,0:59:34.930
here meaning we have not yet been

0:59:34.930,0:59:38.230
disposed of such bodies are precarious

0:59:38.230,0:59:40.810
and persisting which is why I think we

0:59:40.810,0:59:43.510
have always to link precarity with forms

0:59:43.510,0:59:46.030
of social and political agency where

0:59:46.030,0:59:48.849
that is possible when the bodies of

0:59:48.849,0:59:51.010
those deemed disposable assemble into

0:59:51.010,0:59:53.140
public view they are saying

0:59:53.140,0:59:55.240
we have not slipped quietly into the

0:59:55.240,0:59:57.460
shadows of public life we have not

0:59:57.460,0:59:59.350
become the glaring absence that

0:59:59.350,1:00:02.680
structures your ordinary life in a way

1:00:02.680,1:00:04.690
the collective assembling of bodies is

1:00:04.690,1:00:07.540
an exercise of the popular will and a

1:00:07.540,1:00:10.450
way of asserting in corporeal form one

1:00:10.450,1:00:12.640
of the most basic presuppositions of

1:00:12.640,1:00:15.040
democracy namely that political and

1:00:15.040,1:00:17.380
public institutions are bound to

1:00:17.380,1:00:19.900
represent the people and to do so in

1:00:19.900,1:00:22.200
ways that establish equality as a

1:00:22.200,1:00:24.550
presupposition of social and political

1:00:24.550,1:00:28.180
existence so when those institutions

1:00:28.180,1:00:31.870
become structured in ways in such a way

1:00:31.870,1:00:33.940
that certain populations become

1:00:33.940,1:00:37.540
disposable or are interpolated as

1:00:37.540,1:00:40.180
disposable deprived of a future of

1:00:40.180,1:00:42.340
Education of stable and fulfilling work

1:00:42.340,1:00:44.920
of even knowing what space one can call

1:00:44.920,1:00:47.440
a home then surely the Assemblies

1:00:47.440,1:00:49.930
fulfill another function not only the

1:00:49.930,1:00:52.990
expression of justifiable rage but the

1:00:52.990,1:00:55.090
assertion in their very social

1:00:55.090,1:00:57.430
organization of principles of equality

1:00:57.430,1:01:02.320
in the midst of precarity I am aware

1:01:02.320,1:01:04.120
that the fate of the Egyptian revolution

1:01:04.120,1:01:06.700
remains uncertain and sometimes

1:01:06.700,1:01:09.700
extremely dispiriting especially as the

1:01:09.700,1:01:11.860
transitional military government refuses

1:01:11.860,1:01:14.590
to honor its deadlines for ceding to

1:01:14.590,1:01:17.290
civil rule even in the midst of our

1:01:17.290,1:01:19.450
elections whether the elections we're

1:01:19.450,1:01:20.230
seeing right now

1:01:20.230,1:01:22.720
indeed it continues to unleash its

1:01:22.720,1:01:25.330
police force on demonstrators and retain

1:01:25.330,1:01:28.210
power over who may or may not run for

1:01:28.210,1:01:30.880
election who may or may not be accepted

1:01:30.880,1:01:33.700
as elected I want to underscore

1:01:33.700,1:01:35.980
nevertheless two aspects of the

1:01:35.980,1:01:38.200
revolutionary demonstrations in Tahrir

1:01:38.200,1:01:40.630
Square that emerged so clearly in the

1:01:40.630,1:01:42.790
winter before last and which still

1:01:42.790,1:01:45.450
despite all odds continue to this day

1:01:45.450,1:01:48.250
the first has to do with the way a

1:01:48.250,1:01:50.440
certain sociability was established

1:01:50.440,1:01:52.420
within the square a division of labor

1:01:52.420,1:01:55.150
that broke down gender difference that

1:01:55.150,1:01:57.070
involved rotating who would speak and

1:01:57.070,1:01:58.540
who would clean the areas where people

1:01:58.540,1:02:00.970
slept in eight developing a work

1:02:00.970,1:02:02.890
schedule for everyone to maintain the

1:02:02.890,1:02:04.590
environment and to clean the toy

1:02:04.590,1:02:07.890
in short what some would call horizontal

1:02:07.890,1:02:10.670
relations among the protesters formed

1:02:10.670,1:02:13.530
methodically and even easily introducing

1:02:13.530,1:02:15.870
relations of equality into the very form

1:02:15.870,1:02:18.720
of resistance those included an equal

1:02:18.720,1:02:20.790
division of labor between the sexes and

1:02:20.790,1:02:23.100
became part of the very resistance to

1:02:23.100,1:02:25.320
the Mubarak regime and its entrenched

1:02:25.320,1:02:27.570
hierarchies including the extraordinary

1:02:27.570,1:02:29.580
differentials of wealth between the

1:02:29.580,1:02:31.350
military and corporate sponsors of the

1:02:31.350,1:02:34.050
regime and the working people and those

1:02:34.050,1:02:36.090
subject to the violence of police forces

1:02:36.090,1:02:39.270
and to the belt Ageha hired thugs that

1:02:39.270,1:02:41.300
do the government's dirty work

1:02:41.300,1:02:43.890
so the social form of the resistance

1:02:43.890,1:02:45.720
began to incorporate principles of

1:02:45.720,1:02:48.450
equality that governed not only how and

1:02:48.450,1:02:50.700
when people spoken acted for the media

1:02:50.700,1:02:53.010
and against the regime but how people

1:02:53.010,1:02:54.780
cared for their very their various

1:02:54.780,1:02:57.240
quarters within the square the beds on

1:02:57.240,1:02:59.460
pavement the makeshift medical stations

1:02:59.460,1:03:01.440
and bathrooms the places where people

1:03:01.440,1:03:03.450
ate the places where people were exposed

1:03:03.450,1:03:05.970
to violence from the outside these

1:03:05.970,1:03:08.640
actions were all political by breaking

1:03:08.640,1:03:10.910
down conventional distinctions between

1:03:10.910,1:03:14.010
public and private in order to establish

1:03:14.010,1:03:16.160
relations of interdependency that were

1:03:16.160,1:03:19.230
supportive and sustaining and in this

1:03:19.230,1:03:21.150
sense they were incorporating into the

1:03:21.150,1:03:23.340
very social form of resistance the

1:03:23.340,1:03:24.660
principles for which they were

1:03:24.660,1:03:28.110
struggling on the street and for the

1:03:28.110,1:03:32.070
future the second the second dimension

1:03:32.070,1:03:35.190
of of of that assembly I want to call

1:03:35.190,1:03:37.710
attention to is the careful relation to

1:03:37.710,1:03:40.380
violence when up against violent attack

1:03:40.380,1:03:42.780
or extreme threats many people chanted

1:03:42.780,1:03:45.960
the words sumia which comes from the

1:03:45.960,1:03:48.960
root verb Salima which means to be safe

1:03:48.960,1:03:52.830
and sound unharmed unimpaired intact

1:03:52.830,1:03:56.580
safe and secure but also interestingly

1:03:56.580,1:04:00.150
to the unobjectionable blameless

1:04:00.150,1:04:03.710
faultless and yet also to be certain

1:04:03.710,1:04:07.440
established clearly proven the term

1:04:07.440,1:04:10.800
comes from the noun seen si l M which

1:04:10.800,1:04:14.250
means peace but also interchangeably and

1:04:14.250,1:04:17.820
significantly the religion of Islam one

1:04:17.820,1:04:18.510
variant

1:04:18.510,1:04:22.800
of the term is of us soon which is

1:04:22.800,1:04:27.120
Arabic for pacifism most usually the

1:04:27.120,1:04:30.000
chanting of Samia comes across as a

1:04:30.000,1:04:33.690
gentle exhortation peaceful peaceful

1:04:33.690,1:04:36.240
although the Revolution was for the most

1:04:36.240,1:04:38.520
part nonviolent it was not necessarily

1:04:38.520,1:04:40.800
led by a principled opposition to

1:04:40.800,1:04:43.680
violence rather the collective chant was

1:04:43.680,1:04:45.600
a way of encouraging people to resist

1:04:45.600,1:04:48.210
the mimetic pull of military aggression

1:04:48.210,1:04:51.570
and the aggression of the gangs by

1:04:51.570,1:04:54.390
keeping in mind the larger goal radical

1:04:54.390,1:04:57.450
Democratic change to be swept into a

1:04:57.450,1:04:59.610
violent exchange of the moment was to

1:04:59.610,1:05:01.980
lose the patience needed to realize the

1:05:01.980,1:05:04.890
revolution what interests me here is the

1:05:04.890,1:05:07.140
chant the way in which language worked

1:05:07.140,1:05:09.810
not to incite an action but rather to

1:05:09.810,1:05:12.990
restrain one the chant structures effect

1:05:12.990,1:05:14.700
in the direction of community and

1:05:14.700,1:05:17.580
non-violence calling for an enacting a

1:05:17.580,1:05:21.120
nonviolent mode of politics of course an

1:05:21.120,1:05:24.150
ambiguity emerges precisely there since

1:05:24.150,1:05:26.580
resisting a violent attack does take

1:05:26.580,1:05:29.730
some force one has to sometimes forcibly

1:05:29.730,1:05:32.580
resist a forcible attack and this means

1:05:32.580,1:05:34.410
that non-violence is not a form of

1:05:34.410,1:05:37.020
passivity but rather the thoughtful

1:05:37.020,1:05:40.230
cultivation of forceful resistance that

1:05:40.230,1:05:43.440
refuses to replicate the aggression it

1:05:43.440,1:05:47.670
opposes and where restraint itself must

1:05:47.670,1:05:49.910
be understood as the nonviolent

1:05:49.910,1:05:54.150
cultivation of force although some may

1:05:54.150,1:05:56.190
wager that under conditions of new media

1:05:56.190,1:05:58.770
or social networking the exercise of

1:05:58.770,1:06:00.660
rights now takes place quite at the

1:06:00.660,1:06:02.880
expense of bodies on the street that

1:06:02.880,1:06:05.010
Twitter and other virtual technologies

1:06:05.010,1:06:07.770
have led to a disembodiment of the

1:06:07.770,1:06:11.580
public sphere I disagree and as I've

1:06:11.580,1:06:14.040
argued elsewhere I want to suggest that

1:06:14.040,1:06:16.080
the media requires those bodies on the

1:06:16.080,1:06:18.240
street to have an event even as the

1:06:18.240,1:06:20.700
street requires the media to exist in a

1:06:20.700,1:06:23.520
global arena but under conditions when

1:06:23.520,1:06:26.280
those with cameras or internet compress

1:06:26.280,1:06:28.830
and or tortured or deported then the use

1:06:28.830,1:06:31.170
of the technology effectively implicates

1:06:31.170,1:06:32.340
the body

1:06:32.340,1:06:34.680
not only must someone's hand tap and

1:06:34.680,1:06:37.110
send but someone's body is on the line

1:06:37.110,1:06:39.810
if that tapping and sending gets traced

1:06:39.810,1:06:43.170
in other words localization is hardly

1:06:43.170,1:06:45.600
overcome through the use of a media that

1:06:45.600,1:06:48.780
potentially transmits globally and if

1:06:48.780,1:06:51.270
this conjuncture of street and media

1:06:51.270,1:06:53.640
constitutes a very contemporary version

1:06:53.640,1:06:56.130
of the public sphere then bodies on the

1:06:56.130,1:06:58.380
line have to be thought as both there

1:06:58.380,1:07:01.500
and here now and then transported in

1:07:01.500,1:07:03.800
stationary with very different political

1:07:03.800,1:07:06.630
consequences following from these two

1:07:06.630,1:07:09.180
ways of being positioned in space and

1:07:09.180,1:07:14.160
time finally then bodies on the street

1:07:14.160,1:07:17.130
are precarious they're exposed to police

1:07:17.130,1:07:18.930
force and sometimes endure physical

1:07:18.930,1:07:22.050
suffering as a result the risk is there

1:07:22.050,1:07:24.150
and it seems to be increasing now that

1:07:24.150,1:07:26.220
police regularly clear out the

1:07:26.220,1:07:27.660
encampments of the Occupy movement

1:07:27.660,1:07:31.830
through forcible means or or clamp down

1:07:31.830,1:07:39.270
on free assembly supported by laws and

1:07:39.270,1:07:42.030
policies that claim that free assemblies

1:07:42.030,1:07:45.870
are security risks one way to obliterate

1:07:45.870,1:07:49.350
a fundamental right those bodies are

1:07:49.350,1:07:51.960
also obdurate and persisting they insist

1:07:51.960,1:07:54.240
on their continuing and collective their

1:07:54.240,1:07:57.810
nasur hereness and in these recent forms

1:07:57.810,1:07:59.790
organizing themselves without hierarchy

1:07:59.790,1:08:02.520
and so exemplifying the principles of

1:08:02.520,1:08:04.710
equal treatment they are demanding of

1:08:04.710,1:08:08.100
public institutions in this way in this

1:08:08.100,1:08:10.790
way those bodies enact the message

1:08:10.790,1:08:13.680
performative Lee even when they sleep in

1:08:13.680,1:08:15.600
public or when they organize collective

1:08:15.600,1:08:17.460
methods for cleaning the grounds they

1:08:17.460,1:08:20.189
occupy as happened both interior and

1:08:20.189,1:08:23.370
Zuccotti Park if there's a we who

1:08:23.370,1:08:26.100
assembles there at that precise space

1:08:26.100,1:08:28.170
and time there's also a we that forms

1:08:28.170,1:08:30.180
across the media that calls for the

1:08:30.180,1:08:32.729
demonstrations and broadcasts its event

1:08:32.729,1:08:35.189
so some set of global connections are

1:08:35.189,1:08:37.529
being articulated a different sense of

1:08:37.529,1:08:39.870
the global from the globalized market

1:08:39.870,1:08:42.720
and some set of values are being enacted

1:08:42.720,1:08:45.609
in the form of a collective resistance

1:08:45.609,1:08:47.500
a defense of our collective precarity

1:08:47.500,1:08:49.839
and persistence in the making of

1:08:49.839,1:08:52.089
equality and the many voiced and

1:08:52.089,1:08:54.850
unvoiced ways of refusing to become

1:08:54.850,1:08:59.259
disposable when this happens we act from

1:08:59.259,1:09:02.229
a sense of precarity we also act against

1:09:02.229,1:09:05.380
a sense of precarity reacting coalition

1:09:05.380,1:09:10.060
and often in unchosen proximities to

1:09:10.060,1:09:12.479
people we've never chosen to be close to

1:09:12.479,1:09:15.670
indeed in a situation where a pre

1:09:15.670,1:09:18.420
contractual interdependency is at work

1:09:18.420,1:09:20.920
sometimes this is experienced as a

1:09:20.920,1:09:23.948
relief and an exhilaration sometimes it

1:09:23.948,1:09:26.979
is uneasy and conflicted but it is in my

1:09:26.979,1:09:30.868
view always necessary and sometimes

1:09:30.868,1:09:35.849
promising and alive thank you

1:09:44.488,1:09:47.238
thank you

1:09:52.649,1:09:55.400
thank you

1:10:05.640,1:10:09.190
Thank You dr. Butler my name is Charlie

1:10:09.190,1:10:10.960
Smith I'm editor if the charges straight

1:10:10.960,1:10:14.380
and we have two microphones one on the

1:10:14.380,1:10:17.080
left and one on the right so if people

1:10:17.080,1:10:19.660
want to ask questions they can go to the

1:10:19.660,1:10:22.930
microphone and I'll just start with one

1:10:22.930,1:10:25.290
question to get things going

1:10:25.290,1:10:29.830
dr. Butler why is it that so many people

1:10:29.830,1:10:33.430
in North America seem to have difficulty

1:10:33.430,1:10:42.070
acknowledging their own precarity agree

1:10:42.070,1:10:47.370
with well it's not very much fun is it I

1:10:50.340,1:10:54.420
can follow up with another question

1:10:56.130,1:11:00.960
um no I'm happy to answer your question

1:11:00.960,1:11:03.430
although I'm not sure I could answer in

1:11:03.430,1:11:08.020
a satisfying way but but but but but

1:11:08.020,1:11:11.530
certainly I mean I do think that there

1:11:11.530,1:11:16.440
are forms of amassing wealth and

1:11:16.440,1:11:21.880
economic and political security and

1:11:21.880,1:11:25.320
protection that are very much about

1:11:25.320,1:11:28.540
producing the possibility of lives that

1:11:28.540,1:11:32.730
will not be touched by other lives or

1:11:32.730,1:11:36.960
lives that will be impermeable to

1:11:36.960,1:11:39.310
incursion right we can think about gated

1:11:39.310,1:11:41.710
communities but we can also think more

1:11:41.710,1:11:48.280
generally about forms of of militarism

1:11:48.280,1:11:51.880
or nationalism that are stoked by the

1:11:51.880,1:11:55.840
ideal of of never being attacked are

1:11:55.840,1:12:00.820
never never having anyone come into

1:12:00.820,1:12:04.360
one's territory who might do harm and I

1:12:04.360,1:12:06.280
think one can find it as well in

1:12:06.280,1:12:12.930
virulent anti-immigration discourses and

1:12:12.930,1:12:15.110
and I'm not

1:12:15.110,1:12:18.170
sure that most people would understand

1:12:18.170,1:12:21.710
themselves as dealing with a situation

1:12:21.710,1:12:25.250
of precarity at such moments but in fact

1:12:25.250,1:12:31.280
I think that there's there's a specter

1:12:31.280,1:12:33.320
of being destroyed or being destabilized

1:12:33.320,1:12:39.110
or of being penetrated or aggressed upon

1:12:39.110,1:12:46.160
that does suggest a level of enormous

1:12:46.160,1:12:50.330
political anxiety that that that focuses

1:12:50.330,1:12:55.640
on on the body and and and the capacity

1:12:55.640,1:12:59.120
of the body to be suddenly aggressed

1:12:59.120,1:13:06.560
upon or to be entered to be - - to have

1:13:06.560,1:13:10.610
its its solidity and control threatened

1:13:10.610,1:13:18.020
at a very fundamental level and and and

1:13:18.020,1:13:20.360
I and I do think that it is a political

1:13:20.360,1:13:25.220
strategy - to effectively externalize

1:13:25.220,1:13:29.260
and deposit that felt sense of precarity

1:13:29.260,1:13:32.660
in in other populations and to try to

1:13:32.660,1:13:35.120
keep other populations precarious

1:13:35.120,1:13:39.620
especially those who are who are in some

1:13:39.620,1:13:43.420
sense feared or loathed and of course

1:13:43.420,1:13:46.490
people in dominant in dominant positions

1:13:46.490,1:13:49.820
who do that know that they are also all

1:13:49.820,1:13:51.920
the more subject to aggression from

1:13:51.920,1:13:53.810
those they subjugate so what they

1:13:53.810,1:13:56.450
actually end up doing is increasing

1:13:56.450,1:13:58.940
their own felt sense of precarity

1:13:58.940,1:14:01.430
through a mode of subjugation that is

1:14:01.430,1:14:04.780
unlivable for those who who who live it

1:14:04.780,1:14:10.300
so you know I I think we could we could

1:14:10.300,1:14:12.590
answer the question at both the

1:14:12.590,1:14:14.600
psychological and a political level but

1:14:14.600,1:14:18.500
my my my wager is that the psychological

1:14:18.500,1:14:22.700
and the political work in tandem it's

1:14:22.700,1:14:24.770
not always easy to show how that works

1:14:24.770,1:14:26.210
I'm not interested in the kind of group

1:14:26.210,1:14:29.110
psychology exactly but I

1:14:29.110,1:14:32.630
but I am interested in seeing how that

1:14:32.630,1:14:34.850
can work out I don't I don't know if I

1:14:34.850,1:14:44.410
answered your question okay so what I

1:14:44.530,1:14:48.740
would say you did I mean I'll try again

1:14:48.740,1:14:50.600
yeah happy to know well there is the

1:14:50.600,1:14:54.410
psychological aspects - yes that failure

1:14:54.410,1:14:58.520
to acknowledge but what I'll do is we

1:14:58.520,1:15:00.140
have people who want to ask questions

1:15:00.140,1:15:03.950
and where what I would ask each person

1:15:03.950,1:15:06.410
who asks a question if you could keep it

1:15:06.410,1:15:09.590
relatively concise so that we can get

1:15:09.590,1:15:11.330
more questions in the amount of time

1:15:11.330,1:15:14.350
available so we'll start on the right

1:15:14.350,1:15:16.610
one of the chants I heard at the Occupy

1:15:16.610,1:15:19.190
movements in Vancouver the people United

1:15:19.190,1:15:21.410
will never be defeated and if there's

1:15:21.410,1:15:22.850
one thing I learned it's that in that

1:15:22.850,1:15:25.060
instance the people were defeated and

1:15:25.060,1:15:27.350
maybe you might disagree with me but we

1:15:27.350,1:15:28.880
need only refer to our mutual friend

1:15:28.880,1:15:31.430
Hegel and the battle between the law of

1:15:31.430,1:15:32.840
the heart in the way of the world to

1:15:32.840,1:15:35.570
graph onto this see what I think can be

1:15:35.570,1:15:37.640
characterized is the fact that we we

1:15:37.640,1:15:40.480
have the law of the heart the occupiers

1:15:40.480,1:15:42.860
keeping in reserve the virtue the fact

1:15:42.860,1:15:44.360
that the people will never be defeated

1:15:44.360,1:15:45.980
well the way of the world will always

1:15:45.980,1:15:47.960
triumph over that because of the nature

1:15:47.960,1:15:49.640
of it being a sham fight to this extent

1:15:49.640,1:15:51.890
my question is is this kegeling

1:15:51.890,1:15:53.900
characterization correct and if so to

1:15:53.900,1:15:56.720
what extent will these occupiers and

1:15:56.720,1:15:58.910
these carceral archipelagos need to

1:15:58.910,1:16:01.190
traverse the fantasy that non-violence

1:16:01.190,1:16:02.810
can actually edify radical Democratic

1:16:02.810,1:16:06.410
Change okay you know I my guess is that

1:16:06.410,1:16:07.970
others heard you better you were

1:16:07.970,1:16:09.860
standing just a little bit too far away

1:16:09.860,1:16:12.700
from that microphone for me but I

1:16:12.700,1:16:15.910
I and I understand it but I got it that

1:16:15.910,1:16:22.840
it was very articulate but I'm just but

1:16:22.840,1:16:23.320
I'm sorry

1:16:23.320,1:16:25.270
what I understand you to have said is

1:16:25.270,1:16:27.670
that the the the the so-called occupiers

1:16:27.670,1:16:31.570
were falsely believed that if they

1:16:31.570,1:16:33.790
remain united they would not be defeated

1:16:33.790,1:16:36.310
but indeed they were defeated which

1:16:36.310,1:16:38.140
means that there's something wrong with

1:16:38.140,1:16:40.360
the tactic but what I don't understand

1:16:40.360,1:16:42.610
is what you're you're claiming is wrong

1:16:42.610,1:16:43.990
with the tactic what I'm claiming is

1:16:43.990,1:16:46.900
that the the movement is subject to a

1:16:46.900,1:16:49.000
fantasy that nonviolent change can

1:16:49.000,1:16:52.690
actually edify radical Democratic Change

1:16:52.690,1:16:56.190
is that correct and if it is not correct

1:16:56.190,1:17:09.130
where am I going wrong well look first

1:17:09.130,1:17:11.290
of all as far as I'm concerned the

1:17:11.290,1:17:18.970
Occupy movement is not over and but the

1:17:18.970,1:17:23.370
Occupy movement is has to work through

1:17:23.370,1:17:28.840
certain kinds of in in in in in an

1:17:28.840,1:17:34.480
episodic way and the encampment episode

1:17:34.480,1:17:36.940
has been an extremely important one the

1:17:36.940,1:17:38.830
end of encampments is not the end of the

1:17:38.830,1:17:43.600
Occupy movement and the real question is

1:17:43.600,1:17:46.240
what are the new strategies and and and

1:17:46.240,1:17:49.570
what are the new ways of occupying

1:17:49.570,1:17:54.610
buildings temporarily or producing

1:17:54.610,1:17:57.670
demonstrations or continuing to get the

1:17:57.670,1:18:03.010
word out in in different ways so so you

1:18:03.010,1:18:04.420
know I think we have certain ideas of

1:18:04.420,1:18:06.810
what success is Oh Occupy movement

1:18:06.810,1:18:10.210
failed because police power came in and

1:18:10.210,1:18:14.440
wiped them out and they were defenseless

1:18:14.440,1:18:17.200
against police power now you could say

1:18:17.200,1:18:19.540
oh they needed to take arms or what we

1:18:19.540,1:18:21.610
need is a armed revolutionary struggle

1:18:21.610,1:18:24.860
or or something along those lines

1:18:24.860,1:18:29.880
but I think I think in fact what we are

1:18:29.880,1:18:32.970
seeing is the common the contours of a

1:18:32.970,1:18:36.180
new form of the conflict to remember

1:18:36.180,1:18:39.690
what what really began as a movement

1:18:39.690,1:18:43.580
that was trying to draw attention to

1:18:43.580,1:18:50.010
differential levels of wealth and in

1:18:50.010,1:18:52.890
particular showing that the rich are

1:18:52.890,1:18:55.560
getting richer and fewer and the poor

1:18:55.560,1:19:00.630
are getting larger and poorer suddenly

1:19:00.630,1:19:02.910
found itself up against police power

1:19:02.910,1:19:06.300
right and that the analysis of police

1:19:06.300,1:19:08.220
power and the resistance to police power

1:19:08.220,1:19:09.840
was not at the forefront of the movement

1:19:09.840,1:19:14.160
and suddenly became at the forefront of

1:19:14.160,1:19:17.940
the movement when public space was taken

1:19:17.940,1:19:22.410
back by the state time and again through

1:19:22.410,1:19:27.000
forcible police action so no and and it

1:19:27.000,1:19:30.420
seems to me that in in many of the

1:19:30.420,1:19:33.660
student movements as well which are to a

1:19:33.660,1:19:35.610
certain degree linked to occupy and to a

1:19:35.610,1:19:38.100
certain degree independent we're also

1:19:38.100,1:19:42.540
seeing police action against free

1:19:42.540,1:19:45.630
assembly and I gather the new montreal

1:19:45.630,1:19:49.320
law has actually now effectively

1:19:49.320,1:19:54.120
criminalized protests as as a kind of

1:19:54.120,1:19:56.700
security threat which is to me extremely

1:19:56.700,1:20:00.870
frightening so the real question for me

1:20:00.870,1:20:05.970
is okay what's what now we're not just

1:20:05.970,1:20:07.470
dealing with differentials in wealth

1:20:07.470,1:20:13.070
we're also dealing with a state a set of

1:20:13.070,1:20:15.920
economic and state powers that are

1:20:15.920,1:20:20.250
invested in the destruction of dissent

1:20:20.250,1:20:25.320
and legal assembly through using the

1:20:25.320,1:20:27.780
violent arm of the state which is the

1:20:27.780,1:20:31.080
police and and that point and those

1:20:31.080,1:20:32.940
police forces are increasingly in

1:20:32.940,1:20:36.860
several cities as we know

1:20:37.530,1:20:40.350
being trained by military forces so we

1:20:40.350,1:20:42.240
actually have the militarization of the

1:20:42.240,1:20:45.240
police and the criminalization of

1:20:45.240,1:20:47.730
protests happening at the same time

1:20:47.730,1:20:49.890
which means that the analysis of power

1:20:49.890,1:20:52.620
and the ways of resisting that power are

1:20:52.620,1:20:55.050
going to have to adapt but we're in the

1:20:55.050,1:20:57.660
middle of a process we're in the middle

1:20:57.660,1:21:01.560
of a process and and and it's also a

1:21:01.560,1:21:05.420
problem because traditional modes of

1:21:05.420,1:21:08.580
civil disobedience and nonviolent

1:21:08.580,1:21:09.990
resistance are no longer being

1:21:09.990,1:21:13.320
recognized as legitimate so for instance

1:21:13.320,1:21:15.600
on the Berkeley campus when people and

1:21:15.600,1:21:18.870
you know they actually you know gave the

1:21:18.870,1:21:22.740
police their wrists thinking okay you

1:21:22.740,1:21:25.380
know a handcuffed me take me away this

1:21:25.380,1:21:27.840
is what's done this is what happened in

1:21:27.840,1:21:30.300
the civil rights movement they were

1:21:30.300,1:21:33.300
thrown to the ground and beaten which

1:21:33.300,1:21:35.070
which is an historically really

1:21:35.070,1:21:37.680
important moment given free speech at

1:21:37.680,1:21:40.890
Berkeley because what it what it

1:21:40.890,1:21:44.360
effectively said it says is that

1:21:44.360,1:21:49.170
traditions governing non nonviolent

1:21:49.170,1:21:51.210
civil disobedience are no longer being

1:21:51.210,1:21:55.500
honored it seems to me that the only way

1:21:55.500,1:21:59.490
to overcome that kind of militarization

1:21:59.490,1:22:01.440
and criminalization of protest is

1:22:01.440,1:22:06.020
through making protest more amenable

1:22:06.020,1:22:09.600
making it larger making it global making

1:22:09.600,1:22:13.260
it overwhelming so that the the actual

1:22:13.260,1:22:16.890
legitimacy of the state is called into

1:22:16.890,1:22:21.810
question I think there I I think we

1:22:21.810,1:22:23.250
would have to have a longer discussion

1:22:23.250,1:22:25.530
about violence and non-violence and what

1:22:25.530,1:22:27.540
I was trying to suggest briefly today is

1:22:27.540,1:22:30.210
that non-violence is not just passivity

1:22:30.210,1:22:32.370
it is the cultivation of the force of

1:22:32.370,1:22:36.000
resistance and and in that sense it in

1:22:36.000,1:22:38.610
it involves bodily action pressure and

1:22:38.610,1:22:43.200
and presence and it is not simply taking

1:22:43.200,1:22:49.070
it but I we need more time for that

1:22:55.910,1:22:57.989
okay I don't know if this is a big

1:22:57.989,1:22:59.250
question or if it's actually a pretty

1:22:59.250,1:23:01.620
straightforward question but just

1:23:01.620,1:23:03.090
thinking about leftist politics it is

1:23:03.090,1:23:04.590
related to the last question on occupy

1:23:04.590,1:23:07.050
um any kind of leftist or progressive

1:23:07.050,1:23:08.760
politics whatever we want to call it um

1:23:08.760,1:23:11.310
it seems to obviously be in when it's up

1:23:11.310,1:23:12.840
against right-wing politics it's

1:23:12.840,1:23:14.640
necessarily fragmented because of our

1:23:14.640,1:23:17.310
recognition of difference within a group

1:23:17.310,1:23:19.110
and then I've often thought of your

1:23:19.110,1:23:21.239
notion of strategic essentialism in

1:23:21.239,1:23:22.739
terms of a way of bringing a group

1:23:22.739,1:23:24.239
together and then something like occupy

1:23:24.239,1:23:26.310
I just kind of want to ask you with some

1:23:26.310,1:23:30.330
with kind of a phrase we are the 99% as

1:23:30.330,1:23:32.130
a kind of example of what I understand

1:23:32.130,1:23:34.980
to be strategic essentialism I would ask

1:23:34.980,1:23:36.780
if do you think that that has proven a

1:23:36.780,1:23:39.810
kind of politically efficacious form of

1:23:39.810,1:23:42.600
the use of strategic essentialism or do

1:23:42.600,1:23:44.910
we lose something in something like we

1:23:44.910,1:23:53.310
are the 99% well I don't think we are

1:23:53.310,1:23:56.820
the 99% is strategic essentialism

1:23:56.820,1:24:00.110
because it doesn't say that our being

1:24:00.110,1:24:05.100
99% is essential to who we are or is the

1:24:05.100,1:24:09.500
only basis on which we mobilize together

1:24:09.500,1:24:15.420
I think in fact it seeks to be a kind of

1:24:15.420,1:24:17.750
umbrella term that is supposed to

1:24:17.750,1:24:20.250
actually include all kinds of

1:24:20.250,1:24:24.960
differences without asserting economic

1:24:24.960,1:24:27.060
oppression as more primary than all

1:24:27.060,1:24:29.640
other forms of oppression so I saw it as

1:24:29.640,1:24:33.300
trying to circumvent the more classical

1:24:33.300,1:24:38.130
leftist effort to to make economic

1:24:38.130,1:24:39.989
oppression primary and then to have

1:24:39.989,1:24:43.440
secondary oppressions but of course as

1:24:43.440,1:24:45.630
we know within many of the encampments

1:24:45.630,1:24:46.920
and within the movements there are

1:24:46.920,1:24:49.650
struggles about race about sexuality

1:24:49.650,1:24:53.910
about gender and and and I guess I want

1:24:53.910,1:24:57.150
to say that those struggles are

1:24:57.150,1:25:00.100
absolutely necessary

1:25:00.100,1:25:02.080
and that we shouldn't lament them I

1:25:02.080,1:25:04.330
don't think we should we should think oh

1:25:04.330,1:25:05.800
it's too bad we're still having those

1:25:05.800,1:25:07.450
struggles and we're not yet unified I

1:25:07.450,1:25:09.100
think if we're having those struggles

1:25:09.100,1:25:11.400
that is what Unity means Unity means

1:25:11.400,1:25:17.560
struggling right and so you know I I

1:25:17.560,1:25:22.540
tend to kind of resist the the language

1:25:22.540,1:25:25.060
of fragmentation even though sometimes

1:25:25.060,1:25:27.790
it's exactly right right that groups do

1:25:27.790,1:25:30.280
leave they can't be in coalition

1:25:30.280,1:25:33.550
together it's impossible and yet

1:25:33.550,1:25:37.690
it seems to me that hanging in hanging

1:25:37.690,1:25:41.890
in in coalition's where it's not easy

1:25:41.890,1:25:44.050
and when where those issues continue to

1:25:44.050,1:25:46.450
remain open and where there's there's

1:25:46.450,1:25:49.570
open conflict and struggle that's that's

1:25:49.570,1:25:51.870
what we can that's what is meant by

1:25:51.870,1:25:55.780
unity unity is not uniformity unity is

1:25:55.780,1:25:57.430
agreeing to stay in and struggle or

1:25:57.430,1:25:58.930
finding that the struggle is worth it

1:25:58.930,1:26:02.380
not just because different groups need

1:26:02.380,1:26:04.300
to recognize each other or understand

1:26:04.300,1:26:05.050
each other better

1:26:05.050,1:26:07.750
but because the stakes are really really

1:26:07.750,1:26:10.110
high because what is happening

1:26:10.110,1:26:12.720
economically and politically is is

1:26:12.720,1:26:14.980
absolutely unacceptable and one has to

1:26:14.980,1:26:17.560
keep that in mind at the same time that

1:26:17.560,1:26:18.940
one is engaged in that open-ended

1:26:18.940,1:26:27.640
struggle I first of all I never I never

1:26:27.640,1:26:29.260
felt so vulnerable that asking a

1:26:29.260,1:26:34.830
question you're you're safe with me

1:26:35.490,1:26:39.550
just the vulnerability asset choice and

1:26:39.550,1:26:41.950
being a student here as an immigrant and

1:26:41.950,1:26:44.740
a queer migrant the the first thing that

1:26:44.740,1:26:46.710
I was told when I attended a student

1:26:46.710,1:26:48.580
international student meeting was never

1:26:48.580,1:26:50.980
to attend a protest or any sort of

1:26:50.980,1:26:55.390
social or political event and waste of

1:26:55.390,1:26:59.350
like some the tactics of fear applied to

1:26:59.350,1:27:01.270
by the state but also by the

1:27:01.270,1:27:04.600
institutions to depolarize migrants as a

1:27:04.600,1:27:07.630
way of preventing any action to happen

1:27:07.630,1:27:10.780
that's one of and but also the

1:27:10.780,1:27:12.430
vulnerability as a choice so every time

1:27:12.430,1:27:13.510
I go to a protest

1:27:13.510,1:27:15.309
which I do all the time there's a choice

1:27:15.309,1:27:18.309
of me of being a greater choice of

1:27:18.309,1:27:20.800
actually being deported if anything goes

1:27:20.800,1:27:22.570
wrong so there's that that there's

1:27:22.570,1:27:24.730
always that fear but also vulnerability

1:27:24.730,1:27:26.679
as a as a place of birth of any

1:27:26.679,1:27:30.190
resistance so how do you play that

1:27:30.190,1:27:31.960
performative side of performativity

1:27:31.960,1:27:34.320
within like the tactics that are applied

1:27:34.320,1:27:37.599
by the state and by the institutions to

1:27:37.599,1:27:40.809
deploy to ties migrants mm-hmm good

1:27:40.809,1:27:43.230
question

1:27:43.690,1:27:45.429
seems like you could probably tell me

1:27:45.429,1:27:47.349
more about that question that I could

1:27:47.349,1:27:54.730
tell you but I do I do think that the

1:27:54.730,1:27:58.110
that the the effort to depoliticize

1:27:58.110,1:28:01.599
migrants as you've described it is also

1:28:01.599,1:28:04.659
a certain kind of training in good

1:28:04.659,1:28:05.530
citizenship

1:28:05.530,1:28:09.489
right and we have to ask what version of

1:28:09.489,1:28:11.980
citizenship is being inculcated at such

1:28:11.980,1:28:16.690
moments and whether whether you're also

1:28:16.690,1:28:22.059
being asked to accept implicit forms of

1:28:22.059,1:28:24.670
censorship as the precondition of your

1:28:24.670,1:28:28.929
membership and and that's that's really

1:28:28.929,1:28:30.849
tricky you don't even need a law to say

1:28:30.849,1:28:33.480
you you know you may I mean of course

1:28:33.480,1:28:35.889
there's the problem of the law but there

1:28:35.889,1:28:37.599
doesn't even have to be an explicit

1:28:37.599,1:28:48.190
censoring but I think in fact one I had

1:28:48.190,1:28:52.989
these conversations with with students

1:28:52.989,1:28:55.420
on the on the East Coast in the US who

1:28:55.420,1:28:58.210
did a number of public public actions

1:28:58.210,1:28:59.769
they were undocumented and they did

1:28:59.769,1:29:03.340
public actions that did put them in a

1:29:03.340,1:29:05.110
precarious position but also drew

1:29:05.110,1:29:07.389
attention to the precarious position

1:29:07.389,1:29:09.309
they were in and which was for them not

1:29:09.309,1:29:13.599
acceptable right and and so we have to

1:29:13.599,1:29:16.150
think about both dimensions of that and

1:29:16.150,1:29:18.130
what was interesting is that certain

1:29:18.130,1:29:21.579
students could do it and those were the

1:29:21.579,1:29:24.789
ones who for whatever reason felt that

1:29:24.789,1:29:27.099
their chances of deportation were

1:29:27.099,1:29:29.289
or that they were possibly protected by

1:29:29.289,1:29:31.570
the institutions they were part of or

1:29:31.570,1:29:33.849
who are willing to take the risk for

1:29:33.849,1:29:35.650
whatever reason and others felt they

1:29:35.650,1:29:37.989
could not do that but wanted to support

1:29:37.989,1:29:39.729
the effort in ways that didn't

1:29:39.729,1:29:41.979
necessarily put their own bodies on the

1:29:41.979,1:29:44.499
line and let's remember that every

1:29:44.499,1:29:47.739
public demonstration requires its non

1:29:47.739,1:29:51.340
public support system right there's a

1:29:51.340,1:29:54.039
non public support system and there's a

1:29:54.039,1:29:58.179
way to be supportive and to be you know

1:29:58.179,1:30:03.570
to be to be assisting and to be active

1:30:03.570,1:30:08.039
in in in in ways that that that feel

1:30:08.039,1:30:10.360
manageable depending on what the level

1:30:10.360,1:30:16.059
of political risk really is for the

1:30:16.059,1:30:17.949
individual or for the four other groups

1:30:17.949,1:30:21.280
so so I don't think there's one I don't

1:30:21.280,1:30:24.959
think there's simply one form of of

1:30:24.959,1:30:27.400
being mobilized on that issue

1:30:27.400,1:30:29.860
and one has to and and who no one can

1:30:29.860,1:30:31.959
prescribe no one can prescribe to you

1:30:31.959,1:30:34.119
what risk to take but if someone tells

1:30:34.119,1:30:36.760
you never to take a risk then you know

1:30:36.760,1:30:38.860
you have to wonder what norm is being

1:30:38.860,1:30:42.420
inculcated at such a moment

1:30:45.510,1:30:47.680
allowing permanent like permanent

1:30:47.680,1:30:50.020
residents can no like can be actually

1:30:50.020,1:30:52.960
deported if they're like even citizens

1:30:52.960,1:30:55.420
that went through process of refugee or

1:30:55.420,1:30:57.820
permanent resident before yes could be

1:30:57.820,1:30:59.860
deported like there's no it the status

1:30:59.860,1:31:02.590
of permanent resident or our citizen is

1:31:02.590,1:31:04.750
not even like it goes farther than just

1:31:04.750,1:31:07.690
being a I am aware I'm we we now have

1:31:07.690,1:31:11.410
retractable forms of citizenship yes

1:31:11.410,1:31:13.420
these are the retractable conditions of

1:31:13.420,1:31:16.480
citizenship and they are expanding and

1:31:16.480,1:31:21.990
and and and that is that is that that is

1:31:21.990,1:31:25.090
hugely worrisome and and and very very

1:31:25.090,1:31:32.170
difficult I understand that hi dr.

1:31:32.170,1:31:34.210
Butler I don't have a specific question

1:31:34.210,1:31:36.730
but I was wondering if you could speak

1:31:36.730,1:31:40.660
to what you said earlier in your lecture

1:31:40.660,1:31:45.060
about the link between feminization of

1:31:45.060,1:31:50.620
different nations and I'm totally

1:31:50.620,1:31:53.010
drawing a blank here

1:31:53.010,1:31:55.450
vulnerability of those nations so just

1:31:55.450,1:31:56.890
the link between the two I was wondering

1:31:56.890,1:31:59.290
if you could speak briefly about those

1:31:59.290,1:32:02.860
because I was curious about that um well

1:32:02.860,1:32:07.870
I suppose um you know let me just you

1:32:07.870,1:32:13.360
know clarify that I think you know in a

1:32:13.360,1:32:16.810
way I'm I'm I'm saying two things at the

1:32:16.810,1:32:18.580
same time and I want to be able to say

1:32:18.580,1:32:22.750
them both and one is that vulnerability

1:32:22.750,1:32:24.400
is something like a shared condition

1:32:24.400,1:32:26.680
that cannot be denied and I also want to

1:32:26.680,1:32:28.990
say that vulnerability is a condition

1:32:28.990,1:32:34.480
that is denied all the time and and and

1:32:34.480,1:32:38.050
I I do i I don't think we can deny what

1:32:38.050,1:32:41.200
is not in some sense there the link that

1:32:41.200,1:32:43.360
I was making in my own mind was one of

1:32:43.360,1:32:45.400
physical safety I don't know what

1:32:45.400,1:32:48.370
physical safety yeah because physical

1:32:48.370,1:32:52.210
safety is a concern for many women I

1:32:52.210,1:32:54.510
mean it's a concern for everybody

1:32:54.510,1:32:55.980
but I was wondering if that was

1:32:55.980,1:32:57.630
something that you were thinking of when

1:32:57.630,1:33:00.150
you made this whoa what I did have in

1:33:00.150,1:33:01.110
mind

1:33:01.110,1:33:06.870
is that certain forms of torture that

1:33:06.870,1:33:10.260
that took place under the Bush

1:33:10.260,1:33:16.200
administration involved involved efforts

1:33:16.200,1:33:25.650
to feminize the the bodies of of Arab

1:33:25.650,1:33:32.850
men in in out sourced prisons and and I

1:33:32.850,1:33:36.780
think that it's a very complex issue the

1:33:36.780,1:33:42.410
way in which torture work to to

1:33:42.410,1:33:47.750
emasculate at the same time that it

1:33:47.750,1:33:52.370
identified or consolidated the idea that

1:33:52.370,1:33:55.820
that those who are tortured are

1:33:55.820,1:33:59.820
homosexual or women like you become a

1:33:59.820,1:34:01.620
homosexual you become a woman

1:34:01.620,1:34:03.810
by being tortured and that the effect of

1:34:03.810,1:34:05.880
the torture was to do that so it it was

1:34:05.880,1:34:09.300
operating within that idea that the

1:34:09.300,1:34:11.190
worst possible social position or the

1:34:11.190,1:34:13.830
position of intense vulnerability would

1:34:13.830,1:34:20.310
be that of a homosexual or of a woman so

1:34:20.310,1:34:23.670
that kind of subservience well that kind

1:34:23.670,1:34:27.590
of inability to protect yourself against

1:34:27.590,1:34:36.090
violent assault okay thank you we've got

1:34:36.090,1:34:40.920
three more okay I just thank you I just

1:34:40.920,1:34:42.870
wanted to know what your thoughts were

1:34:42.870,1:34:45.570
on the connection between physical

1:34:45.570,1:34:48.660
violence in protests whether on the side

1:34:48.660,1:34:52.980
of protestors or the authorities and its

1:34:52.980,1:34:56.010
connection with the vulnerability so for

1:34:56.010,1:34:58.890
example could it displace the

1:34:58.890,1:35:00.750
vulnerability of those protesters or

1:35:00.750,1:35:03.120
does it rather reveal the vulnerability

1:35:03.120,1:35:05.610
of both the protesters and

1:35:05.610,1:35:08.969
otherwise impermeable authorities at the

1:35:08.969,1:35:10.530
same time or just what your thoughts

1:35:10.530,1:35:12.139
were generally between the connection on

1:35:12.139,1:35:14.969
physical violence in protests and the

1:35:14.969,1:35:20.900
vulnerability which you spoke of okay

1:35:21.590,1:35:24.590
um

1:35:31.400,1:35:38.000
in general I think I am

1:35:38.000,1:35:41.300
I support non non violent forms of

1:35:41.300,1:35:47.480
resistance at the same time I want to

1:35:47.480,1:35:50.300
say that one of the most important

1:35:50.300,1:35:56.030
things for me as a and indeed for many

1:35:56.030,1:35:59.599
people in my generation was learning

1:35:59.599,1:36:05.480
forms of of self-defense and that I

1:36:05.480,1:36:08.210
wouldn't be okay on the street if I

1:36:08.210,1:36:11.840
didn't know that I had skills of

1:36:11.840,1:36:15.230
self-defense when we think about

1:36:15.230,1:36:17.150
self-defense and we think about it on

1:36:17.150,1:36:18.469
the street we think about it in

1:36:18.469,1:36:20.030
demonstrations we think about it what

1:36:20.030,1:36:22.250
when a when a policeman is coming at you

1:36:22.250,1:36:25.030
with a baton or when you were being

1:36:25.030,1:36:30.560
sprayed of course there's a right to

1:36:30.560,1:36:32.179
self-defense and the question is what

1:36:32.179,1:36:37.369
form does that take and what I'm most

1:36:37.369,1:36:40.460
interested in our collective forms of

1:36:40.460,1:36:43.880
support at moments of police attack so

1:36:43.880,1:36:47.030
that people they link together to make

1:36:47.030,1:36:48.860
it difficult for the attack to take

1:36:48.860,1:36:51.409
place or they support one another or

1:36:51.409,1:36:57.139
they actually catch each other or or

1:36:57.139,1:36:59.300
interpose themselves in front of one

1:36:59.300,1:37:01.460
another there are there ways of thinking

1:37:01.460,1:37:03.050
about self-defense not just as an

1:37:03.050,1:37:06.830
individual practice which many of us had

1:37:06.830,1:37:09.230
to learn but also as a kind of

1:37:09.230,1:37:14.030
collective practice and it is it's a

1:37:14.030,1:37:18.619
delicate and difficult practice and I

1:37:18.619,1:37:20.150
don't think anyone can completely

1:37:20.150,1:37:22.369
prescribe it in advance although there

1:37:22.369,1:37:23.869
are a lot of people who have worked on

1:37:23.869,1:37:26.389
this for a very very long time and there

1:37:26.389,1:37:28.550
are other social movements too to

1:37:28.550,1:37:30.949
reference at this moment especially in

1:37:30.949,1:37:36.830
South Africa so I think using the body

1:37:36.830,1:37:42.150
as a force to stop a blow or to

1:37:42.150,1:37:46.260
to deflect a blow is extremely important

1:37:46.260,1:37:48.739
at what point does that become a blow

1:37:48.739,1:37:51.390
what's what's the defense and what's the

1:37:51.390,1:37:54.090
what's that what's the the act I want to

1:37:54.090,1:37:56.370
say that there's force on all sides of

1:37:56.370,1:37:59.550
that and that there's no way especially

1:37:59.550,1:38:01.530
in the confrontation with the police

1:38:01.530,1:38:04.500
that we can eradicate the field of force

1:38:04.500,1:38:07.140
we can only navigate the field of force

1:38:07.140,1:38:11.489
as ethically and and carefully and as we

1:38:11.489,1:38:16.830
can and sometimes our ex of self-defense

1:38:16.830,1:38:18.600
will be called provocation they will be

1:38:18.600,1:38:20.850
renamed after the fact and videos

1:38:20.850,1:38:22.409
brought like oh that's a provocation

1:38:22.409,1:38:24.150
well it seemed to me that person is

1:38:24.150,1:38:26.340
being beaten or that's a price don't you

1:38:26.340,1:38:28.710
see the left you know but there's no way

1:38:28.710,1:38:31.290
to control it especially in the visual

1:38:31.290,1:38:34.020
you know documentation there's no way to

1:38:34.020,1:38:37.710
fully control how it will signify and

1:38:37.710,1:38:42.000
that is of course a huge problem and I'm

1:38:42.000,1:38:44.520
also aware that politically self-defense

1:38:44.520,1:38:48.780
works in some ways that I don't agree

1:38:48.780,1:38:52.679
with right so that highly militarized

1:38:52.679,1:38:55.409
nations can say they had to assault a

1:38:55.409,1:38:59.100
population out of self-defense or they

1:38:59.100,1:39:01.739
use self-defense to legitimate every act

1:39:01.739,1:39:03.929
of aggression so self-defense can become

1:39:03.929,1:39:07.530
an alibi for aggression so that I don't

1:39:07.530,1:39:09.090
I don't have a good answer for you all I

1:39:09.090,1:39:12.000
want to say is that it's a very vigilant

1:39:12.000,1:39:15.690
practice to to insist on self-defense

1:39:15.690,1:39:19.080
and to make sure or to try as hard as

1:39:19.080,1:39:24.110
possible for it not to be an alibi for

1:39:24.500,1:39:27.330
for the kind of violence we are opposing

1:39:27.330,1:39:29.580
right because the whole point is not to

1:39:29.580,1:39:32.130
replicate the violence one opposes just

1:39:32.130,1:39:34.380
but it but to stop the violence right

1:39:34.380,1:39:36.309
that that's it

1:39:36.309,1:39:43.689
I was just wondering if you could

1:39:43.689,1:39:46.899
explain when you say that the Tea Party

1:39:46.899,1:39:49.899
for example has vicious appreciation for

1:39:49.899,1:39:54.369
the vulnerability of the other of those

1:39:54.369,1:39:57.219
who are not going to be able to afford

1:39:57.219,1:39:59.229
health care and such and you say that

1:39:59.229,1:40:01.629
that actually exemplifies their own

1:40:01.629,1:40:03.609
vulnerability and the fragility of their

1:40:03.609,1:40:06.069
own states I'm wondering why then you

1:40:06.069,1:40:08.289
included right-wing protests in your

1:40:08.289,1:40:10.780
caveat as to why not all bodies on the

1:40:10.780,1:40:12.189
street are positive and you included

1:40:12.189,1:40:15.369
them with violence and with military and

1:40:15.369,1:40:18.039
with three percussive bodies on the

1:40:18.039,1:40:21.550
street um just just tell me that again

1:40:21.550,1:40:23.889
what well the question is why why do you

1:40:23.889,1:40:25.659
include right-wing protests and

1:40:25.659,1:40:28.839
right-wing demonstrations in your caveat

1:40:28.839,1:40:31.030
about why not all bodies on the street

1:40:31.030,1:40:34.449
are a positive thing why is it it seemed

1:40:34.449,1:40:36.399
to me that you are saying that left-wing

1:40:36.399,1:40:38.800
protests that Occupy movements and such

1:40:38.800,1:40:41.559
are a good thing to have and yet it

1:40:41.559,1:40:45.729
seems that you think things I see

1:40:45.729,1:40:47.919
protest like tea party and things aren't

1:40:47.919,1:40:49.899
positive things to have I see what

1:40:49.899,1:40:51.399
you're saying okay I'm sorry

1:40:51.399,1:40:53.019
that's okay it's a good question because

1:40:53.019,1:40:59.829
it helps me clarify something I I am I

1:40:59.829,1:41:02.919
am in favor of the freedom of assembly I

1:41:02.919,1:41:05.679
am very anxious right now that the

1:41:05.679,1:41:07.419
freedom of assembly is being taken away

1:41:07.419,1:41:11.109
in many parts of the globe and that

1:41:11.109,1:41:16.419
security Rhian logics and and and and

1:41:16.419,1:41:18.639
state and economic interests are very

1:41:18.639,1:41:22.569
interested in quelling freedom of

1:41:22.569,1:41:25.719
assembly so I am in favor of freedom of

1:41:25.719,1:41:27.339
assembly which means that I want the

1:41:27.339,1:41:29.109
right to be enjoyed by people who are on

1:41:29.109,1:41:32.109
the left and the right and I probably

1:41:32.109,1:41:33.909
even defend the right of some pretty

1:41:33.909,1:41:36.579
horrible people to collect and you know

1:41:36.579,1:41:38.800
on the street okay but the fact that I

1:41:38.800,1:41:41.439
defend the right of right-wing people to

1:41:41.439,1:41:42.939
collect on the street of including the

1:41:42.939,1:41:45.789
Tea Party as I absolutely do because you

1:41:45.789,1:41:48.280
know there's a big liberal core to my

1:41:48.280,1:41:50.939
left ism

1:41:52.170,1:41:54.790
well you know I mean we are what we are

1:41:54.790,1:41:57.159
right we come out of I would come out of

1:41:57.159,1:41:59.380
complex histories but anyway there is

1:41:59.380,1:42:02.219
one I do defend their right and I would

1:42:02.219,1:42:04.929
right against it and I would a pour it

1:42:04.929,1:42:06.639
and I would hate it but I wouldn't take

1:42:06.639,1:42:09.310
the right away right and and that's

1:42:09.310,1:42:15.460
that's the line that's the line so and

1:42:15.460,1:42:17.620
when I started the talk I said look I'm

1:42:17.620,1:42:20.469
not rejoicing I'm not gonna rejoice

1:42:20.469,1:42:22.300
about the Tea Party on the street

1:42:22.300,1:42:25.030
I'm not going to oppose it legally and

1:42:25.030,1:42:28.389
I'm going to oppose any legal effort to

1:42:28.389,1:42:32.350
restrain them from from from going on

1:42:32.350,1:42:33.880
the street but I'm not gonna I'm not

1:42:33.880,1:42:36.820
gonna I'm not gonna celebrate that's all

1:42:36.820,1:42:39.790
okay basically out of time but you've

1:42:39.790,1:42:41.920
been very patient so if we can make this

1:42:41.920,1:42:46.840
really quick that would be terrific okay

1:42:46.840,1:42:50.139
well I I was interested in you're

1:42:50.139,1:42:52.300
talking about vulnerability as a pre

1:42:52.300,1:42:59.320
contractual thing that we share okay ah

1:42:59.320,1:43:03.929
there okay sorry so you you were

1:43:03.929,1:43:06.370
saying that vulnerability is a pre

1:43:06.370,1:43:09.520
contractual shared State I'm interested

1:43:09.520,1:43:13.810
in thinking about the language of

1:43:13.810,1:43:17.230
contracts in the context of what you're

1:43:17.230,1:43:18.370
saying cuz it seems in a certain way

1:43:18.370,1:43:19.989
contracts our way of denying

1:43:19.989,1:43:23.320
vulnerability in that they imply we have

1:43:23.320,1:43:27.760
control like we get to say this is what

1:43:27.760,1:43:28.750
we're entering into and then we're

1:43:28.750,1:43:30.489
taking responsibility of what happens to

1:43:30.489,1:43:31.510
us

1:43:31.510,1:43:34.210
it caught allows for a just world

1:43:34.210,1:43:38.469
hypothesis and it this sort of

1:43:38.469,1:43:41.250
contractual 'ti which easily ends up in

1:43:41.250,1:43:44.860
shoring up neoliberalism often invades

1:43:44.860,1:43:47.260
language of consent whatever sort of

1:43:47.260,1:43:50.620
consent sexual consents medical consent

1:43:50.620,1:43:57.870
and I think that they're sorry

1:43:58.370,1:44:00.180
obviously there's something really

1:44:00.180,1:44:01.980
important ethically about consensual 'ti

1:44:01.980,1:44:04.650
and about consensus and I'm wondering if

1:44:04.650,1:44:10.170
you have any insight into how we should

1:44:10.170,1:44:13.560
talk about that that gets away from this

1:44:13.560,1:44:15.750
problematic element of contractual 'ti

1:44:15.750,1:44:18.540
yeah thank you

1:44:18.540,1:44:20.489
I've been I've been working on that

1:44:20.489,1:44:23.730
issue in the last weeks I gave us

1:44:23.730,1:44:26.760
seminar on sexual consent actually in

1:44:26.760,1:44:28.860
France where we we talked a bit about

1:44:28.860,1:44:32.640
the Dominique strauss-kahn issue and and

1:44:32.640,1:44:35.400
and and how consent was projected and

1:44:35.400,1:44:40.620
what consent means so there's lots to be

1:44:40.620,1:44:43.380
said but but let me let me just say two

1:44:43.380,1:44:45.920
things that I think are relevant for us

1:44:45.920,1:44:49.770
this evening the first is how do we

1:44:49.770,1:44:53.120
think about global obligations of

1:44:53.120,1:44:56.640
obligations that we we have to one

1:44:56.640,1:45:02.970
another as inhabitants of the of the

1:45:02.970,1:45:08.010
globe when when we're not necessarily

1:45:08.010,1:45:09.690
part of the same nation state or we're

1:45:09.690,1:45:11.190
not necessarily part of the same

1:45:11.190,1:45:13.800
community or we've never entered into an

1:45:13.800,1:45:18.030
explicit contract with one another and

1:45:18.030,1:45:21.120
it seems to me that it cannot be the

1:45:21.120,1:45:22.650
case that were only ethically obligated

1:45:22.650,1:45:25.040
to those with whom we are already

1:45:25.040,1:45:30.780
contracted ie those who belong to the

1:45:30.780,1:45:33.540
same nation state that we have agreed to

1:45:33.540,1:45:37.020
join or that or that we've been born

1:45:37.020,1:45:42.510
into and and and legalized within we we

1:45:42.510,1:45:45.660
have to think about ethical obligations

1:45:45.660,1:45:47.670
and political obligations in ways that

1:45:47.670,1:45:51.810
exceed the terms of contract it's also

1:45:51.810,1:45:55.670
true that most forms of contract not all

1:45:55.670,1:45:58.860
tend to individualize those who enter

1:45:58.860,1:46:02.010
into them or certain forms of social

1:46:02.010,1:46:04.560
contract tend to produce ideas of a

1:46:04.560,1:46:07.070
nation-state which are exclusionary so

1:46:07.070,1:46:09.000
that Purdue

1:46:09.000,1:46:11.850
- two problems well what are my extra

1:46:11.850,1:46:14.730
national obligations and Who am I

1:46:14.730,1:46:17.040
when I am NOT just an individual am I

1:46:17.040,1:46:21.360
not related to others in ways for which

1:46:21.360,1:46:24.000
I need a different kind of political

1:46:24.000,1:46:28.460
vocabulary so so that seems terribly

1:46:28.460,1:46:31.170
important but you know it's always

1:46:31.170,1:46:39.240
possible to say well I mean if you think

1:46:39.240,1:46:41.310
about what happens in sexually

1:46:41.310,1:46:43.620
progressive circles where people they

1:46:43.620,1:46:46.410
make arrangements to have this or that

1:46:46.410,1:46:48.300
kind of sexual relationship and they

1:46:48.300,1:46:50.340
come enter into a contract and everyone

1:46:50.340,1:46:52.950
agrees and then you know something

1:46:52.950,1:46:55.020
happens and someone finds that they're

1:46:55.020,1:46:56.460
horribly vulnerable in a way that they

1:46:56.460,1:47:00.120
had no idea they they didn't expect it

1:47:00.120,1:47:01.680
all and they can't be in that contract

1:47:01.680,1:47:03.540
and whatever made them think they could

1:47:03.540,1:47:11.160
be in that contract and I mean it's

1:47:11.160,1:47:15.330
something we all know right and and it's

1:47:15.330,1:47:17.340
a kind of and I also think it's a kind

1:47:17.340,1:47:20.310
of leftist conceit but oh well we can

1:47:20.310,1:47:23.310
find the ideal form and then we we

1:47:23.310,1:47:25.200
consent to the ideal form and then we

1:47:25.200,1:47:26.760
live the ideal form because we think

1:47:26.760,1:47:28.200
it's right and then we find that it's

1:47:28.200,1:47:35.040
radically unlivable so so what would it

1:47:35.040,1:47:37.470
mean what would it mean say in a context

1:47:37.470,1:47:39.300
like that to return to a different kind

1:47:39.300,1:47:41.400
of question like what are the conditions

1:47:41.400,1:47:44.910
of livability right what are the

1:47:44.910,1:47:46.770
conditions of livability and how to

1:47:46.770,1:47:48.600
communicate them and how to live them

1:47:48.600,1:47:51.650
right which without going back to

1:47:51.650,1:47:54.690
completely conservative structures or

1:47:54.690,1:47:56.790
thinking oh I guess that Social Forum is

1:47:56.790,1:47:59.580
actually right no I mean it's really -

1:47:59.580,1:48:01.530
instead of asking what what it is

1:48:01.530,1:48:03.330
rationally I believe I should be able to

1:48:03.330,1:48:06.000
do what are the concrete conditions of

1:48:06.000,1:48:07.830
livability I want to say that this

1:48:07.830,1:48:09.150
question is something that not only

1:48:09.150,1:48:11.310
pertains to sexual life and the

1:48:11.310,1:48:13.590
organization of sexuality but it does

1:48:13.590,1:48:17.220
pertain to the organization of our our

1:48:17.220,1:48:21.920
ethical and our political bonds

1:48:21.920,1:48:24.950
especially with those you know we don't

1:48:24.950,1:48:28.130
know or never chose right I mean in a

1:48:28.130,1:48:31.190
way we are we are vulnerable in ways

1:48:31.190,1:48:34.930
that we can't that can't be accommodated

1:48:34.930,1:48:42.260
by ideas of of choice and knowledge that

1:48:42.260,1:48:44.780
are presupposed by contract we are we

1:48:44.780,1:48:48.410
are already and before any question of

1:48:48.410,1:48:52.150
choice vulnerable to others in ways that

1:48:52.150,1:48:55.820
that that in effect define us as bodily

1:48:55.820,1:48:58.190
and social beings and I'm trying to

1:48:58.190,1:49:00.200
think what does that say about our

1:49:00.200,1:49:02.570
global responsibilities and how might we

1:49:02.570,1:49:05.870
rethink ourselves as as global creatures

1:49:05.870,1:49:08.990
in in light of such a claim thank you

1:49:08.990,1:49:11.530
for your attention

1:49:38.659,1:49:41.559
Judith

1:49:46.560,1:49:50.520
judith on behalf of all of us thank you

1:49:50.520,1:49:52.830
for an extraordinary evening an

1:49:52.830,1:49:54.990
extraordinary conversation Thank You

1:49:54.990,1:49:57.480
charlie in the Georgia Strait and on

1:49:57.480,1:49:59.460
behalf of the Peter wall stitute for

1:49:59.460,1:50:01.860
Advanced Studies thank you to all of you

1:50:01.860,1:50:05.030
for joining in the conversation and

1:50:05.030,1:50:07.800
thank you for coming and safe travels

1:50:07.800,1:50:11.460
back and stay posted for future lectures

1:50:11.460,1:50:14.280
of the wall exchange ones coming up in

1:50:14.280,1:50:17.430
October about the cosmic universe in the

1:50:17.430,0:00:00.000
21st century but thank you again tutor