Comments on: Minor Things of Note

By: Audun

Audun — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 19:23:12 +0000

Lol, if you knew the politics SV stand for, you wouldn’t be saying that!

By: Muninn

Muninn — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 18:43:08 +0000

Hehe, I’m quite happy with the results, although I’m somewhat sympathetic to Venstre, I would like to see what Arbeiderpartiet and SV and S can do as a coalition.

I certainly don’t buy the “Commie” accusations by the conservative parties, especially the ridiculous propaganda campaign by the right party during the election. We really can move past that now…

By: Audun

Audun — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 14:51:47 +0000

The result of the election: Commies won :(

Coalition govt. of Arbeiderpartiet, Sosialistisk Venstreparti and Senterpartiet

By: Muninn

Muninn — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 12:05:25 +0000

Thanks Kotaji!

By: kotaji

kotaji — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 08:40:17 +0000

I'm quite keen on Callinicos, although as you say his critique is of a more conventional Marxist type. (This is not to say that the views of Zizek and Callinicos are incompatible). If you're interested in his stuff I think the two best books he has written are on history: Making History and Theories and Narratives, both of which have been a big influence on my work. Funnily enough Callinicos has quite a following in Korea and did a major interview in Mal some years back. On the elections, I saw this somewhat amusing blog entry.

By: Muninn

Muninn — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 01:06:55 +0000

Excellent Kotaji, useful references as usual. I did read a rather heavy critique of postmodern thinking from a Marxist theorist, Alex Callinicos, a few years back and there were some effective points in there.

I’ll check the articles you suggested out.

As for the election, I am mixed in my response, I’ll explain if I get some time to post on this.

By: Kotaji

Kotaji — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 22:55:10 +0000

You should probably check out Slavoj Zizek's work (if you haven't already) - his critique of postmodernism runs along similar lines, but from the left. I've been reading The Fragile Absolute, which attempts to reclaim aspects of the Christian tradition as a radical force for social change. Something from an Amazon reader review: Zizek fuses Lacanian psycho-analysis with an account of Christianity which throws fundamentalist religion, and new age 'babble' into the dustbin of postmodern fantasy. He argues, critically, that only by reclaiming the possibility of objective, overarching values and concerns can the world hope to come to an account of life that is both replete with integrity, and complete in its rejection of mystification dressed as 'truth'. You could also check out his recent article at In These Times The Revenge of Global Finance and his latest article in New Left Review, 'Against Human Rights'. By the way, do you have any thoughts on the results of the Norwegian elections?