The Courage of Hopelessness: A Year of Acting Dangerously

About this book

Maverick philosopher Slavoj Zizek returns to explore todays ideological political and economic battlesand asks whether radical change is possible In these troubled times even the most pessimistic diagnosis of our future ends with an uplifting hint that things might not be as bad as all that that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Yet argues Slavoj Zizek it is only when we have admitted to ourselves that our situation is completely hopelessthat the light at the end of the tunnel is in fact the headlight of a trainthat fundamental change can be brought about. Surveying the various challenges in the world today from mass migration and geopolitical tensions to terrorism the explosion of rightist populism and the emergence of new radical politicsall of which in their own way express the impasses of global capitalismZizek explores whether there still remains the possibility for genuine change. Today he proposes the only true question is or should be this: do we endorse the predominant acceptance of capitalism as fact of human nature or does todays capitalism contain strong enough antagonisms to prevent its infinite reproduction? Can we he asks move beyond the failure of socialism and beyond the current wave of populist rage and initiate radical change before the train hits? Zizek leaves no social or cultural phenomenon untheorized and is master of the counterintuitive observation The New Yorker