Giorgio Agamben - Means Without End - Notes on Politics

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Sanda Buckley

Miha Had

Bia Ms�m

T:EOH" O' OF Means without End: Notes on Poitis Goro Ag:1

The nvention of Modern Science Tabelle Se

Methodology of the Oppessed Chla Sandova

Proust and Signs: The Compte Text Gl Deue

Deleuze: The Clamor of Being an Badou

Insugencies Constituent owe and

the Moden State too Nei

When Pa in § ri kes Bi B, Cahy Buy and Ki Sawchuk edo Citical nvironments Post moden Theory and

the Pagmatics of the J'Outside" C \ofe

2 Meamophoses of the Body Jo G

The New Spinoza Waen Moa ad Solz, eo

Power and Invention: Situating Science Iaelle Sene

Arow of Chaos: Romanticism and Postmodenity Ia g(

Becoming�Voman Caia Ge

A Potential Politics Radical Thought in taly

Paoo Vo and Mchal Hard edo

Capital Times: Tales from the Conquest of Time c llez

The Yea of Passages Rda n';

4 Labor of Dionysus:

Citique of the StaeForm Mcael ad and ono e

Bad Aboriginal Art: Tadiion,

Media and Technological Horizons Ec \�

The Cinematic Body Seve Shaio

The Coming Communiy GooL

Means without End

Notes on Politics

Giorgio Agaben

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Agambe, Giorgio 1942

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Meas without ed: otes o olitis / Giorgio Agambe

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Guy Debord

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Contents

Preface x

P A R T

Form-of-Life

Beyond Ian Right

What I a People?

What I a Camp

P AR

Note on Geture

anguage and People

Marginal Note on oee o e Soe o

e eae

The Face

P A R T

overeign Police

Note Politic

1 Thi xile (Italian Diary. -)

Tranlator' Note

Index



Preface

EAH the texts included in this volue attepts inits own way to think specic political poblems. If poli-tics today sees to be oin thouh a potacted eclipseand appeas in a subalten position with espect to eli-ion economics and even the law that is so because tothe extent to which it has been losin sht of its ownontoloical status it has failed to conont the tansfo-aons that adually have emped out its cateoiesand concepts hus in the followin pes, enuinelypolitical paadims ae souht in expeiences and phe-nomena that usually ae not consideed political o tatae consideed only mainally so: the natual life of human beins (that zo that was once excluded o pop-ely political sphees and that accodin to Foucault'sanalysis of biopolitics has now been estoed to thecente of the polis); te state of exception (that tempo



y sspension of the le of lw tht is eveled in-sted to constitte the fndmentl stcte of the le-l system itsel ; the concenttion cmp ( zone of in-

diffeence beteen pblic nd pivte s well s thehidden mtix of th politil spce in which we live;the efee, fomely eded s minl e,who hs become now the decisive fcto of the modenntionstte by bekin the nexs beteen hmn beinnd citizen lne, whose hypetophy nd expopi-tion dene the politics of the spectldemoctisocieties in whih we live; nd the sphee of estes ope mens (tht is, the sphee of those mens tht emncipte themselves om thei eltion to n end while stileminin mens posited s the pope sphee of polics

All these texts efe, in vios wys nd c-codin to the cimstnces in which they wee bon,to investitons tht e still open. At times they ntic-ipte the oiinl nlei of those investitions nd tothes they pesent fments nd shds (The st po-dt of sch investitions is the book titled omo SaceAs sch, these texts e destined to nd thei te senseonly within the pespective of the completed wok, tht

is, only within ethinkin of ll the cteoies of opoliticl tdition in liht of the eltion between sov-eein powe nd nked life

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Fm-oLie

HE AE Geeks did not have onl one te to expess what we ean b the wod Te used two seanticall and opholoicall distinct es zo whichxpessed th siple act o livin con to all livinbeins (anials huans o ods), and o, which sini-ed the o o anne olivin pculia to a sinle individual o oup In oden lanaes this oppositionhas aduall disapaed o the lexicon (and wheeit is etained as in ioo and zooo it no lone in-dicates an substantial dieence) one te ol theopacit o which inceases in popotion to the sacal-ization o its eeent desinats that naked pesupposed coon eleent that it is alwas possible to iso-late in each o the nueous os o lie.

B the temoe on the othe hand Iean a lie that can neve be sepaated o its o a



lf n whch t s nv posshl to solt sothn suchs nkd lf

A lf tht cnnot b sptd fo ts fo s lf fowhch wht s t stk n ts wy of lvn s lvn tslfht dos ths foulton n? It dns lf hu-n lf n whch th snl wys cts nd pocsssof lvn nv splyfacts but lwys nd bov llssibilities of f lwys nd bov ll pow Ech b-hvo nd ch fo of hun lvn s nv pscbdby spcc bolocl vocton no s t ssnd bywhtv ncsst; nstd no tt how custo

ptd nd soclly copulso t lwys tns th chct of possblt tht s t lwys puts t stk lvn tslf. ht s why hun bss bns ofpow who cn do o not do succd o fl los th-slvs o fnd thslvs th only bns fo whohppnss s lwys t stk n th lvn th only bnswhos lf s dhly nd pnflly ssnd to hp-pnss. But ths dtly consttts th fooflf s poltcl lf . "Ctt . countt ss nst-tut popt vv t bn vv honu n h stt s county nsttutd fo th sk of th lvnnd th wll lvn of n n t

Poltcl pow s w know t on th oth hnd lwysfounds tslfn th lst nstnc on th sptonof sph of nkd lf fo th contxt of th fosof lf. In Ron lw vita lf s not judcl concptbut th ndcts th spl fct of lvn o ptc

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ul wy of lf h s only on cs n whch th tle cqus judcl nn tht tnsfos t nto vthl teis techics, nd tht s n th xps-

son vitae ecisqe testas, whch dsnts th aterpow of lf nd dth ov th l sn. Yn hoshs shown t n s foul qe dos not hv dsjunc-v fncton nd vita s nothn but cooll of exth pow to kll.3

hus lf olly pps n lw only s th countpt of pow tht thtns dth. But wht svld fo th ater ht of lf nd dth s vn o vld fo sovn pow (pu) of whch th fo-

consttts th ony cll hus n th Hobbs-n foundton of sovnt lf n th stt of ntu s dnd only by ts bn uncondtonlly xposd to dth tht (th ltlss ht of vbody ov v-thn) nd poltcl lf tht s th lf ht unfolds un-d th potcton of th Lvthns nothn but tlsv s lf lwys xposd to tht tht now stsxclusvly n th hnds of th sovn h issaceabsle et ertee whch dfns stt pow s notfoundd n th lst nstnc on poltcl wll butth on nkd lf wch s kpt sf nd potctd onlyto th d to whch t subts tslf to th sovn's(o th lw's) ht of lf nd dth. (hs s pcslyth on nn of th djcv sacr scd] whnusd to f to hun lf .) h stt of xcpton whchs wht th sovn ch nd vy t dcds tksplc pcsly whn nkd lf whch nol ppsjond to th ultfous fos of sol lf s x

-fLfe



plctly put nto queston and evoked as the ultmatefoundaton of poltcal powe The ultmate subject thatneeds to be at once tuned nto the excepton and n-cluded n the cty s always naked lfe.

"The tadton of the oppessed teaches us that the s tateof emeency n whch we lve s not the excepton butthe ule. e must attan to a concepton of hsto thats n keepn wth ths nsht alt Benjamn's d-anoss, hch by now s moe than fty yeas old, haslost none of ts elevance. d that s so not eally onot only because powe no lone has today any fom ofletmzaton othe than emeency, and because powe

evewhee and conuously efes and appeals to eme-enc as well as labon secetly to poduce t. (Howcould we not thnk that a system that can no lone nc-ton at all except on the bass of emeency would notalso be nteested n pesevn such an emeency at anypce?) Ths s the case also and above all because nakedlfe, whch was the hdden foundaton of soveent,has meanwhle become the domnant fom of lfe eve-whee Lfe n ts state of excepton that has now be-

come the noms the naked lfe that n eve contextsepaates the foms of lfe fom the cohen nto afomo·lfe. The Maxan scsson between man and ct-zen s thus supeseded by the dvson beteen nakedlfe (ultmate and opaque beae of soveent) and themultfaous foms of lfe abstactly ecodfed as socal-judcal denttes ( the vote, the woke, the jounalst,

J

the student, but also the HVpostve, the tansvesttethe pono sta, the eldely, the paent, the woman) thatall est on naked lfe. (To have mstaken such a naked lfesepaate fom ts fom, n ts abjecton, fo a supeopncple soveent o the saceds the lt ofBatalles thouht, whch makes t useless to us)

Foucaults thess accodn to whch "what s at staketoday s lfe and hence poltcs has become bopol-tcs s, n ths sense, substantally coect. hat s de-csve, howeve, s the way whch one undestands thesense of ths tansfomaton hat s left unquestonedn the contempoay debates on boethcs and bopol-

tcs, n fact, s pecsely what would deseve to be ques-toned befoe anythn else, that s, the vey bolocalconcept of lfe Paul Rabnow conceves of two modelsof lfe as smmetcal oppostes on the ne hand, the ex-pemental lfe of the scenst who s ll wth leukemaand who tuns hs vey lfe nto a laboatoy fo unlm-ted eseach and expementaton, and, on the othehand, the one who, n the name of lfes sacednss, ex-aspeates the antnomy beteen ndvdual ethcs and

technoscence. Both models, howeve, patcpate wthoutben awae of t n the same concept of naked lfe Thsconcept whch today pesents tself unde the use ofa scentc notons actally a seculazed poltcal con-cept (Fom a stctly scentfc pont of vew, the con-cept of lfe makes no sense Pete and Jean Medawa tellus that, n boloy, dscussons about the eal meann

fLfe





pwe identi ne with the the withut esidus be-caus the inheence f a cunitaian pncipl t anypwe is a fnctin f the necessaily ptential chaacte

f any cunit. n beins wh wuld always al-eady be enacted wh wuld always aleady be this that thin this that identit and wh wuld have en-tiely xhaustd thei pwe in these thins and identi-tisan such bins the culd nt be any c-unit but nly cincidenes and factual patitins Wecan unicate with thes nly thuh what in usas uch as in theshas ained ptential and anycunicatin (as Benjain peceives f lanuae is

st f all cunicatin nt f sethin in cnbut f cunicabilit itself Afte all if thee existedne and nly ne bein it wuld be abslutely ip-tent (hat is why thelians af that Gd catdthe wld ex nihil in the wds abslutely withutpw. And thee whee I a capable we ae always al-eady any (just as wen if thee is a lanuae that isa pwe f speech thee cannt then be ne and nlyne bein wh speaks it

hat is why den plitical philsphy desnt bein with classical thuht which had ade f cn-teplatin f the io theotio, a sepaate and slitayactivit ("exile f the aln t th alne but ath nlywith Aeis that is with the thuht f the ne andnly pssibl intellect cn t all huan beins andcucially wih Dante's affiatinin De Machiaf the inheenc f a ultitude t the vey pwe fthuht

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It is clear that man's basic capacit s to have a potentialit or powr for being intelctual. Ad since thispower cannot be completely atalized in a singleman or in any of the partcular ommunities of menaboe mentoned, there must be a mutitude in mankind through whom this whole power can be actaled ... [T]he proper work o f mankd taken as a

whole s to exercse continually its entire capact forintellecta growth, rst, in theretca matters, and,secondarly, as an extenson of theor in practice.9

he diffse intelletalit I a talkin abut and theaxian ntin f a "eneal intellect acquie thei

eanin nly within the pespective f this expeience.hey nae the multituo that inhees the pwe fthuht as such. Intellectalit and thuht ae nt af f life an thes in which life and scial p-ductin atiulate theslves but they ae athe theunita powe that ontitute the multiple fom of le a mole. In the face f state sveeint which canaffi itself nly by sepaatin in eve cntext nakedlife f its f they ae the pwe that incessantlyeunites life t its f pevents it f bein diss-ciated f its f he act f distinuishin betweenthe ee assive insciptin f scial knwlede int the pductive pcesses (an insciptin that chaacte-izes the cntepa phase f capitals the scietyf the spectacle and intellectualit as ananistic pweand fflife such an act passes thuh the expe-ience f this chesin and this insepaability. huhtis fflife life that cannt be seeated f its

rfLfe



fom and anyhee the intimacy of this insepaable lifeappeas in the mateialty of copoeal pocesses and ofhabtal ways of life no less than in theoy thee and onl

thee is thee thouht. And it is this thouht this fom-oflife that abandonin naked life to "Man and to the"Ctzen who clothe it tempoaly and epesent it withthei "ihts must become the uidin concept and theunitay cente of the comin politics.

13)

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Beynd Human Rigts

N 143 Hannah Aendt published an aticle titled "WeRefees in a small Enlishlanuae Jewish publication, the Menoh oun At the end of this bief butsinicant piece of witin, afte havin polemicallysketched the potait of M. Cohn, th assimilated Jewwho, ae havin been 150 pecent Geman, 150 pecentiennese, 150 pecent Fench, must bittely ealize inthe end that "on ne pavient pas deux fois, she tns

the condition of ountyless eee a condition sheheself was livinupside down in ode to pesent itas the paadim of a new histoical consciousness heeees who have lost all ihts and who, howeve, nolon want to be assimilated at all costs in a new nationalidentit, but want instead to contemplate lucdly theicondition, eceive in exchane fo assued unpopulaitya piceless advantae "Histoy is no lone a closed book



to the and poltcs s no lone the plee of Gen-tles. They know that the outlawn of the Jewsh peopleof Euope has been followed closely by the outlawnof ost Euopean natons. Refees den fo coun-

t to county epesent the anuad of the peoples One ouht to eect on the eann of ths

analyss, whch afte ft yeas has lost none of ts ele-ance It s not only the case that the poble pesentstself nsde and outsde of Euope wth ust as uch u-ency as then. It s also the case tlat, en the by nowunstoppable declne of the natonstate and the enealcooson of tadtonal poltcaludcal cateoes, theefee s pehaps the only thnkable fe fo the peo-

ple of ou te and he only cateoy n whch one aysee todayat least untl the pocess of dssoluton of thenatonstate and of ts soeent has acheed fll co-pletonthe fos and lts of a con potcal co-unt It s een possble that, f we want to be equalto the absolutely new tasks ahead, we wll hae to aban-don decdedly, thout eseaton, the fdaental con-cepts thouh whch we hae so fa epesented the sub-jects of the poltcal (Man, the Ctzen and ts hts, but

also the soeen people, the woke, and so foth) andbuld ou poltcal phlosophy anew stan fo theone and only fue of the efee

The fst appeaance of efees as a ass phenoenontook place at the end of old a I, when the fall ofthe Russan, AustoHunaan, and Ottoan epes,alon wth the new ode ceated by the peace teates,

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upset pofoundly the deoaphc and tetoal con-sttuton of Cental Easten Euope In a shot peod,1 .5 llon hte Russans, seen hunded housand -enans, fe hunded thousand Bulaans, a llonGeeks, and hundeds of thousands of Geans, Hun-aans, and Roanans left the countes To theseon asses, one needs to add the explose stuatondetened by the fact that about 30 pecent of the pop-ulaton n the new states ceated by the peace teaes onthe odel of the natonstate (Yuoslaa and Czecho-sloaka, fo exaple), was consttuted by notesthat had to be safeaded by a sees of ntenatonalteatesthe socalled Mnot Teate s whch e

often wee not enfoced. A few yeas late, the acal lawsn Geany and the cl wa n Span dpesed thouh-out Euope a new and potant contnent of eees.

e ae used to dstnushn between ef-uees and stateless people, but ths dstncton was notthen as sple as t ay see at st lance, no s teen today Fo the bennn, any eees, whowee not techncally stateless, pefeed to becoe suchathe tlan etun to the county (Ths was the case

wth the Polsh and Roanan Jews who wee n Fanceo Geany at the end of the wa, and today t s the casewth those who ae poltcally pesecuted o fo whoenn to the countes would ean puttn theown sal at sk.) On the othe hand, Russan, A-enan, and Hunaan eees wee poptly dena-tonalzed by the new Tksh and Soet oenentsIt s potant to note how, statn wh old a I,

Bd m a i g h s



any Euopean states bean to pass laws alowin thedenatualization and denatonalization of thei own cit-izens Fance was st in 1 15, with ead to natual-ized citizens of "eney oiin in 122 Beliu fol-

lowed this exaple by evokin the natualization ofthose citizens who had coitted "antinational actsduin the wa in 1 26, the Italian Fascist eiepassed an analoous law with ead to citizens who hadshown theselves "undesein of Italian citizenship;in 1 33 it was Austia's tu and so on until in 1 35 theNuebe Laws divided Gean citizens into citizenswith fll ihts and citizens without political ihts. Suchlawsand the ass statelessness esultin fo the

ak a decisive t in the life of the oden nation-state as well as its definitive eancipation fo naivenotions of the citizen and a people.

his is not the place to etace the histoy ofthe vaious intenational oanizations thouh whichsinle states the Leae of Nations and late the UnitedNations have tied to face the efee poble fo theNansen Bueau fo the Russian and enian eees12 1) to the Hih Coission fo Reees fo Ge

any 136) to the Inteovenental Coittee foReees 138) to the UN's Intenational Reee O-anizaton 146) to the pesent Ofice of the HihCoissione fo Reees 15 1) whose activity ac-codin to its statute does not have a politial chaactebut athe only a "social and huanitaian one. hatis essential is that each and eve tie eees no loneepesent individual cases but athe a ass phenoe

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non (as was the case beteen the to wold was and isnow once aain) these oanizations as wll as the sin-le statesall the solen evocations of the inalienableihts of huan beins notithstandin have poved

to be absolutely incapable not only of solvin th pob-le but also of facin it in an adequate anne hewhole question theefoe was handed ove to huani-taian oaizatons and to the police

he easons fo such ipotence lie not only in the self-ishness and blindness of bueaucatic appaatuses butalso in the vey abiuit of the ndaental notionseulatin the insciption of the nave (that is of life)

in the juidical ode of the nationstate. Hannah Aendttitled the chapte of he book mpeam that concensthe eee poble "he Declin of the NationStateand the End of the Rihts of Man One should ty totake seiously this foulation which indissolubly linksthe fate of the ihts of Man with th fate of th odennationstate in such a way that the wanin of the latenecessaily iplies the obsolescence of the foe. Heethe paadox is that pecisely th fiu tha should have

ebodid huan ihts oe than any othenaelythe eee aked instead the adical cisis of theconcept. he conception of huan ihts based on thesupposed existence of a hua bein as such Aendt tellsus poves to be untenable as soon as those who pofessit nd theslves confonted fo th st t with peo-ple who have eally lost eve qualit and eve specificelation except fo the pue fact of bein huan In the

Beyond Huma Right

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system of the nationstate, socalled saced and inalien-able human ights ae evealed to be withot any potec-tion pecisely when it is o longe possible to conceive

of them as ights of the citizens of a state This is mplicit,afte all, in the ambii of he vey title of the 178Dcaaion e oi e 'e e u cioyen, in which itis unclea whethe the wo tems ae to name to dis-tinct ealiies o whethe they ae to fom, instead, a hen-diadys in which the fist tem is actually always aleadycontained in the second

That thee s no autonomous space in thepolitical ode of the nationstate fo something like the

pue human in itself is evident at the vey least fom thefact that, even in the best of cases, the status of egeehas always been consideed a tempoay condition thatought to lead eithe to natualizaion o to epatiationA stable statute fo the human in itslf is inconceivablein the law of the nationstate

It is time to cease to look at al the declaations of ightsfom 178 to the pesent day as poclamations of ete-

nal metaidical values aimed at binding the legislatoto he espect of such values; it is time, athe, to unde-stand them accoding to thei eal nction in the modenstate Human ights, in fact, epesent st of all the oig-inay gue fo the insciption of natual naked life inthe polticaljuidical ode of the nationstate Nakedlife (the human being), which in antiquity belonged toGod and in the classical wold was clealy distinct (as

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zo fom political life (bio, comes to tle foefont inthe management of the state and becomes, so to speak,its eathly foundation Nationstate means a state that

makes nativi o bth [naia (that is, naked humanlife) the foundation of its own soveeignty. This is themeaning (and it is not even a hidden one) of the fistthee aticles of the 178 Declaation it is only becausethis declaatio inscibed (in aticles 1 and 2) the nativeelement in the heat of any politcal oganization that itcan mly bind (in aticle 3) the pinciple of soveeigntyto the nation (n confoty with its etmon, naive [nao1oiginally meant simply "bith [naia Te ction that

is implicit hee is that bih [nacia comes into being im-mediately as naion so that thee may not be any diffe-ence beween the wo momets Rights, in othe wods,ae attibuted t the human being only to the degee towhic he o she is the immediately vanishing pesuppo-sition (and, in fact, the pesupposition that must nevecome to light as such) of the citizen.

If the egee epesents such a disquieting element in

the ode of tle nationstate, this is so pimaily becase,by beaking the identity beteen the humn and the cit-izen and that beteen nativit and nationali, t bingsthe oiginay ction of soveeignty to cisis ingle ex-ceptions to such a pinciple, of couse, hve always ex-isted. hat is new in ou time is tlat gowing sectionsof humankind ae no longe epesentable inside thenationstate and this novelt theatens the vey foun

Beond um Rgh

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dations of the latte Inasmuch as the efuee an appa-ently mainal u unhines the old tinity of statenationtetoy it desees instead to be eaded as the

cental e of ou political histoy. We should not fo-et that the st camps wee built in Euope as spaces focontollin eees and that the succession of inten-ment campsconcentaton campsexteminaton campsepesents a pefectly eal liation. One of the few lesthe Nazis constantly obeyed thouhout the couse ofthe "final solution was that Jews and Gypsies could besent to extemination camps only afte havin been llydenationalized (that is afte they had been stipped of

even that secondclass cizenship to which they had beeneleated ae the Nuembe Laws. he thei ihtsae no lone the ihts of the citizen that is when hu-man beins ae tuly ae in the sense that this temused to have in the Roman law of he achaic peioddoomed to death.

he concept of efee must be esolutely sepaatedfom the concept of the "human ihts and the ihtof asylum (which in any case is by now in th pocess ofbein dastcally esticted in the leislation of he Euo-pean states must no lone be consideed as the concep-tual cateoy in which to inscibe the phenomenon ofeees. (One needs only to look at Anes Heles e-cent Thee on the Rht of Alum to ealize that this can-not but lead today to awkad consions. he efeeshould be consideed fo what it is namely nohin less

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than a limitconcept that at once bins a adical cisisto the pinciples of the nationstate and cleas the wayfo a enewal of cateoies at can no lone be delayed

Meanwhile in fact the phenomenon of so-called illeal immiation into the counties of the Euo-pean Union has eached (and shall inceasinly each inthe comin yeas iven the estmated tenty million im-miants fom Cental Euopean counties chaacteis-tics and popotions such that this evesal of pespec-tive is lly justied What industialized counties facetoday is a pemanently esident mass of noncitizens whodo not want to be and cannot be eithe natalized o

epatiated. hese non citizens often have nationalitiesof oiin but inasmuch as they pefe not to benetfom thei own states potection they nd themselvesas eees in a condition of de facto statelessness. omasHamma has ceated the neoloism of "denizens fothese noncitzen esidents a neoloism that has the meitof showin how the concept of "citizen s no lone ad-equate fo descibin the socialpolitical eality of mod-en states On the othe hand the citizens of advancedindustial states (in the United tates as well as Euopedemonstate thouh an inceasin desetion of the cod-ied instances of political paticipation an evident po-pensit to tn into denizens into noncitizen pema-nent esidents so that citizens and denizens at leastin cetain social sata ae entein an aea of poten-tial indistinction In a paallel way xenophobic eactionsand defensive mobilizations ae on the ise in confom

y n m a g t



,.Il

I

with the wellknown pinciple accoding to whichsubstantial assimilation in the pesence of fomal diffe-ences exacebates hated and intoleance.

Befoe extemination camps ae eopened in Euope(something that is aleady stating to happen) it is nec-essay that the nationstates nd the couage to questionthe ve pinciple of the insciption of nativit as wellas the tinity of statenationteito that is foundedon that pnciple It is not easy to indicate igt now theways in which all this may concetely happen. One ofthe options taken into consideation fo solving the pob-lem of Jeusalem is that it becomesimultaneously and

without any teitoial patition the capital of o dif-feent states. The paadoxical conditon of eipocal ex-tateitoialit (o bette yet ateitoiat) that wouldthus be implied could be genealized as a model of newinteational elations. Instead of to natonal states sep-aated by uncetain and theatening boundaies it mightbe possible to imagine to political communities insist-ing on the same egion and in a condition of exodus omeah ote communites that would atiulate eachothe via a seies of ecipocal extateitoialities inwhich the guiding concept would no longe be te ius(ight) of the citizen but athe the efuium (efge) ofthe sngula. In an analogous way we could conceive ofEuope not as an impossible "Euope of the nationswhose catastophe one can aleady foesee in the shotun but athe as an ateitoial o extateitoial spacein which all the (citizen and noncitizen) esidents of the

�

2 4 5

Euopean states would be in a position of exodus oefge the stats of Euopean would then mean the be-inginexodus of the ctizen (a condition that obviouslycould also be one of immobilit). Euopean space would

thus mak an ieducible diffeence beteen bith naita]and nation in which the old oncept of people (whicas is wll known is always a minoit) could again nda political meaning thus decidedly oposing itself tohe concept of nation (which has so fa unduly usuped it)

This space would coincide nethe with anyof the homogeneous national teitoies no with theitooaphia sum but would athe act on them by a-tiulating and pefoating them topooiay as in the

lein bottle o in the Mbius stip whee exteio andinteio ndetemine each othe. In this new space Eu-opean cities would ediscove thei ancent vocation ofcies of the wold by enteing into a elation of ecip-ocal extateitoialit.

As I wite this essay 425 Palestinians expelledby the state of Isael nd themselves in a sot of no-mansland. These men cetainly consttute accodingto Hannah Aendt's suggestion "the vanguad of theipeople. But that is so not necessaily o not meely inthe sense that they might fom the oigina nuleus ofa ftue national state o in the sense hat they mightsolve the Palestinian question in a way jut as insucientas the way in which Isael has solved the Jewish question.Rathe the nomansland in which they ae efgeeshas aleady stated fom this vey moment to act backonto the teito of the state of Isael by pefoating it

y n d m a g h s

<Q



and altring it in such a way that th imag of that snowymountain has bcom mor intrnal to it than any othrrgion of Ertz Isral. Only in a world in which th

spacs of stats hav bn thus prforatd and topologically dformd and in which th citizn has bn ablto rcogniz th rg that h or sh is only in sucha world is th political survival of humannd todaythinkabl

(993

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What s a Peple?

AY IEPEAI of te pota meanng of teterm peope ogt to start from te pear fat tat nmodern Eropean angages ts term always ndatesaso te poor te nderprveged, and te exded Tesame term names te onstttve pota sbjet as weas te ass tat s exdedde fato, f not de jreom pots

Te Itaan termpopoo, te Fren term peu-

pe, and te Spans term pueoaong wt te orrespondng adjetves popoae, popuae popua and teateLatn terms popuu and popua from w teya derve desgnate n ommon parane and n te pota exon ake te woe of te tzenry as a ntarybody pot (as n te Itaan peope" or n ue popo-ae" [jryman]) as we as tose wo beong to nferor



lasses (as n 0e u peuple [man of the people onepopolae [orknglass neghborhood] ont populae[popular front Even the Englsh peoplehose sense

s more undfferentateddoes retan the meanng of ona people as opposed to the rh and the arsto-ray. n the meran Consttton one thus reads thout any sort of dstnton: We the people of the UntedStates . . "; but hen Lnoln n the Gettysburg Addressnvokes a government of the people by the people forthe people" the repetton mpltly sets another peopleaganst the frst he extent to hh suh an ambgty

as essental even durng the Frenh Revoluton (that sat the very moment n hh people's soveregnty aslamed as a prnple s tnessed by the desve roleplayed n t by a sense of ompasson for the people n-tended as the exluded lass. Hannah rendt remnds usthat:

he ve dention of the wod wa bo ot of comaion, and e tem became the eqivalent fo mifotune and unhaine- peupe es mabeureux

m'ppudissent a Robeiee wa wont to a; e

peupe tos mbeeux a even Sie one of theleat entmental and mot obe e of the Revolution would ut t."

But ths s already a double onept for Jean Bodnalbet n a dfferent sensen the hapter of Le Sx Lve e la Rpulque n hh he defnes Demoray or tatPopulae hle the menu peuple s that hh t s se

0 , 1

to exlude from poltal poer the peupe en op s ntended as enttled to soveregnty.

Suh a despread and onstant semant ambty an-not be adental: t surely relets an ambguty nher-ent n tbe natre and nton of the onept of peoplen Western polts. t s as f n other ords hat e allpeople as atually not a untary subjet but rather a d-aletal osllaton beteen to opposte poles: on theone hand the People as a hole and as an ntegral bodypolt and on the other and the people as a subset andas fragmentary multplty of needy and exluded bod-es; on the one hand an nlusve onept that pretendsto be thout remander hle on the other hand anexlusve onept on to afford no hope; at one polethe total state of the soveregn and ntegrated tzensand at the other pole the banshmentether ourt of mrales or amp of the rethed the oppressed andthe vanqushed. There exsts no sngle and ompat ref-erent for the termpeople anhere: lke many ndamental poltal onepts (hh n ths respet are smlarto Abel and Freds ote or to Dumnts herarh

al relatons people s a polar onept that ndates adouble movement and a omplex relaton beteen toextremes. Ths also means hoever that the onsttu-ton of the human spees nto a body polt omes ntobeng through a fndamental splt and that n the on-ept of people e an easly reognze the oneptal pardentfed earler as the denng ategory of the orgnal

Wht s P o p l



political tructur nak lif eople) an political xi-tnc (People) xcluion an incluion, zo an bios Theonept ofpeople always alread ontai within itse the-

daental biopotial ature It is what annot be inludedin the whole of whih it is a part as wel as what annot be-long to the whole in whih it is l7s already inluded

Hnc th contraiction an aporia thatuch a concpt crat vry tim that it i invok anbrought into play on th political tag It i hat alayalray i, a l a hat ha yt to b raliz it i thpur ourc of intity an yt it ha to rfin an pu-ri itlf continuouly accoring to xcluion, languag,bloo, an trritory It i hat ha in it oppoit polth vry nc that it itlf lack it ralization thr-for coinci ith it on abolition; it mut ngat it-lf through it oppoit in orr to b. (Hnc th p-cic aporia of th orkr movmnt that trn toarth popl an at th am tim aim at it aboltion)Th concpt of poplbranih ach an vry tima th blooy ag of raction an a th faltring ban-nr of rvolution an popular front alay containa mor original plit than th on bn nmy an

frin, an incant civil ar that at onc ivi thiconcpt mor raically than any conict an kp itunit an contitut it mor firmly than any intity a mattr of fact, hat Ma call cla gglichoccupi uch a cntral plac in hi thought, vn thoughh nvr n it ubtantiallyi nothing othr thanthi intrncin ar that ivi vry popl an thathall com to an n only hn People an people coin

2 ,

ci, in th clal ocity or in th mianic king-om, an only hn thr hall no longr b, proprlypaking, any popl

If thi i th caif th concpt of people ncarilycontain ithin itlf th fnamntal biopolitical frac-tur t i poibl to ra an om ciiv pag of th hitory of our cntury If th truggl bn thto popl ha alay bn in proc, in fact, it haunrgon in our tim on lat an paroxmal acclr-ation. In ancint Rom, th plit intrnal to th popl

a juriically anction by th clar itinction b-tn populus an plebsach ith it on intitutionan magitratjut a in th Mil Ag th iviionbtn artian opolo inuto an mrchant popolograsso u to corrpon to a prci arculation of if-frnt art an craft. But hn, tarting ith th FrnchRvoluton, ovrignty i ntrt oly to th popl,th people bcom an mbarraing prnc, an povrtyan xcluion appar for th rt tim a an intolrablcanal in vry n In th morn ag, povrty anxcluion ar not only conomic an ocial concpt but

alo minntly political catgori. (Th conomim anocialim" that m to ominat morn politic ac-tually hav a political, or, rathr, a biopoltil maning)

From thi prpctiv, our im i nothingothr than th mthoical an implacabl attmpt toll th plit that ivi th popl by raically liminat-ing th popl of th xclu. Such an attmpt bringtogthr, accoring to irnt moaliti an horizon,

Wat s p e ?

iZ



bot t rigt and t lft bot caitalist contris andsocialist contris wic av all bn nitd in t lanto rodc on singl and ndividd ol an ltimatly ftil lan tat owvr as bn artiall ralizd in all indstrializd contris. obsssion witdvlomnt is so ffctiv in or tim bcas it coincids wit t bioolitical lan to rodc a ol witot fractr

n sn in tis ligt t xtrmination of t Jws in Nazi Grmany acqirs a radically nw maning As a ol tat rss intgration in t nationalbody olitic (it is assmd in fact tat its assiationis actally only fignd on) t Jws ar t rr

sntativs ar xcllnc and almost t living symbol of t ppl of tat nakd lif tat modrnity ncssarilycrats witin itslf bt wos rsnc it is no longrabl to tolrat in any way W ogt to ndrstand tlcid wit wic t Grman lkrrsntativar xcllnc of t ol as intgral body olitictrid to liminat t Jws forvr as rcisly t trminal as of t intrncin strggl tat divids Ppl and ppl Wit t nal soltionwic incldd

Gysis and otr nassimilabl lmnts for a rasonNazism trid obscrly and in vain to fr t Wstolitical stag from tis intolrabl sadow so as to rodc nally t Grman lk as t ol tat as bnabl to al t original bioolitica fractr. (nd tatis wy t Nazi cifs ratd so obstinatly tat byliminating Jws and Gysis ty wr actally working also for t otr roa ols.)

=0

0

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4 , 5

Pararasing t Frdian ostlat on trlation btn Es and Ich on migt say tat modrnbiooitics is sortd by t rincil according to

wic wr tr is nakd lif tr as to b a PpI" as long as on adds immdiatly tat tis rincilis valid also in its invrs formlation wic rscribstat wr tr is a Ppl tr sall b nakd lif fractr tat was blivd to av bn ald byliminating t ppl namly t Jws wo ar itssymbolrrodcd itslf anw trby trning t

wol Grman ol into sacrd lif tat is doomd todat and into a biological body tat as to b innitlyrid (by liminating t mntally ill and t carrirs

of rditary disass) nd today in a diffrnt and ytanalogos way t caitalisticdmocratic lan to liminat t oor not only rrodcs insid itsf t ol of t xcldd bt also trns all t olations of t ird World into nakd lif Only a olitics tat asbn abl to com to trms wit t ndamntal bioolitical slit of t Wst will b abl to arrst tis oscillation and t an nd to t civil war tat divids t ols and t citis of t art.

15

What a P p l



What s a Camp?

WHAT HAEED n the caps exceeds the judcal con-cept of ce to such an extent that the specc poltcal judcal stucte wthn whch those events took placehas often bee left sply unexaned. he cap s theplace n whch the ost absolute condto nUmn eveto appea on Eath was ealzed: ths s ultately all thatcounts fo the vcts as well as fo postet. Hee I wlldelbeately set out n the opposte decton Rathe than

deducng the defnton of cap fo the events thattook pace thee I wll ask nstead: at a camp? hat t poltcaljurdcal tructure? How could uch event havetaken place there? Ths wll lead us to look at the capnot as a hstocal fact and an anoaly thatthough ad-ttedly stll wth us belongs nonetheless to the pastbut athe n soe sense as the hdden atx and nomoof the poltcal space n whch we stll lve.



Hitorin bt hthr th rt pprnc of cmp ought to b inti ith th capos econcencones tht r crt in 896 by th Spnirin Cub in orr to rpr th inurrction of tht cooy popution, or rthr ith th conentraton capsinto hich th Engih hr th Bor t th bgin-ning of th tntith cntury. Wht mttr hr i thtin both c on i ing ith th xtnion to n ntir civiin popution of tt of xcption ink to cooni r. Th cmp, in othr or, r not boout of orinr , n vn r thy th pro-uct on might hv bivof trnformtionn vopmnt of prion rthr, thy r born

out of th tt of xcption n mrti . Thi i vnmor vint in th c of th Nzi Lage ho origin n juriic rgim i ocumnt. It i knon tht th juriic fountion of intmnt not orinry but rthr th SchutzhaJ (itry, pro-tctiv cutoy), hich juriic intittion of Pru-in rivtion tht Nzi jurit omtim conir mur of prvntiv poicing inmuch it nbth tng into cuto of iniviu rgr of ny

rvnt crimin bhvior n xcuivy in orr tovoi thrt to th curity of th tt Th origin of th SchutzhaJ hovr, ri in th Pruin onth tt of ig tht p on Jun 4 85, ntht xtn to th ho of Grmny (ith thxcption of Bvri) in 87, in th rirPruin on th protction of pron from"

3 8 , 9

(Schutz er persnlchen Freiheit) tht p on b-ru 2 850 Both th r ppi iy uring Wor Wr I.

On cnnot ovrtimt th portnc of thi contitutiv nx bn tt of xcption nconcntrtion cmp for corrct unrtning of thntur of th cmp. Ironicy, th protction" of fr-om tht i in qution in th Schutzhaft i protctiongint th upnion of th tht chrctriz thtt of mrgncy. ht i n hr i tht thi inti-tution i iov by th tt of xcption on hich it foun n i o to continu to b n forcunr norm circumtnc. The cap is the space that

opens up when the state of eception starts t ecoe the ruleIn it, th tt of xcption, hich ntiy tmpor upnion of th tt of , cquir prm-nnt pti rrngmnt tht, uch, rmin contntyouti th norm tt of . hn Himmr ci,in Mrch 933 on th occion of th cbrtion of Hitr ction to th chncorhip of th Rich, tocrt concntrtion cmp for poitic prionr" tDchu, thi cmp immity ntrut to th SS

n, thnk to th SchutzhaJ pc outi th juriiction of crimin prion , ith hich it nithr thn nor tr vr h nything too. Dchu, th othr cmp tht r oon to it (Schnhun, Buchn, Lichtnbrg),rmin virtuy y oprtiv: th numbr of in-mt vri n uring rtin pro (in prticur, b

Wht Cmp?

n

o



een 1935 an 1937, befoe e epoaon of he Jewbegan eae o 7500 peope he amp a uhhowee ha beome a pemanen ea n Gemany

One ough o ee on he paaoxa au of heamp a pae of exepon: he amp a pee of e-o ha pae oue he noma ua oe foa ha howee no mpy an exena pae A-ong o he eymooga meanng of he em eep-ton (eapere) wha beng exue n he amp aptured outsde ha nue by ue of e exuon. Thu wha beng apue une he ueof w of a he e ae of exepon In oe

wo f oeegn powe foune on he ab oee on he ae of exepon he amp he u-ue n whh e ae of exepon pemaneny ea-ze Hannah en obee one ha wha ome ogh n he amp he pnpe ha uppo oa-aan omnaon an ha ommo ene ubboyefe o am o namey he pnpe aong o

whh anyhng pobe I ony beaue he amponue a pae of exepona pae n whh e

aw ompeey upeneha eehng uypobe n hem. If one oe no unean h pa-ua poajua ue of he amp whoeoaon peey o eaze pemaneny he exeponhe nebe een ha ook pae n hem eman en-ey unnegbe. The peope who enee he ampmoe abou n a zone of nnon beween he ou-e an he ne he exepon an he ue he

w

r

c

4 0 1

an he n whh ee ua poeon ha -appeae moeoe f hey wee ew hey ha aeaybeen epe of zenhp gh by he uembeg

Law an wee ae ompeey enaonaze a hemomen of he na ouon. Inasmuh as ts nave been strpped of every poltl tatus and ded omplete to naked l the amp s also te most absolute bopo-ltal spae tat as ever been realzed·a spae n whhpower ononts nothng oter tan pure boogal lfe wth-out any edaton. The amp he paagm ef of po-a pa a he pon n whh po beome bo-po an he homo saer bome nguhabefom he zen. The oe queon egang he ho-o omme n he amp heefoe no he que-on ha ak hypoay how ou hae beenpobe o omm uh aoou hoo agan ohhuman beng wou be moe hoe an aboe amoe ue o negae aey howha anko wha ua poeue an poa eehuman beng ou hae been o ompeey epe of he gh an peogae o he pon ha omm-ng any a owa hem wou no onge appea a a

me (a h pon n fa uy anyhng ha beomepobe.

If h e ae f he eene of he ampon n he maeazaon of he ae of exeponan n he onequen eaon of a pae fo nake fea uh we w hen hae o am o be fang a ampuay eey me ha uh a uue eae e-gae of he naue of he me omme n an

\; t C a m p

4 2 ,



rgardlss of th dnomnaton and spcc topographyt mght ha. Th soccr stadum n ar n hch thItalan polc tmporarly hrdd Alanan llgal mmgrants n 99 for sndng thm ack to thr coun

tr, th cyclracng track n hch th Vchy authortsroundd up th Js for handng thm or to thGrmans, th rfg camp nar th Spansh ordr hr Antono Machado dd n 939, as ll as th zoned'attente n Frnch ntrnatonal arports n hch forgnrs rqustng rg status ar dtand ll allha to consdrd camps. In all ths cass, an apparntly anodyn plac such as th Hotl Arcad narth Pars arport) dlmts nstad a spac n hch, for

all ntnts and purposs, th normal rul of la s suspndd and n hch th fact that atrocts may or maynot commttd dos not dpnd on th la ut rathron th clt and thcal sns of th polc that act tmporarly as sorgn Ths s th as, for xampl, durng th four days forgnrs may kpt n th zoned'attente for th ntrnton of Frnch judcal authorts. In ths sns, n crtan outskrts of th gratpostndustral cts as ll as th gatd communts of

th Untd Stats ar gnnng today to look lk camps,n hch nakd lf and poltcal lf, at last n dtrmnat momnts, ntr a zon of asolut ndtrmnacy.

From ths prspct, th rth of th camp n our tmappars to an nt that marks n a dcs ay thpoltcal spac tslf of modrnt. Ths rth taks plac

hn th poltcal systm of th modrn natonstat

foundd on th nctonal nxus tn a dtrmnatlocalzaon trrtor and a dtrnat ordr th stat), hch as mdatd y automatc rgulatons for th nscrpton of lf rth or naton) ntrs a prod of

prmannt crss and th stat dcds to undrtak thmanagmnt of th ologcal lf of th naton drctlyas ts on task In othr ords, f th structr of thnaonstat s dnd y thr lmntsterrito ordeand birth ruptur of th old noo dos not takplac n th to aspcts that, accordng to Carl Schmtt,usd to consttt t that s, localzaton, Ortung andordr, Ordnung) ut rathr at th st n hch nakdlf s nscrd n thm that s, thr hr nscrpton

turns birth nto nation) Thr s somthng that nolongr nctons n th tradtonal mchansms that usdto rglat ths nscrpton, and th camp s th n hddn rgulator of th nscrpton of lf n th ordror, rathr, t s th sgn of th systms nalt to ncton thout transformng tslf nto a lhal machnIt s mportant to not that th camps appard at thsam tm that th n las on ctznshp and on thdnatonalzaton of ctzns r ssud not only thNurmrg Las on ctznshp n th Rch ut alsoth las on th dnatonalzaton of ctzns that r ssud y almost all th uropan stats ncludng Franc,tn 95 and 933. Th stat of xcpon, hchusd to ssntally a tmporar suspnson of thordr, coms no a n and stal spatal arrangmnt nhatd y that nakd lf that ncrasngly cannot nscrd nto th ordr. The inreaingly widen

What I s a Camp

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.

4 4 . 5



ing gap bet birth naked ife and nationstate is the newfact of the politics of our tie and what we are caling cap"is this disprity To an order wthout ocazaton that the tate of ecepton durng whch the aw upended

correpond now a ocazaton wthout order that thecamp a permanent pace of ecepton The potca ytem no onger order form of fe and jurdca normn a determnate pace; rather, t contan wthn tef adisloating localization that eceed t and n whch rtuay eery form of fe and eery norm can be capturedThe camp ntended a a docatng ocazaton thehdden matr of the potc n whch we t e and

we mut earn to recognze t n a of t metamorphoe

The camp the fourth and neparabe eement that habeen added to and ha broken up the od trnty of naton brth tate, and terrt

It from th perpecte that we need to eethe reappearance of camp n a form that , n a certanene, een more etreme n the terrtore of the formerYugoaa hat happenng there not at a, a omentereted oberer ruhed to decare a redenton of the od potca ytem accordng to new ethnc and terrtora arrangement, that a mpe repetton of theprocee that cumnated n the conttuton of the European natontate Rather, we note there an rreparabe rupture of the od noos a we a a docaton of popuaton and human e accordng to entrey newne of ght That why the camp of ethnc rape areo crucay mportant If the Naz neer thought of carryng out the na outon" by mpregnatng Jwh

0

w

.

women that becaue the prncpe of brth, whch enured the ncrpton of fe n the order of the natontate, wa n ome way t fctonng, een though t

wa profoundy tranformed Th prncpe now adr

t ha entered a proce of docaton n whch t nctonng becomng pateny mpobe and n whch wecan epect not ony new camp but ao away new andmore derou normate defnton of the ncrptonof fe n the ct. The camp whch now rmy ettednde t, the new bopotcanoos of the panet.

14)

W h I s a Cmp



I.- �



•

Ns n Gesture

By the end of the nineteenth entury the Wte bourgeoiiehad denitely lot it geture.

I 1886 Gll d la Tourtt ann ntrn d H6ptaux d ar t d la Salptrr, puld wt Dlaay t Lronr t ;tude linique et phyiologique rla arhe [Clnal and pologal d on t gat]t wa t rt tm tat on of t mot ommon uman

gtur wa analyzd wt trtly ntf mtod.Ffttr yar arlr wn t ourgo goodonn wa t ntat t plan of a gnral patology of oal lf annound y Balzac ad produdnotng mor tan t fft ratr dappontng pagof t Thoie de la darhe [Tor of arng] Not-ng mor ralng of t dtan (not only a tmporalon) paratng t to attmpt tan t drpton

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G a ourtt g o a huma tp. hraBaza aw oy th xpro o mora haratr aourt mpoy a gaz that aray a prophy o what matography wou atr bom

Wh th ft g acts as th crm, th rght foots rasd from th grond wth a cong moton thatstarts at th h and rachs th tp of th tos whcha th grond ast th who g s now broghtforward and th foot tochs th grond wth thh t ths vry nstant th ft foot-havng nddts rvoton and anng ony on th tp of th tosavs th grond th ft g s broght forward, gtscosr to and thn passs th rght g and th foottochs th grond wth th h, wh th rght foot

nds ts own rvoton.1

Oy a y gt wth uh a o ouha prt that ootprt mtho o whh G a ourtt wa wth goo rao o prou approxmaty or ghtmtrog a tmtr w ro o wht wapapr wa a to th groua th ha gthw by a praw h o o th xprmt' ubt wr thmar wth ro quox powr whh tathm wth a r rut oor. h ootprt that thpatt t wh wakg aog th g aowa prt maurmt o th gat aorg to arouparamtr ( gth o th tp atra wr ag oato t).

w obr th ootprt rproutopubh by G a ourtt t mpob ot

to thk about th r o aphot tht Muybrg wa proug tho am yar at th rt oyaa ug a battr o twtour photograph. Ma wakg at orma p" rug ma

th hotgu" wakg woma pkg up a ug" wakg woma g a k" th ar th happy a b tw o th ukow a urg ratur thatha t tho tra.

h tude sur une action nerveuse caractrisepar de lincoordnaton otrce accompagne d'cholale et decoprolalie Stuy o a rou oto haratrz byak o motor oorato aompa by hoaa aoproaa1 wa pubh a yar bor th o th

gat am out h book th a pro o what atr wou b a G a ourtt yrom. O th oao th am tag that thootprt mtho ha ab th a o a mot ommo gtr wa app to th rpto o a amazg prorato o t pamo rk a marm a prorato that aot b ay wayothr tha a a graz atatroph o th phr ogr att a thr tart or ompt th mpt o gtr. thy ar ab to tart a momtth trrupt a brok up by hok akg ayoorato a by trmor that g th mpro thatth who muuatur gag a a (chorea) that ompty pt o ay ambuaor . hquat o th orr th phr o th gat xmpary rb by JaMart Charot h amou eons du ardi

N t s n G s u

5 .



He et -with hi bd bet frrd ad with hiwer lmb rigidl d etire dherig e t tether -b leig the tp f hi te Hi feet thebegi t ide the grud mehw d he preed thrugh me rt f wift tremr . .Whe the

patet hur imef frwrd i uh a w it eem if he might f frwrd miute i ae iti prtill impibe fr hm t tp all b himelf d fte he eed t thrw himelf a bjet erb Ie l lie utmat tht i beigprpeled b prig: there i thig i thee rigidjer d ive mvemet that reemble theimblee f the git.. Fi fter ever attempt, he et ff ad-i frmit t the afremetied mehim-lde ve r the grud rather

t wig i leg re rgid r t leat the bedever ight while hi tep are mehw ubtituted fr a ma brupt tremr2

s os exrorr s ese sorers fer vg ee osere ouss of csessce 1885, prcclly cese o e recore e rs yers of e ee cer ul e y e OlverScks e er of 1971 oug e oceree cses of Toures e sp of fe ues

le lkg log e srees of Ne ork Oeof e ypoeses coul e pu for orer o expl s spperce s ee xcs yso ecoe e or soepo everyoy los corol of er gesures s lkg gesculg frclly Ts s e

presso y re oe s e cg efls Mrey Lure eg o soo excly ose ers

n the nea a soe that has lost ts gestures tres at one to

rela what t has lost and to ed ts loss

A ge s los s gesres s for s reso osesse y e For u egs o ve los ever sese of rless ec sgle gesure ecoes esy A e ore gesres lose er ese uer eco of vsle poers e ore lfe ecoes ecperle s pse e ogeose c jus fe eces erler s sll rly possesso of ssyols succus o eror gves self up o

psycologNezsce represes e specfc oe

Europe culure e s polr eso beee eolero loss of gesures er rsguroo fe reces s clx Te oug o e eerre fc s ellgle oly s gesure cpoer c rless er cogecy ecess ecoe scele (uel oer orsoly s eer us Spake Zarathustra s e lle of

u s los s gesures A e e gerelze s e eg (u s oo le ! e precpous ep o recover e los gesures exresTe ce of Isor Duc Serge Dglev eovel of Prous e gre ugentl poer fro Pscolo Rlke flly os exeplrly e sle

N s s t





5 8 9



Nothg more mledg for dertdg of getre therefore th repreetg o theoe hd phere of me ddreg gol (forexmple mrchg ee me of movg the body

from pot to pot B) d o the other hd eprte d peror phere of getre movemet hth t ed telf (for exmple dce ee ethec dmeo) lt wthot me jt letg medlty tht h meg oly wth repect to ed. If dce getre t o rther bece t othg more th the edrce d the exhbto of the med chrcter of corporl movemet The getuei the exhibition of a edality it i the proe of aking aean vible a u. t llow the emergece of the begmedm of hm beg d th t ope eethcl dmeo for them. Bt jt porogrphclm people cght the ct of performg getretht mply me ddreed to the ed of gvgplere to other (or to hemelve) re kept peded d by ther ow medltyfor the oly reo of beg hot d exhbted ther medltd c become the medm of ew plere for the dece (plere tht wold otherwe be compreheble) or

jt the ce of the mme whe getre ddreedto the mot fmlr ed re exhbted ch d re kept peded etre le dr et l' ccomplemetl perptrto et o over [betee dere d lfllmet perpetrto d t recollecto] wht Mllrm cll ilieu pu o wht relyed to hm be

g getre ot the phere of ed telf btrther he phere of pre d edle medlty

t oly th wy tht the obcre Kt expreo prpovee wthot prpoe cqre

cocrete meg. Sch lty the relm of me tht power of the gere tht terrpt the getre t ver begme d oly th wy c exhbtt thereby trformg re to re geta I the me

wy f we dertd the word the me of commcto the to how word doe ot me to hvet oe' dpol hgher level ( metlgge telf commcble wth the t level) trtg from whch

we cold mke tht word object of commctot me rther to expoe the word t ow medl t ow beg me wthot y trcedece.The getre th ee commcto of commcblty. It h precely othg to y bece whtt how the beglgge of hm beg pre medlty owever bece beglgge ot omethg tht cold be d etece the getre eetlly lwy getre of ot beg ble togre omethg ot lgge t lwy gag the proper meg of the term dctg rt of ll

omethg tht cold be pt yr moth to hderpeech well the ee of the ctor' mprovto met to compete lo of memory or blty to pek rom th pot derve ot oly the proxmty betwee getre d phloophy bt lo the oebeee phloophy d cem. Cem' eel

N t n G t



lence whch has nothng to do wth the presence or absence of a sound track s just lke the slence of phlosophy exposure of the bengnangage of human bengs:pure gestralty. he Wttgenstenan denton of the

mystc as the appearng of what cannot be sad s lteraly a dention of the gag. nd every great phlosopcatext s the gag exhbtng langage tself bengnlanguage tself as a ggantc loss of memory as an ncurable speech defect

5. Poliis is he sphere of pure eans ha is of he absolue andoplee gesurali of huan beings

1992)



anguages an Peples

B A N D S Gypsies mde hei ppence in Fnceduing he s decdes of e feenh cenuy pe-iod chceized y ws nd disodes hey sid heycme fom Egyp nd wee ed by individus who cedhemseves dukes in pto pavo o couns in ptomno:

he st groups of Gpses were sghted o the territo of presetd Frce 1419 .. O ust22, 1419, the pper i the tow of Chtilloe

Dombe; the folowig d, the group reches StLuet de Mo-sx legues w-led b certi dre, due of Mio Egpt...I Jul 1422 eve lrger bd goes dow to Itl I ugust1427, Gpses pper for the rst me t the doosof Pris, fter hvig trveled though wrtorce ...he cpitl s vded b the Eglish d

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the entire edeFrance s infested wth bandits. Somegroups of Gypses, ld by dukes or counts in E or in E i701, cross the Pyrenees and go

as far as Barcelona"

Historians date the birth of argot, the secretlanguage of the coquiards and other gangs of evildoers,roughly to this same period These gangs prospered inthe tormented years tat marked the shift from medievalsociet to the modern state t is true, as he says, thatthe above mentioned coquilards use aong themselvesa secret language [langage exquis] that others cannotcomprehend if it is not taught to them Furthermore,through this language they can reognize the members

of the socalled Coquie" deposition y Perrenet at thetrial of the coquillards).

By simply putting the sources related to thesetwo events side y side, lice BeckerHo has been ableto realize the Benaminian project of writing an original work composed mostly of uotations2 The book's the-sis is apparently anodyne: as the subtitle indicatesneglected factor at the origins of the argot of the dangerousclasses- question consists in demonstrating tle der-

ivation of part of the argot lexicon from Rom, the lan-guage of psies A bief but essential glossar at the endof the volue lists those argotic terms that have an ev-ident echo, not to say a sure origin, in the psy dialectsof Europe."3

lthough this thesis does not exceed tleboundaries of sociolinguistics, it implies nonetheless an

e

other and more significant argument: as much as argot

is not properly a langage but a jargon, so the Gypsiesare not a people but te last descendants of a class of outlaws dating from another era

Gypses are our Mddle Ages presered; dangerousclasses of an earer epoch The Gypsy terms that

made t nto he dfferent are much ie theGses themselves: since ther fst apparence in

fact Gypses adopted the patronymcs of the countries through which they traveled-j

thereby osng somehow their identi on paper in theeyes of all those who beieve they can read.4

This explains why scholars were never suc-

cessl i interpreting the Gypsies' origins and in gettingto low well their language and customs the ethno-graphic investigation, in this case, becomes ipossiblebecause the informers are systematially lying

hy is this most original hypothesiswhichrefers, aer all, to marginal lingistic realties and to mar-ginal populations so iportant? Benjami once wrotethat, at crucial moments of histor, the final blow mustbe struck with the left hand, intervening on the hidden

nuts and bolts of the machine of social knwledge. lthough lice BeckerHo maintains herself within thelimits of her thesis, it is probable tlt she is perfectlyaware of having laid a mine which is ready to explodeat any given timeat the very focal pont of our politi-cal theo We do not have, in fact, the slighest idea of

what either a people or a language is. (It is well known

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that lngusts can construct a grammarthat s, a un-tary system wth descrbable characterstcs that couldbe called languageonly by takng the factum loquendifor granted, that s, only by takng for granted the sm-ple fact that human bengs speak and understand each

other, a fact that s stll naccessble to scence) N ever-theless, all of our poltcal cultre s based on the relatonbetween these to notons Romantc deologywhchconscously created ths connection, thereby nluenc-ng extensvely modern lngustc theory as well as thepoltical theory that s still domnant nowadaystredto clar somethng that was already obscure (the con-cept of people) wth the help of somethng even moreobscure (the concept of language) Thanks t the sym-

botic correspondence thus nsttuted, to contngentand ndene cultural entites transform themselves ntoalmost natural organsms endowed wth ther own nec-essary laws and characterscs Polical theory, n fact,must presuppose, wthout the ablty to explan t, thefactum pluralitatis- term etmologcally related to populus, wth whch I would lke to ndcate the smple factthat human bengs form a communtywhereas lngus-tcs must presuppose, wthout questonng t, thefactum

quendi. The smple correspondence between these tofacts defnes modern poltcal dscourse

The relaton between Gpses and argot putsths correspondence radcally nto queston n the verynstant n whch t parodcally reenacts t. Gypses areto a people what argot s to language. And although ths

'

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analogy can last but for a bref moment, t nonethelesssheds lght on that truth whch the correspondence be-teen language and people was secretly ntended to con-ceal all peoples are gangs and coquilles, all languages are jargons andargot

Wat s at stake here s not to evaluate thescentc accuracy of ths thess but rather not to let tslberatng power slp out of our hands Once our gaze sfocused on ts matter, the pererse and tenacous ma-chnes that gove our potical magnary suddenly losether power It should be evdent to everybody, after all,that we are talkng about an magnary, especally nowa-days when the dea of a people has long lost any sub-stantal realty Even f we admt that ths dea never had

any real content other than the nspd catalog of char-acterstcs lsted by the old phlosophcal anthropolo-ges, t was already made meanngless, n any case, bythe same modern state that presented tsel as ts keeperand ts expresson l wellmeanng chatter notth-standng, the dea of a people today s nothng otherthan the empty support of state dentty and s recog-nzed only as such For those who mght stl nurturesome doubt on the matter, t would be nstructive to

take a look at what s happenng around us from thspont of vew: on the one hand, the world powers take

up arms to defend a state without a people (Kuwat) and,on the other hand, thepeoples without a stat (Kurds, Ar-menans, Palestnans, Basques, Jews of the Daspora)can be oppressed and extermnated wth mpunty, so as

La ngua ges a nd Pop ls





t ug that Bjam ud tut th gu f dmd humat t a u aguag that a dub t a gamma t a atua agag.

Laguag a th jag that hd th ux f aguag jut a a th m

u mak f thatum puraiati h hyu tak at by b th th tut f th jag t gamma th dfat f t tat dt O th ta t yby bakg at a t th x bt th xtf agag gamma ad tat that thught adax b qua t th tak at had. h fm f th tut dug hh thatum f aguagad th atum f mmu m t ght f a

tata mafd ad hag adg t tm adumta atvat f a jag trobar /us uaguag mtaa at f a gammata aguag ad I ay a t a that hat attak h t mthg my gut ta but abv a ta ad hha

(995•

'•



Margial Nos onCmearie o Socie f the pcal

trategistGU Y D E B RD

' book oniu h c n mo nyi of h mii n y of ociyh by now h xn i ominion o h whopnh i o y, h ociy of h pcc in which w i. A uch h book o no n cificion pi, o of , pfc A mo i mighb poib o ugg h fw go in h mginmuch ik ho ign h h mi copyi c

ongi of h mo nowohy pg. Foowing igoou nchoiic innion hy in fc sepaatedfom h x n hy n hi own pc no in n impobb wh bu oy in h pci cophicimiion of wh hy cib.

wou b of no u o pi h book' inpnnc of jugmn n pophic cioync oh cic ppicuiy of hi y Th no uho

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today who could cosole temselves by thikig thattheir work will be read i a cetry (by what kind of hu-ma beigs?), ad there are o readers who could atterthemselves (with respect to what?) with the owledgeof belogig to that small umber of people who uder-stood that work before others did They should be usedrather as mauals, as istrumets of resistace or exo-dusmuch like those improper weapos that the gi-tive picks up ad iserts hastily uder the bel t (accordigto a beautil image of Deleuze). Or, rather, they shouldbe used as the work of a peculiar strategist (the title Com-mentaries, i fact, harks back to a traditio of this kid)a strategist whose eld of actio is ot so much a battlei whic to marshal troops but the pure power of the

itellect. A setece by Karl vo Clausewitz, cited i thefourth Itaia edio of The Society of the Spectacle, ex-presses perfectly this character

In strategic critiques, the essetial fact is to position yourself exactly in the acto rs' point of view. It is truethat this is often very dicult. Most strategic critiques

would disappear completely or would be reduced tominor differences of uderstanding if the writers

would or could position themselves in all the circum-stances in which the actors had found themselves.1

I this sese, ot oly Machiavelli's The Prince but alsoSpioza's Ethics are treatises o strategy: operatios depotentia intelectus sive de libertate.

Phantasmagoria

Marx was in London when the frst Universal E xposition

was ina ugurated with enormo us clamor in H yde Park

i 851. og the various projects submitted, the or-gaizers had chose the oe by Paxto, which called fora immese buildig made etirely o crystal I theExpositio's catalog, Merrield wrote tat the CrystalPalace is perhaps the oly buildig i te word i wich

the atmosphere is perceivable . . by a spectator sitatedeither at the west or east extremity of the gallery. . wherethe most distat parts of the buildig appear wrappedi a light blue halo."2 The rst great triumph of the com-modity thus takes place uder the sign of both tras-pare ad phatasmagoria. Furthermore, the guide tothe Paris Uiversal Expositio of 867 reistates thiscotradictory spectacular character Il faut au [public]

ue coceptio gradiose qui frappe so imagiatio . . .

il veut cotempler u coup d' il ferique et o pas desproduits similaires et uiformemet groups" The pub-lic eeds a gradiose coceptio that strikes its imagi-atio . . it wats to behold a wodrous prospect rathertha similar ad uiformly arraged products.

It is probable that Marx had i mid the im-pressio felt i the Crystal Palace whe he wrote thechapter of Capital o commodity fetishism. It is certailyot a coicidece that this chapter occupies a liial po

sitio. The disclosure of the commoditys secret" wasthe key that revealed capital's echated realm to ourthoughta secret that capital always tried to hide byexposig it i view.

Without the ideticatio of this immate-rial ceteri which the products of labor" split them-selves ito a use value ad a exchage value ad be-come commodities, sesuous igs wich are at te same

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time supasesible scial3all the fllwing citi-cal investigatins undetaken in al pbably wuldnt have been pssible.

I the 1960s, hweve the Maian analsis f the fetish chaacte f the cmmdity was in the Max-ist milieu, flishly abandned. In 1969, in the pefacet a ppula pint f Capital, Luis lthusse culd stillinvite eades t skip the fist sectin, with the easnthat the the f fetishism was a agant and ex-temely hamfl tace f Hegelian philsphy.4

It is f this easn that Debds gese ap-peas all the me emakable as he bases his analysisf the sciet f the spectaclethat is f a capitalismthat has eached its exteme figuepecisely n that

"agant tace The "becmingimage f capital isnthing me than the cmmdits last metamph-sis in which exchange value has cmpletely eclipsed usevalue and can nw achieve the status f abslute and i-espnsible sveeignt ve life in its entiet afte hav-ing falsied the entie scial pductin. In this sese,the Cstal Palace in Hyde Pak whee the cmmdit unveiled and exhibited its mystey f the st time, is apphecy f the spectacle, athe, the nightmae i

which the nineteenth cent deamed the tentieth.The fist dut the Sitatinists assigned themselves wast wake up fm this nightmae

Walpurgis Night

If there is in o ur cent ury a writer with whom Debord

might agree to be compared, this writer wo uld be Karl

aus. Nbdy has been able t bing t light the hidden laws f the spectacle as raus did n his bstinatestuggle against junalists "in these lud times whichbm with the hible symphny f actns which p-duce epts and f epts which cause actins.5 d

if smene wee t imagine smething aalgus t thevieve that in Debds lms uns alngside the ex-psue f that deset f ubble which is the spectaclenthing wuld be me apppiate tha auss vice.A vice thatin thse public lectes whose cham EliasCanetti has descibedfinds and lays bae the intimateand fecius anachy f tiumphant capitalism in Of-fenbach's peetta

The punch line with wch Kaus in the

psthumus Third Wlpurgis Night justied his silencein the face f the ise f Nazism is wel knwn: OnHitle nthing cmes t my mind. This ecius Vtz whee aus cnfesses withut indulgence his wn lim-itatin, maks als the imptence f satie when facedby the becmingeality f the indescibableA a sati-ical pet he is tuly nly ne f the last epignes in-abiting the ancient hme f language. Cetainly alsin Debd, as mch as in aus, language pesents itself as the image and the place f justice. Nevetheless theanalgy stps thee. Debds discuse begins pecisely whee satie becmes speechless The ancient hme f language (as well as the litea taditin n which satieis based) has been, by nw, falsied and maipulated mtp t bttm. Kaus eacts t this sitatin by tninglanguage int the place f Univesal Judgment. Debd

Ma r g i n l Notes



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pc hrbh nsg nd hn h cnsrucd s-uns n h cun f pr bu h brn f n urr pr Gtu s h nm f hs nrscn bn f nd r, c nd pr, gnrnd prcur x nd xcun I s mn f f

subrcd frm h cnx f ndvdu bgrphy s s mmn f r subrcd frm h nur f shcs s pur prxs. Th gsur s nhr usvu nr xchng vu, nhr bgrphc xprncnr mprsn vn s h hr sd f h cmmd- h s h cryss f hs cmmn sc sub-snc" snk n h sun

Aushwitz/Timisoaa

Prbby h ms dsqung spc f brds bkss h fc h hsr sms hv cmmd sf rnssy cnrm hr nyss. Tn yrs r ThSoit o th Spta h Commntai 188) rgsrdh prcsn f h dgnss nd xpcns f hprvus bk n vr spc. Mnh, h curs f hsr hs ccrd unfrmy n h sm drcn:ny yrs fr hs bks pubcn, n fc, cud sy h rd pcs s nhng mr hn

hs nd prdc msnscn f h scrp cnndn h bk. Th subsn unfcn f h cncn-rd spcc (h Esrn pps dmcrcs ndf h dffsd spcc (h Wsrn dmcrcs nn ngrd spcc s, by n, rv vdnc. Thsunfcn, hch cnsud n f h cnr hssf h Commntai pprd prdxc mny p

p h m Th mmvb s nd h rn cur-ns h dvdd h rds r pd u n f dys. Th Esrn gvrnmns d h nn-s pr f s h h ngrd spcc cud bcmpy rd n hr cunrs In h sm y,

h Ws hd rdy rnuncd h g h bncf prs s s rl frdm f hugh nd cmmu-ncn n h nm f h cr mchn f mjryv nd f md cnr vr pubc pnnbhf hch hd dvpd hn h rn mdrnss

Tmsr, Rmn rprsns h xrpn f hs prcss nd dsrvs gv s nm h n urn n rd pcs. Bcus hr h scr

pc hd cnsprd gns sf n rdr vrhrh d spcccncnrd rgm h snshd, nkdy nd hu fs mds, h r p- fncn f h md Bh vsn nd scrpc, hrfr, succdd n dng smhng hNsm hd n vn drd mgn brng Ausch- nd h Rchsg r ghr n n mnsrusvn. Fr h rs m n h hsr f humnknd,crpss h hd jus bn burd r nd up n h

mrgus bs r hsy xhumd nd rurd nrdr smu, n frn f h vd cmrs, hgncd h gmd h n rgm. Wh h n-r rd s chng v n vsn, 1nkng sh r ruh, s n r h bsu nnruh nd,hugh h fscn pprd b smms qubvus, s nrhss gmd s ru by h

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meis worl system, so tht it woul be cler tht theue ws, by ow, othig more th momet withithe ecessry movemt of the flse. I this wy, truth flsit becme iistiguishble from ech other the spectcle legitimize itself solely through the

spectcle.imisor is, i this sese, the Auschwitz of

the ge of the spectcle i the sme wy i which iths bee si tht fter Auschwitz it is impossible to write thi s before, fter imisor it will be o logerpossible to wtch televisio i the sme wy.

hekinah

How c thought collect Debors iheritce toy, i

the ge of the complete triumph of the spectcle? It iseviet, fter ll, tht the spectcle is lguge, the verycommuictivity ligistic beig of hums. hismes tht itegrte Mrxi lysis shoul teito cosiertio the fct tht cpitlism (or whteverother me we might wt to give to the process omitig worl histor toy) ot oly ime t the expropritio of proctive ctivit, but lso, bove ll, tthe lietio of lguge itself, of the liguistic

commuictive ture of hum beigs, of tht ogo i which Herclitus ieties he Commo. he extremeform of the expropritio of the Commo is the spectcle, i other wors, the politics i which we live. tthis lso mes tht wht we ecouter i the spectcleis our ver liguistic tre iverte For this reso(precisely becuse wht is beig exproprite is the pos

sibilit itself of commo goo), the spectces violeceis so estructive but, for the sme reso, the spectclestill cotis somethig lie positive possibilitit is our ts to use this possibilit gist it

Nothig resembles this coitio more th

the si tht cblists cll isoltio of the Sheih" tht they ttribute to heroe of the four rbbis wo, ccorig to fmous Hggh of the lmu, etere the res (tht is, supreme owlege) Four rbbis," the story goes, etere Heve e Azzi, eZom, her bbi Aib . . e zzi cst glce ie. . . . e Zom looe wet crzy . . . Ahercut the brches bbi ib cme out uiure."

he Sheih is the lst of the te Sefirot or

ttributes of the iviit, the oe tht expresses iviepresece itself, its mifesttio or hbittio o rth:its wor." her's cutg of the brches" is ieeby cblists with the si of Am, who, iste of cotempltig the Serot i their totlit, preferre tocotemplte oly the lst oe, isoltig it from the othersthereby seprtig the tree of sciece from thetree of life Lie Am, her represets humit isof s, mig owlege his ow estiy a his ow

specic power, he isoltes owlege the wor, wich re othig other th the most complete formof the mifesttio of Go (the Sheih), from theother Serot i which he revels himself The ik hee ithat the wodthat i the nonaten and the eveation oomething might beome epaate om what it evea andmight end up aquiing an autonomou oniten. he re

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vealed and manfestedand hene, mmn and sharealeeng emes separate frm the thng revealedand mes n eteen the latter and hman engs. nths ndtn f ele, the Sheknah lses ts pstveper and emes harml (the aalsts say that t

sks the mlk f evl).he slatn f the Sheknah ths epresses

r ephal ndtn. Whereas nder the ld regme theestrngement f the mmnatve essene f hmanengs sstantated tself as a presppstn that seredas the mmn fndatn, n the sety f the spetale t s ths very mmnatvty, ths gener essenetself (that s, langage as Gattungween) that s engseparated n an atnms sphere. What prevents m

mnatn s mmnalt tself; hman engs arekept separate y hat ntes them. Jrnalsts and themeda estalshment (as ell as psyhanalysts n the prvate sphere) nsttte the ne lergy f sh an alenatn f the lngst natre f hman engs.

n th set f the spetale, n fat, the slatn f the Sheknah reahes ts fnal phase, n hhlangage nt ny nstttes tself as an atnmssphere, t als n lnger reveals anythng at allr,etter yet, t reveals the nthngness f all thngs. n langage there s nthng f Gd, f the rld, f the revealed t, n ths etreme nllng nvelng, langage(the lngst natre f hman engs) remans neagan hdden and separated. Langage ths aqres, frthe last tme, the nspken per t lam a hstralage and a state fr tself the age f th spetale, r the

e

state f flly realzed nhlsm. hs s hy tday perfnded n a presppsed fndatn s vallatng allarnd te planet the kngdms f the arth are settngt, ne after the ther, fr the spetalardemratregme that nstttes the mpletn f the statefrm.

ven mre than enm neesstes and tehnlgaldevelpment, hat drves the natns f the arth t ard a sngle mmn destny s the alenatn f lngst eng, the prtng f all peples frm ther vtal dellng n langage. Bt eatly fr ths reasn, theage n hh e lve s als that n hh fr the frsttme t emes pssle fr hman engs t eperenether n lngs essenet eperene, that s, ntsme langage ntent r sme tre prpstn, t

langage ite as ell as the very fat f speakng. Cntemprary plts s pesely ths devastatng expeimentum inguae that dsartlates and emptes, all verthe planet, adtns and elefs, delges and relgns,denttes and mmntes.

Only thse h ll e ale t arry t tmpletntht alng that hh reveals t eveled n the nthngness t reveals, t brngng langage tself t langagell eme the frst tzensf a mmnty th nether presppstns nr a state.In ths mmnt, the nllng and determnng perf hat s mmn ll e paed and the Sheknah lln lnger sk the evl mlk f ts n separateness. LkeRa ka n the Haggadah f the almd, the tzensf ths mmnty ll enter the paradse f langageand ll me t f t nnred.

a n a l Ne

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Wht dos th snio tht wold politics is stting upfo us loo li und th twilight of th Contaies h stt of th intgtd spctcl (o, spctculdmoctic stt) is th nl stg in th volution of

th sttfomth uinous stg towd which monchis nd pulics, tnnis nd dmoccis, cistgims nd pogssiv gms ll ushing Although it sms to ing ntionl idntitis c to lif,this glol movmnt ctully modis tndncy to wd th constitution of ind of supntionl policstt, in which th noms of intntionl lw tcitlyogtd on ft th oth Not only hs no w officilly n dcld in mny ys (conming Cl

Schmitts pophc, ccoding to which vy w inou tim hs com civil w), ut vn th outightinvsion of sovign stt cn now psntd s nct of intnl uisdiction Und ths cicumstncs,th sct sicswhich hd lwys n usd to ctignoing th oundis of ntionl sovigntiscom th modl itslf of l politicl ogniztion ndof l politicl ction o th st tim in th histoof ou cnty, th to most impotnt wold pows hdd y two dict mntions of th sct sicsBush (fom CIA hd) nd ochv (ndopovsmn) nd th mo thy concntt ll th pow inthi own hnds, th mo ll of this is hild, in thnw cous of th spctcl, s tiumph of dmoccyAll ppncs notwithstnding, th spctculdmoctic wold ogniztion tht is thus mging ctu

lly uns th is of ing th wost tnny tht vmtilizd in th histoy of humnit, ginst whichsistnc nd dissnt will pcticlly mo nd modicultnd ll th mo so in tht it is incsinglycl tht such n ogniztion will hv th ts of mn

ging the suviva o huanity in an uninhaitabe wo.n cnnot su, howv, tht th spctcls ttmpt to mintin contol ov th pocss it contiutdto putting in motion in th st plc wil ctully succd h stt of th spctcl, ft ll, is still stttht ss itslf (s Bdiou hs shown vy stt to sitsl) not on socil onds, of which it pupotdly isth pssion, ut th on thi dissolution, which itfoids In

th nl nlysis, th stt cn cogniz ny

clim fo idnitvn tht of stt idntit withinitslf (nd in ou tim, th histoy of th ltions tn th stt nd toism is n loqunt conmtion of this fct) But wht th stt cnnot tolt inny wy is tht singulitis fom communit withoutcliming n idntity, tht humn ings colong without psntl condition of longing ing Itlin, woingclss, Ctholic, toist, tc) And yt, th sttof h spctcl insmuch s it mptis nd nullisvry l idntit, nd sustituts th puic nd pubicopinion fo th peope nd th genea wiis pcisly wht poducs mssivly fom within itslf singulitistht no long chctizd ith y ny socil idntit o y ny l condition of longing singulitistht tuly 7hateve singulitis It is cl tht thsocity of th spctcl is lso on in which ll socil

M g i n l N t

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ientities have issove an in which everthing thatfor centries represente the spenor an isery of thegenerations scceeing theseves on Earth has by nowost a its signicance The ifferent ientities that havearke the tragicoey of universa history are ex-

pose an gathere with a phantasagorica vacuit inthe goba petite bourgeoisiea pette bourgeoisie thatconstittes the for in which the spectace has reaizeparoisticay the Marxian project of a cassess society

For this reasonto risk avancing a prophecy herethe coing poitics wi no onger be astrugge to conquer or to contro the state on the partof either new or o socia subjects, but rather a strug-ge between the state an the nonstate (huanit), that

is, an irresovabe isjunction between whatever singuarities an the state organizationThis has nothing to o with the ere e-

ans of societ agaist the state, which was for a ongtie the share concern of the protest oveents of ourage Whatever singuarities cannot for a soietas withina societ of the spectace because they o not possessany ientit to vinicate or any socia bon whereby toseek recognition The strgge against the state, there-

fore, is a the ore ipacabe, because this is a statethat nuies a rea contents but thata ept ec-arations abot the sacrenss of fe an about huanrights asiewou aso ecare any being raicay ack-ing a representabe ientt to be sp nonexistent

This is the esson that cou have been eaefro Tiananen, if rea attention ha been pai to the

facts of that event. Wat was ost striking about theeonstrations of the Chinese My, in fact, was thereative absence of specific contents in their eans(The notions of eocracy an freeo are too genericto constitte a rea goa of strugge, an the ony con-

crete ean, the rehabiitation of u Yaobang, waspropty grante) t is for this reason that te vioenceof the states reaction sees a the ore inexpicabe. Itis ikey, however, that tis isproportion was ony apparent an that the Chinese eaers acte, fro theirpoint of view, with perfect uciity In Tiananen thestate foun itsef facing soething that cou not ani not want to be represente, but that presente itsef nonetheess as a counit an as a coon ife (an

this regaress of whether those who were n that sqare were actay aare of it) The threat the state is not wiing to coe to ters with is precisey the fact thatthe unrepresentabe shou exist an for a counit

without either presuppositions or conitions of beong-ing ust ike Cantors inconsistent uipicity) The

whatever siguarithis singuarit tha wants to takepossession of beonging itsef as we as of its own beingintoanguage, an that thus ecines any ientityan any conition of beongingis the new, nonsub-

jective, an sociay inconsistent protagonst of the co-ing poitics. Wherever these singuarities peaceyanifest their beingincoon, there wi be anotherTiananen an, sooner or ater, the tanks wi appearaga.

( 1990

r g i n l N t e

he ae



A L L V N G bing ar in th opn: thy manift thmlv and hin in thir apparanc. Bt only hmanbing want to tak poion of thi opning, to izhold of thir own apparanc and of thir own bingmanift Langag i thi appropriation, which tranform natr intoface. Thi i why apparanc bcoma problm for hman bing it bcom th location of a trggl for trth

Th fac i at onc th irrparabl bingxpod of hman and th vry opning in which thy hid and tayhiddn Th fac i th only location of commnity, thonly poibl city. And that i bca that which in ingl individal opn p to th political i th tragicomdy of trth, in which thy alway alrady fall and otof which thy hav to nd a way

h h f d hi h

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ht the fe epe nd eve nt omething thtud e fmuted gnng pptn f tn t eet dmed t emn feve nmmune he fe evetn evetn f nguge tef Suh evetn theefe de nt hve ny e

ntent nd de nt te the tu ut th tht tte eng ut th tht pet f humn eng ndf the wd t on penng on mmunt wk n the ght f the fe men to be th penngnd t uffe t nd t endue t

hu the fe ve the paion f evetn thepn f nguge Ntue que fe peey nthe mment t fee tht t eng eveed y nguge

And nte' eng eped nd etyed y the wdt veng tef ehnd the mpt f hvng eet ppe n t fe ethe htty petutn ethe hmeene mdety

he fe de nt nde wth the vge. hee fe eeve mehng ehe the eve f eptnnd te t gp t wn eng eped wheeve eng tht ppe nk n tht ppene nd h t nd wy t f t (hu t n gve fe even t n nnmte et t t ne; nd tht why the wthe when ued y the nqut f kng Stn nudung the Sth gued tht even thee thee w fe. d t my e tht nwdy the ente Eth whhh een tnfmed nt deet y humnknd' nd w mght eme ne nge e)

I k mene n the eye: ethe thee eye e tdwn nd th mdety tht mdety f theemptne ung ehnd the gze they k k t me And they n k t me hmeey theey ehtng te wn emptne f thee w nthe

y eye ehnd t tht knw th emptne nd uet n mpenete hdng pe O they n k tme wth hte mpudene nd wthut eee theeyettng ve nd the wd hppen n the emptne f u gze

Eptn te tn f pt If thee n nm pt tht pehp eue nm e yedy n the pen nd d nt ty t tke pen f

the wn eptn; they mpy ve n t wthut ng ut t ht why they e nt nteeted n m n the mge mge. Humn eng n the thehnd epte mge fm thng nd gve them nmepeey eue they wnt egnze themeve tht they wnt t tke pen f the wn vey ppene Humn eng thu tnfm the pen nt d tht nt the ttefed f pt tugge wthut qute h tugge whe bjet tuthge y the nme f Hty

It hppenng me nd me ften tht n pngph phtgph the ptyed ujet y uted ttgem k nt the me theey ehtngthe ene f eng eped t the gze h une-peted getue venty ee the tn tht mpt

T h e F a e

i h f h i di hi h

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h i di i i h d i b



in the consumpto of sch imaes ccordin to whichthe one who looks surprises the actors wile remaininunseen by them the latter rather knowinly challenethe voyeurs ae ad force him to look them in the eyesIn that precise momet the insubstantial nature of the

human face suddenly comes to liht he fact that heactors look into the camera means that they hw thatthe are nevertheless they paradoxically appear more real precisely to the extet to which they exhibit this falsicatio he same procedure is used today in advertisin the imae appears more convincinif it shows openly its ow artice. In both cases the onewo looks is confronted with somethin that concernsunequivocally the essence of the face the ver strucure

of truth.

We may call traicomedy of appearance the fact that the

face uncovers only and precisely inasmuch as it hides,

and hides to the extent to which it ucovers I this way,

te appearance tht ouht to have manifested human be

is becomes for them instead a resemblance hat be-

trays them and in which they can no lonr reconize

themselves. Precisely because the face is solely the loca-

tion of truth, itis also and immediately the location of

simulation and of an irreducible impropriet T his does

not mean, however, that appearance dissimulates what

it uncovers by makin it look like what in realit it is

not rather wht human beis truly are is nothin other

than this dissimulation and this disquietude within the

appearace Because human beis neither are nor have

to be an essence, any nature, or any specic destiny,

their condition is the most ept and te most isubstantial of all it is the truth hat remains hidden fromthem is not somethin behid appearance bt ratherappearin itself that is their bein nothin other thana fce he task of politics is to return appearance itself

to appearace to cause apperace itself to appear.

he face truth and exposition re today the objects ofa lobal civil war whose battleeld is social life in its en-tire whose storm troopers are the media whose victimsare all the peoples of the Earth Polticians the mediaestablishment and the advertisin industry have uder-stood the insubstantial character of the face and of thecommunity t opens up and thus they transorm it into

a miserabe secret tat they must make sr to controlt all costs State power today is o loner founded onthe monopoly of te leitimate use of violencea mo-nopoly that states share increasinly willinly with othernonsoverein oraniatons such as the nited Nationsand terrorist oraizations rather it is founded aboveall on the control of appearance (of x) he fact thatpolitics constittes itself as an autoomous sphere oeshand in hand witl the separation of the face i tle world

of spetacle a world in which human communicatiois ben separated from itself Exposition ths transformsitself into a value that is accumulated in imaes and in tlemedia while a new class of bureaucrats jealosly watchesover its manaement

If what human beins had to communicate to each otherwere always and oly somethi there would never be

h e F c



possibility is lost: that is the possihility of taking posses

9 8 , 9

i th i f ) B t l th i l b t



possibility is lost: that is, the possihility of taking possession of impropriety as sch, of exposing in the face simply your own proper impropriety, of walking in the shadowof its light

The human face reproduces the duality that constittesit within its own structre, that is, te duality of properand improper, of communication and communicability,of potentiality and act. he face is formed hy a passivebackground on which the active expressive traits emerge

Just as the Star mirrors its elements and the combi

nation of the elements into one route in its two su

perimposed triangles, so too the organs of the coun

tenance divide into two levels. For the life-points of

the countenance are, after all those points where thecountenance comes into contact with the world above,

be it passive or active contact. The basic level is or

dered according to the receptive organs; they are the

face the mask, namely forehead and cheeks, to which

belong respectively nose and ears. Nose and ears are

the organs of pure receptivity . . . . This rst triangle

is thus formed by the midpoint of the forehead as

the dominant point of the entire face, and the mid

point of the cheeks. Over it is now imposed a second

triangle composed of the organs whose actiity quickens the rigid mask of the rst: eyes and mouth. "

In advertising and pornography (consumersociety), the eyes and the mouth come to the foreground;in totalitarian states (bureaucracy), the passive background is dominant (the inexpressive images of tyrants

in their ofces). But only the reciprocal game betweenthese two levels constitutes the life of the face

There are to words in Latin that derive from the IndoEuropean root meaning "one: simiis which expresses

resemblance, and simul, which means "at the same time.Thus, next to similtudo (resemblance) there is simultas

that is, the fact of being together (which implies also rivalry, enmity); and next to similare (to be like) there issimlare (to copy, to imitate, which implies also to feign,to simulate)

The face is not a simularm in the sense tha it is something dissimulating or hiding the truth the face is the

simultas the being-together of the manifold visages constituting it, in which none of the visages is truer thanany of the others To grasp the faces truth means to graspnot the resemblance but rather the simultaneity of the visages, that is, the restless power that keeps them togetherand constittes their being-in-common The face of God,thus, is the simulas of human faces: it is "our efgythat Dante saw i the "living light of paradise

My face is my ouide: a point of difference with respectto all of my properties, with respect to what is properlyone's own and what is common, to what is internal and

what is external. In the face, I exist wth all of my properties (my being brown, tall, pale, proud, emotional . );but this happens without any of these properties essentially identiing me or belonging to me. The face is

T h e F a c e

the threshold of depropriation and of deidentication

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the threshold of de propriation and of de identicationof al manners and of all qualities-a threshold in whichonly the latter become purely communicable. And onlywhere I nd a face do I encounter an exteriority and doesan outside happen to me.

Be only your face. Go to the threshold. Do not remainthe subjects of your properties or faculties do not staybeneath them: rather, go with them in them beyondthem.

(1995) - Il-

Svereign Plice



I

II

O N E O Fthe eat ambgou eo eared from theGuf War that he cocept of overeg ha bee f

ay oduced to the fgure of he poce The ochaace wth whch the exerce of a partcuary devatatg i beli wa dgued here a a mere poceoperato" caot be codered to be a cyca mytcato (a t wa deed codered by ome rghty dgat crtc). The mot specaular charactertc of th war perhap wa that the reao preeted to ut t caot be put ade a deoogca upertructre

ued to cocea a hdde pa O the cotrary deoo ha the meatme peetrated o deepy to reaty that the decared reao have to be take a rgorouy tera eepartcuary thoe cocerg thedea of a ew word order Th doe ot mea howeverthat te Gf War cottuted a heathy mtato of





N t e s o n P i t i s



THE FALL of the Soviet Communist Party and the uncon-cealed rule of the capitistdemocratic state on a plane-tary scale have cleared the field of the two main ideo-logical obstacles hindering the resumption of a politicalpilosophy worthy of our time Stalinism on one side,and progressiism and the constitutional state on theother. Thought thus nds itself for the rst time, fac-ing its own task without any lusion and without any pos-sible alibi The "great transformation constituting the -nal stage of the stateform is thus taking place before

our very eyes: this is a trnsformation that is driving thekingdoms of the Earth republics and monarchies, tyran-nies and democraces, federations and national states)one after the other toward the state of the integratedspectacle Guy Debord and toward "cpitalist parliamen-tarianism lain Badiou In the same way in which the



destined living human beings to various epochs and his

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from it by a-bandoning it to its own violence and its own



torical cultures must now come to thought as suh. Itindicates in other words that now human beings takepossession of their own historical being that is of theirown impropriety he becomingproper nature) of the

improper language) cannot be either formalized or recognized according to the dialectic of Anerkeung because it is at the same time a becomingimproper language) of the proper nature)

he appropriation of historicity thereforecannot sll take a stateform given that the state is nothing other than the presupposition and the representation of the beinghidden of the historical arh. his appropriation rather must open the eld to a nonsaal an

nonjuridical politics and human life a politics and alife that are yet to be entirely thought

he concepts ofsovee and of onsuen powe whichare at the core of our polical tradition have to be abandoned or at least to be thought all over again. heymark in fact the point of indifference between rightand violence nature and logos, proper and improper andas such they do not designate an attribute or an organof the juridical system or of the state; they designaterather their own original structure. overeignty is theidea of an undecidable nexus between violence and rightbetween the living and languagea nexus that necessarily takes the paradoxical form of a decision regardingthe state of exception chmitt) or an ancy) in whichthe law language) relates to the living by wthdrawing

irrelatedness acred life the life that is presupposedand abandoned by the law in the state of exceptionisthe mute carrier of sovereignty the real soveegn sube.

overeignty therefore is the guardian who

prevents the undecidable threshold beteen violence andright nature and language om coming to light Wehave to x our gaze instead precisely on what the statueofJustice which as Montesquieu reminds us was to bveiled at the very moment of the proclamation of thestate of exception) was not supposed to see namely whatnowadays is apparent to everybody: that he sae of exepon s he rule, that naked life is immediately the carrier of the soverei nexus and that as such it is today

abandoned to a kind of violence that is all the more effective fr being anonymous and quotidianIf there is today a social power oenza it

ust see its own impotence [mpoenza through to theend it must decline any will to either posit or preserveright it must break everywhere the nexus beteen violence and right between the living an language thatconstitutes sovereignt

hile the state in decline lets its empt shell surviveeveryhere as a pure structure of sovereignt and domination socie as a whole is instead irrevocably delivered to the form of consumer society that is a sociein which the sole goal of production is comfortable livinghe theorists of political sovereignty such as chmittsee in all this the surest sign of the end of politics nd

N t e s P c

he planear asses of consuers in fac do no seef h d f h li ( h

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counicabilia life over which sovereign andi h l h h ld



o foreshadow any new gre of he polis (even whenhey do no siply relapse ino he old ehnic and reli-gious ideals)

However he proble ha he new poliics

is facing is precisely his: is i possible o have a pliicalcouni ha is ordered exclusively for he ll en-joyen of wordly life? Bu if we look closer isn' hisprecisely he goal of philosophy nd when odern po-lical hough was born wih Marsilius of Padua wasni dened precisely by he recovery o poliical ends ofhe Averrois conceps of "sufcien life and "wellliv-ing Once again Waer Benjain in he "heologico-Poliical Fragen leaves no doubs regarding he fac

ha "he order of he profane should be ereced on heidea of happiness. he deniion of he concep of"happy life reains one of he essenial asks of hcoing hough (and his should be achieved in such away ha his concep is no kep separae fro onol-og because: "being we have no experience of i oherhan living iself) .

he "happy life on which poliical philoso-phy should be founded hus canno be eiher he nakedlife ha sovereign posis as a presupposiion so as ourn i ino is own subjec or he ipenerable exrane-i of science and of odern biopoliics ha everbodyoday ries in vain o sacralize his "happy life shouldbe raher an absoluely profane "sucien life ha hasreached he perfecion of is own power and of is own

righ no longer have any hold

he plane of ianence on which he new poliical ex-perience is consied is he erinal expropriaion of

language carried ou by he specacular sae. Whereasin he old regie in fac he esrangeen of he co-unicaive essence of huan beings was subsaniaedas a presupposiion ha had he ncion of coonground (naion langage religion ec.) in he cone-porar sae i is precisely his sae counicaivihis sae generic essence ( language) ha is consiuedas an auonoous sphere o he exen o which i be-coes he essenial facor of he producion cycle a

hinders counicaion herefore is counicabiliyiself: huan beings are being separaed by wha unieshe.

his also eans however ha in his waywe encouner our own lingisic nare invered For hisreason (precisely because wha is being expropriaed hereis he possibiliy iself of he Coon) he specaclesviolence is so desrucive bu for he sae reason hespecacle sll conains soehing like a posiive possi-biliand i is our ask o use his possibili againsi he age in which we are living in fac is also he agein which for he rs ie i becoes possible for hu-an beings o experience heir own lingusic essenceo experience ha is no soe language conen orsoe rue proposiion bu he fac iself of speaking

N t s P l i t i s

The experience in qestion here does not hve ny ob-jective content nd cnnot be formulted s proposi

1 1 6 , 7

suh Politics is the sphere neither of n end in itself norof mens subordinted to n end rther it is the sphere



jective content nd cnnot be formulted s proposi-tion referrin to stte of thins or to historicl situ-tion. It does not concern state but n eent of lnueit does not pertin to this or tht rmmr butso to

spekto the fatum loquni s such. Therefore, thisexperience must be constructed s n experiment con-cernin the mtter itself of thouht, tht is, the powerof thouht (in pinozn terms n experiment e potentia inteletu sie e libertate)

ht is t stke in this experiment is ot tll communiction intended s destiny nd speci olof humn beins or s the loicltrnscendentl condi-tion of politics (s it is the cse in the pseudophiloso-phies of communiction wht is relly t stke, rther,is the only possible mteril experience of beineneric(tht is, experience of "compernces JenLucNncy suests or, in rxin terms, experience ofthe Generl Intellect. Tht is why the rst consequencederivin from this experiment is the subvertin of theflse lterntive between ends nd mens tht prlyzesny ethics nd ny politics. A nlity without mens (theood nd the beutil s ends unto themselves, in fct,is just s lientin s medilit tht mkes sense only

with respect to n end ht is in question in politiclexperience is not hiher end but beinin tolnueitself s pure medility, beinintomen s n irre-ducible condition of humn beins. Politis is the exhibition of a meiality it is the at of making a means isible as

of mens subordinted to n end rther, it is the sphereof pure medility without end intended s the field ofhumn ction nd of humn thouht.

The second consequence of the experimentu linguae istht, bove nd beyond the concepts of pproprition ndexproprition, we need to think, rther the possibilitnd the modlities of free u�e. Prxis nd politicl re-ection re opertin tody exclusively within the dilec-tic of proper nd improper dilect in which eitherthe improper extends its own rule eveywhere, thnksto n unrestrinble will to flsiction d consump-tion (s it hppens in industrilized democrcies, or theproper demnds the exclusion of ny impropriety (s ithppens in interlist nd totlitrin sttes. If instedwe dene the ommon (or, s others suest the same) s point of indifference between the proper nd he im-propertht is, s somethin tht cn never be rspedin terms of either exproprition or pproprition buttht cn be rsped, rther, only s the essentilpoliticl probem then becomes "ow does one use ommon" (eideer probbly hd somethin like thisin mind when he formulted his supreme concept s

neither pproprition nor exproprition, but s ppro-prition of n exproprition.

The new cteories of politicl thouhtinopertive community, compernce, equlity, loylty,mss intellectlity, the comin people, whtever sin

o s o l t s

gularity or however else they might be calledwill beable to express the political matter that is facing us only

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able to express the political matter that is facing us onlyif they are able to articulate the location the mannersand the meaning of this experience of the event of language intended as free use of the common and as sphere

of pure means (992

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I n T h i s E x e



v

(taan Diary, 192.94)

W E A R E tld that the survivrs wh came backandwh cntinue t cme backfrm the caps had nstries t tell and that t the extent t which they hadbeen authentic witnesses they did nt try t cmmunicate what they had lived thrugh as if they themselveswere the first t be seized by dubts regarding the reality f what had befallen them as if they had smehwmistaken a nighare fr a real event. hey knewandstill wthat in Auschwitz r in Omarska they hadnt becme "wiser better mre prfund mre human

r mre well dispsed tward human beigs; ratherthey had cme ut f the camps strpped naked hllwed ut and disriented. nd they had n wish ttalk abut it. ll due differences ntwithsanding wet are affected by this sense f suspicin regarding ur

own wssng. It sms as f nothng of what w hal through urng ths yars authorzs us to spak.

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stus at onc so squtng an comc s th fact thata publc nt par xcllnc a tral s prsnt n-



l through urng ths yars authorzs us to spak.

Suspcon rgarng on's own wors arss ry tmthat th stncton bt publc an prat loss ts

manng. What xactly th nhabtants of th campsn fact l through? Was t a potcalhstorcal nt(such as say n th cas of a solr who partcpat nth battl of Watrloo or was t a strctly prat xp-rnc? Nthr on nor th othr If on was a Jw nAuschwtz or a Bosnan woman n Omarska on ntrth camp as a rsult not of a poltcal choc but rathrof what was most prat an ncommuncabl n onslfthat s on's bloo on's bologcal boy But prcslyth lattr fnctons now as a cs poltcal crtron.In ths sns th camp truly s th naugral st of mo-rnty t s th rst spac n whch publc an pratnts poltcal lf an bologcal lf bcom rgor-ously nstngushabl. Inasmuch as th nhabtant of thcamp has bn sr from th poltcal communtyan has bn ruc to nak lf (an moror to alf "that os not sr to b l h or sh s anabsolutly prat prson An yt thr s not on snglnstant n whch h or sh mght b abl to n shltr

n th ralm of th prat an t s prcsly ths ns-crnblty that consttuts th spcc angush of thcamp.

Kaa was th rst to scrb wth prcsonths partcular tp of st wth whch snc thn w habcom prfctly famlar. hat maks Josph K.'s cs

a publc nt par xcllnc a tral s prsnt nsta as an absolutly prat occurrnc n whch thcourtroom borrs on th broom. Ths s prcslywhat maks h ril a prophtc book. n not rally

or not onlyas far as th camps ar concrn. What w l through n th 1980s? A lrous an so-tary prat occurrnc? Or rathr a momnt burstngwth nts an a cs momnt n Italan hstory aswll as n th hstory of th plant? I t s as f all that wha xprnc urng ths yars has falln nto anopaqu zon of nrnc n whch rthng bcomscons an unntllgbl. Ar th nts o ngenopoli["Brbll] Italys protract corrupton scanal forxampl publc nts or prat ons? I confss that ts not clar to m. An f trrorsm rally was an mpor-tant momnt of our rcnt poltcal hstory how s t pos-sbl that t rss now to th surfac of conscnc onlythanks to ntror vcssts of som nuals ann th form of rpntanc gult an conron? To thssppag of th publc nto th prat corrspons alsoth spctacular pubczaton of th prat ar th a'sbrast cancr or Snna's ath publc csstus or pr-at ons? n how can on touch th porn stars boy

snc thr s not an nch on t that s not publc? yt t s from such a zon of nffrnc n whch thactons of human xprnc ar bng put on sal thatw ought to start toay. An f w ar callng ths opaquzon of nscrnblty camp t s thn stll from thcamp that w must bgn agan

T h i s E x l e

One hears something being continuously repeated in dif-ferent quarters that the siation has reached a limit, that

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every time they have to express their on opinion onhatever problem. Only that hen someone acally risks



q ,things by no have become intolerable, and that changeis necessary hose ho repeat this more than anybodyelse, hoever, are the politicans and the press that ant

to guide change in such a ay that in the end nothingreally changes As far as the majority ofItalians are con-cerned, they seem to be atching the intolerable in si-lence, as if they ere spying on it hile motionless infront of a large television screen. But hat exactly is un-bearable today in Italy It is precisely this silencethatis, the fact that a hole people nds itself speechless be-fore its on destiny that is above all unbearable Re-member that, henever you try to speak, you ill not beable to resort to any tradition and you ill not be ableto avail yourself of any of the ords that sound so goodfreedom, progrss, democracy, human rights, consti-tional state You ill not even be able to sho your cre-dentials of representative of Italian culre or of the Eu-ropean spirit and have them cont for anything You illhave to try and describe the intolerable ithout havinganything ith hich to pul yourself out of it You illhave to reman faithl to that inexplicable silence. Youill be able to reply to the unbearableness of that silence

only by means immanent to it.

Never has an age been so inclined to put up ith any-thing hile nding everthing intolerable he very peo-ple ho gulp don the unsalloable on a daily basishave this ord readymade on their lips

p y ygiving a deition, one realizes that hat is intolerablein the end is only that human bodies be torred andhacked to pieces, and hence that, apart from that, one

can put up ith just about anything

One of the reasons hy Italians are silent today is cer-tainly the noise of the media. soon as he ancienrgime began to crumble, the press and television unan-imously revolted against it, even though up to that daythey had been the main organizers of conset to theregime hus, they litrally silenced people, thereby im-peding that facts ould follo the ords that had beenecovered sloly and ith much effort

One of the notsosecret las of the spectac-ulardemocratic society in hich e live ills it that,henever poer is seriously in crisis, the media esta-lshment apparently dissociates itself from the regime ofhich it is an inteal part so as to govern ad irect thegeneral discontent lest it rn itself into revolution. It isnot alays necessary to simulate an event, as happenedin imisoara it suffices to anticipate not only facts (bydeclaring, for example, as many nespapers have been

doing for months, that the revolution has already hap-pened, but also citizens sentiments by giving them ex-pression on the front page of nespapers before they rninto gesre and discourse, and hence circlate and grothrogh daily conversations and exchanges of opinion. Istill reember the paralyzing impression that the ord

I n s x l

SHAME as a baer headlie o the frot page of oe ofthe regimes major dailies made o me the day after the

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participatio ad that is the least oe ca say, for theyactively collaborated i the experimet the way that a



g j yauthorizatio to proceed legally agaist Beto Cra wasot grated o d i the morig the right word tosay readymade o the frot page of a ewspaper pro

duces a sigular effect, a feelig at oce of reassuracead of frustratio. Ad a reassurig frustratio, that is,the feelig of those who have bee dispossessed of theirow expressive faculties, is today the domiat affct italy

W talias live today i a state of absolute absece oflegitimacy he legitimatio of atiostates, of course,had bee i crisis everwhere for some tim, ad themost evidet symptom of such a crisis was precisely theobsessive attempt to make up i terms oflegalit, througha uprcedeted proliferatio of ors ad regulatios,for what was beig lost i terms of lgitmacy But owhere has declie reached the extreme limit at whichwe are gettig used to livig here is o power or public authorit right ow that does ot akedly show itsow emptiess ad its ow abjctio he judicial powers have bee spared such ruiatio oly because, muchlike e Eriyes of Greek tragedy that hav ded up i

a comedy by mistak, they act solely as a istace ofpuishmet ad revege

his meas, however, that Italy is becomigoce agai the privileged political laboratory that it hadbee durig the 97s. Just as th govemets ad services of the etire world had observed the with attetive

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y p ywellaimd politics of terrorism could possibly ctioas the mechaism of relegitimatio of a discredited system, ow the very same eyes watch with curiosit how a

costted power might gove the passage t a ew costttio without passig through a costitutive power.Natrally, oe is dealig here with a delicate experimetdurig which it is possible that the patiet may ot su-vive ad that would ot ecssarily be the worst outcome

the 98s, those who spoke of cospiracies were accsed of Oldthik. Nowadays, it is the presidet of the republic himself who publicly deoucesthe state secret services before the whole coutry as havig cospired, ad as cotiuig to cospire, agaist thecostittio ad public order his accusatio is imprecise oly with regard to oe detail as someoe alreadyhas puctally poited out, all cospiracies i our timeare actually in favor of the costituted order. Ad theeormity of such a deuciatio is matched oly by thebrazeess with which the supreme orga of the stateadmits that its ow secret services have made attemptso e life of the citizes, while forgettig to add that

this was doe for the good of the coutry ad for thescurity of its public istittios

he statemet released by the head of a largedemocratc part, accordig to whom the judges who wereidictig him were actually cospirig agaist themselves, is more impetrable ad yet uwittigly pro

n x i

pheic. During he erminal phae of he evoluion of heaeform each ae organ and ervice i engaged in a

2 8 9

face would appear in hadow o a o make ure ha iwould no be recognized anda if from he burning



ae form each ae organ and ervice i engaged in aruhle a well a unconrollable conpiracy again ielf and again every oher organ and erice.

Nowaday one ofen hear jouali and poliician (andin paricular he preiden of he republic warning ciizen regarding a preumed crii of he "ene of heae One ued o peak raher of "reaon of aewhich Boero had dened wihou hypocriy "Sae i aable rule over a people and Reaon of Sae i heknowledge of he mean by which uch a dominion maybe founded preerved and exended. Wha i hiddenbehind hi lippage from reason o ense, from he ra

onal o he irraional Becaue i would be imply indecen o peak of "reaon of ae oday power lookfor one la poibili of wellbeing in a "ene hanobody quie underand where i reide and ha remind one of be ene of honor in he ancien rgimeBu a ae ba ha lo i reaon and become inaneha alo lo i ene and become unconcio I inow blind and deaf and i grope i way oward i ownend heedle of he ruinaion ino which i drag iubjec along.

Of wha are Ialian repening The r o repen weremaoi and member of he Red Brigade and ince henwe have been wineing an inerinable proceion offace ha have been grim in eir reolve and deerminedin heir very wavering In he cae of he maoi he

g gbuhwe would hear "only a voice Thi i he direvoice wih which he concience call from he hadownowaday a if our ime did no know any oher ehical

experience ouide of repenance Bu hi i preciely hepoin a which our ime beray i inconiency. Repenance in fac i he mo reacherou of moral caegorie and i i no even clear ha i can be couneda all among genuine ehical concep. I i well knownhow peremporily Spinoza bar repenance om any righof ciizenhip in i Ehis The one who repenhewriei wice digracefl he fir ime becaue hecommied an ac of which he ha had o repen andhe econd ime becaue he ha repened of i Bu repenance preened ielf righ away a a problem alreadywhen i began powerlly o permeae Caholic docrineand morali in he elf cenry. How doe one infac prove he auheniciy of repenance Camp wereoon formed wih Peer Abelard on one ide woe onlyrequiremen wa he conriion of he hear and he"penienial on he oher ide for whom he unfahomable inerior dipoiion of he one who repen wano imporan when compared inead o he unequivo

cal accomplihmen of exernal ac. The whoe queionhu ued upon ielf righ away like a viciou circlein which exeal ac had o ae o he auhenici ofrepenance and inernal conriion had o guranee heinceri of he work Today' rial ncion accordingo he ame logic which decree ha o accue one' own

l

comrades is a guarantee of te trutflness of repentanceand tat innermost repentance ratifies te autenticity

3 0 ,

conceited ictories on te misfortunes of te former, fortese, no, tere tly is no ope



p yof te accusation

It is not a coincidence, after all, tat repen-tance as ended up in te courtroom e trut is tat

repentance prsents itself from te start as an equiocalcompromise between morality and te law Wit te elpof repentance, a religion tat ad ambiguously come toterms wit worldly power attempts to justi suc a com-promise by insttuting an equialence between penanceand te punisment of te law as well as etween crimeand sin But tere is no surer index of te irreparableruination of any etical experience tan te consionbetween eticalreligious categories and juridical con

cepts Wereer morality is being discussed today, peo-ple immediately a legal categories on teir lips, andwereer laws are being made and trials are being con-ducted, it is etical concepts instead tat are being brandised like te lictors

e mock seriousness wit wc secular poli-ticians rused to welcome te entrance of repentanceinto codes and laws as an unquestionable act of con-science is terefore all te more irresponsibl If it iste case, in fact, tat te ones wo are forced by an inautentic belief to gamble teir wole innr experienceon a false concept are truly wretced, it is also te casetat for tem tere is peraps still some op But forte media establisment elite acting as moralists andfor te teleisual mares pense wo ae erected teir

1

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The icons of the souls of purgatory in the streets ofNaples. The large one I saw yeserday near the court-

house had almost all the statuettes of the purgatorialsouls with their arms broken off. They were lying onth ground; they were no longer raised high in gesturesof invocationuseless emblems of a torture more ter-rible tan re

Of what are Italians ashamed? It is strikng how fre-quently in public debates, as well as in the streets or incafs, as soon as the discussion gets hated up, the expression "Sham on you

! readily comes in handy, al-most as if it held the ecisive argment every time.Shame, of course, is the prelude to repntance, and re-pentance in Italy today is the winning card But none of those who throw shame in other people's faces truly ex-pect them suddenly to blush and declare that they have repented. On the contrary, it is taken for granted thatthey will not do that. It seems, however, that, in thisstrange game that everybody her is busy playing, the first ones who succeed in using that formula will havetruth on their side. If repentance informs he relationship that Italians have with the good, shame dominatestheir relation to truth. And if repentance is their onlythical experience, they likewise have no oher relationto the true outside of shame. But one is dealing here

I n T x l e

with a shame that surived those who should have felt itand that has become as objective and imersonal as a

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(At the moment when the executioners' knives are aboutto penetrate his lesh, Joseph K. with one last leap suc



j juridical truth. In a trial in which repentance has beengiven the decisive role, shame is the only truth on whichjudgment might be passed

Marx still used to put some trust in shame. When rnoldRuge would object that no revolution has ever come outof shame, Marx would reply that shame already is a revolution, and he dened it as "a sort of anger that turnson itself 5 But what he was referring to was the "national shame that concerns specific peoples each withrespect to other peoples, the Germans with respect tothe French. Primo Levi has shown, however, that there

is today a "shame of being human, a shame that in someway or other has tainted ever human being. This wasand still is the shame of the camps, the shame of thefact that what should not have happened did happen.nd it is a shame of this tpe, as it has been rightlypointed out, that we feel today when faced by too greata vulgarit of thought, when watching certain TV shows,when confronted with the faces of their hosts and withthe selfassured smiles of those "experts who joviallylend their qualifications to the political game of the me-dia. Those who have felt this silent shame of being human have also severed within themselves any link withthe political power in which they live Such a shamefeeds their thoughts and constitutes the beginning of arevolution and of an exodus of which it is barely able todiscern the end.

ceeds in getting hold of the shame that will survive him.)

Nothing is more nauseating than the impdence with

which those who have trned money into their only raison d'tre periodically wave around the scarecrow ofeconomic crisis: the rich nowadays wear plan rags so asto warn the poor that sacrices will be necessary fr

evybody. And the docility is just as astonishing; thosewho have made hemselves stolidly compcitous withthe imbalance of the public debt, by handing all heirsavings over to the state in exchange for bonds, now receive the warning blow without batting an eyelash andready themselves to tighten their belts nd yet thosewho have any lucidity left in them know that the crisisis always in process and that it constitutes he internalmotor of capitalism in its present phase, much as thestate of exception is today the normal structure of political power. And just as the state of exception requiresthat there be increasingly numerous sections of residents deprived of political rights and that in fat at theouter limit all citizens be reduced to naked life, in sucha way crisis, having now become permanent, demands

not only that the people of the Third World becomeincreasingly poor, but also that a growing pecentage ofthe citizens of the industrialized societies be marginalized and without a job. nd there is no socalled demo-cratic state today that is not compromised and up to itsneck in such a massive production of human misery.

I n T h s E x i l e

The punishment for those who go away from love is to

be handed over to the ower o judgment: they will have

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human eings better than this suremay o the law. Butwhat betrays itsel here is also the hurh o Christs un-

di i l i i i i Th



to judge one another

Such is the sense of the rule of the law over

human life in our time: all other religious and ethical

owers have lost theirstrength and survive only as in

dult or suspension ofpuishmt and under no circum-

stances as interruption or refsal ofjudgent Nothing

is more dismal, thereore, than this unonditional being-

inforce of juridical categories in a world in which they

no longer mirror any omrehensible ethial ontent

their beinginforc is truly maningless, much as the

ountenane o the guardian o the law in Kaa's ara-

ble is insrutable. This loss o sense, whih transorms

the clearest of sentences into a non liquet, explodes and

oms into ull view with Craxi's onessions and with

the confessions of all those who were in power and gov-

erned us u until yesterday, reisly when they hav to

abdicate to others who are probably no bettr than they

were. That is becaus hre to plead guilty is immedi-

ately a universal call upon everyone as an accomplice of

everyody else, and where everybody is guilty judgment

is technically impossible. ( Even th ord on the Last Day

would rerain rom ronouning his senten i every-

body had to be damned) The law here retreats back toits original injunction that according to the intention

of the Apostle Paul expresses its inner contradiction

be gltyNothing maniests the denitive end o the

Christian ethis o love intended as a ower that unites

onditional renunion o any messian intention Thatis beause the Messiah is the gre in wih religiononronts the roblem o the law, in whih rligion andthe law ome to the deisive day o rekoning. n theewish as muh as in the Christian and hiite ontexts,in at, the messiani vent marks rst o all a risis anda radial transormation o the roerly legal order oreligious tradition. The old law (the Torah o reation)that had been valid u to that moment now eases to bevalid but obviously, i t is not simly a question o sub-stituting or it a new law that would inlue ommand-ments and rohibitions that would be dierent romand yet strutrally homogeneous with the reious ones.

Hene the aradoxes o messianism, whh abbatai Zeviexressed by saying "The lillment o the Torah is itstransgression and whih Christ exressed (more soberlythan Paul) in the orma " did not ome to destroythe law, but to lill it.

Having struk with the law a lasing omro-mise, the hurh has rozen the messiani vent, therebyhanding the world over to the ower o judgment aower, however, that the hurh unningly manages in

the orm o the indult and o the enitential rmissiono sins (The Messiah has no need or suh a remissionthe "orgive us our tresasses as we orgive those whotresass against us is nothing other than the antiia-tion oe messiani lllment o the law.) The task thatmessianism had assigned to modern olitisto think

I n h s E

a human communty that would not have only the g-ure of the lawtll awat the mnd that mght un-d k

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becaue t marked the concluve moment of a proceof nvoluton that had already bgun mny year ago.Th d h b h d f dd l d



dertake t.

Today e poltcal parte that dene themelve a "pro-greve and the ocalled let coalton have won nthe large cte where there have been electon One truck by the vctor' exceve preoccupaton wth pre-entng themelve a the etablhment and wth rea-urng at all cot the old economc poltcal and rel-gou power. When Napoleon defeated the amluk nEgypt the rt thng he dd wa to ummon the notablewho conttuted the old regme' backbone and to nformthem that under the new overegn ther prvlege andncton would reman untouched. nce here one not

dealng wth the mltary conquet of a foregn countrythe eal wth whch the head of a partythat up untlnot too long ago ued to call telf Communtaw ftto reaure banker and captalt by pontng out howwell the lra and th tock exchange had reeved theblow to ay the leat napproprate Th much cer-tan thee poltcan wll end up beng defeated by thervery wll to wn at all o. he dere to be the etablh-ment wll run them jut a t runed ther predeceor

It mportant to be able to dtnguh beteen defeatand dhonor The vctory of he rght n the 1 po-ltcal electon wa a defeat for the left whch doe notmply that becaue of th t wa alo a dhonor. If a certanly the cae th defeat alo nvolved dhonor that

There wa dhonor becaue the defeat dd not concludea truggle over oppote poton but rather decdedonly whoe trn t wa to put nto practce the ame de-ology of the pectacle of the market and of enterpreOne mght ee n th nothng other than a necearyconequence of a betrayal that had already begun n theyear of talnm Perhap o What concern u herehowever only the evoluton that ha tken place be-gnnng wth the end of the 1 70 It nce then nfact that the complete corrupton of mnd ha takenthat hypocrtcal form and that voce of reaon andcommon ene that today goe under the name of pro-grem.

In a recent book eanClaude lner haclearly dented and dened a "progrevm the prncple n whoe name the followng proce ha taken place:compromng. The revoluton ued to have to compro-me wth captal and wth power jut a the church hadto come to term wth the modern world. Thu the mottothat ha gded the trategy of progrevm durng themarch toward t comng to power lowly took hape: oneha to yeld on everythng one ha to reoncle every-

thng wth t oppote ntellgence wth televon andadvertement he workng cla wth captal freedomof peech wth the tate of the pectacle the envronmentwth ndutral development cence wth opnon dem-ocracy wth the electoral machne bad concence andabjuraton wth memory and loyalty.

In l

Today one can see what such a strategy has

led to The lft has activel collaborated in setting up in

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bod politic. We have had to grow used to thnking andwriting in such a consion of bodies and places, of outid d i id f h i hl d h h d



every field the instruments and terms of agreement that

th right, once in power, will just need to appl and de-

velop so as to achieve its own goals without dificulty

It was exactl in the same wa that the work-ing class was spiritually and physically disarmed by Ger-

man social democrac before being handed ovr to Na-

zism. And while the citizens ofgoodwill ar being called

on to keep watch and to wait for phantasmatic frontal

attacks, the right has alread crossed the lines through

the breah that the left itself had opened up

Classical politics used to distinguish clearl been zoe

and bios, beteen natral life and poliical life, beteen

human beings as simpl living bings, whose place was

in the home, and human beings as political subjects,

whose plae was in the polis. Well, we no longer have

an idea of an of this We can no longer distinguish b-

tween zoe and bios, between our biological life as living

beings and our political existence, between what is in-

communicable and speechless and what is speakable and

communicable. As Foucault once wrot, we are animals

in whose politics our very life as living beings is at stak.

Living in the state of exception that has now become

the rule has meant also this: our private biological bod

has become indistingishable from our body politic, ex-

periences that once used to be called political sudden

were conned to our biological bod, and private expe-

riences present themselves all of a sudden outside us as

side and inside, of what is speehless and what has wordswith which to speak, of what is enslaved and what is e,of what is need and what is desire his has meant-wh

not admit it? -experiencing absolute impotnce, bumpng against solitude and speechlessness over and overagain precisel tlere where we were expecting companand words. We have endured such an impotence as bestwe could while bing surrounded on every side b thedin of the media, which were dening the new planetar political space in which exception had become therule. But it is b startng from this uncertain terrain andfrom this opaque zone of indistintion that toda wemust once again nd the path of another politics, of anoher bod, of another word I would not feel up to forgoing this indistinction of public and private, of biologial bod and bod politic, of zoe and bios, for an reasonwhatsoever It is here that I must nd m space onceagain-here or nowhere else Onl a politis that startsfrom such an awareness can interest me

I remember that in 1966, while attending the seminaron Heraclitus at Le Thor, I asked Heidegger whether

he had read Kaa. He answered that, of the little he hadread, it was above all th short stor Der Bau" (Theburrow) that had made an impression on him The nameless animal that is the protagonist of the stor-mole,fox, or human being-is obsessivel ngagd in building an inexpugnable burrow that instead slowl reveals

I n T h i s E x i l e

itself to be a tap with no way out But isn't this pecisely what has happene in the political space of West

i ? Th h h "f h l h

4 0 ,

In a crucial passage of the Nicomachean Ethics,Aristotle wonders whether there is such a thing as an

b i i h b i i d k



en nationstates? The homesthe "fathelans thatthese states eneavoe to buil eveale themselves inthe en to be only lethal taps fo the ve "peoples

that wee suppose to inhabit themBeinnin with the en of Wol Wa I, infact, it is evient that the Euopean nationstates nolone have any assinable histoical tass o see theeat totalitaian expeiments of the twentieth centuonly as the continuation an executon of the last tassof nineteenthcentu nationstates that is, of nationalism an impeialismis to misunestan completelythe natue of such expeiments Thee ae othe, moeexteme staes hee, because it was a question of tunin into an unetan as a tas he factitious existence of peoples pue an simplethat is, in the last instance, thei nae life In this sense, the totalitaianismsof ou centuy tuly constitte the othe sie of theHeeloKojvian iea of an en of histo: humaninhas by now eache its histoical telos an all that is leftto accomplish is to epoliticize human societies eitheby unfolin unconitionally the ein of oikoomia oby unetain bioloical life itself as supeme political

tas But as soon as the home becomes the politicalpaaimas is the case in both instancesthen thepope, what is most ones own, an the innemost factitiousness of existence un the is of tunin into a fa-tal tap n this is the tap we live in toay

ergon, a being-in-the-act, a being-operative, and a workproper to man, or whether man as such might perhapsbe essentially args, that is, without a work, workless

iopeoso] For jst s te goodness nd perornce of uteplyer scptor or ny kind of expert, nd genery of nyone o ls some nction or performssome cton re tougt to reside in s proper fnction [ergon l, so e goodness d performnce of mn od seem to resde n teer is s propernction Is it ten possible tt ile crpenternd soemker e teir on proper nctonnd speres of cton, mn s m s none, bt s

left by ntre goodfornoting itout nctonargs]?

Poltics is that which coespons to the essen-al inopeabilit ioperosi] of humanin, to the aical beinwithoutwo of human communities Theeis politcs because human beins ae agsbeins thatcannot be efine by any pope opeationthat is,beins of pue potentialit that no ientit o vocationcan possibly exhaust (his is the tue political meanin

of Aveoism, which lins the political vocation of manto the potentialit of the intellect.) Ove an beyonthe planeta ule of the oikoomia of nae life, theissue of the comin politics is the way in which thisaga this essential potentialit an inopeabilit, miht

T s x l

be undertaken witout becoming a historical task, or, inother words, the way in which politics might be noth-ing other than the exposition of humankinds absence of

'

C

Z

co

r

o

,

o

w

x

Translators' Notes



ing other than the exposition of humankind s absence ofwork as well as the exposition of humankind's creativesemiindifference to any task, and might only n this

sense remain integrally assigned to happiness.

E. M Forster relates how during one of his conversa-tions with C P Cava in Alexandria, the poet told himYou English cannot understand us: we Greeks wentbankrupt a long time ago. I believe that one of the fewthings tat can be declared with certainty is that, sincethen, all the peoples of Europe (and, perhaps, all the peo-ples of the Earth) have gone bankrupt. W live aer thefaiure of peoples, just as Apollinaire would say of himself"I lived in the te when the kings would die. Everypeople has had its partcular way of going bankrupt, andcertainly it does make a difference that for the Germansit meant Hitler and Auschwitz, for the Spanish it meanta civil war for the French it meant Vichy, for other people, instead, it meant the quiet and atrocious 1950s, andfor the Serbs it meant the rapes of Omarska; in the endwhat is crucial for us is only the new task that such afailure has bequeathed us Perhaps it is not even accu-

rate to define it as a task, because there is no longer apeople to undertake it. A the Alexandrian poet mightsay today with a smile: Now, at last we can understandone another, because you too have gone bankrupt.

(1995)

>-

Preface

1 . The term aked life translates the Italinnuda vita. This term appears lso in thesubtile of Giorgio Agamben's H00 Sae:i pte o< e la m{lf! 'i as well asthroughout that work We hae decidednot to follow Daniel Heller-Roazenstranslation ofnuda ita as are life seeH0o Sae: ig P07e and Bae Life(Stanford, Calif Stanford Uniersity Press,1998), trans Daniel Heller-Roazenan dto retain the earlie translation of nuda itaas naked life to e found in CesreCasarino's translation of Agambens essaFonadiita" (see orm-ofLife inthe collection edited by Paolo Virno nd

Michael Hardt,A Ptcial Piti\ RdiralThught in Italy [innepolis UniersityofMinesot Press, 1996] pp 151-56).

� The English termpwe corrpon too distinct terms in Italian, poM npte (which roughly correspond to the

Frenchprdc �d O, the GermanM(/ht and Vcg nd the atin pntci

andpteta) rspctively) Potenza can often

resonte \ith implition of potentilias well as wi decentralized or massconceptions of fore nd strengt Ptee,on the other hand, refers to the might orauthoriy of n already structured andcentralied cpciy, often n instiionlapparatus such as the stte

2 1rili of Pdu, The Desor ofPeae trans Aan ewirth (New YorkHarper and Row, 956) p 15 ; transltonid

l See Yan Thomas, "Vita Ciq pae/:

e pre, la cit, l mort, in Du hima la it: Suppe opoes et pi de dans le e iqe (Rm Lcolefrnise de Rome 1984)

4 Wter Benjin Theses on thePhiloopy of History, in Ji{ti1>tr arr Zohn (New York: SchockenBooks, 1989) p 2 57. In the Italian

translation of Bnjamin's assage, state ofemrgency" is translated as state ofexcetion" which is the hrase Agambenses in the recedng section of this essay

4 Tomas Hammar, Dy d thNaton State: Alen Dcnzn, nd Citn a Wold ofIC7ti1! Higmtio(Brookfield Vt Gower 199)

BeckerHo Lespi jgon; ditio[C/c 51

Ibid 5

1 4 4 5

Holt, iehart and Winston, 97), 42223.

Sveeign Pie



g yand which will be a crucial refrain inseveral of the other essas included in thisvolume

Exerental life" is in English in the

original

See, for examle Peter edar ean edawar Ari�ttc to Znns (Oxford:Oxford University Press 198 3), 6667.

The ternoloy in the orignal is thesame as that used for bank transactions(and thus naked life" becomes here thecash reserve contaned in accounts uch asthe forms of life")

ristotle O the Soul, in The eteWorks ofAritot vol 1, ed. JonathanBarnes (Princeton, NJ: Princetonniversiy Press, 1984), 68283

9 Dante Alighieri, O Wold-Gvemetrans Herbert W Schneder (Indnaoliiberal rts, 957) 67; translationmodied.

0 In English in the original. his termi taken from a single reference by Marx inwhich he uses the English term See KarlMarx Grrdri.,c: FOdti ofthe riiqueofPolital E trans Martn Nicolaus(New Yor andom House 1973), 76.

Beyn Hman Righs

Hannah Arendt, We efugees,"bJol no 1 (1943) 77

2 Hannah rendt Imperim Part II ofThe Oii, �fTotlitriiJ(New York:Harcourt Brace 1 95 1), . 266-98

Ibid 29-95.

( )

Wha s a Pepe?

Hannah rendt On RC'71 (NewYork Viking Press 1963), 7

Nes n Gesre

Gilles de la ourette, tudes i7iqC etp.iloiqc la b (Paris Bureauxde rogrs 1886)

: JeanMartin Charcot, haot theCliii: The eday Lessons (New York:aven Press, 1987)

See Gilles Deleuze, Cicmf : Thecctagc tra Hugh omlinonand Barbara Habberjam (Mnnols

niversity of Minnesota Press 1986 )4 Varro, On the Latn Lgage trans.oland G Kent (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 977) 245

Aristotle mhe Ethi transMarn Ostald (Indanaol BobbsMerrill Edcational Pblng 1983) , 153 .

Langages an Pepes

ranois De Vaux de oletier LesTias icJ Fej cited in

Aice BeckeHo Lespi. dujrg Unfateur gig UX igc de largot delasses dgcrec ditio (mce (Paris:Gallimard 993) 2223.

he reference is to Alice BeckerHoLes pnes dujJ U fateur nglg uorginc de lar des W' dgercs(Paris: Grard ebovici 99)

Gershom Scholem Une lettre inditede Gershom Scholem Franz onig roos de notre lange Une cnsn"trans from German into rench by Stefan

Moses, ArI'csd. Scs Sois sRtligiS etbZ' de Soioic dc" Reli6: 1 (Paris 1985) 83-84

Margina Nes n Cmmente n thcef te pectce

Karl von Ccitz cited in GuyDebord, P·ae la q1rc itii!i7 de La Sot du Spetale (Paris:ditions Cham Libre, 1979) 15-6

2 We have translated this assage fromthe Italan as we could not nd the original

reference Karl Marx pital) vol 1 , trans Benowkes (New York Vintage Books, 197 7) 165

4 Louis Althusser Preface to CapitalVolume One" in Lenn and Piomptrans Ben Brewster (New York Monthlyeiew Press, 1971), 95; but see thewhole essay, and escll . 8 and 88

Karl Kras, I n These Great imes" inn These Great Tes trans Ha Zohn(Montreal Engendra Press 1976) . 7.

riedrich Nitzsch e Gay Siee,trans Water Kafn (New YorkVintage Books, 1974), 273·74

The ace

ranz neig The Sar ofRedepton trans Willia W Hallo New York:

Sveeign Pie

ater Benjn Critique ofVionce" in Rei, Edund ehcott(New York: Schocke Books, 1986), 287.

Nes n Piis

M Water Bnjn heologicoPolitical ragment" in eci7.) transEdmund J ehcott (New York SchockenBooks, 1986), 31 2

n This xie (aian Diary 992-94

Ayrtan Senna razilian racecardrver and charsmatc ublc con dedin Ital during the Sa n Marino Grand Prixat the age of thirtyfur His death was ahighly blizd med eent

2 Bettino Craxi was head of the PSI(Italian Socialist Pary) from 1976 to 987,as well as Italian rime minister from 983to 1986 In the early 199s he was at thecenter of the Tgc7pisl wasaccused of corruo and ed Italy forTunisia where he did in early 2

Giovanni Botero The eason ofStattrans. P] and D. P Waley (New Haven:Yale University Press 956) 3

4 Here Agamben is referring to the

controversial henoenon ofpctitiwhich ignited ublic oinion in Italthroughout the 99. turncoa,"or literall, the ones who have reented"are former ers o forganzed creor ofleftwing o r rightwing oliticalorgizton ho dcide to disavow theirbeliefs ublicly and t name other members oftheir orgnzton ding olice

r a n s l a t r s t s

investgatins r tals in eg fr nty r redued risn terms

arl Mar Th Ltters ofKarl Marxl l

he term c.ftas1J is in Engishin the rigina

risttle Nm Eh bk 1l l

Index



trans Sau Padver (Engld CliffsN Prentie all 1979 24

trans Martin Ostwald (ndlibera rts Press 1962 16

Abel ar 3 1

Abelard Peter 129at/ativity 79 8 98Ada 83advertsing 94 98 13 7alienatin 8 2 85 96Alter us 76 145nanien rgime 1 1 1 25 1 28drv Yuri 86Ancrkmg regntn 112nl 3 93Allinr Gle 142aear 91 95 tragdy f 94arriatin 91 117

ah 1 12rendt Hannah IS 19 25 4 144nargia, args 14 1argot 64-67 69Aristtle 57 141 144n 146Arnn 67art 8 92ataia 52

Ashitz 8 2 121 122 142

Averrism 1 1 14 14 1nng 5 6

abel 69bad nn 1 37adiu lain 87 19alza Hnr de 49 5ban 112 113nrt 142as 67 6atae Gerges 7eker Aie 6465 144 145nekett ae 56enjn Water 6 1 54 64 65 7

14 1 14 143-44n 145nbiethis 7bilgy 3 7biitis i 7 3235 41 45 1 14bos 3 2 43 1 3 8 13 9 bos ho 1

Salso life naked lie birth 21 24-25 4345

Boin,]ean 30oy, iologicl 122, 138oy politic 138Botero Giovanni 1 28 145n

cnction, 10, 59, 95, 1 15, 1 1612 1; eence o, 84

cny 4 9, 10, 11 , 16, 24, 85, 89,91 95 114 136 141 inoperative

i

o

z

C

�

iimulation 94omination 113a 95Dumont 31

Foucault Michel ix 7, 138Frnce/French 132 142ree ue 1 17 1 1ree 124 eech 137

4 8 9



Botero, Giovanni 1 28 , 145nourge 49 53 87ureaucrcy, 95, 98Burguny Duke o, 105Buh George erert 86

t 83, 84camera, 93 94cmp 22 24 31 37-45, 12 123 1 32; a

n<ugurl t o moerni 122Canetti, Elia, 77Cantor Georg, 89Cpi" 75, 76cpit 11 33 78 82 96 109 33 ,

136, 13 7capital pnnt 104Catalan lnguge, 68Catholic Church, 129, 135

Cava, P, 142caracter 79 97Charcot eanMartin, 5 1, 144nChrit 135Chritianity/Chritian, 1 34, 1 35IA, 86cinema, 53, 5556, 58 59; ilent 5354citien, x 6, 12, 16, 18, 2124 26 31 41

68, 125, 12729, 133ciy, 6 , 45, 9 1civil war, 35 86; gloal 95; Spanih, 1 7, 142cla ruggle 32Clui, Krl von, 74, 145n

Cohn r 15cmedia ell'arte, 79C0et/sal tb So t pd

74, 80, 86cod, 7576Common, he 82, 84, 1 15 11 718;

common lie, 89cuncii 10 59 82 84, 92, 9698,

1 1 5

91 95 114, 136, 141; inoperative1 17

cpnc 116 117conen 134conpiracy 128conl oman, 104, 105cnuption 1 17contellation 56contituent power 1 12contrition 129Culuch 105r 64, 67, 69Craxi Bettino 126 134, 145ncrcrnl 37, 41, 107crii, 43; economic 1 33Crytal alace, 7576

Dachau 39

Dante Aighieri, 10, 69, 99, 144neath , 8Deor Guy, 73, 76, 77, 80, 82 109

145nDto17 t Iho t 7

tyn 20 21ieniicaion, 100Deleue Gille 55 74 144nemocra 30 80 86 97 1 10 1 24, 1 33enaturalitio/enatnlitin 18 43enien 23epropriaton 100eire, 139

etny, 94De Vaux Franoi e Foletier, 144nDiaghilev, Sergei avlovic 53ialect, 68ialectic 117ialectical image, 54Deorio 54cue 125ient 87

Dumont 31Duncan Iaora 5 3

Earth 3 85 92 95 107, 1 09, 142econc, ix; econ 3 3Egypt 136Eichnn Aol 106emptne 93 96en 57 1 1617enemy 32 106environment 137euality 17Ei 1 10 1 1 1n 14 1Erinye 126ethic, 69, 1 16, 134etho, 57Europe, 16, 17, 18, 22, 24, 25, 64, 142;

piri o 124European Union, 23eye 93, 94executioner, 79, 105, 107exle 121exou 24 25 74 2exprence!xptw 9, 70, 11517

1 18; ehical 12930pitu u 85 1 7expoition 9 193, 9597, 142expreion, 9 7expropriation 82 11 1 11 5, 11 7extermintion, 105

ace the, 9192, 94100 129 !qui 6 6 , 69 , 1 1 6ale thealication 8 1 , 82 , 94, 97Facim 54atherlan, 140nal olution 22 41 44ormolie, 3 89 1 1 44Forter Ewar Morga, 142

reeom, 124; o peech 137French evolutin, 30, 33Freu, Sigmun 31 35

Gaelic lngg 68a 59 60gait, 50gae 9394general will, 87, 1 10genocie, 81 , 1 0Germany/Germn, 1 7, 34, 40, 42, 1 32

13 8gere x 49 5153 5 5 5760, 76 79 80,

9 3, 1 2 5Go/go 3, 1 0, 8 3, 84, 99, 13 4Gorachev, Mikhail, 86grmmar 66 69 70, 11 6Greece, ncient 54 56

gilt 123, 134Gul War 1 03Gpie 22 34 366 68

aggaah, 83, 8ammar, Toma, 23, 144ppine 4 8 1 14 142hea o tate 17erew lnge 68egel, Georg Whilhelm Frierich 76 ,

1 1 0 1 40igger Martin 110, , 1 17 1 39eller, Agne 22

eracli 82 139imler, einrch 39hitoricity, 1 1 1 1 12hitory, 93, 1 12 123; en o 11 1, 140itler, Aol 39 77 142oe Toma, 5home the 1 3 8, 14 0 a x, 41u Yaoang, 89

e x

human/human bengs/h, 3, 4 195859 83 8488 9293 94959715, 116 121, 135 141, 42; tllg,9, 1; life, 1 12; lgti r o 84;

Kaka, ranz, 122�23 33 134 139Kat, 59Klen botle, 2 5lg, 83

Mls, 136man, 6, 1 , 2, 6Mare, tenneJles, 53mrket, the 3 7

0 ,

need, 139Netzshe, redrih, 53 79, 45nhilism, 78 85l 37, 43-45



9, 1; ife, 1 12; gti r o 84;shame of being 3 2

h right 8, 24 See ao right!rghts

hpo, 37

idea, the, 6olo, 13dent, 1, 79, 87mage, 5, 56, 76, 93, 94, 95gO SSne, p of, 1 15gratgrt 23, 42pot, 13 139ppr, 94 97, 98 1 12, 1 7p, 93nle 122ndstintion, zone of, 139

indult 34 135rl rolto, 1 1noperatinoprl, 1 17, 141ntellet!tlltl, 11 116�17teror, 3, 13intolerable, the, 12 4iron urtain 8 Isrel 2 5, 26 , 6Italian Ct Par (p.e.!), 36tal/ l 4 2, 12 1-42u bell 3

argon 65, 67-7

r 24ews, 16 17 25 3 541 42 44 67 122,5; extermnation of, 34, 16

jornlsts, 77, 84jgmt, 134]l) 3ung, Cal Gusta, 4ustie 3

lg, 83Koje, l, 1 1, 14Krau, Karl, 7677 145Kus, 67uwit, 67

labor, 75Ldno g, 68lgg, 1 59 6 63 6-66, 68-7, 77,

82, 84, 85,92, 1 2 , 13 1 1 ; lenat onof, 96; pppt of 91; beng of,85; dllg in, 85; stte nd eent of,1 1 6 1 1 8

La 5 5law, the, ix, 14, 12 O, 135, 36;

European, 1 6 1 1; international, 86;Nuhrg las, 18 22 41 43; pole7; prson, 38; raal 17; oman, 4 22;

rule of, 42 34; sstem of, 15left, he, 136 138legtma 12 6ennism, 8 Levi, Prmo, 132litor, 14 5 O

l fe, x 7, 8, 11 ,43, , 88, 12, ; happ1 14; natural, 13 8; polital 12 2 1 38;soial 95. See alo bo; naked lfe zo

Lnoln, Abrahm, 3linguistis, 64 66 68lgao 56logo 82, 112

love, 93 1 34loal, 1 1 7Lumre, Lous, 3

hdo ntono, 42hll No, 74maos 28lla, Stphe, 58

mrket, the 3 7l ofP , 1 4 43Marx, Karl, 6 11 32 74 75 76 82 8896

1, 6 132 44, 45 146mask, 79 9 8

l, x, 7, 58, 5 9, 6, 16-18a,ean, 7 144, Peter, 7 1 14medi, 81, 82 84 95, 96 125 , 13 13 9}l) 54ms 33, 135metlgge, 59Milner, JeanClaude, 1 37mme, 58miser, humn, 133modern/mode, 33 42, 97modes, 93Mbus strp, 25

Moa LJa 55monarh 86otqi, Charles de Seondat aron

de, 13moralt, 13Moses Stefan, 145multide, , 1 1ubrdg, Eedwerd , 5 , 55

naked life, x, 39 11 2 32 34 35 414422 132 14-41 143, 144. See alobo life zo

Nan, JeanLu, 1 12, 1 6

Napoleon, 136naton, natonstate, x, 4 5 6 8-2 1 23- 25,

42-45 64 67 7 87 125, 14 See alostate

natie, 9, 21naue, 94 1 12, I Nazisazsm, 22 34 38 44 77 8 1 1 38

l 37, 43 45nothg 84, 8

kl 14, 41Ora, 21 122 142

open, the, 91ouside, the, 99, 1order, 43; publi 2 7

Palestnians, 2 5 6 7Panofs, Ern, 54paradse, 85Pardes, 83prod, 8Psol, Goanni, 53passon, 92psit, 9 8Paxton, S r J oseph, 5

pete 35people, 16 18, 25, 2, 335, 63 65-68

787 1; oming, 1 7person, prite, 122phon 56phlooph, 56 59 7 1 14 polal, 1,

1 6 1 1 4photogrph, 93plet, 85, 39 41pleasure, 58poetr, 6poiesis 57 See (o prtie prxpole, 19, 14 5 ; nternatol ;

polie operation 3 16 17; seret,81 86; soeregn, 13 ; state, 86polis, ix, 14, 138pols, ix, 2, 6, 42, 6,65 66, 69, 82,

85, 93 ,95, 96, 1 1 12 , 1 4 , 11 7, 3 42; ed of, 113 ; mode, 35;nonstatist, 89; plitial will, ;totta 97; world, 8 8 1

I d

porography 7 58 8 12 3pomoe hori 1 10poeiality/poly 4 10 11 7

8 1 13 141; 143 See f/power

Robprr Mari ioe 30

Rom lgg 64Ro 8 1Rome ai 3 3 04

ourak 60origy 6 8 1 1 16 2 1 3 1 3 3 42

86 103 -7 1 10-15 1 3 6Sovi oui ary 10

11 73 78 80 87 5 103

5 2 , 3

Tour ill l 4-52 144ra 76 5rap 140reai 16; iorityreaie 1 7



powerpover 33powr 6 10 7 80 ommo ; e

143; lie o ; o peeh 1 0 poliial

4 overeig x 5 o kill 5prai 11 See a pepraxi 57 80 117privae 122 123progr 124; progriv 10 137propr 7 1 12 1 17 140rou Mal 53pyholy 84publi 122publi opiio 87 1 04 1 10ph 134purgaory 1 3 1

rabbi 8 Rabbi Akba 8 85Rabiow aul 7raim 86rap 44 122 142real/realiy 4 7 103Re Brigae 128rg x 1517 1 2 1-22 24;

ieraoal orgaizaio or 18Rihag 81rligio ixrp nii eniis7o) 123

128-31 145republi 86re gea 57 5

re imiiwdo) ri 87rvlaio 83 2rvoluio 125 132 1 37righ he 136 138righ/rgh 12 16 1 22 104 110 112

1 1 3 See huma righRilke Rair Maria 5 3

Rome ai 3 3 04R\ig Fra 68 145Ruge Arol 2rule 40 13

bh 2Sak Olier 52are 5 7 22 88 105 I I arie 104Sai aul 134 135am h 11 7Saa 2aire 77Shmi arl 43 86 10 6 1 12 I I Sholm erhom 68 ] 45Shh 3 8 3 Sa yra 123 145r 2 5re rie 127Sero 8 3e 134Serb 142 hame 3 126 13 1 13 2Shekah 82-85Shi 135hok 51Siy 30le 124 125.i(r imulaio 4 ly (iI/r)

iriy 12iuaio 78Situaioi 76 78oia bo 87ol 33-34oety 53 88 lle 88 our 1 13Se te Spe 80oli 13

px 11 73 78 8087 5 103 1 1 5 125 13 7

phl 13 Spioa Barh 74 1 16 1 2

Sli 10 13 7ae 88 8 104 1 11 1 12 1 13; pilmorti 10; oiuioal 10124; morai 1 33; o he 1 10oae 88; rao o 128; o128 pal 115 137 aorm85 86 10 128 ae power 5;oaliaria 7 8; ivsa 1 10 See aioae

a o mrgy/a o exepio ix 6 3 8 -4 1 4 3 4 4 1 04 1 3 3 1 3 8 1 3 144; a rule 1 13

ub 1 1 3urivlior 8 121piio 12 2

Talm 8 3 8 5Tlgcnpi, 123 145hoi 7elevo 81 124 2 137rriory 24 25 43 44rrorim 87 5 123 127heory 1 1hig 3Thir Reih 10 5Thir Worl 35 133hough/hikg 11 13

hrhol 100 I I 86 88 8i 51imioara 80 8 1 8 2 125opo/opologial 25Torah 1 3 5orur 81 12 5oaliariaim 7 8 140

reai 16 ; iority reaie 1 7rial 1 30 1 32robo 6 7truh h 81 82 1 4 5 7 13 1

yray 86 8

i Naio 5ie Sae 23 42; oiuio o h

30ivral xpoiio: Loo 1851 74

ari 1867 75ivral Jugme 77 -78ue 117uopia 78

valu hg e) 75 76Varro Mru Teri 56 57 144Vihy 42 142viim 37Villo Fraoi 6ol 5 104 1 12 1 13 1 15 ovrig

viage 2 7voi 12 34

Walpugi Nigh 76 77 78Wae eree 10 6war 106 See ivil warWarburg Aby 54Warloo 122

weapo 105We he 81vr siay 87 88 8 11 7-18wi 121 12Wigeei ig 60 6wor he 83 3 7workig la 1 7Wor War J 1 1 7 3 1 06

riti 3 9

ohob 23

hom, , 13iih 68

Zvi, bbti 35Zioim 68z i 3 2 32 138, 139 S lso o·

i ak izone d' 2



iih 68oi ormr trritori o

zone d 2oooy, 3

Giorgio Agamben i roor o hioohy t th Uivrity o Vroa

May o hi ork hav b trt ito ih i iLanguag D (199, Sn (1992 aTe Coing mi (1993

a bih by th Uivrity o Miota Pr

Vncenzo Bne i itt roo o Ro itrar at th ivrity o Mihia

Cesae Caarino i atn ro o tr i aomartiv itratr at th Uivrity o Miota

Documents

Giorgio Agamben - Means Without End - Notes on Politics