Tuesday 25 October 2022

Badiou on Ukraine - a prophet without honour in his own time




Just as the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, in February, I had planned to blog about the possibility of war.   I failed to do so - a position of intellectual caution, alas.   Writing or speaking in any way critically of Western policy on Ukraine and Russia has proven, unsurprisingly, not to be the best avenue to the quiet or contemplative life.

An exemplar to the contrary, but ahead of his time, was Alain Badiou, the veteran French philosopher and unrepentant Maoist.    Here is an article he wrote in 2014 - at the time of the coup (usually known as the Maidan rebellion) which brought Zelensky's predecessor to power in that country.    It's well worth revisiting now, as we live with wall-to-wall liberal militancy and mouth-frothing 'I told you so'-ism.   

More on this topic soon -

Conor


"A present defaults – unless the crowd declares itself": Alain Badiou on Ukraine, Egypt and finitude

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