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101-592: Tiqqun was a French-Italian Post-Marxist anarchist philosophical journal or zine , produced in two issues from 1999 to 2001. Topics treated in the journal's articles include anti-capitalism , anti-statism , Situationism , feminism , and the history of late 20th century revolutionary movements, especially May 1968 in France, the Italian Years of Lead , and the Anti-globalization protests of

202-510: A conservative social archetype, described as an older person who withdraws from society while criticizing it, presenting themselves as above or outside social conflict. The authors describe the Man of the Old Regime as a specific type of Bloom whose critique of society is impotent; they also attribute several negative traits to the archetype, including false consciousness . In the original issue

303-479: A scribe to the end of an Ancient Near East ( e.g. , Early/Middle/Late Babylonian , Assyrian , Canaanite ) text such as a chapter, book, manuscript, or record. The colophon usually contained facts relative to the text such as associated person(s) ( e.g. , the scribe, owner, or commissioner of the tablet), literary contents ( e.g. , a title , "catch phrases" (repeated phrases), or number of lines), and occasion or purpose of writing. Colophons and catch phrases helped

404-438: A straw man . Besides Laclau and Mouffe, very few Marxists describe themselves as Post-Marxists, regardless of their own affinities with post-structuralist theories or their reinterpretation of Marx. There is also much disagreement between post-Marxists on fundamental questions of strategy and philosophy (Hegel or Spinoza, for example); some forward a left-populism , others a complete rejection of organised politics , and others

505-542: A Jewish theological concept which refers to repair or healing of the world. In the authors' context, Tiqqun refers to improvement of the human condition through the subversion of modern capitalist society. Due to their philosophical influences, political content and historical context, the Tiqqun articles have received some attention in humanities scholarship and anarchist reading circles. Selected articles have been republished in several languages. The first issue of Tiqqun

606-517: A black square was reproduced, taken from a work by the occult philosopher Robert Fludd . For Fludd, the black square represented the Void which preceded the Creation . The authors reproduced the image to illustrate surrounding themes of nothingness and night. Mr Bloom watched curiously, kindly, the lithe black form. Clean to see: the gloss of her sleek hide, the white button under the butt of her tail,

707-547: A body of critical literature. Some authors have analyzed the articles' historical background, while others have used them to underline points in original research. Criticisms range from perceived misogyny (in the Young-Girl article) to the commercial success of The Coming Insurrection itself. Jason E. Smith detailed the history of civil unrest in 1970s Italy, providing historical background for Tiqqun's subject matter in This

808-512: A brief lyrical piece summarizing the issue's themes, its title a play on Lenin 's work What Is to Be Done? . Referring to the issue's subtitle, the authors seek to inhabit "zones of offensive opacity"—akin to no-go zones —as points from which to begin an assault on modern capitalist society. In order to maintain opacity, the authors encourage the rejection of predicate labels associated with identity politics because authorities might use them to more easily identify individuals. The piece ends with

909-488: A call to insurrection. Nine minor pieces appeared in Tiqqun 2 , which included reproductions of flyers posted publicly, or for dissemination at demonstrations. Final Warning to the Imaginary Party is a sarcastic list of articles concerning the proper use of public space—for leisure and consumption as opposed to protest or "abnormal behavior"—written from the point of view of governments and businesses. The piece

1010-525: A colophon that concludes the histories ( toledot ) of Jacob . An extensive study of the eleven colophons found in the book of Genesis was done by Percy John Wiseman. Wiseman's study of the Genesis colophons, sometimes described as the Wiseman hypothesis , has a detailed examination of the catch phrases mentioned above that were used in literature of the second millennium B.C. and earlier in tying together

1111-405: A consequence of living in capitalist society. Although the term "Bloom" is used contextually throughout the issue to refer to an alienated modern subject, the authors explicitly deny this characterization as reductive, instead describing Bloom as a Stimmung , or a certain "mood" of personality. According to the authors, a Bloom is "foreign to himself" in the sense that capitalist society denies him

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1212-445: A form of post-Marxism, of having a theoretically weak understanding of value in capitalist economies. It has also been by criticised by other Marxists for being anti-humanist / anti-(Hegelian) dialectical. Post-Marxism of all stripes has also been criticised for downplaying or ignoring the role of race, neocolonialism , and Eurocentrism . Post-Marxism as a term is also seen as being too imprecise, often used as an insult or

1313-495: A male Young-Girl: "They've wounded me in what is most dear to me: my image." Building on these themes, Machine-Men: User's Guide is a feminist piece which discusses prescription drugs—especially Viagra —as a form of biopolitical technology. The Critical Metaphysicians beneath the "Unemployed Persons' movement" is a brief article describing an "unemployed workers'" movement in France during 1997 and 1998, including reproductions of related protest flyers. A Few Scandalous Actions of

1414-416: A new Leninist vanguard. Colophon (publishing) In publishing, a colophon ( / ˈ k ɒ l ə f ən , - f ɒ n / ) is a brief statement containing information about the publication of a book such as an "imprint" (the place of publication, the publisher, and the date of publication). A colophon may include the device ( logo ) of a printer or publisher. Colophons are traditionally printed at

1515-583: A new path between Althusserian structural Marxism and instrumentalist theorists of Monopoly Capitalism . In the US, Michael Hardt collaborated with Antonio Negri to produce Empire at the turn of the century, widely recognised as a consolidation and re-affirmation of post-Marxism. Harry Cleaver produced innovative readings of Capital , alongside Moishe Postone who reaffirmed Marx's central concepts. Post-Marxism also has different connotations within radical feminist theory. The way Catharine MacKinnon uses

1616-484: A political tract credited to The Invisible Committee , a distinct anonymous group named in the journal. Julien Coupat , one of the arrested, was a contributor to the first issue of Tiqqun . The journal's articles are polemics against modern capitalist society, which the authors hold in contempt. Individual articles present diagnoses of specific aspects of modern society, drawing on ideas from continental philosophy , anthropology , and history. Guy Debord 's concept of

1717-535: A politics of incivility, informed by the latter autonomist tendency in the Italian Left. Alexander R. Galloway cited The Cybernetic Hypothesis in an essay treating the conceptual history of the black box , likening black bloc demonstrators to "a black box" in the sense that each has internal dynamics opaque to outisiders. Andrew Culp discussed Michel Foucault's studies on war, politics and insurrection as precursors of Tiqqun's martial discourse; he also described

1818-518: Is Not a Program . He underlined the division within the Italian Left between established, labor-focused organizations (including the Italian Communist Party and worker's unions) and more radical, autonomist groups who refused the employment relation altogether, using autoreduction as a coercive tactic to appropriate goods and services at lower prices, including the looting of supermarkets. Smith argued that Tiqqun's articles advocate

1919-546: Is a global village ." Critics of the text agree that its ostensible purpose is not to insult women, but rather to denounce a capitalist process of socialization which produces "the Young-Girl" as a pathological archetype which is harmful to real women. While acknowledging this premise, Moira Weigel and Mal Ahern criticized the text as misogynistic, suggesting that its anonymity and irony were used as covers to pre-emptively deflect accusations of sexism; Weigel and Ahern's article

2020-481: Is a brief piece describing the difficulty of leaving modern society, using sarcastic language similar to that found in Tiqqun's flyers and a ten-point format similar to Final Warning to the Imaginary Party . In 2004, the postscript to an Italian edition of Theory of Bloom announced the forthcoming publication of Call ( Appel ), an anonymous tract which proposed secession from mainstream capitalist society. Call used vocabulary and rhetoric common to both Tiqqun and

2121-573: Is a piece which criticized the activist group ATTAC for what the authors described as its recuperation into conventional capitalist society. Ma noi ci saremo (But We'll Be Here) is a series of remarks on the then-recent anti-globalization protests which occurred in Genoa , Prague , and Seattle . Other texts not appearing in the original journal have been associated with Tiqqun and the Invisible Committee. The Great Game of Civil War

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2222-590: Is a piece which describes the threatening power of silence when wielded by a group of rioters. The article describes the 1998 suicide of Edoardo Massari , an Italian anarchist who was jailed in Turin on suspicion of eco-terrorism against construction sites for the Italian TGV high-speed train. In response, anarchist rioters silently marched through Turin over the next several days, brandishing weapons, damaging property, and assaulting journalists. The authors praised

2323-447: Is alienated from the modern society held in contempt by the authors, they consider that his rejection of that society can lead to violence, expressed in the murders committed by Mitchell Johnson and Kipland Kinkel , among others. Phenomenology of Everyday Life is a brief piece in which the narrator describes an "absurd" interaction with a bakery clerk, where each is expected to play the economic roles of customer and vendor. Theses on

2424-504: Is complementary to Bloom: whereas Bloom is an alienated subject who threatens to harm capitalist society, the Young-Girl fully participates in, is a commodity of, and defends that society. Although the article focuses on traits and language associated with femininity, it also stresses that men can function as Young-Girls in society by participating in and upholding it, while also taking care to uphold their public image out of vanity . A quotation attributed to Silvio Berlusconi describes him as

2525-482: Is described as Tiqqun . The tone of the articles is frequently acerbic and sarcastic. The philosophers Thucydides , Thomas Hobbes and Martin Heidegger are described respectively as "that moron", "that piece of shit" and "swine", due to the authors' disagreements with their views. The Italian sociologist Antonio Negri is also frequently the subject of harsh criticism, due to his involvement in activism which

2626-778: Is often very different from that produced by Laclau and Mouffe, and much of the Left has turned against the Post-Marxist turn. Despite being born in Latin America and the Eastern Bloc, post-Marxism is largely produced by theorists of the Global North , as the following criticisms reveal. Aside from perhaps Spivak, there are no notable theorists of the Global South who are within the post-Marxist tradition, and

2727-472: Is the observation that the texts under examination—whether by Tiqqun or the Invisible Committee—have a tendency to contradict themselves; the criticisms also use polemical language comparable to that used in Tiqqun itself. A pair of critical works discussed Tiqqun and the Invisible Committee in more sympathetic terms. Pedro José Mariblanca Corrales treated Tiqqun's concept of Bloom by way of

2828-526: Is used to manage the physical needs of the population, while the Spectacle is an established form of discourse which reproduces modern society through its socialization in individuals. Against this, the authors posit " critical metaphysics ", an attitude which rejects modern society. Persons who reject modern society may meet in " planes of consistency ", circumstances which allow like-minded people to encounter each other. Persons rejecting modern society form

2929-528: The Imaginary Party , an unorganized group who may coalesce around specific events of civil unrest. An example is the Black bloc , a practice—employed during anti-globalization protests and riots—of dressing in black and wearing face coverings. The authors describe " zones of offensive opacity " as places where people may meet to subvert modern society. The process through which such people meet and interact

3030-535: The Italian Communist Party (PCI), labor unions and worker's movements, while a more radical faction—the Autonomists —rejected organizational hierarchy and work itself . In the context of anarchist movements, the authors describe the Imaginary Party as a "plane of consistency" where individuals who seek to subvert modern society can find each other and form alliances. How Is It to Be Done? is

3131-708: The Kula ring in Papua New Guinea, as described in Bronisław Malinowski 's Argonauts of the Western Pacific . Preliminary Materials For a Theory of the Young-Girl describes "the Young-Girl" as a social archetype related to young women's femininity in modern capitalist society. The article consists of a series of glosses, including declarative statements on the characteristics of the Young-Girl and phrases taken from women's magazines . The archetype

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3232-696: The Late Latin colophōn , from the Greek κολοφών (meaning "summit" or "finishing touch"). The term colophon was used in 1729 as the bibliographic explication at the end of the book by the English printer Samuel Palmer in his The General History of Printing, from Its first Invention in the City of Mentz to Its first Progress and Propagation thro' the most celebrated Cities in Europe. Thereafter, colophon has been

3333-452: The Spectacle is used to explain how communication media and socialization processes support existing capitalist society, and Michel Foucault 's concept of biopower is used to explain how states and businesses manage populations via their physical needs. The journal's articles introduce terminology for their topics, freely used throughout the other articles. A "Bloom" refers to an archetypal , alienated modern person or subject , named after

3434-465: The Tiqqun collective toward the end of its existence. In an interview, he noted that the group disbanded shortly after the September 11 attacks . Tiqqun's articles pathologize modern capitalist society, introducing several terms used to describe social phenomena. The authors use the terms together to present an anti-capitalist, anti-statist worldview . Because of their contempt for modern society,

3535-770: The Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Of course you know, this means war! is a brief opening piece which sets out the authors' disgust with modern society, which they liken to the Situationist notion of the Spectacle, and also to the Kabbalistic notion of qlippoth (shells, husks), the latter being evil forces in Jewish mysticism . Against the prevailing social order, the authors propose Tiqqun , referring both to

3636-640: The title page , which sometimes existed in parallel with a colophon, so that colophons grew generally less common in the 16th century. The statements of printing which appeared, under the terms of the Unlawful Societies Act 1799 ( 39 Geo. 3 . c. 79), on the verso of the title leaf and final page of each book printed in Great Britain in the 19th century are not, strictly speaking, colophons, and are better referred to as "printers' imprints" or "printer statements". In some parts of

3737-528: The Advancement of Criminal Science. The authors describe modern society as a series of control mechanisms, or apparatuses; examples include highways, store security, and turnstiles. For the authors, the "science of apparatuses" is thus simply the science of crime, techniques for circumventing and defeating control apparatuses. The authors therefore promote the collection and dissemination of criminal techniques intended to undermine capitalist society. Report to

3838-497: The Eastern Bloc. This happened concurrently with the occurrence internationally of the strikes and occupations of 1968 , the rise of Maoist theory , and the proliferation of commercial television and later information technologies which covered in its broadcasts the Vietnam War . Post-Marxism, although with its roots in this New Left and the consequent post-structural moment in France, has its real genesis in reaction to

3939-593: The English-speaking world through its association with the Invisible Committee, whose book The Coming Insurrection was denounced (and thereby popularized) by the American conservative commentator Glenn Beck following the Tarnac Nine arrests. Due to its popularization following the arrests, the journal's articles have received attention in humanities scholarship and anarchist reading circles, generating

4040-474: The French government later mandated face coverings in response to the pandemic. Reg Johanson decried an ableist tendency which he observed in both Tiqqun and the Invisible Committee. According to Johanson, both collectives are suspicious of people suffering from serious illness or disabilities because their status renders them dependent on—and necessarily complicit with—the society sustaining their lives, which

4141-636: The Head" also refers to the questions of societal leadership (a king, a president, a business, etc.), and the form of leadership in a society (monarchy, democracy, oligarchy, etc.). The authors claim that the liberal hypothesis was a previous answer to the problem, eventually replaced by the cybernetic hypothesis. The inter-war period from 1914 to 1945 was a time of instability, and this is what allowed avant-garde movements—such as Surrealism and Bolshevism —to flourish. However, avant-garde movements tend to become preoccupied with their own culture and internal issues, to

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4242-418: The Imaginary Party describes its title's subject as a portion of humanity who come to reject modern society. Spectacle and biopower are presented as two reinforcing aspects of modernity: the former is a control mechanism which ensures compliance with and reproduction of the society's norms, while the latter presents itself as a benevolent force providing for the needs of the population. Against these, "agents" of

4343-507: The Imaginary Party is a series of vignettes recounting situations instigated by the authors and their associates; the piece ends with a satirical mockery of the novelist Michel Houellebecq , an object of scorn for the authors. Introduction to Civil War expands the concept of civil war to become a philosophical category explaining human interactions. According to the authors, individuals have various inclinations, which are forms of life . Because humans have differing inclinations and share

4444-419: The Imaginary Party commit acts which are pathologized by the society as antisocial and irrational, including rioting and mass shootings. According to the authors, Blooms are prone to become members of the Imaginary Party because of their alienation from modern society. Johann Georg Elser , failed assassin of Adolf Hitler , is described by the authors as a "model Bloom", due to his modest life. Silence and Beyond

4545-561: The Imaginary Party: Zone of Offensive Opacity ). For simplicity the two issues are commonly referred to as Tiqqun 1 and Tiqqun 2 , respectively. Eleven articles were published in Tiqqun 1 , and ten major articles were published in Tiqqun 2 . Additionally the first issue contained a one-page spread , and the second issue contained nine smaller pieces interspersed between each of its ten main articles, two-page spreads with black borders. In all 31 pieces were published in

4646-437: The Invisible Committee (e.g. Spectacle and biopower, an imperative to form communes). Call was later criticized on the Left for its suggestion that actors can unilaterally withdraw from capitalist society on their own terms. According to the critic, capitalism continues to inform relations of production throughout society, a situation from which potential defectors cannot immediately escape. Tiqqun came to wider attention in

4747-421: The Invisible Committee as a group which splintered from the personnel involved with creating the journal. In two related articles, Jackie Wang cited The Cybernetic Hypothesis to describe policing as a form of social control. One piece detailed the real example of PredPol , predictive policing software adopted by several American police departments throughout the 2010s; the second was a personal reflection on

4848-626: The Jewish concept of healing, and also to the journal itself. The piece is dated Venice, January 15, 1999. What is Critical Metaphysics? gives a description of its titular subject, which is opposed to "commodity domination", or commodity metaphysics. The article's title is a play on What is Metaphysics? , a lecture given by Heidegger in 1929. According to the authors, critical metaphysics is an irrepressable, anti-capitalist way of perceiving reality, which consumer culture , modernity and analytic philosophy have failed to eliminate. The authors stress that

4949-455: The Old Regime ), and subcultures which seek to preserve themselves at the expense of their members' inability to be honest with each other ( Terrible Communities ). Historically, modern Western society transitioned from a period of liberal governance (the liberal hypothesis ) to a period stressing social control using technology (the cybernetic hypothesis ). Modern society uses two techniques to maintain its power and to reproduce itself: biopower

5050-567: The Old Testament (2nd ed., 1969). Colophons are also found in the Pentateuch , where an understanding of this ancient literary convention illuminates passages that are otherwise unclear or incoherent. Examples are Numbers 3:1, where a later (and incorrect) chapter division makes this verse a heading for the following chapter instead of interpreting it properly as a colophon or summary for the preceding two chapters, and Genesis 37:2a,

5151-558: The S.A.C.S. Concerning an Imperial Apparatus is a critical account of Bluewater , a shopping mall outside London, newly completed at the time of writing. The authors compare the modern shopping mall to 19th-century historical precursors, including the French arcades and The Crystal Palace . They also describe shopping malls using terms taken from the Project on the City , a book series on urban planning just mentioned by name—and derided—in

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5252-603: The Scrivener " and its protagonist's phrase "I would prefer not to" as devices to explore the concepts of general strike and sex strikes . This Is Not a Program describes the Years of Lead in detail, contrasting the Italian "Creeping May" of 1977 with the French protests of May 1968. During the period of civil unrest, several left wing factions competed with each other and with the Italian state. The established Left consisted of

5353-401: The ability to be his authentic self. Bloom is thus a kind of "mask", recalling the issue's frontispiece. Modern society therefore encourages superficial identification with various predicate labels (being a woman, being gay, being British, etc.), which the authors refer to as " poor substantiality ", in an effort to prevent the socially harmful consequences of an isolated population. Since a Bloom

5454-555: The article was followed by You're Never Too Old to Ditch Out , a small piece which encouraged older people to withdraw from mainstream society and instead seek authentic community with others, as opposed to isolation. Sonogram of a Potential is a feminist article treating sonograms , abortion, and women's history during the Italian Years of Lead in the 1970s. The authors use the Herman Melville shory story " Bartleby,

5555-752: The authors advocate insurrectionary anarchism , crime, and other methods intended to subvert it. The authors also indicate that people opposed to modern capitalist society may form meaningful community with each other based on their shared rejection of it. According to the authors, the coordination of states and private businesses gives rise to modern capitalist society ( Empire ), which entails " commodity domination" of social interactions, supplanting authentic human community. This leads to several pathological sociological types: socially alienated people ( Blooms ), people who fully participate in society and thereby become commodities themselves ( Young-Girls ), people who criticize society without attempting to change it ( Men of

5656-457: The authors feel is too conciliatory to existing capitalist society. The articles are illustrated with reproductions of artwork and photography of riots and demonstrations. The journal's first issue included a frontispiece depicting a traditional Italian mask set against the Latin inscription SUA CUIQUE PERSONA (To each their own mask); masks are used frequently as metaphorical devices throughout

5757-433: The authors seek to subvert. He also noted that the collective placed a premium on mobility, suggesting the members' possible youth, wealth, or lack of family life. Preliminary Materials For a Theory of the Young-Girl consists of a series of passages characterizing "the Young-Girl", frequently in sexist terms. Representative examples include "The Young-Girl is a lie, the apogee of which is her face." and "The Young-Girl's ass

5858-548: The authors, places like highways, supermarkets and public benches are transient locations that their users are expected to pass through in a timely fashion. To cope with this regimented use of real space, virtual spaces (television, internet, video games) are provided to people to give an illusion of freedom. You're Never Too Old to Ditch Out is a piece which exhorted the elderly to deny capitalist society their further participation in it, instead using their savings for self-reliance and to seek authentic community with others. Hello!

5959-494: The character Leopold Bloom from the James Joyce novel Ulysses . A "Young-Girl" refers to a person who participates in modern society and thereby reinforces it, exhibiting traits commonly associated with femininity . Although a "Bloom" frequently stands for a man and a "Young-Girl" frequently stands for a woman, the authors stress that the concepts are not gendered. The word Tiqqun is an alternate spelling of Tikkun olam ,

6060-499: The common designation for the final page that gives details of the physical creation of the book. The existence of colophons can be traced back to antiquity. Zetzel, for example, describes an inscription from the 2nd century A.D., preserved in humanistic manuscripts. He cites the colophon from Poggio's manuscript, a humanist from the 15th century: Statili(us) / maximus rursum em(en)daui ad tyrone(m) et laecanianu(m) et dom̅ & alios ueteres. III. ( ‘I, Statilius Maximus, have for

6161-478: The concept is not academic, but practical: "Critical Metaphysics is in everyone's guts." Persons who engage in critical metaphysics are described as critical metaphysicians. In one passage, people who join to "politicize metaphysics" represent the emergence of "the coming insurrection of the Mind"; The Coming Insurrection was the title later given to the first work by The Invisible Committee. Between articles an image of

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6262-529: The conservative Italian Communist Party , focusing much more on labour, gender and the later works of Marx. In France, radicals such as Félix Guattari redefined old Lacanian models of desire and subjectivity, which had often been tied to the communist project, bringing Nietzsche into conversation with Marx. In the Eastern Bloc , the Budapest School began reinterpreting Marx, building on

6363-440: The cost of the inability of their members to speak honestly with each other, referred to in the article as parrhesia . The authors seek to replace terrible communities with authentic communities whose members can be honest with each other. The Problem of the Head is a criticism of avant-garde groups in revolutionary politics and the arts, which present themselves as the "heads" of their corresponding movements. "The Problem of

6464-617: The detriment of the broader issues that they claim to represent, and are therefore likened to terrible communities. A note indicates that in June 2000, the piece was read aloud at a retrospective exhibit of modern art in Venice, upsetting two of the participating artists. "A critical metaphysics could emerge as a science of apparatuses..." is presented as the founding text of the SACS, the Society for

6565-407: The economy. But in the interiors of their chateaux, the conquerors became afraid. The Untitled Notes on Citizenship Papers are remarks on a social movement demanding citizen documentation for all persons; the authors observed that such a movement could be tactically useful to abolish the concept of citizenship as such, in the sense that granting citizenship documentation to all persons would defeat

6666-417: The ends of books (see History below for the origin of the word), but sometimes the same information appears elsewhere (when it may still be referred to as colophon) and many modern (post-1800) books bear this information on the title page or on the verso of the title leaf, which is sometimes called a biblio page or (when bearing copyright data) the copyright page . The term colophon derives from

6767-525: The exclusive character of citizenship itself. Progress doesn't want Those that don't want Progress is another sarcastic flyer, admonishing the residents of the Paris suburb Montreuil to accept gentrification and the re-election of mayor Jean-Pierre Brard , or else leave. Stop DomestiCAFion! is a flyer concerning the demeaning aspects of applying for welfare, describing inspections made by social workers with regard to income and social life as intrusive. This

6868-601: The fictional example of RoboCop as a cybernetic cop. In response to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the practice of wearing face masks intended to slow the spread of the disease, Philippe Theophanidis essayed the cultural significance of masks, using Portrait Cover with Grotesques as a device to explore the topic. He noted the painting's invocation in Tiqqun , and also noted with irony that although face coverings had recently been banned in France due to their use by demonstrators and Muslim women as part of niqab ,

6969-412: The fungibility of human beings themselves; Blooms are "absolutely equivalent" with each other (as potential employees, members of society, etc.) and therefore adopt superficial traits in an effort to present individual personalities. The authors also reject what they describe as the ahistorical retconning of modern economic theory onto all human history. As a counterexample, they cite the gift economy of

7070-500: The green flashing eyes. He bent down to her, his hands on his knees. —Milk for the pussens, he said. —Mrkgnao! the cat cried. They call them stupid. They understand what we say better than we understand them. Ulysses , as quoted at the beginning of Theory of Bloom Beginning with a quotation from the James Joyce novel Ulysses , Theory of Bloom describes a phenomenon in which people become alienated from each other as

7171-597: The hegemony of neoliberalism , and defeat of the Left in such events as the UK miners' strike . Ernesto Laclau argued that a Marxism for the neoliberal conjuncture required a fundamental reworking, to address the failures of both. Subsequently, Laclau and Mouffe address the proliferation of "new subject positions" by locating their analysis on a non-essentialist framework. Simultaneously, revolutionaries in Italy, known as Operaismo, and later autonomists , began to theorise against

7272-506: The influence of Heidegger on Tiqqun's project, noted by others. Tiqqun's articles introduce several items of jargon which are freely used throughout the journal's other articles. Major terms are described here. Post-Marxism The term "Post-Marxism" first appeared in Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe 's theoretical work Hegemony and Socialist Strategy . Post-Marxism is a wide category not well-defined, containing

7373-489: The issue. The frontispiece is a detail of Portrait Cover with Grotesques [it] , an Italian Renaissance painting of uncertain origin, commonly attributed to Ridolfo Ghirlandaio . The painting functioned as a practical art object, intended as a cover for a portrait painting. Although its companion is also uncertain, Portrait Cover has become associated with the portrait Veiled Woman [it] , also attributed to Ghirlandaio. The two artworks are exhibited together at

7474-476: The journal itself as philosophically insignificant. Another article criticized This is Not a Program , claiming that the latter gave a revisonist account of the Years of Lead. Others instead focused on works by the Invisible Committee (though mentioning Tiqqun in passing), arguing that the former group marketed its books as fashionable consumer products following the Tarnac Nine arrests, contrary to their purported anti-capitalist views. Common to all these articles

7575-462: The journal's vocabulary (see the below glossary), elaborating the latter to explain the social causes giving rise to the former. Alden Wood wrote a series of academic articles collected in a single volume, exploring aspects of the two group's writings by reading them together with others. Wood compared the groups' use of musical metaphor with the atonal compositions of Arnold Schoenberg , their invocations of nihilism with George Bataille , and detailed

7676-509: The journal, listed below in the order they originally appeared. Due to their anonymity, Tiqqun's articles are not credited to individual authors; rather, they are simply attributed to the journal's namesake. However the first issue's back cover contained a colophon which listed the issue's editorial board as Julien Boudart, Fulvia Carnevale , Julien Coupat , Junius Frey, Joël Gayraud, Stephan Hottner and Rémy Ricordeau. The actor and philosopher Mehdi Belhaj Kacem briefly collaborated with

7777-569: The late 1970s, and several trends and events of that period influenced its development. The weakness of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc paradigm became evident after the so called " Secret speech " and the following invasion of Hungary , which split the radical left irreparably. Marxism from then on faced a crisis of credibility, resulting in various developments in Marxist theory, particularly neo-Marxism , which theorised against much of

7878-552: The late 1990s and early 2000s. The journal's articles were written anonymously; as a result, the word "Tiqqun" is also used to name the articles' collective of authors, and other texts attributed to them. The journal came to wider attention following the Tarnac Nine arrests of 2008, a police operation which detained nine people on suspicion of having conspired on recent sabotage of French electrical train lines. The arrested were accused of having written The Coming Insurrection ,

7979-534: The left and the right wings of Marxism. Nick Thoburn has criticised Laclau's Post-Marxism (and its relationship to Eurocommunism ) as essentially a rightward shift to social democracy . Ernest Mandel and Sivanandan make this same point. Richard Wolff also claims that Laclau's formulation of Post-Marxism is a step backward. Oliver Eagleton (son of Terry Eagleton ) claims that Mouffe's 'radical democracy' has an inherent conservative nature. Other Marxists have criticised Autonomist Marxism or post-operaismo,

8080-465: The metaphorical sense of finding the rhetoric disagreeable, but in the literal sense that she experienced nausea and migranes while preparing her translation. Tiqqun has also been criticized in anarchist reading circles, frequently in connection with the Invisible Committee. One article traced the journal's philosophical influences, focusing on Heidegger, nihilism and the Jewish messianic figures of Sabbatai Zevi and Jacob Frank , ultimately rejecting

8181-531: The name of a proofreader or editor, or other more-or-less relevant details, might be added. A colophon might also be emblematic or pictorial rather than in words. The normal position for a colophon was after the explicit (the end of the text, often after any index or register). Colophons sometimes contained book curses , as this was the one place in a medieval manuscript where a scribe was free to write what he wished. Such curses tend to be unique to each book. After around 1500 these data were often transferred to

8282-726: The need to develop a decentered communication system in the event of nuclear war gave rise to the internet . Since cybernetic systems seek control and equilibrium, the authors advocate their defeat by creating unmanagable situations. The article was illustrated by various images depicting technology, including works by H.R. Giger suggesting its disturbing aspects. Theses on the Terrible Community describes pathological communities which arise in modern society. Although such communities may include countercultures , they can also include mainstream communities, such as modern corporations. Terrible communities seek to preserve themselves at

8383-424: The phrase used as an author's credit in the later eponymous texts: A great menace, at the same time as a great derision, were given off by the crowds of mute masks with their regard riveted on the entrenched conquerors. These conquerors were certainly not mistaken as they hastily denounced the conspiracy of a certain Invisible Committee . They even spoke of a major peril for civilization, for democracy, for order and

8484-467: The previous article. The article describes the 1956 opening of the Southdale Center —the world's first enclosed, air-conditioned shopping mall— air conditioning itself, and artificial plants , referred to as "Replascape". Articles on all three topics appear in the volumes Mutations and Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping . The Little Game of the Man of the Old Regime is a critique of

8585-475: The radical movements of the Global South largely remain within the 'Old Left' tradition. Several reasons relating to political geography and level of academisation are given as explanations. There is some debate however as to whether Cedric Robinson was a post-Marxist. Despite this, the Zapatistas have been a large source of inspiration for many post-Marxists. Post-Marxism has been criticised from both

8686-418: The reader organize and identify various tablets, and keep related tablets together. Positionally, colophons on ancient tablets are comparable to a signature line in modern times. Bibliographically, however, they more closely resemble the imprint page in a modern book. Examples of colophons in ancient literature may be found in the compilation The Ancient Near East: Supplementary Texts and Pictures Relating to

8787-486: The rioters' tactics because by refusing to make demands or to communicate in conventional ways, the rioters frustrated commentators who insisted on dialogue, instead expressing their opposition to existing society using violent direct action . On the Economy Considered as Black Magic is a criticism of modern economics. The authors reject the economic property of fungibility as dehumanizing, since it leads to

8888-400: The rise and perpetuation of printing for Armenians. With the development of the private press movement from around 1890, colophons became conventional in private press books, and often included a good deal of additional information on the book, including statements of limitation, data on paper, ink, type, and binding, and other technical details. Some such books include a separate "Note about

8989-490: The rise of cybernetics in the years following World War II , a modern paradigm of control mechanisms which supplanted the "liberal hypothesis". The liberal hypothesis refers to the dominance of liberalism —and the ideal of rational self-interest—from the early 19th through the early 20th centuries, until societal control was sought for its own sake. Cybernetics was developed with military applications: Norbert Wiener developed an automated, predictive anti-aircraft system, and

9090-475: The same world, they exist in a state of civil war with each other—their conflicts are not those of states in conventional warfare, and although not necessary, the possibility of violence is never excluded. States and modern society developed as mechanisms which sought to neutralize the natural state of civil war; against this, the authors propose natural civil war as the preferable state for humanity, which they liken to Tiqqun . The Cybernetic Hypothesis describes

9191-420: The second time revised the text according to Tiro, Laecanianus, Domitius and three others.’ ) A common colophon at the end of hand copied manuscripts was simply "Finished, thank God." Colophons can be categorized into four groups. Examples of expressive colophons: Example of a directive colophon: Example of a declarative colophon: The term is also applied to clay tablet inscriptions appended by

9292-454: The term post-Marxism is not based on post-structuralism. She says "feminism worthy of the name absorbs and moves beyond marxist methodology", meaning that Marxism is not to be left behind but built on. Currently, figures in the US, UK, and Europe continue to produce work in the post-Marxist tradition, particularly Nancy Fraser , Alain Badiou , Jeremy Gilbert and Étienne Balibar . This theory

9393-433: The type", which will identify the names of the primary typefaces used, provide a brief description of the type's history, and a brief statement about its most identifiable physical characteristics. Some commercial publishers took up the use of colophons and began to include similar details in their books, either at the end of the text (the traditional position) or on the verso of the title leaf. Such colophons might identify

9494-454: The various accounts in a series of tablets. In early printed books the colophon, when present, was a brief description of the printing and publication of the book, giving some or all of the following data: the date of publication, the place of publication or printing (sometimes including the address as well as the city name), the name(s) of the printer(s), and the name(s) of the publisher(s), if different. Sometimes additional information, such as

9595-514: The work of Laclau and Mouffe on the one hand, and some strands of autonomism and Open Marxism , post-structuralism , cultural studies , ex-Marxists and Deleuzian -inspired 'politics of difference' on the other. Recent overviews of post-Marxism are provided by Ernesto Screpanti , Göran Therborn , and Gregory Meyerson. Prominent post-Marxist journals include New Formations , Constellations , Endnotes , Crisis and Critique and Arena . Post-Marxism first originated in

9696-532: The work of the Praxis School before them. In West Germany, theorists reinterpreted Marx's works entirely from a Hegelian perspective. Turning to the Atlantic, in the UK, Stuart Hall began to experiment with increasingly aggressive post-structuralist theorists in the build up to New Labour while working for Marxism Today , especially in relation to race and identity. John Holloway began to forge

9797-423: The world, colophons helped fledgling printers and printing companies gain social recognition. For example, in early modern Armenia printers used colophons as a way to gain "prestige power" by getting their name out into the social sphere. The use of colophons in early modern Armenian print culture is significant as well because it signaled the rate of decline in manuscript production and scriptoria use, and conversely

9898-494: Was immediately followed by a quotation from Robert Walser describing a flame igniting on a stage during a performance, which the audience initially believed to be part of the show, but which then frightened the performers and finally the audience once they understood the fire to be a real danger. Notes on the Local is a series of remarks on the fragmentation of the built environment into spaces with distinct functions. According to

9999-432: Was itself criticized in later articles. Catherine Driscoll noted that the device of the "Young-Girl" does not suggest the authors' dissatisfaction with society from a woman's point of view, but was instead chosen as one subordinate facet of a larger political philosophical project. Translator Ariana Reines noted that although she later came to appreciate the text, the process of reading and translating it made her sick—not in

10100-662: Was published in February 1999 with the title Tiqqun, Organe conscient du Parti Imaginaire: Exercices de Métaphysique Critique ( Tiqqun, Conscious Organ of the Imaginary Party: Exercises in Critical Metaphysics ). The second issue was published in October 2001 with the title Tiqqun, Organe de liaison au sein du Parti Imaginaire: Zone d’Opacité Offensive ( Tiqqun, Organ of Liaison within

10201-406: Was reproduced as photographs of the printed list, posted in public and subsequently defaced and marked with criticisms. The Conquerors had Conquered Without Trouble is a prose vignette describing gatherings of silent, masked people in the world's cities, to the disturbance of the cities' original "conquerors". The old conquerors blamed the phenomenon on an "Invisible Committee", and the piece invoked

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