Anticipating events

Intellectuals can observe, describe and shed light on past events but according to one little-known French philosopher, their main responsibility lies in anticipating political events.

In the same way that, inspired by passion and by their hunger for the world, the novelist and the musician create an artistic event, any intellectual worth his salt should channel his energy into bringing about a new political event even when it is impossible to predict what precise form it will take.

Ever since I stumbled upon Philippe Nassif’s collection of interviews with Mehdi Belhaj Kacem in a Paris bookshop a few years ago, I was convinced that this son of a French mother and a Tunisian father had crucial things to say about the world. From the flowery, inventive blasphemy which has developed on Arab streets, to the ‘fabricated danger’ of a Jean-Marie Le Pen victory in the 2002 French Presidential election, to the impact of pornography and the entertainment industry, to the role of the intellectual in the 21st century, you can feel Belhaj Kacem vibrating off the pages of this book which has all the makings of a manifesto for our time.

While bloggers here were somewhat lazily lamenting the fact that the Maltese media barely picked up what was happening on the streets of Tunis and columnists were busy debunking famous myths involving island-bridges, my mind lingered to Belhaj Kacem’s views on revolution and the crucial role thinkers have to play in bringing about real change in society. As opposed to what he calls “the terrorist non-thought of ‘democracy’” which consists in voting in spite of the fact that doing so makes us sick.

It’s occasionally fitting to let the sacred texts do the talking.

Here’s Belhaj Kacem on propaganda, the modern citizen, revolution and more.

On the modern citizen

“The perfect definition of the modern citizen: cowardly and house-bound, but a big-mouth.”

On revolutionary periods

“All revolutionary periods, whatever their nature…are preceded by a return of thought. We can observe – and Marx documented it in exemplary fashion – that people begin or recommence to think for themselves.”

On blasphemy and swearing in the Arab world

“There exists a parallel spoken language in Islamic countries, which would not exist without the weight of all the taboos and laws which prevent swear-words and blasphemy from entering official written parlance. As a consequence, obscenities have developed in an incredible way in the streets, in an unexpectedly inventive manner.”

On philosophy and rap

“If it was possible to philosophise in the same way that others create rap in the streets, I’d immediately seize the opportunity!”

On individualism and isolating oneself in a corner

“What do people who are aware of what’s going on, the curious sorts, the intelligent folk, from whatever scene, whether artistic, literary, philosophical or any other, desire today? Not to remain in their little corner. It’s clear that there’s a real desire to get together and talk.”  

On stupid journalism

“This is what is so wrong with the ambient ‘democratic’ terrorism. Today’s norm is a stupid journalism: everybody’s got a right to have an opinion about everything. On the contrary, there is something very liberating about allowing oneself the luxury of apprehending the truth.”

On orchestrated debates

“On TV, in the papers, we constantly speak about politics, as if there was something at stake, whereas there isn’t anything at all. For twenty years we’ve been orchestrating pseudo-debates between the republicans and the socialists as if there were any difference between the two. There isn’t any difference.”

On an unrepresented generation

“We grew up…with people who are meant to represent us politically but with whom we don’t associate at all…There is a whole generation who truly has a thirst for politics but which realises that it will never find a space in the existing parties, with their propaganda churned out by the media and which knocks everyone unconscious.”

On taking a radical decision

“It’s at the point in time when…a generation takes a radical decision in relation to the generation that came before it that it creates, simultaneously, the conditions necessary for the subsequent generation itself to break off…from the “obvious” heritage of the preceding generation.”