On Friday 31st February I spoke at Brisbane Free University Election Eve Special: Politics, participation and the democratic process below is an edited version of the notes I based my talk on (which may diverge from what I actually said.)
- Disillusionment with ‘politics’ (mainstream/capital-parliamentary etc.) is a good thing, especially as part of disillusionment with society as a whole. It clears the ground for something else.
- Attempts to get people to reengage in politics is a bad thing.
- Explanations of our condition based on the virtues or vices of politicians are mystifications
This is based on the an understanding that:
- In a capitalist society politics is subordinated to the reproduction of capitalism as a society
- In capitalism there exist conflict and antagonisms that contain the possibility of an other type of society. This is my point of orientation