Post 9nKBZGDUgBNISdBKnw by turtlebirb@radical.town
 (DIR) More posts by turtlebirb@radical.town
 (DIR) Post #9nKBQSuW79MjDx6z3o by turtlebirb@radical.town
       2019-08-06T01:52:09Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       I've been reflecting a lot recently on the debate between Foucault and Chomsky. Specifically, this quote:"FOUCAULT:But I would merely like to reply to your first sentence, in which you said that if you didn’t consider the war you make against the police to be just, you wouldn’t make it.I would like to reply to you in terms of Spinoza and say that the proletariat doesn’t wage war against the ruling class because it considers such a war to be just. The proletariat makes war with the ruling class because, for the first time in history, it wants to take power. And because it will overthrow the power of the ruling class it considers such a war to be just."
       
 (DIR) Post #9nKBZ2dDBld0KL6fwm by turtlebirb@radical.town
       2019-08-06T01:55:59Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       What Foucault is saying here is that the proletariat are seeking power in the Spinozan sense - that is: the more forceful assertion of its existence, or the power to flourish. It cannot do so under the ruling class, and so must overthrow it. And all that leads to flourishing is considered just by what flourishes.
       
 (DIR) Post #9nKBZ7vpTyUWlWr7A0 by turtlebirb@radical.town
       2019-08-06T02:00:44Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       This conception of "power" is not one of hierarchical dominance over another, but a kind of pursuit of health or vitality. A combination of capacity to act and the conditions that allow you to do so.It's like eating. Sometimes you need to eat something else to live, and you consider that just.Like, y'know, the rich.
       
 (DIR) Post #9nKBZGDUgBNISdBKnw by turtlebirb@radical.town
       2019-08-06T15:28:03Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       An addendum to yesterday's thread on Foucault's Spinozan conception of power: this concept of power also means that there are qualitatively different kinds of power, with different kinds of outcomes. What nourishes and increases the capacity of the proletariat to act is different from what nourishes and increases the capacity of the capitalist to act.