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Slavoj Zizek: Perché la tolleranza non può bastare.

Proponiamo un articolo, tratto dal settimanale Internazionale, del pensatore Slavoj Zizek. Troviamo che Zizek sia uno dei pensatori più interessanti e da seguire in questi tempi. I suoi sforzi di elaborare un nuovo comunismo vanno presi molto sul serio e sono spesso molto entusiasmanti. Consiglio la lettura dei suoi testi, che sono uno più interessante dell'altro.  
Dal sito:  http://www.internazionale.it/

Why tolerance is not enough

Ten years ago, when Slovenia was about to enter the European Union, one of our Eurosceptic paraphrased a line of brothers Marx on the lawyers: we Slovenes have a problem? We enter the European Union! We will have even more problems, but there will be the Union to take charge! Thus today many Slovenians see Europe: it is useful, but also brings new problems. And then it is worth defending the European Union? The real question, of course, is another, as a Union European?

A century ago, Gilbert Keith Chesterton explained clearly the fundamental impasse of the criticism of religion: "Men who begin to fight the church for the sake of freedom and humanity end up fighting for freedom and humanity also in order to fight the church. " The same applies to the defenders of religion. How many fanatical defenders of religion have begun attacking the secular culture and ended with the betrayal of any religious experience? Thus, many liberal advocates are eager to combat fundamentalism and anti-democratic end to get away from freedom and democracy. If the "terrorists" are ready to raze this world in the name of another, our anti-terrorist warriors are ready to raze their democratic world in the grip of hatred for the Muslim.

Zeal xenophobic

You can not say the same of the defenders of Europe against the threat of immigrants? In their zeal to protect the Judeo-Christian tradition, the new zealots are prepared to betray the heart of the Judeo-Christian tradition: that the opportunity for everyone to have access to the universality of the Holy Spirit (or, today, human rights and freedom) and to participate in this universal dimension directly, regardless of the place of the global social order.

The impasse, however, Europe has much deeper roots. The real problem is that critics of the wave of xenophobia, that is, those who would defend the precious European traditions, the ritual tends to be limited to humbly accept the limits of European traditions and celebrate the richness of other cultures. the words of the poem The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats make the situation well: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." It is an excellent description of the division between liberals and fundamentalists timid lovers, both Muslims and Christians. "Best" are no longer able to work hard, while "the worst" combine religious fanaticism, sexist and racist.

Get yourself out of this predicament? A recent German debate can show us the road. In October, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that "the multicultural approach has failed." His words referred to the debate on Leitkultur (dominant culture) in which the German conservatives insisted that each state is based on a dominant cultural space that members of other cultures must be respected. The meaning of these parole è che invece di lamentarci dell’emergente Europa razzista dovremmo fare autocritica e chiederci quanto il nostro astratto multiculturalismo abbia contribuito al triste stato delle cose.

Le culture diverse devono convivere
Se tutti gli schieramenti non condividono la stessa civiltà, allora il multiculturalismo si trasforma in reciproca ignoranza o odio regolati legalmente. Il conflitto sul multiculturalismo è già un conflitto sulla  Leitkultur : non è uno scontro tra culture ma tra differenti visioni di come culture diverse possano e debbano convivere, e sulle regole e i comportamenti che queste culture devono condividere.

Dunque bisognerebbe avoid being trapped in the game on "how much tolerance can afford." The only way out of this impasse is to engage and fight for a universal positive project shared by all. The battles are many possibilities in this respect, from ecology to economics. A few months ago in the occupied West Bank has been a small miracle to some Palestinian women demonstrating against the wall, he joined a group of lesbians in Israel. The initial mutual distrust has vanished in the first clash with the soldiers, giving way to solidarity: the end of a Palestinian woman in traditional dress has embraced a lesbian Israeli with purple hair. A living symbol of what should be our battle.

And so, perhaps the sarcasm dell'euroscettico Slovenia has not grasped the meaning of the question. Instead of wasting time on costs and benefits of the European Union, we should focus on what the EU really is. Mainly acts as a regulator of global capitalism, sometimes flirts with the defense of the conservative tradition. Both roads lead to the marginalization of the continent. The only way out is to resurrect its tradition of radical and universal emancipation. We must go beyond mere tolerance of others and marry a real Leitkultur that can support a true coexistence. Not limitarsi a rispettare gli altri, ma offrire loro una battaglia comune, come comuni sono oggi i nostri problemi.

Traduzione di Andrea Sparacino.

Internazionale, numero  888 , 11 marzo 2011