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Friends,
I’m so happy to share my conversation with the radical philosopher, Franco “Bifo” Berardi.
I think it is not only a good conversation, but a truly productive one. My deepest hope is that it is helpful for you.
Bifo is one of the most important and creative thinkers of our time; I find many of Bifo’s thoughts in line with the occult philosophies of the Western esoteric traditions I’ve spent so long studying, and for me, that is so enlivening. That is to say, when two people or traditions come up with similar conclusions from totally different angles, we must (as Special Agent Dale Cooper says) pay strict attention.
Bifo is the author of many books, including what I view as his two most important books, Breathing: Chaos and Poetry and Heroes: Mass Murder and Suicide (which is a much easier read, and deeply informed my own thinking on the issue, which I discussed on AEWCH 11: SHOOT TO LIVE). He was the founder of Radio Alice, a radical broadcast station in Italy, as well as the anti-authoritarian activist group, Autonomia.
The discussion is wide ranging and, I think, extremely potent. It’s a commingling of occult, anarchist, socialist, and artistic ideas.
We discuss:
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How rhythms dissolve political oppression
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Capitalism as a dynamic of change, acceleration, and expansion that cannot understand limit
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Why information and possibilities are not enough; we need the ability (“potency”) to transform them into reality
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Why solidarity is dead and we are trapped in competition
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Why poetry, sex, and magic matter now more than ever
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The failure of communism, and why we need it anyway
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Moving away from politics and towards therapy
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How poetry is our doorway towards a new world
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Why the “post-truth” world is an opportunity
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Reincarnation: the only narrative that can remake the future
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The shattering of the critical mind
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Why (and how) we must accept all conspiracy theories
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The spectating unconscious (and how it wishes for Trump)
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Why everyone’s suffering belongs to everyone
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What Trump’s victory gives to us
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How sex work erodes work
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Why no one should ever be paid for their labor
Lots of great SHOW NOTES here.
Until next time,
XO
Conner Habib 