Slavoj Žižek

Dr Slavoj Žižek, professor of philosophy at the European Graduate School, is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London and the author of "Heaven in Disorder."

The Post-Human Desert

A massive expansion of AI capabilities is a serious threat to those in power – including those who develop, own, and control AI. It points to nothing less than the end of capitalism as we know it.

The Dark Side of Neutrality

Those who would claim neutrality forfeit their standing to complain about the horrors of colonisation anywhere.

Death or Glory in Russia

Russia’s reversion to warlordism is fuelled by a religious fundamentalism.

Eating the Last Cannibal

For political figures like Trump and Putin, courage is redefined as a willingness to break the state’s laws if the state’s own interests – or their own – demand it. The implication is that civilisation endures only if there are brave patriots who will do the dirty work. This is a decidedly right-wing form of “heroism.” It is easy to act nobly on behalf of one’s country – short of sacrificing one’s life for it – but only the strong of heart can bring themselves to commit crimes for it.

Ethics on the Rocks

Ethical progress produces a beneficial form of dogmatism.

The Ukraine Safari

Peaceniks argue that Russia needs a victory or concession that will allow it to 'save face.'

Women, Life, Freedom, and the Left

We in the West have no right to treat Iran as a country that is desperately trying to catch up with us.

Ukraine Is Palestine, Not Israel

By treating Israel’s colonisation of Palestine as a defensive struggle, Ukraine is validating its senseless aggression.

Ukraine’s Tale of Two Colonisations

More is at stake in Ukraine than many commentators seem to appreciate. In a world beset by the effects of climate change, fertile land will be an increasingly valuable asset.

Degeneracy, Depravity, and the New Right

The mundane origin of the Kosovo crisis shows how easily a spark can be fanned into a conflagration.

What the 'Woke' Left and the Alt-Right Share

Western political correctness (“wokeness”) has displaced class struggle, producing a liberal elite that claims to protect threatened racial and sexual minorities in order to divert attention from its members’ own economic and political power. At the same time, this lie allows alt-right populists to present themselves as defenders of “real” people against corporate and “deep state” elites, even though they, too, occupy positions at the commanding heights of economic and political power.

The Betrayal of the Left

The left should maintain solidarity with those who resist aggressive, arbitrary power, whether in Ukraine or elsewhere.

From Cold War to Hot Peace

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we are entering a new phase of warfare and global politics. Aside from a heightened risk of nuclear catastrophe, we are already in a perfect storm of mutually reinforcing global crises—the pandemic, climate change, biodiversity loss, and food and water shortages.

April 9, 2023

The Post-Human Desert

A massive expansion of AI capabilities is a serious threat to those in power – including those who develop, own, and control AI. It points to nothing less than the end of capitalism as we know it.

February 23, 2023

The Dark Side of Neutrality

Those who would claim neutrality forfeit their standing to complain about the horrors of colonisation anywhere.

February 2, 2023

Death or Glory in Russia

Russia’s reversion to warlordism is fuelled by a religious fundamentalism.

January 2, 2023

Eating the Last Cannibal

November 24, 2022