Can Something Take Place?

Abstract

First, starting from a text Deleuze and Guattari wrote in 1984 on the aftermath of May 1968 in France (“May 68 Did Not Take Place”), this article tries to analyze in what way this diagnosis – made in the middle of the 1980s, when what is now commonly called neo-liberalism was unfolding both in America and in Europe – can apply to our current political situation. Secondly, this analysis shows that maybe the very conditions of social critique and social engagement are endangered today more than yesterday, because of the new patterns of social restraint embodied by the evolution of communication (especially television). Thirdly, the author asks the question: therefore, under which conditions social critique and engagement are now possible?

Naj pre po la zim od tek sta ko ji su De lez i Ga ta ri na pi sa li 1984. go di ne o po sle di ca ma maj skih do ga đa ja 1968. u Fran cu skoj (“Maj ‘68 se ni je do go dio”), da bih u svom pri lo gu po ku šao da ana li zi ram na ko ji na čin se nji ho va di jag no za – iz ve de na sre dinom osam de se tih u vre me raz vo ja sa da uobi ča je nog neo li be ra li zma u Ame ri ci i Evro pi – mo že pri me ni ti na na šu tre nut nu po li tič ku si tu a ci ju. Dru go, ta ana li za uka zu je da su mo žda upra vo da nas vi še ne go ikad ugro že ni uslo vi dru štve ne kriti ke i dru štve nog an ga žma na s raz vo jem no vih obra za ca dru štve ne pri nu de sa drža ne u evo lu ci ji ko mu ni ka ci ja (po seb no te le vi zi je). Tre će, sto ga se pi tam, pod ko jim uslo vi ma su dru štve na kri ti ka i an ga žman da nas uop šte mo gu ći?