Slavoj \u017di\u017eek, \u201cthe most dangerous philosopher in the West,\u201d stirred the melting pot Sunday as the closing speaker at Left Forum 2016 in New York City, making controversial comments about the refugee crisis.<\/p>\n
The Slovenian academic was heckled during his epic three-and-a-half hour session at the conference titled \u2018Rage, Rebellion, Revolution: Organizing our power\u2019<\/em> held at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and streamed live<\/a> throughout the weekend on RT.com.<\/p>\n Day 1: ‘Democracy in the US is a fraud\u2019: Left Forum debates next steps for Sanders movement with Chris Hedges, Medea Benjamin, and Tariq Ali<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Day 2: Left Forum tackles police brutality & harnessing the Sanders campaign with Kshama Sawant and Jill Stein<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \u017di\u017eek\u00a0was already labeled a \u201cracist,\u201d<\/em>\u201cantisemite,\u201d<\/em> and \u201cmisogynist\u201d<\/em> before he hit the stage, which perhaps is why he started his speech by saying, \u201cIf you want to start exchanging insults, I can be extremely brutal, I always win. But, let\u2019s not do it today, maybe.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n That truce with his friend and critics on the left was temporary, after his subsequent words ignited a firestorm that continued to burn on social media Monday.<\/p>\n “The obvious threat, that there are among refugees also terrorists, rapists, criminals, I mean this in a totally neutral way, of course there are but so what?\u201d<\/em> he said, when discussing reasons behind the \u201ccatastrophe\u201d<\/em> in Europe.<\/p>\n While a more conservative or mainstream audience might have been shocked by his\u00a0blas\u00e9 \u201cso what?\u201d<\/em> attitude towards what they perceive to be a global threat, his comments seemed to \u2018trigger\u2019<\/em> something else in this left-wing crowd, angry over what they interpreted as \u201cxenophobic\u201d<\/em> characterizations.<\/p>\n you cant turn away and say ‘well thats just zizek and these tankies are conspiracy theorists’. zizek is a white supremacist. he has been.<\/p>\n \u2014 HUACamole (@gabrielavocado) May 23, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n “Get to the point!” audience member to Zizek<\/p>\n Good luck buddy.<\/p>\n \u2014 Eoin Higgins (@EoinHiggins_) May 22, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Zizek arguing the old right-wing canard that excessive political correctness causes racism. #LeftForum2016<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Arun Kundnani (@ArunKundnani) May 22, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Zizek has taught me that “this may be problematic to say” is the left academic version of “I don’t mean to be racist but”<\/p>\n \u2014 Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) May 23, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n The feed ends with an always fascinating, sometimes heated Q&A, cutting off just as someone expressed how offended she was by a \u017di\u017eek anecdote during his speech.<\/p>\n Forum organizers told RT the unexpectedly long event outlasted the camera’s memory, but they are attempting to edit together other video and audio recordings after the cut.<\/p>\n interesting to watch the pseudo-left finally abandon ship on zizek<\/p>\n \u2014 circadianwolf (@circadianwolf) May 23, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n He warned that the more globalized capitalism becomes, the more walls of apartheid emerge and \u201cpeople circulate less and less freely\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if most of the Nazi claims about the Jews were true … their anti-Semitism would still be pathological,\u201d<\/em> he said. \u201cThe true problem is not: Is this true or not? The true problem is why do the Nazis, in order to sustain their world view, need the figure of the Jew \u2013 and I claim it\u2019s exactly the same with the growing fears of refugees and immigrants all around Europe\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n What does the obsession with “immigrant threat” tell us about Europe today?- Slavoj \u017di\u017eek #LeftForum2016<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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