ABSTRACT
What we need today is a form of political activism that both wins the intellectual argument against the structural violence of capitalist and neo-liberal economic practices and enables individuals to transform the very desires and sensibilities that reproduce these practices. William Connolly’s materialist pluralism lends itself to just such tangible strategies and tactics of intervention that challenge the hegemony of capitalism. His approach is in marked contrast to the calls of post-Marxist thinkers, such as Slavoj Žižek, for ‘authentic’ revolutionary ‘acts’ that refuse the ‘blackmail of capitalism’ but which fall short of offering a constructive politics of resistance. Empty rhetorical gestures calling for moments of ‘radical change’ that break with the existing system (Žižek, 2000: 326) are of little practical import to the daily practices of individuals. In light of the looming ecological crisis and the brutal actuality of global injustices and inequalities, calls for acts of systematic change may be necessary. But Žižek’s seductive rhetoric is hollow and lacks substantive content.1 As Gramsci demonstrated, prior to any (Leninist) ‘revolution’ there must first be a ‘revolution’ in everyday ‘common sense’ (Gramsci, 1988). Although formed within the parameters of a different theoretical framework Connolly’s politics seeks to undertake just such a task. His politically embodied approach – in particular, his work on ‘neuropolitics’ – indicates forms of intervention that tackle the complexity of contemporary capitalist relations and the behavioural patterns that support its continued existence, by making molecular changes to the emotional, visual and visceral fields of the repetitive and taken-for-granted practices of everyday life. Such a transformation of the repetitive nature of one’s daily cognitive and behavioural patterns is itself a ‘revolutionary’ task. In this chapter, I examine Connolly’s materialistic pluralism to show how
he engages with the layered nature of thinking and culture and champions concrete tactics that are able to revolutionise the practices of everyday life and to bring about substantive change. I begin by setting out the main elements of Connolly’s innovative version of a post-structuralism which does not reduce life or matter to the play of linguistic signification but recognises a nuanced
and layered reality, outlining his materialist ontology and embodied conception of the subject and of ‘neuropolitics’. I then outline Connolly’s notion of the ‘evangelical capitalist resonance machine’ and his calls for a politics of intervention that engages with the ‘virtual’ and material registers of life. Next I turn to the ‘anti-art’ tactics of the Situationist International which, I argue, complement Connolly’s analysis of ‘neuropolitics’ and provide vital ingredients for an active and vibrant political challenge to neo-liberal practices. The Situationists developed innovative techniques of intervention to dislodge and dislocate everyday behaviour in a capitalist society and these supplement Connolly’s theory of political embodiment. In the final section, I explore the work of two contemporary political artists, ‘Banksy’ and ‘The Vacuum Cleaner’, and show how they are exemplars of Connolly’s ‘neuropolitics’ in action. I argue that Connolly’s work supports such artistic acts, the performance of which employs multiple techniques to induce visceral experiences in audiences. I conclude with further reflection on the need to emotionally dislodge everyday life practices so as to liberate them from capitalist desires and redirect them towards non-exploitative actions, habits and beliefs.
