ABSTRACT
Public order is understood as the condition on which everyday life can subsist. Public order is a tilted affective field; it is tilted in a systematic way. In the claustrophobia of public order, the atmosphere itself was hostile. The state of unrest names the point in time where sovereign affects no longer dominate the affective life of the populace and desires and beliefs around new forms of sovereignty begin to emerge. Sir Carelton Kemp Allen gives thanks to the sovereign for creating a sort of biosphere, an affective atmosphere of peace that facilitates human life. Public order is precisely what fades into the background, becoming hidden from sense perception. When Eric Garner died in Brooklyn insisting that he could not breathe beneath the chokehold of the police officer, his final words seemed to crystallise a sense of a public order that renders certain bodies ‘suspect’.
