This meander was stimulated by a recent repudiation by Zizek of the possible role of small communities in any future human flourishing. In this context, I revisit E. F. Schumacher's Small is Beautiful (1973). I discuss some of the core ideas from that seminal work. In particular, I focus on the treatement of raw materials as [inexhaustible] income and the treatement of the environment as a free dump by capitalism and the economic theories that act as its ideological justification. I touch upon intermediate technology, the role of 'spirituality' in the good life, the way in which economic theories and political practice often treat people as numbers on a spreadsheet, the 1984-5 UK Miners' Strike and the persistence of alienation in nationalised industries. I do this by discerning Zizek's 'inner Schumacher' and Schumacher's 'inner Zizek' and recounting instances of their expression. In both cases these inner others are mostly repressed, but vigorous enough to surface now and then in brilliant insight. [Free. 47 minutes.]
"LIFE IS ONLY REDEEMED THROUGH ART" - HOW SO?
WHAT IS FASCISM? 4 - SATURN EATS HIS SON & THE DEATH INSTINCT
CAMPUS BUMS OR HOPE FOR THE FUTURE? ON STUDENT PROTESTS - INTERESTING TIMES 79
DODGY DAVE? - INTERESTING TIMES 78
RETALIATION - INTERESTING TIMES 77
THE DIN OF RATTLING SABRES - INTERESTING TIMES 76
MUSIC - UP THROUGH THE WOODS
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - INTERESTING TIMES 75
RULES BASED ORDER? - INTERESTING TIMES 74
CHUANG TZU 3 - CRACKING THE SAFE
LOOKING BACK OVER 2023 & FORWARD TO 2024 - INTERESTING TIMES 73
TURKEY, DEVOLUTION, GAZA - INTERESTING TIMES 72
CHUANG TZU 2 - CUTTING UP AN OX
WHAT DOES THE BBC WANT YOU TO THINK TODAY? RAW THOUGHT
CHUANG TZU 1 - ACTION AND NON-ACTION
MUSIC - GRACE OF RAIN
A MAD MONDAY IN UK POLITICS & BEYOND - INTERESTING TIMES 71
A PIVOTAL MOMENT FOR OUR FUTURE? - INTERESTING TIMES 70
BALLOTS, BOMBS, BLOWBACK - INTERESTING TIMES 69
CHUANG TZU - AN INTRODUCTION
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