The tremor of Politics
Thought-Work #1: The tremor of Politics. Jan Patočka and the Solidarity of the Shaken
When a community, collectivity, or group of individuals, have been shaken to the core by a traumatic event (whether caused by a natural disaster or by unjust policies and man-made systems), the response is often a show of ‘solidarity’. The act of solidarity is commonly one of resolve and steadfastness in a period where things appear, precisely, to be falling apart.
In June 2016, the people of the UK marginally voted to leave the European Union, a decision that has subsequently sent proverbial shock-waves across the bowels of the European Union, as well as the United Kingdom itself. In response, the European Commission agreed to open up the EU “Solidarity Fund” to those member states particularly affected by the UK leaving the EU. Taking cognisance of these recent events, this episode explores the work of the Czech philosopher and Political dissident Jan Patočka (1907-77), whose phenomenological investigations into human existence allow us to rethink the nature of ‘solidarity’ against the ineradicable negativity at the heart of existence — making thereby the tremulous and the tremorous as the very timbres of the human condition. Furthermore, Patočka also subjected the very idea of ‘Europe’ to historical and critical examination. The striking lucidity of his reflections on the origins and expansionism of Europe have much to tell us about the existing form of the ‘european project’, which seems to be in a perilous situation today. With references to the Prague Spring and the Soviet State Orchestra’s performance of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in the Royal Albert Hall on the very day Soviet troops invaded Prague, this documentary draws together a series of political events, both historical and contemporary, around which the meaning and significance of Patočka's thought can be made to coalesce.
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Gustav Strandberg, PhD in Philosophy, has written extensively on the philosophy of Jan Patočka and phenomenology. Presently translating, as well as writing a new book about, Georges Bataille. Lecturer at Södertörn University.
David Payne, PhD in Political Theory from the University of Essex, is a researcher on contemporary political thought and is presently writing a book on the idea of the proper in an age of generalised appropriation. Research editor at Södertörn University.
Tora Lane, associate Professor and Research Associate for the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies at Södertörn University. Researcher and Lecturer in Aesthetics and Literature.
Episode produced and edited by David Payne and Jim-Andrew Schillings.
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“Thought-works” created and produced by researchers in the humanities and social sciences at Södertörn University. Each episode embarks on a journey through the distinct worlds opened up by publications from the university’s publishing archives, ending up on a collision course with the imposingly obscure meaning of our own crisis-ridden times.