Tahrir Square
example ·
retold in 6 talks
Žižek argues there was no great violence in what people did on Tahrir Square, characterizing it as a reaction rather than authentic violence.
≤2000talks it is told in, per year2026
As told 6
“I don't see any great violence in what people were doing on Tahrir Square and so on.”
“one million people on tahrir square and then you get muslim brotherhood and now you get military regime”
“all of a sudden, it wasn't important. are they muslims? do we mean the same things? it was an instant universal solidarity”
What it carries
one story, many jobs: the ideas this anecdote is deployed to argue, one tally mark per use (an idea page shows the same relation from the other end, as its shelf of stories)
contents · one story, 3 jobsuses
authentic emancipatory violence
×1
universality of struggle
×1
communism absconditus
×1
Its cast and sources
populated by
Wolfgang Schirmacher1Paul Volcker1Alka Zantič1Daniel Bergner1Scott Barry Kaufman1Laurence Olivier1Thomas Carlyle1Pablo Iglesias Turrión1
alongside works
Every retelling 6
9:59 [Breaking News]Slavoj Zizek: Political correctness solidifies hatred, it doesn't work2018-04-21 · 27:00
Žižek argues there was no great violence in what people did on Tahrir Square, characterizing it as a reaction rather than authentic violence., illustrating authentic emancipatory violence
He references the Arab Spring, where massive mobilization in Tahrir Square led not to democracy but to the Muslim Brotherhood and a military regime, arguing that protest moments do not guarantee positive outcomes., illustrating skepsis of populism
Tahrir Square in Egypt briefly embodied authentic universality: it didn't matter if participants were Muslim, what they believed, there was instant solidarity in shared struggle, not in cultural understanding., illustrating authentic universality through struggle,political solidarity vs. multiculturalism
Žižek argues that Tahrir Square was unexpected, drew on no religious or nationalist mobilisation, and remains a fragile sign: to a 'libertarian' (Pascalian atheist) it was merely contingent, but to those who engage politically with it, it is a miracle pointing toward a possible future., illustrating communism absconditus,sign from the future,non-teleological politics
Žižek declares total indifference to the ecstatic moments of millions on Tahrir Square or Syntagma Square, caring only about what happens the day after: whether ordinary life actually changes., illustrating failure of rebellion,the problem of new power,ecstatic political moments vs. structural change
The Tahrir Square demonstrations showed that questions of 'do we understand them, are they mature for democracy?' vanished the moment Egyptians rose up, suddenly there was shared, authentic universality in the common struggle., illustrating struggling universality,authentic political solidarity