Questioning the Paradigm of Resistance

Abstract

The paper presents a critique of untheorized elements in what is called the paradigm of resistance, which today presents a major part of the theory and practice of the Left. The critique is limited to the concept of will to be against found in Hardt and Negri. Parallels are shown with the demands of capitalist dynamics and the birth of the counterculture, as well as between the concept of resistance and management theory and advertising in the 50s and 60s. The paper pleads for the abandonment of the very paradigm of resistance. In order for all acts of subversion, resistance, and rebellion to succeed today, a reinvention of the politics of the universal, a redefinition of radical politics, and a critique of political economy are needed.