Who Claims Borderlessness? Resisting Mobility or Emancipating Movement from the Grip of Capital

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The promises of social motion turn into threats when they become indistinguishable from the ideology of capitalism and the history of colonialism. That is, when mobility becomes an obligation, whose conditions and rules are defined by oppressive forces. Which subjectivities, languages or pre-histories are neglected? What about people, who actually do not want to move? Is global capital borderless? Can we think borders before and beyond the play of capital? In this Public Talk the “Tacit Futures” conference explored these questions with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. The philosopher discussed gender, the world, the globe, attempting to look at the word “planet,” in the gravity of its many imperatives in space and time. Considered one of the most influential postcolonial intellectuals, Spivak is best known for her essay “Can the Subaltern Speak?”, which, already in 1985, offers a strong critique of her own tradition – Hindu patriarchy – and shows its complicity with British-inspired reformism. This is one of the reasons why Spivak’s work has become an important source of inspiration for resistance movements and social struggles around the world. Moderated by the Berlin-based author Guillaume Paoli, this “Tacit Futures” was opened with an intervention by Harsha Walia from No One Is Illegal Vancouver. The session was recorded at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg Platz on October 28, 2016, and can be listened to by pressing the play button above.

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