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Alienation de-realized / alienation carnivalized.

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In Capital, Marx makes an inventory of items that range from material wealth to "the intellectual potentialities," and from which proletarians had been estranged, inasmuch as they were subjected to the "accumulation of misery, corresponding with [the] accumulation of capital." (1) In light of this negative definition, the proletariat became identifiable as a class, especially in the minds of intellectuals--yet another negatively defined group of people whose negativity (even if self-inflicted) was, and still is, integral to their way of thinking. These were the only forces capable of bringing their negativity into action and, thereby, "making their own history." However, once misery and alienation become estranged from the labourer, he or she ceases to be a proletarian. The proletariat, then, may choose to retain its negativity by attaining the "intellectual potentialities" to which Marx refers in Capital. The other option is to learn how to say "Yes" (however silently) and to embrace the affirmative political culture. The problem, however, is that the proletariat has long vanished in the West: its remnants are outnumbered by the clerkship, which is engaged in providing services and is employed by governmental or corporate structures, small businesses, etc. In the United States, for example, manual labour is often passed on to illegal immigrants who are afraid to voice their dissatisfaction with low wages, long working hours, and dismal living conditions. As for the American citizens who hold on to their jobs or receive unemployment benefits, their identity--regardless of all the hardships they may endure on a day-to-day basis--is currently shaped not by class consciousness, but by "the mystical character of commodities" (2) celebrated collectively and in person, on TV and at home. The same is true of the entertainment industry, mass media, politicians, or corporate executives who try to convince us that alienation is de-realized both psychologically and in terms of the "accumulation of capital." There seems to have been an affirmative revolution, the result of which has engendered an America no longer capable of critical self-reflection.

This vacuum is filled by the threat of terrorism that is spilling over the borders of third world countries in exchange for American democracy, which comes as no surprise considering that the resistance to global capitalism is likely to assume the same (i.e., global) proportions. Now, in the post-proletarian age, Marx's insistence on the "positive transcendence of all estrangement" (3) is mimicked by the exemplary rhetoric of the Oprah Winfrey show. Likewise is the war with Iraq: its media coverage demonstrates rather graphically (albeit unwillingly) how the export of democracy, carried out by heavily armed foreigners, can be misinterpreted as "positive transcendence." But to see these things clearly, one needs to abstain (at least temporarily) from de-realizing alienation, and concentrate instead on the repossession of the negative in order to retain its critical potential, which has been outlawed by affirmative culture or, better yet, hijacked by the terrorists.

Given the ghettoized status of the intellectual who criticizes the system while being unable to exert any influence upon it, it is totally unclear if--in addition to these self-estranged critics--there are other groups of people who are capable of acting together as an embodiment of cumulative negation. And if so, who are the proletarians of today? Would they be able to export what they have in stock (including their frustration and anger) from one country to another? Apparently, the answer is yes--otherwise the global economy would not be global. Perhaps labourers drying coca leaves in Colombia could be...

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