Where Are We Now? The Epidemic as Politics

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An on-the-spot study of the link between power and knowledge. – Christopher Caldwell, New York Times Fear makes thinking harder. Yet there is an urgent need to think, and to question every aspect of our current situation. The philosopher, which Agamben truly embodies, is a figure that must be heeded. – Nina Power Agamben is right that our rulers will use every opportunity to consolidate their power, especially in times of crisis. That coronavirus is being exploited to strengthen mass-surveillance infrastructure is no secret. – Marco d'Eramo, New Left Review In this volume, the renowned Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben has collected all of his fierce, passionate, and deeply personal interventions regarding the current health emergency. Alongside and beyond accusations, these texts variously reflect upon the great transformation affecting Western democracies. In the name of biosecurity and health, the model of bourgeois democracy–together with its rights, parliaments, and constitutions–is everywhere surrendering to a new despotism where citizens seem to accept unprecedented limitations to their freedoms. This leads to the urgency of the volume’s title: Where Are We Now? For how long will we accept living in a constantly extended state of exception, the end of which remains impossible to see?