Blue sofa

A new number of "blue sofa" came out and this is the tenth year of the publication. The editorial office of Polit.ru congratulates colleagues and, at the same time, is extremely glad that some of the correct projects continue and will continue. About the new issue of the magazine - its editor, Elena Petrovskaya .

The topic for the anniversary release of the “blue sofa” did not have to look for, sorting out books on the library shelf. Or, which more meets the spirit of time, looking at Google in search of new products. Life is always richer than any representations and schemes. At the end of last year, something began to change-there was some new tone, a new political intensity. For the first time in the decade, we heard the voice of citizens - for the first time our own voices sounded in open city spaces. Since the end of 2011, the political landscape has noticeably changed, and if at first there have been hopes and hopes for the possibility of political reforms, let the situation look completely different today. Together with the change of seasons, a political cold reigned, and a spontaneous surge of collective protest is experiencing a period of transformation. What it will result in is quite difficult to say, but this issue is not prognostic in this sense.

The authors gathered together under this cover are trying to comprehend the new state that we experience today. It is completely natural that not to avoid the characteristics of the policy itself - hence the block of texts that study the problems of modern power from the standpoint of philosophical anthropology (V. Prookoga), political theology (E. Nadtochy), political philosophy (A. Filippov) and even “included observation” (in case of spontaneously arising political forms) (P. Ovchinnikov, A. Temirov).

A separate block presents thoughts on the topic of democracy, its limits and capabilities - and curiously the help of these thoughts are such different authors as American classics Henry Toro and John Dewey, as well as our contemporary Jacques Derrida (materials of O. Arronon, E. Yaichnikova, D. Novikova). Articles are highlighted in an independent block in which the problem of a new language invented by a protest movement is one way or another, whether it is the slogans put forward by him (E. Petrovskaya), which is consuming the cinematic experience of fixing his dynamics and differences (interviews by Yu. Leaderman with A. Rastorguev and P. Kostomarov), the role of insults as a means of cleaning the deadly political language (S. Zenkin) or the fate of the visual symbols of the protest movement (A. Mokrousov) themselves. This block ends with thoughts about the current clericalization as an attempt to give a form to society in the absence of a national idea that could become unifying (T. Shcherbina).

Finally, a separate block is composed of texts in which the current political reality is considered through the ethical prism. It opens with the translation of the essay J. Butler, the beginning of which was published in the previous issue. It is worth noting that the logical continuation of the Batler’s interest in the problem of constituting the “I” through the figure of another, namely that “report” to others, which is certainly holding “I”, became its involvement in the modern protest movement, which was expressed both in its direct participation in the OCC UP Y Wall Street and in thoughts about mass street demonstrations in Egypt.

But what if the intensity of passions reaches the limit? What is the last, further indecent foundation on which the connection of people can be built, even if politics turns them into opponents? This is discussed by I. Boldyrev in terms of regression, that is, returning to a certain initial form of dialogue. And yet: what connects “I” and “you” in addition to an indissoluble ethical pact? The answer is unequivocal: action. Then, when there is an opportunity to achieve specific results (N. Braginskaya), but also when it seems completely lost. Only creation can lead to a new form of relations - ethical, economic and political. But creation is the flip side of the crisis, if not an universal disaster (A. Negri).

Is it appropriate to take stock today? And yes, and no. The magazine celebrates its tenth anniversary. The country is more far from any celebrations, and yet there are undercurrent processes in it. It is gratifying to realize that their move is not predetermined in advance.

I thank everyone who stayed with us and supported us - with my thoughts, interested and kind attitude, participation, moral and material. After all, this is really our general project.

Content

From the editor

I

Valery Plants . Mr. Monster. Anthropology notes (project)
Eduard is a supracurricular . Theology of liberation
Alexander Filippov . To the new political glossary
Pavel Ovchinnikov, Artem Temirov . "Bring to free": occupy as a new form of politics

II

Oleg Aronson . Dreams of the state of rebellion (reading Henry Toro today)
Elena Yaichnikova . Voice of the audience: Russian protest art in the light of the aesthetic theory of John Dewey and the work of Group Material
Dmitry Novikov . Speech condition (based on Jacques Derrida)

III

Elena Petrovskaya . More than words: about the boundaries of the semiotic interpretation of slogans
Julia Leaderman . Interview with directors Alexander Rastorguev and Pavel Kostomarov, who turned to the invention of a new remedy in response to the protest actions of 2011-2012
Sergey Zenkin . Insulting Majesty
Alexey Mokrousov . White ribbon, white sores. Notes on the symbolism of the protest movement
Tatyana Shcherbina . Opium and rake

IV

Judith Butler . Self -report (ending)
Ivan Boldyrev . Where to retreat? Two experience about regression
Nina Braginskaya . Freedom is not a hat
Antonio Negri . Ethics as creation

About the authors