The politics of protest_英语论文范文

The politics of protest

文章来源：文章作者：发布时间：2007-05-07 02:49 字体： [大中小]　进入论坛

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Pierre Bourdieu has become a leading figure in the radical¹ movements that have swept France in the last few years. He talked to Kevin Ovenden about anti-capitalism² and resistance

The Weight of the World was recently published in Britain. It describes through interviews in the early 1990s the 'social suffering of contemporary society'. Why is life getting harder for most people?

There are similarities between what has happened to people's lives in France and in Britain. The main issue, of course, is neo-liberalism and what I call the retreat of the state. The state has abandoned a lot of areas that it was involved in, such as healthcare, education, and social provision.

When we conducted this study it was only beginning. Now it is far worse. So for example, in France neo-liberal philosophy has become embedded³ in all the social practices and policies of the state. It has become internalised in the minds of the political establishment. The minister of education who was recently forced out of office, Claude All鑗re, was very similar to the one you have in Britain. He introduced into education so called 'tough policies'--a drive for efficiency and productivity.

Instead of looking very carefully at how education works, the neo-liberals opt⁴ for a very simple solution. They create competition between schools and between the directors of schools, who have to compete for budgets and for students. This competition is fake--it is artificially constructed. It does not arise spontaneously from the way the education system works. The education system was not perfect. I was very critical of it. But instead of correcting it and providing the means to better it, they destroy it by introducing this capitalistic vision of education.

One could say the same about healthcare. I recently read a record of a meeting between a group of professors of medicine who are traditionally very conservative. They went to meet prime minister Jospin. He did not receive them. A technocrat⁵ met them instead. The transcript⁶ of the discussion is terrible. The people say, 'Look, I never demonstrated or participated in any strike or protest movement. But for the first time I am forced to speak out on behalf of my patients.' One gave an example of a 73 year old woman who had cancer, but her medicine was too expensive for the hospital's budget. Another said that his hospital does not have the money to pay anaesthetists, so there are no anaesthetists at night. He asked the technocrat, 'Would you send your wife to such a hospital?' He replies, 'That's a personal question which I will not answer.'

We are seeing a blind and chaotic⁷ response to the problems of public institutions. We have had a very hierarchical system in healthcare for many years. But after 1968 younger people tried to change it. They tried to make the system more collective and introduce the idea of working as part of a team. Now that is being destroyed because they work under the threat of cuts and demands for greater productivity.

Centre-left parties are in government across most of Europe. They are presiding over these neo-liberal policies. Do you see anything new in the way social democratic parties are governing?
I am very sceptical about the idea that there is this new approach called the Third Way or the Neue Mitte. We have, to varying degrees across the continent, basically neo-liberal policies dressed up with talk of a new form of politics which is not terribly new at all. So we find social democratic rhetoric⁸ being deployed⁹ to destroy the social democratic policies which grew up in the period after the Second World War.

In France many of those pushing this offensive hail from the 1968 generation. They became radicalised then, but now are incorporated into the system. The failure of the Mitterrand years generated a backlash against the French Socialist¹⁰ Party. Of course, the great revolt of December 1995 ushered¹¹ in a wave of social movements which brought the Socialists¹² back into power.

But the aim of the government and its technocrats¹³ is to curtail¹⁴ and destroy those movements. Ministers and advisers¹⁵ use their prestige and experience from 1968 against the movements.

When students occupied the ole Normale Supieur, the government figure arguing to send the police in firmly and swiftly had himself taken part in the occupations of 1968.

People in Germany and in Britain often tell me that it must be wonderful to live in France with the 35 hour week and other reforms. But those gains are a result of the pressure of the movements. They are not freely given by the government. The left government believes it can be more successful than the right in controlling those movements.

How do your sociological ideas influence your political stance? You developed your ideas when structuralism was the main influence on French intellectuals.

I was not a structuralist. That approach saw the world as composed of structures which strictly¹⁶ determine the way people act. There was no scope for human agency. As the structuralist Marxist Louis Althusser said in the 1960s, human beings were merely the 'unconscious bearers of objective structures'. The results of my anthropological¹⁷ work in Algeria in the 1950s did not fit into this structuralist framework.

Of course people are structured by society. They are not, as free market theory holds, isolated¹⁸ individuals each deciding a course of action by making individual economic calculations. I developed the concept of 'habitus' to incorporate the objective structures of society and the subjective¹⁹ role of agents within it.

The habitus is a set of dispositions²⁰, reflexes and forms of behaviour people acquire through acting²¹ in society. It reflects the different positions people have in society, for example, whether they are brought up in a middle class environment or in a working class suburb.

It is part of how society reproduces itself. But there is also change. Conflict is built into society. People can find that their expectations and ways of living are suddenly out of step with the new social position they find themselves in. This is happening in France today. Then the question of social agency and political intervention²² becomes very important.

The heart of Marxism is the struggle by the working class for its own emancipation²³. Where do you place the struggles of the working class within the spectrum²⁴ of the social movements you are involved in?
Seattle brought together organised labour and various single-issue campaigns. They were often mobilised on different political bases, but they influenced one another. That is new. For the first time we have the possibility of aggregating²⁶ these kinds of people who were very suspicious of one another.

In France we have this tradition of workerism which is anti-intellectual. The unions are very hostile to intellectuals and the intellectuals are very distant from workers. In 1968 it was very visible. Now for the first time because of the failure of Soviet²⁷ Marxism we are free from that. So I can speak with a CGT official as I am speaking to you. They are very open. In a sense intellectuals like me did not exist 20 years ago. People like Sartre and Foucault were sympathetic to the movement, but they did not have much empirical knowledge of workers.

Seattle is very important in showing how new forces are developing. The small farmers' leader Jos?Bov?is well informed. He expresses himself clearly without the oversimplification which you hear from politicians. He is an intellectual. But at the same time he works on his farm.

I recently organised a meeting of all the leaders of the social movements in France--the unemployed²⁸, the sans papiers immigrants, some trade unionists. You had anarchists²⁹, Trotskyists, Marxists--all types. The discussion was at a level you could not imagine. You can see the revival³⁰ of a left political culture in the huge sales of Le Monde Diplomatique. Some suspicion still remains³¹ among those who are working together, of course. But at the end of the meeting they gave Raisons d'Agir, the group I am involved in, a mandate³² to issue a charter for a European social movement. We must escape nationalist division and have an international movement to fight against global capital.

How can the movements generalise and how will the different ideas within them be clarified?
The way the movement will develop is open. It is a process. We plan to publish an appeal for a European movement against neo-liberalism in May. We are seeking the support of the DGB union federation³³ in Germany, the CGT in France, intellectuals, social movements and many different organisations. There will be a meeting in September of different movements to elaborate this charter. Then we will hold a conference in Athens in March of next year to discuss that and try to create the foundations of a social Europe. We have many ideas, but we must work on them. The aim is to create an intellectual and practical opposition³⁴. It is not only intellectuals. One of the most important leaders of one of the main unions in Greece wants to fund the conference. Our mission is to organise²⁵ and try to help people to communicate.

There is a division of labour in this developing movement. Social scientists can help to overcome difficulties. If we want an effective social movement at the level of Europe we must overcome that--otherwise we will disappear.

There are powerful political obstacles between people. The main obstacles come from the social democratic movement. If we succeed in overcoming these it will lead to a genuine Third Way which will be much more radical. We need to build the left of the left. In the ecology movement you have people who are really on the left--even among the Communist Party, which has had a deadening effect on the left in France.

Many people are coming to realise that globalisation is more of a political imperative³⁵ than an economic fact. Three quarters of the exchange of goods in Europe is internal to Europe. The social democratic parties in power could implement³⁶ policies to limit the free market.

How will we force them? Will we require a new political party?
I don't know. It would be nice if we could force them, but I am not sure if we can. It seems to me there is a crisis of the social democratic governments. In Britain the crisis of Blairism has well and truly started. There is also the crisis of the right wing parties in much of Europe, particularly the CDU in Germany. The true left has always faced a false choice: you vote for the right or you accept this fake left wing. We have had the same problem in France since 1981.

Forces other than the left are trying to gain a hearing. So we see the Haider phenomenon in Austria. But he has not gone unchallenged. The recreation of a true left wing movement will be the main instrument of the destruction of Haider. Nobody spoke³⁷ about Le Pen and the National Front in France during the hot winter of 1995 in France. The mass movement in defence of pensions in Italy also marginalised the far right.

Whether the revival of the left will lead to a new party is an open question. So too is how ideas will be clarified. The main thing is to build the movement. No one should doubt the radical changes that are happening in the way people think. I am more optimistic about the future than at any time in the last three decades, despite the seeming triumph of global capitalism.

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收听单词发音

1 radical
n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的
参考例句：
The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。 She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

2 capitalism
n.资本主义
参考例句：
The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。 Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

3 embedded
a.扎牢的
参考例句：
an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术 He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。

4 opt
vi.选择，决定做某事
参考例句：
They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。 Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

5 technocrat
n.技术人员，技术官僚
参考例句：
He is a distant technocrat who is unable to connect with ordinary voters.作为一个冷淡的技术官僚，他不能做到与普通选民息息相通。 Jack Lew,the new budget director,is the quintessential technocrat.新预算主管杰克·卢就是一个典型的技术官僚。

6 transcript
n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书
参考例句：
A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。 They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

7 chaotic
adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的
参考例句：
Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。 The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

8 rhetoric
n.修辞学，浮夸之言语
参考例句：
Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？ Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

9 deployed
（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )；施展；部署；有效地利用
参考例句：
Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。 The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

10 socialist
n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的
参考例句：
China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。 His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

11 ushered
v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
The secretary ushered me into his office. 秘书把我领进他的办公室。 A round of parties ushered in the New Year. 一系列的晚会迎来了新年。来自《简明英汉词典》

12 socialists
社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 )
参考例句：
The socialists saw themselves as true heirs of the Enlightenment. 社会主义者认为自己是启蒙运动的真正继承者。 The Socialists junked dogma when they came to office in 1982. 社会党人1982年上台执政后，就把其政治信条弃之不顾。

13 technocrats
n.技术专家，专家政治论者( technocrat的名词复数 )
参考例句：
Few business barons remained. They were replaced by "technocrats," who became the heads of corporations. 企业巨头所剩无几，大多已被“技术专家”所代替，这些人成了公司的领导。来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件 However, bankers called the technocrats' bluff and proceeded to lend with gusto. 但是，银行家们称技术专家官员不过在虚张声势，并且还会乐观的继续借贷业务。来自互联网

14 curtail
vt.截短，缩短；削减
参考例句：
The government hopes to curtail public spending.政府希望缩减公共事业开支。 The minister had to curtail his visit.部长不得不缩短访问日期。

15 advisers
顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )；（指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授
参考例句：
a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员 She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

16 strictly
adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地
参考例句：
His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。 The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

17 anthropological
adj.人类学的
参考例句：
These facts of responsibility are an anthropological datums- varied and multiform. 这些道德事实是一种人类学资料——性质不同，形式各异。来自哲学部分 It is the most difficult of all anthropological data on which to "draw" the old Negro. 在所有的人类学资料中，最困难的事莫过于“刻划”古代的黑人。来自辞典例句

18 isolated
adj.与世隔绝的
参考例句：
His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。 Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

19 subjective
a.主观(上)的，个人的
参考例句：
The way they interpreted their past was highly subjective. 他们解释其过去的方式太主观。 A literary critic should not be too subjective in his approach. 文学评论家的看法不应太主观。

20 dispositions
安排( disposition的名词复数 )；倾向；（财产、金钱的）处置；气质
参考例句：
We got out some information about the enemy's dispositions from the captured enemy officer. 我们从捕获的敌军官那里问出一些有关敌军部署的情况。 Elasticity, solubility, inflammability are paradigm cases of dispositions in natural objects. 伸缩性、可缩性、易燃性是天然物体倾向性的范例。

21 acting
n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的
参考例句：
Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。 During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

22 intervention
n.介入，干涉，干预
参考例句：
The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。 Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

23 emancipation
n.（从束缚、支配下）解放
参考例句：
We must arouse them to fight for their own emancipation. 我们必须唤起他们为其自身的解放而斗争。来自《简明英汉词典》 They rejoiced over their own emancipation. 他们为自己的解放感到欢欣鼓舞。来自《简明英汉词典》

24 spectrum
n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列
参考例句：
This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。 We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

25 organise
vt.组织，安排，筹办
参考例句：
He has the ability to organise.他很有组织才能。 It's my job to organise all the ceremonial events.由我来组织所有的仪式。

26 aggregating
总计达…( aggregate的现在分词 )；聚集，集合；（使）聚集
参考例句：
The thesis first promotes based Object Oriented Modeling method-Aggregating & Deriving Mothod. 本文首先提出了基于面向对象思想的建模方法——聚合派生法。 Multidimensional data cubes are composed of base cube and other cubes aggregating on base cube. 多维立方体由基本立方体和基本立方体的聚集产生的立方体组成。

27 Soviet
adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃
参考例句：
Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。 Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

28 unemployed
adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的
参考例句：
There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。 The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

29 anarchists
无政府主义者( anarchist的名词复数 )
参考例句：
Anarchists demand the destruction of structures of oppression including the country itself. "无政府主义者要求摧毁包括国家本身在内的压迫人民的组织。 Unsurprisingly, Ms Baburova had a soft spot for anarchists. 没什么奇怪的，巴布罗娃女士倾向于无政府主义。

30 revival
n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振
参考例句：
The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。 He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

31 remains
n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹
参考例句：
He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。 The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

32 mandate
n.托管地；命令，指示
参考例句：
The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。 The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

33 federation
n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会
参考例句：
It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。 Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

34 opposition
n.反对，敌对
参考例句：
The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。 The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

35 imperative
n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的
参考例句：
He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。 The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

36 implement
n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行
参考例句：
Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。 The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

37 spoke
n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说
参考例句：
They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。 The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

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