18/3/2020 Slavoj Žižek “el Coronavirus es un golpe a lo Kill Bill al sistema capitalista”

https://medium.com/@esferapublica/slavoj-%C5%BEi%C5%BEek-el-coronavirus-es-un-golpe-a-lo-kill-bill-al-sistema-capitalista-48cf8af6ca0a 1/10

Slavoj Žižek “el Coronavirus es un golpe a lo Kill

Bill al sistema capitalista”

@esferapublica

Mar 3 · 11 min read

El �lósofo, sociólogo y crítico cultural esloveno se re�rió a la pandemia -que

comenzó en la localidad china de Wuhan- como un gatillante de otros aspectos de

la sociedad como la histeria colectiva y el racismo. Comparándolo con un golpe

propio de la cinta de Tarantino, Zizek analiza las repercusiones del Covid-19 a

nivel político.

“La actual expansión de la epidemia de coronavirus ha detonado las epidemias de

virus ideológicos que estaban latentes en nuestras sociedades: noticias falsas,

teorías conspirativas paranoicas y explosiones de racismo”, comienza la columna

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18/3/2020 Slavoj Žižek “el Coronavirus es un golpe a lo Kill Bill al sistema capitalista”

https://medium.com/@esferapublica/slavoj-%C5%BEi%C5%BEek-el-coronavirus-es-un-golpe-a-lo-kill-bill-al-sistema-capitalista-48cf8af6ca0a 2/10

de Slavoj Žižek publicada en RT.

“La bien fundamentada necesidad médica de establecer cuarentenas hicieron eco

en las presiones ideológicas para establecer límites claros y mantener en

cuarentena a los enemigos que representan una amenaza a nuestra identidad.

Pero tal vez otro -y más bene�cioso- virus ideológico se expandirá y tal vez nos

infecte: el virus de pensar en una sociedad alternativa, una sociedad más allá de

la nación-estado, una sociedad que se actualice como solidaridad global y

cooperación”, continuó el �lósofo.

Según explicó Žižek, han resonado especulaciones que apuntan a la caída del

comunismo en China, de la misma forma que Gorbachov dijo que la tragedia de

Chernobyl detonó el �n del comunismo soviétivo. “Pero hay una paradoja aquí: el

Coronavirus también nos obliga a re-inventar el comunismo basándonos en la

con�anza en las personas y la ciencia”.

Un golpe “a lo Kill Bill”Recordando una de las producciones más famosas de Quentin Tarantino, Slavoj

Žižek citó Kill Bill 2. O más bien, rememoró un aspecto especí�co de la cinta

protagonizada por Uma Thurman.

En la escena �nal, Beatrix inhabilita al malvado Bill con la “Técnica del corazón

explosivo de cinco puntos en la palma”, la más letal de las técnicas de artes

marciales. El movimiento consiste en la combinación de cinco golpes en distintos

puntos de presión del cuerpo. Luego que la persona agredida se aleja cinco pasos,

su corazón explota en su cuerpo y cae al piso.

“Lo que hace a este ataque tan fascinante es el tiempo entre el golpe y la muerte

en sí: Puedo tener una buena conversación mientras esté sentado y calmado, pero

tengo claro que desde el momento que comience a caminar, mi corazón explotará

y yo caeré muerto”, agregó Zizek.

“Mi modesta opinión sobre la realidad es mucho más radical: la epidemia de

coronavirus es una forma especial de ‘Técnica del corazón explosivo’ en el

sistema global capitalista, un síntoma de que no podemos seguir en el camino que

hemos seguido hasta ahora, se necesita ese cambio”, aseguró el crítico cultural.

18/3/2020 Slavoj Žižek “el Coronavirus es un golpe a lo Kill Bill al sistema capitalista”

https://medium.com/@esferapublica/slavoj-%C5%BEi%C5%BEek-el-coronavirus-es-un-golpe-a-lo-kill-bill-al-sistema-capitalista-48cf8af6ca0a 3/10

Un día después que el Vice Ministro de Salud de Irán, Iraj Harirchi, dio una

conferencia de prensa en la que minimizó la pandemia y dijo que las cuarentenas

masivas no eran necesarias, admitió que él mismo contrajo coronavirus: “Este

virus es democrático, y no distingue entre pobres y ricos o entre estadista y

ciudadano común”, dijo Harirchi.

“Es difícil perderse la ironía suprema del hecho que lo que nos unió a todos y nos

empujó a una solidaridad global, se exprese de tal manera que hay que evitar el

contacto entre personas e incluso aislarse”, escribió Žižek en su columna.

“Y no es la única amenaza viral con la que estamos lidiando, otras catástrofes se

acercan en el horizonte y ya tomaron su lugar: sequías, olas de calor, tormentas,

etc. En todos estos casos, la respuesta no es el pánico, si no que el duro y urgente

trabajo de establecer una especie de coordinación global e�ciente”, puntualizó el

esloveno.

Lo virtual parece lo único seguro“Podemos esperar que la epidemia viral afecte nuestras interacciones elementales

con otras personas y objetos alrededor nuestro, incluyendo nuestros propios

cuerpos, ya que evitaremos tocar cosas que puedan estar contaminadas, como

barandas, baños públicos o juegos del parque. Incluso evitaremos saludar a las

personas dándoles la mano. Probablemente seamos más cuidadosos con

movimientos espontáneos, como tocarnos la nariz o los ojos”, prevé Žižek.

“Así que no es solo el Estado u otros agentes los que nos controlarán, también

debemos aprender a controlarnos y disciplinarnos a nosotros mismos. Tal vez

solo la realidad virtual se considere segura, y moverse libremente en espacios

abiertos será limitado a islas pertenecientes a los ultra ricos”, publicó el �lósofo.

“Pero incluso ahí, en el nivel de realidad virtual e internet, debemos recordarnos

a nosotros mismos que, en las últimas décadas, los términos ‘virus’ y ‘viral’ fueron

usados en su mayoría para designar virus digitales que infectaban nuestro

espacio-web y de los que no estábamos al tanto, al menos no hasta ver su poder

destructivo (es decir, destruir nuestros softwares o hardwares). Lo que vemos

ahora es un retorno masivo al signi�cado literal de término: las infecciones

18/3/2020 Slavoj Žižek “el Coronavirus es un golpe a lo Kill Bill al sistema capitalista”

https://medium.com/@esferapublica/slavoj-%C5%BEi%C5%BEek-el-coronavirus-es-un-golpe-a-lo-kill-bill-al-sistema-capitalista-48cf8af6ca0a 4/10

virales van mano a mano en ambas dimensiones: real y virtual”, publicó en RT.

“Los mercados se ponen nerviosos”A Slavoj Žižek también le llama la atención la correlación que hace el capitalismo

de tratar fenómenos sociales como mercados o entidades vivientes, ya que al leer

los medios de comunicación, abundan informaciones que muestran el peligro de

la estabilidad económica.

“La impresión que uno obtiene es que de lo que uno realmente debería

preocuparse no es de los cientos de fallecidos, sino del hecho que ‘los mercados

están nerviosos’. El coronavirus está perturbando crecientemente el mercado

mundial y, según escuchamos, el crecimiento puede caer entre un 2% y 3%. ¿No

es esto una clara señal de la urgencia de una reorganización de la economía

global, que ya no estará a merced de los mecanismos del mercado?”, plantea

Žižek.

El sociólogo aclara que no se re�ere al comunismo “de viejo estilo”, sino algún

tipo de organización global que pueda controlar y regular la economía, así como

“controlar y limitar la soberanía de la nación-estado cuando sea necesario”. Esto

en el marco de lo que Žižek cali�ca como “guerra médica”.

Además, como efectos colaterales “bene�ciosos” del Coronavirus, el �lósofo se

re�ere a los cruceros como métodos de cuarentena -al cali�carlos de lujo

obsceno-, y que la epidemia afecta la producción de automóviles -lo que llevaría a

buscar vías alternativas de movilización-.

“En un reciente discurso, el primer ministro húngaro Viktor Orban dijo: ‘No existe

tal cosa como un liberal. Un liberal no es más que un comunista con un diploma’.

¿Qué pasa si lo contrario es verdad? ¿Si consideramos ‘liberales’ a todos los que

se preocupan por nuestra libertad y como ‘comunistas’ a todos los que consideran

que podemos salvar esas libertades solo con cambios radicales desde que el

capitalismo global se acerca a una crisis? Entonces deberíamos decir que, hoy,

aquellos que aún se reconocen como comunistas son liberales con diploma,

liberales que realmente estudiaron porque nuestros valores liberales están bajo

amenaza y se dieron cuenta que solo el cambio radical los puede salvar”, concluye

18/3/2020 Slavoj Žižek “el Coronavirus es un golpe a lo Kill Bill al sistema capitalista”

https://medium.com/@esferapublica/slavoj-%C5%BEi%C5%BEek-el-coronavirus-es-un-golpe-a-lo-kill-bill-al-sistema-capitalista-48cf8af6ca0a 5/10

Slavoj Žižek en su columna.

. . .

Slavoj Zizek: Coronavirus is ‘Kill Bill’-esque blow tocapitalism and could lead to reinvention ofcommunismThe ongoing spread of the coronavirus epidemic has also triggered vast epidemics

of ideological viruses which were laying dormant in our societies: fake news,

paranoiac conspiracy theories, explosions of racism.

The well-grounded medical need for quarantines found an echo in the ideological

pressure to establish clear borders and to quarantine enemies that pose a threat

to our identity.

But maybe another — and much more bene�cial — ideological virus will spread

and hopefully infect us: the virus of thinking about an alternate society, a society

beyond nation-state, a society that actualizes itself in the forms of global

solidarity and cooperation.

18/3/2020 Slavoj Žižek “el Coronavirus es un golpe a lo Kill Bill al sistema capitalista”

https://medium.com/@esferapublica/slavoj-%C5%BEi%C5%BEek-el-coronavirus-es-un-golpe-a-lo-kill-bill-al-sistema-capitalista-48cf8af6ca0a 6/10

Speculation is often heard today that the coronavirus may lead to the fall of

communist rule in China, in the same way that (as Gorbachev himself admitted)

the Chernobyl catastrophe was the event which triggered the end of the Soviet

communism. But there is a paradox here: the coronavirus will also compel us to

re-invent communism based on trust in the people and in science.

In the �nal scene of Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Kill Bill 2,’ Beatrix disables the evil Bill

and strikes him with the “Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique” — the most

deadly blow in all of martial arts. The move consists of a combination of �ve

strikes with one’s �ngertips to �ve di�erent pressure points on the target’s body.

After the target walks away and has taken �ve steps, their heart explodes in their

body and they fall to the ground.

This attack is part of martial arts mythology and is not possible in real hand-to-

hand combat. But, back to the �lm, after Beatrix does it, Bill calmly makes his

peace with her, takes �ve steps and dies…

What makes this attack so fascinating is the time between being hit and the

moment of death: I can have a nice conversation as long as I sit calmly, but I am

all this time aware that the moment I start to walk, my heart will explode and I

will drop dead.

Is the idea of those who speculate about how the coronavirus epidemic could

lead to the fall of communist rule in China not similar? Like some kind of social

“Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique” on the country’s communist regime,

the authorities can sit, observe and go through the motions of quarantine, but

any real change in the social order (like trusting the people) will result in their

downfall.

My modest opinion is much more radical: the coronavirus epidemic is a kind of

“Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique” attack on the global capitalist system

— a signal that we cannot go on the way we were up until now, that a radical

change is needed.

Sad fact, we need a catastropheYears ago, Fredric Jameson drew attention to the utopian potential in movies

18/3/2020 Slavoj Žižek “el Coronavirus es un golpe a lo Kill Bill al sistema capitalista”

https://medium.com/@esferapublica/slavoj-%C5%BEi%C5%BEek-el-coronavirus-es-un-golpe-a-lo-kill-bill-al-sistema-capitalista-48cf8af6ca0a 7/10

about a cosmic catastrophe (an asteroid threatening life on Earth, or a virus

killing humanity). Such a global threat gives birth to global solidarity, our petty

di�erences become insigni�cant, we all work together to �nd a solution — and

here we are today, in real life. The point is not to sadistically enjoy widespread

su�ering insofar as it helps our cause — on the contrary, the point is to re�ect

upon a sad fact that we need a catastrophe to make us able to rethink the very

basic features of the society in which we live.

The �rst vague model of such a global coordination is the World Health

Organization, from which we are not getting the usual bureaucratic gibberish but

precise warnings proclaimed without panic. Such organizations should be given

more executive power.

Bernie Sanders is mocked by skeptics for his advocacy of universal healthcare in

the US — is the lesson of the coronavirus epidemic not that even more is needed,

that we should start to put together some kind of GLOBAL healthcare network?

A day after Iran’s Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi appeared at a press

conference in order to downplay the coronavirus spread and to assert that mass

quarantines are not necessary, he made a short statement admitting that he has

contracted the coronavirus and placed himself in isolation (already during his

�rst TV appearance, he had shown signs of fever and weakness). Harirchi added:

“This virus is democratic, and it doesn’t distinguish between poor and rich or

between statesman and an ordinary citizen.”

In this, he was right — we are all in the same boat. It is di�cult to miss the

supreme irony of the fact that what brought us all together and pushed us into

global solidarity expresses itself at the level of everyday life in strict commands to

avoid close contacts with others, even to self-isolate.

And we are not dealing only with viral threats — other catastrophes are looming

on the horizon or already taking place: droughts, heatwaves, massive storms, etc.

In all these cases, the answer is not panic but hard and urgent work to establish

some kind of e�cient global coordination.

Will we only be safe in virtual reality?

18/3/2020 Slavoj Žižek “el Coronavirus es un golpe a lo Kill Bill al sistema capitalista”

https://medium.com/@esferapublica/slavoj-%C5%BEi%C5%BEek-el-coronavirus-es-un-golpe-a-lo-kill-bill-al-sistema-capitalista-48cf8af6ca0a 8/10

The �rst illusion to dispel is the one formulated by US President Donald Trump

during his recent visit to India, where he said that the epidemic would recede

quickly and we just have to wait for the spike and then life will return to normal.

Against these all too easy hopes, the �rst thing to accept is that the threat is here

to stay. Even if this wave recedes, it will reappear in new, maybe even more

dangerous, forms.

For this reason, we can expect that viral epidemics will a�ect our most

elementary interactions with other people and objects around us, including our

own bodies — avoid touching things that may be (invisibly) dirty, don’t touch

hooks, don’t sit on toilet seats or public benches, avoid embracing people or

shaking their hands. We might even become more careful about spontaneous

gestures: don’t touch your nose or rub your eyes.

So it’s not only the state and other agencies that will control us, we should also

learn to control and discipline ourselves. Maybe only virtual reality will be

considered safe, and moving freely in an open space will be restricted to the

islands owned by the ultra-rich.

But even here, at the level of virtual reality and internet, we should remind

ourselves that, in the last decades, the terms “virus” and “viral” were mostly used

to designate digital viruses which were infecting our web-space and of which we

were not aware, at least not until their destructive power (say, of destroying our

data or our hard-drive) was unleashed. What we see now is a massive return to

the original literal meaning of the term: viral infections work hand-in-hand in

both dimensions, real and virtual.

Return of capitalist animismAnother weird phenomenon that we can observe is the triumphant return of

capitalist animism, of treating social phenomena like markets or �nancial capital

as living entities. If one reads our big media, the impression one gets is that what

we should really worry about are not thousands who already died (and

thousands more who will die) but the fact that “markets are getting nervous.” The

coronavirus is increasingly disturbing the smooth running of the world market

18/3/2020 Slavoj Žižek “el Coronavirus es un golpe a lo Kill Bill al sistema capitalista”

https://medium.com/@esferapublica/slavoj-%C5%BEi%C5%BEek-el-coronavirus-es-un-golpe-a-lo-kill-bill-al-sistema-capitalista-48cf8af6ca0a 9/10

and, as we hear, growth may fall by two or three percent.

Does all this not clearly signal the urgent need for a reorganization of the global

economy which will no longer be at the mercy of market mechanisms? We are not

talking here about old-style communism, of course, just about some kind of

global organization that can control and regulate the economy, as well as limit the

sovereignty of nation-states when needed. Countries were able to do it against

the backdrop of war in the past, and all of us are now e�ectively approaching a

state of medical war.

Plus we should also not be afraid to note some potentially bene�cial side e�ects

of the epidemic. One of the symbols of the epidemic is passengers caught

(quarantined) on large cruise ships — good riddance to the obscenity of such

ships, I am tempted to say. (We only have to be careful that travel to lone islands

or other exclusive resorts will not become again the privilege of the rich few, as it

was decades ago with �ying.) Car production is also seriously a�ected by the

coronavirus — which is not too bad, as this may compel us to think about

alternatives to our obsession with individual vehicles. The list goes on.

ALSO ON RT.COMFace o�: Fights break out on streets of Japan amid

surgical masks shortage (VIDEOS)

In a recent speech, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said: “There is no such

thing as a liberal. A liberal is nothing more than a communist with a diploma.”

What if the opposite is true? If we designate as “liberals” all those who care for

our freedoms, and as “communists” those who are aware that we can save these

freedoms only with radical changes since global capitalism is approaching a

crisis? Then we should say that, today, those who still recognize themselves as

communists are liberals with a diploma — liberals who seriously studied why our

liberal values are under threat and became aware that only radical change can

save them.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

Slavoj Zizek*

18/3/2020 Slavoj Žižek “el Coronavirus es un golpe a lo Kill Bill al sistema capitalista”

https://medium.com/@esferapublica/slavoj-%C5%BEi%C5%BEek-el-coronavirus-es-un-golpe-a-lo-kill-bill-al-sistema-capitalista-48cf8af6ca0a 10/10

*is a cultural philosopher. He’s a senior researcher at the Institute for Sociology

and Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana, Global Distinguished Professor of

German at New York University, and international director of the Birkbeck

Institute for the Humanities of the University of London.

. . .

Originally published at https://culto.latercera.com on March 3, 2020.

Slavoj Zizek Kill Bill

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