In Graham Harmans lucid and interesting new book about Latours politics (which I find illuminating in many ways, but also have substantial disagreements with, mostly in Marxist grounds), Harman observes that Latour (unlike Schmitt, whom he values in the same way many leftists do) is happy to put the political aside, to find areas which are thankfully free of further political contestation. Unlike many on the left, I thoroughly agree with this; the point of socialism or communism would be, as Oscar Wilde say, to no longer have to devote ones energy to such annoying matters. In the course of arguing this, however, Harman notes, and quotes Latour, as follows: he says that Latour does not seem troubled by the fact that many political boxes remain forever unopened. In a passage already cited, “the silent working of the sewage systems in Paris has stopped being political, as have vaccinations against smallpox or tuberculosis. It is now in the hands of vast and silent bureaucracies that rarely make the headlines” (RGDV 817). The problem, it seems to me, is that here Latour engages in a strange sort of overly optimistic wishfulness. For in fact things like the sewer system in Paris still *are* political matters, precisely because there are such strong forces, in Western countries and in the world generally, who want to privatize things like sewer and water systems, which means dismantling the entire network of public health. In the course of the 19th century, the rich were convinced to establish public water and waste systems as a way to stop diseases like cholera, from which they were not exempt. But today, the rich believe (rightly or wrongly) that they can have health for themselves without bearing the cost of insuring it for others as well. And so they are destroying public systems for private gain. (The same goes for the increasing anti-vaccination sentiment on the part, almost completely, of the affluent). What seems to be settled becomes unsettled again, at great danger for all of us who are not in that privileged 0.1%. That is why capitalism cannot be ignored, as Latour is unfortunately willing to do.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 23:04:33 +0000