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Returning to Revolution: Deleuze, Guattari, and Zapatismo

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Returning to Revolution: Deleuze, Guattari, and Zapatismo RETURNING TO REVOLUTION: DELEUZE, GUATTARI, AND ZAPATISMO by THOMAS ANDREW NAIL A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Philosophy and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2011 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Thomas Andrew Nail Title: Returning to Revolution: Deleuze, Guattari, and Zapatismo This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Philosophy by: John Lysaker Co-Chairperson Ted Toadvine Co-Chairperson Colin Koopman Member Forest Pyle Outside Member and Richard Linton Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded March 2011 ii © 2011 Thomas Andrew Nail iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Thomas Andrew Nail Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy March 2011 Title: Returning to Revolution: Deleuze, Guattari, and Zapatismo Approved: _______________________________________________ Dr. Ted Toadvine, Co-Chair Approved: _______________________________________________ Dr. John Lysaker, Co-Chair We are witnessing today the beginning of a return to and renewal of the theory and practice of political revolution. This return to revolution, however, takes none of the traditional forms: the capture of the state, the political representation of the party, the centrality of the proletariat, or the leadership of the vanguard. Rather, given the failure of such tactics over the last century, coupled with the socio-economic changes brought by neoliberalism in the 1980s, revolutionary strategy has developed in a more heterogenous and non-representational direction. The aim of this dissertation is to map an outline of this new direction by drawing on the theory and practice of two of its main inspirations: French political philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari and, what the New York Times has called “the first post-modern revolution,” the 1994 Zapatista Uprising in Chiapas, Mexico. The aim of this dissertation is thus threefold. First, I provide a philosophical clarification and outline of a revolutionary strategy that both describes and advances the process of constructing real alternatives to state-capitalism. Second, I focus on three influential and emblematic figures of revolutionary history, mutually disclosive of one another, as well as this iv larger revolutionary return: Deleuze, Guattari, and the Zapatistas. Third, and more specifically, I propose four novel theoretical practices that characterize this return to revolution: (1) a multi-centered diagnostic of political power; (2) a prefigurative theory of political transformation; (3) a participatory theory of the body politic; and (4) a theory of political belonging based on mutual global solidarity. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Thomas Andrew Nail PLACE OF BIRTH: Portland, Oregon DATE OF BIRTH: December 12, 1979 GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene University of North Texas, Denton DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, 2011, University of Oregon Master of Arts, Philosophy, 2007, University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy, 2001, University of North Texas AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: European Philosophy Political Philosophy Environmental Philosophy PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Morse Center for Law and Politics Dissertation Fellow, University of Oregon, 2010–2011 Visiting Scholar, University of Toronto, 2009–2010 Assistant Editor of the Journal, Environmental Philosophy, University of Oregon, 2008–2009 Graduate Teaching Fellow, Composition, University of Oregon, 2007–2008 Graduate Teaching Fellow, Philosophy, University of Oregon, 2003–2007; 2009; 2010 Spanish Tutor, University of Oregon, 2002 vi GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Fulbright Eco-Leadership Program Award, 2011 George Rebec Prize, University of Oregon, for “Political Affinity and the Singular-Universal: From Citizenship to the Solidarity City” (best essay written by a graduate student), 2010 Leon Culbertson Scholarship, University of Oregon, 2010-2011 Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics Dissertation Fellowship, University of Oregon (university-wide competition for stipend and tuition waiver), 2010-2011 Fulbright Professional Development Program Award (for travel and presentation of research on the Solidarity City project), 2009 U.S. Fulbright Research Scholarship: “From Citizenship to the Solidarity City” (Invited by Université de Montréal, McMaster University, University of Guelph, and Concordia University), 2009-2010 Visiting Scholar invitation from the University of Toronto, CA, 2009-2010 Laurel Scholarship, University of Oregon (did not accept because of Fulbright), 2009-2010 North American Students of Cooperation Institute Scholarship Award, 2008 Clara Nasholm Scholarship, University of Oregon, 2008-2009 University of Oregon Graduate Teaching Fellowship, English, 2007-2008 Certificate of Completion Postgraduate course on Gilles Deleuze, University of Cardiff, Wales, 2007 University of Oregon Graduate Research Award for French Language and Philosophical Study in Paris, France, 2006 University of Oregon Philosophy Travel Grant, 2006 University of Oregon Philosophy Travel Grant, 2004 University of Oregon Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Philosophy, 2003-2006, 2008-2010 Study Abroad Scholarship for language study in Germany, University of North Texas, 2001 vii Student Ambassador of the Department of Philosophy, University of North Texas, 2001 Awarded the Oscar Aries Peace Scholarship by the Department of Political Science and Peace Studies, University of North Texas, 2001 Awarded the Fifth Annual John Creuzot Scholarship by the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies, University of North Texas, 2001 Study Abroad Scholarship for language study in Mexico, University of North Texas, 2000 PUBLICATIONS: Nail, Thomas, trans. 2011. Quentin Meillassoux, “Histoire et événement chez Alain Badiou” Parrhesia (11): 24–34. Nail, Thomas. 2010. “Constructivism and the Future Anterior of Radical Politics,” Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies (1): 73–94. Nail, Thomas. 2010. “A Post-Neoliberal Ecopolitics?: Deleuze, Guattari, and Zapatismo,” Philosophy Today (54) 2: 179–90. Nail, Thomas. 2010. “Building a Sanctuary City: No One is Illegal–Toronto on Non-Status Migrant Justice Organizing,” Upping the Anti: A Journal of Theory and Action no. 11: 149–62. Nail, Thomas. 2009. Review of Real Utopia: Participatory Society for the 21st Century, edited by Chris Spannos. Capitalism, Nature, Socialism 20 (4): 112–114. Nail, Thomas. 2008. “Expression, Immanence, and Constructivism: ‘Spinozism‘ and Deleuze and Guattari,” Deleuze Studies (2) 2: 201–19. Nail, Thomas. 2006. Review of Deleuze and Environmental Damage: Violence of the Text, by Mark Halsey. Environmental Philosophy 3 (2): 64–66. Nail, Thomas. 2003. “Regicide: Genealogy and Juridical Subjectivity,” Unterschrift (2): 34–51. viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express sincere appreciation to Professors Toadvine, Lysaker, and Koopman for their assistance in the preparation of this manuscript. This work was supported in part by a U.S. Fulbright Scholarship, and a Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics Dissertation Fellowship. ix For all those who believe that another world is possible. x TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 2 Deleuze and Guattari ..................................................................................................... 2 Zapatismo ........................................................................................................................ 4 Assembly, Relay, and Contribution .............................................................................. 7 Interventions .......................................................................................................................... 10 Deleuze, Guattari, and Representation........................................................................ 10 Deleuze, Guattari, and Difference ............................................................................... 12 (1) Political Ambivalence ........................................................................................ 14 (2) Virtual Hierarchy................................................................................................ 16 (3) Subjective Paralysis ............................................................................................ 18 Deleuze, Guattari, and Constructivism ....................................................................... 19 Zapatismo and Representation ..................................................................................... 27 Zapatismo and Difference ............................................................................................ 29 Zapatismo and Constructivism .................................................................................... 32 Overview ................................................................................................................................ 36 II.
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